disaster declaration for kentucky and directing federal resources to help the hardest-hit state. the fema director and dhs secretary will assess the damage on the ground. they'll be joining governor beshear for an update in just a couple of hours this afternoon. this comes as recovery efforts are underway across kentucky where more than a hundred people are believed to be dead. crews are digging through the rubble of a collapsed candle factory where dozens of people remain unaccounted for. >> this thing is like something we've just never seen before, the level of devastation. when it hit a house, it didn't tear the roof off, it destroyed every single bit of those homes. we've got entire towns wiped out. the candle factory in mayfield. 110 people working in it when it hit, and we've been able to rescue 40. but it's been about 27 hours since we've rescued a live person. >> and that was even a couple of hours ago. also in illinois, six people died at an amazon warehouse torn apart by an ef3 tornado. the fire chief says that recovery mission is going to take several days. in all, weather officials are investigating more than 30 tornado reports across multiple states including the quad state tornado that may have been on the ground for more than 200 miles. we have several reporters in place for you across the region. we're going to start with msnbc's ali velshi in mayfield, kentucky. ali, i keep asking you these questions, but i'm curious about the mood there today. it's got to be a lot of mixed feelings. >> yeah. and you and i were talking half an hour ago about the strength of the human spirits. i wanted to give you a story about that right now. i'm in front of a house that has really been very, very badly damaged by this story. but there was a woman in this house who when the storm came understood that she was here, she had her daughter, who is pregnant, and her daughter's boyfriend. and this woman decided she was going to be a human shield for this storm. she's here with me now. kimberly, you have not stopped working since we've been here. you have a smile on your face despite the devastation because your home has been destroyed behind you. but your family's safe. >> right. we're all safe. >> you were in that little room. there's a hole in the door there. tell me what happened? >> well, my husband told me that would be the safest place in the house, and he was right. so we went there. and i'm glad that's where he went because -- i'm glad that's where he told us to go because i was going to go somewhere over there which would have been disastrous. so we were there. and when it came through, i was just trying to -- i had my back to the door trying to kind of shield them. i knew i wouldn't be much of a shield. >> you literally -- that door, you were behind it with your back to the door knowing that tornado was coming in behind you. >> right. so, i was just praying thank you, lord, please save us, thank you, lord, please save us, and he did. i felt the breeze come through and lots of debris start hitting, i guess, when that hole was blown open. but after it passed that was all. we were just waiting, we didn't know what else was coming. and then it was gone, and we were just fine. >> i know it's obvious maternal instinct to do what you did. but just take us through what you were thinking. you had your pregnant daughter there. you knew something bad could happen so you decided? >> i wanted to be -- i guess the first person to get hit and maybe to try to keep it off the babies, away from the babies as much as i could. of course i knew that wouldn't be much help if the house falls on us. but i just kept praying that it would pass and the lord would save us, and he did. >> tell me what you're feeling right now. you actually feel like sort of grace came down upon you. >> right. i feel very blessed. we lived here for 32 years, raised our family here, and my grandson here for the last year. so, it's a loss, but i'm just really glad to have all of us safe. none of us -- well, we didn't have a scratch. my husband had a few scratches. he was on the other side of the door. >> which is hard to imagine. we're only seeing it from one perspective. but going around this house, this house is done. >> yeah, it is. >> what do you do next? you're packing stuff up. i see you're emptying stuff. >> we're just salvaging anything left. i've got a closet full that's not touched. so, i'm just going to take what we have and anything i want. if it's gone, it's gone, it's just stuff. >> may everybody have a mother like you who will put themselves in harm's way to protect their children. thank you for what you've done. i'm so glad that you're here and i'm sure your entire family's so grateful for you. thank you very much for everything you're doing. >> thank you. >> that's the kind of story we're getting. this is not the only place that's been hit, not the only place in kentucky either. ellison barber is in dawson spring. >> reporter: hey, ali. you know when we talked to people at a lot of tragedies, disasters like this, they will tell you that they lost things, but slojz they're alive that they're okay, these are just things that they can replace. but then when you look at the things you remember immediately the people, this right here is a children's book. next to it is a stuffed animal. back here in this pile what looks like a toddler's shoe. we don't know where this came from, but we know that families were in this neighborhood when the tornado ripped through this area. one woman said it sounded like a train plowing through. another man i spoke to said that yesterday as he was looking for friends, looking for acquaintances, he found a body wrapped around a tree. over here this area on the front, those were storage units. but behind it all around it, those were homes, very few are left. we met one couple who was trying to go through what was their storage unit trying to save, find some baby blankets to take home. the man we spoke to, his wife, she grew up in this community. her family, her parents, they still live near here. listen to some of what they told us about this community and just about the destruction that they've seen. listen. >> we watched the news on the tornado coming and knew it had been on the ground for a hundred miles so we knew we needed to take cover. dad lives around the corner and has a basement. so we had 16 different families in the basement as it went over, and just thanked the good lord above it went about two miles behind us through the woods. as far as our home, it wasn't affected. but this is our camping trailer 33-foot that we lost that was in the town of dawson springs here that we stored away for winter. we lost everything with it, but we're blessed to be here. >> reporter: so we've watched as search and rescue teams for a lot of the morning, late morning have gone house to house with k-9s looking for any sign of people moving throughout this community. we've been told by neighbors here that there are many people in this neighborhood and throughout dawson springs still unaccounted for. this is a community that in many pockets looks just like this. there is very little left. ali? >> ellison, it is remarkable. you're hearing the same thing i'm hearing from people who have lost a lot of things, maybe all of their things, but they're grateful if they're still around. and that is true because there has been a lot of loss of life. ellison, thanks for your reporting. i want to bring in lars anderson, a former senior fema official. he's now a partner at blue dot strategies. lars, thanks for being with us. you've had a chance to sort of evaluate what's going on. i want to remind people we're here in mayfield, kentucky, where there has been a lot of loss of life. this thing was in six states. what's your sense of it now that you've been able to evaluate it? >> you know, i think what we're seeing is the future of the results of climate change. you see our hurricane seasons are getting more intense. we're seeing these types of natural disasters happening all the time. and i just think that we need to start looking at how we build more resilient cities to -- resilient cities and communities to deal with these types of disasters. this is an historic storm from what everyone is saying. you can see the results. it's absolutely tragic. >> we certainly know with other types of natural disasters including fires and hurricanes, there are known ways to try to mitigate that. some of that's at the source and some of that is the way we build and construct. but what do you do about tornados like this with the kind of energy and power that tornados come with and the fact that we can't track them all that well, we don't know they're there until they're there. what do you do to build resilience for tornado? >> we have to look at building codes. we have to look at -- after the huge tornado that hit in oklahoma, looking at schools, building emergency shelters inside schools, making sure that there are rooms where people can try and get to. you always hear about going into the most interior room of your house tends to be the safest. but when you have a tornado that was this size and that destructive, there's not a lot that people can do besides trying to get as low as possible. but when we look at these natural disasters when it comes to flooding, when comes to other natural disasters, hurricanes, there are proposals to strengthen our building codes. there are things that people can do to not build in these flood-prone areas. but with tornados like this, it's really, really difficult. i think what the most we can do is try and give people as much warning as we can and give them time to get into as safest place as possible. >> one of the things that we are looking at right now is there is search and rescue going on in a lot of places. in edwardsville, illinois, where the amazon factory was, they have now called that a recovery mission. in other words, they do not believe they are going to find any more people or certainly find anybody alive. we have a very different situation here in kentucky. we have a lot of people unaccounted for. dozens of people unaccounted for. how do you have to think about this as an emergency and rescue worker? how do you think about how long you keep looking for people, and then you say maybe this isn't a search anymore, it's recovery? >> yeah. it really depends on the situation. i think it's still a very valid search and rescue mission going on in kentucky. but there does come a point when you've got to kind of transition to recovery. but i don't think we're there yet. i know we have several search and rescue teams that are on the ground helping local officials look for survivors. miracles do happen. but it's tough. that's a tough call that local officials have to make. but i still think it's very appropriate and very active to have search and rescue going on right now. >> and the weather has turned a little bit better, it got very, very cold after these tornados came through. but it's now warmed up. so, hopefully if there are people who are hanging on, rescuers are working very hard to find them. lars is a former fema official. you've got these stories of resilience. this woman's house i was in, it didn't look like being in that one room was going to be able to save them. but it did. >> well, i love the fact that you talked about that mother's instinct. she was preaching to the congregation when it came to me because you'd have to get through me to get to my two kids. i completely understood that. it was remarkable the way she said that. all these people in mayfield -- >> that bravery in her, she was not going to -- there was no other decision for her. the decision was if there is a tornado coming and my daughter is in jeopardy, the tornado will get me first. >> absolutely. >> and if that helps, it helps, if it doesn't help, it doesn't help, but the tornado is going to hit me first. >> i so admire her, and so many of the people you've been talking to today, really an extraordinary group of people there in mayfield. thank you so much for bringing their stories to us. meantime, there are more stories, everybody. people hit in these hard-hit communities, they are sharing their stories of survival. a husband and father was sheltering in place also in kentucky. let's go again to mayfield. and these folks in mayfield, it is extraordinary these tales. i know this one's equally unbelievable. >> reporter: indeed. good afternoon again to you, alex. these stories of survival are simply unimaginable. and as they are coming out to clean up, they are also telling us what they went through on that fateful storm friday night. >> went and found my mother-in-law, and when i found her, she was trapped, her legs were trapped underneath some debris, and then that's when i heard my 2-month-old crying. sorry. but that's when i heard my 2-month-old crying. so, i asked my mother-in-law. i was, like, are you okay? and she was, like, i can't breathe very good, but i think i'm going to be okay. and i was, like, can i go get my baby? and she was, like, yeah, go get her. so i went and got her. i found her. she wasn't underneath nothing. she was just kind of laying where i couldn't see the car seat. so i got the car seat picked up and ran her inside. and then, you know, i tried calling my wife down for just a split second because she was in a pretty big state of panic. i was, like, you have to calm down for these kids. so i ran back outside and i tried getting my mother-in-law picked up. but it's just more than my little frame could do. so i hollered at a guy. he come over there and helped me get her picked up. we got her inside. and then i just, i don't know, we all just went around to each of them and tried to make sure i had all the bleeding stopped. then i started working on trying to figure out how to get us out of there because that house was about to cave in on itself. >> reporter: the power of parental instincts. it's just amazing. we also spoke to a 72-year-old man just about a block from here. he survived the storm alone in a doorway. we're going to hear from him in the next hour. right now, though, sadly, it almost brought me to tears when we spoke to him. he is now still looking for his two cats. >> that's awful. you talk about the parental instinct. we were talking about the moms, that father equally as powerful and just fierce with protecting their families. it's extraordinary. it brings tears to our eyes. but we are so grateful for the shares of their tales. thank you. wages are up, gas prices are heading down. but there's that other number that is troubling most americans inside the biden administration's effort to kick rising inflation to the curb. progressive rewards you for driving safe and driving less. okay, what message did you hear this time? 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"the post" reporting a retired army colonel who circulated that powerpoint presentation, recommending ways to challenge the 2020 election, said that he visited the white house on multiple occasions after the election, spoke with then chief of staff meadows, as many as ten times, and briefed several members of congress on the eve of the capitol riot. new reaction to that report just in the last hour from congresswoman jackie speier. >> i think mark meadows is very key to us being able to piece together the president's involvement in the insurrection. make no mistake about it, it was premeditated. plus, growing concerns over the threat of a russian invasion in ukraine. new reporting says since president biden's two-hour call with vladimir putin, russian officials have only dug in deeper. this morning senator chris murphy telling msnbc why he is not -- >> it would be a mistake of historical proportion for putin. this is going to come at great cost for russia both economically and in terms of lives. and i do think that when it comes down to the zero hour when putin's about to make the decision, if we give him a diplomatic off ramp, there's a chance he will take it. new polling from abc ipsos shows biden's approval rating including his handling of crime, gun violence, and inflation, with more than two-thirds of americans saying they disapprove of how the president is handling the surge in prices. joining me now jeff mason, white house correspondent for reuters, and a democratic strategist and former communications director of the dnc. welcome to you both. it's good to see you. jeff, you first here. because inflation has probably been one of the biggest hurdles for the administration thus far, considering it is something that is affecting every single american. how big of a concern are these poll numbers inside the white house, and what is their strategy to deal with them? >> well, i'll take the second part of that question first, alex. their strategy so far has been to emphasize the need to pass biden's agenda in the build back better act, which they say will help bring prices down. and they have also said it's sort of appealing to americans to look at what party is doing something about inflation and what party is just complaining about it. that's their message. so that's their strategy. in terms of concern, i think it's very high. it is one of the top issues that are helping to bring down president biden's poll numbers right now. of course, along with concern, deep concern about the pandemic and those poll numbers matter because they help drag down the party or could help drag down the party in those midterm elections next year. >> real quick follow, though. i've been thinking about the timing of all of this. we're still 11 months away from a midterm election. if everything goes as planned and people have said inflation's going to drop and that the build back better plan, again, it's already paid for and all these wonderful things. is the timing potentially working for them if things pick up and the economy feels better by, say, summer, early fall and people feel like their wallets and their bank accounts are heftier? >> well, the structure of that sentence, alex, had an if in it. and i think the answer to that is yes. if those things do happen, and that is what they are projecting and if said will happen, then the timing could work out very well if americans start next fall right around the time when they start really planning and thinking about their votes to feel that the economic impact of inflation has been reduced and that things are going better with the pandemic. that said, so far the white house has made, they have made projections that haven't come true because there are some things they just can't influence. and one of those has been the pandemic despite their efforts, it just has not been reduced in the way that it would like. >> so, again, you're right, if is the operative word. we have democratic pollster brian striker who told the "new york times" that democrats have a branding problem. he is saying that people think dems come across as too focused on social issues. and he says that the number one issue for women, black and latino voters, is the economy. he's not advocating for ignoring social issues, but voters was tonight hear about the economy and things to help them out economically. do you agree with that? >> well, i do agree that latino voters and african-american voters and particularly women do care about the economy. and i think that the white house and democrats understand that. that's why you have them talking about the economy. one thing that you hear from the white house is that they believe that in order to get our economy back on track, we have to get the pandemic under control. and that is why you see an aggressive response from the white house in order to do that. in terms of a branding problem, i actually have to disagree here. democrats were put in power to fix things. they were put in power because the republicans weren't delivering. they promised to deliver on infrastructure. we had an infrastructure week all four years of the trump administration, and they failed to deliver. biden is in office, he delivers. he gets people vaccinated, is trying to kept this pandemic under control. i do agree that ultimately that his poll numbers are currently tied to this pandemic, and that is why you see them where they are. but democrats made that promise to people that they would fix things. and that's why when they delivered infrastructure, that was a huge deal. they're about to deliver build back better, which is going to be a once-in-a-generation change in putting money in people's pockets. but this all does go back to the economy. at the end of the day all of these policies help working families give relief for working families, put a little bit more money in their pockets. and that's why you continue to see biden and sort of the biden economy booming. because you see a president who is committed to making those investments. >> okay. let me ask you about this new "wall street journal" poll because it shows hispanic voters in a hypothetical 2022 vote pretty evenly split between parties at 37%. there is a margin of error at 7 percentage points. but do these numbers resonate with what you're hearing? >> well, i do think that democrats have to do more to reach out to latino voters. one thing that is very reassuring is building back together, which is the outside organization really trying to work to promote president biden's policies. actually very early on in his presidency they started to spend money to reach out to those voters. they do care about the economy and biden has delivered for latino families. it is just the beginning. i'm sure they will continue to spend more, and outside organization let's continue to do that. but i do think that democrats will need to sort of hit the road, go out on the air waves, go out on spanish and english television and radio and talk to latino voters about how they've delivered for them. yes, we care about issues like immigration because we always know someone who has been undocumented, and we want to make sure that we're providing relief. it was a promise made by democrats. but, at the same time, they care about what everyone cares about, which is affordable childcare. they care about paid family leave. they care about the economy. they want to make sure that they have a little bit more relief. so democrats have to do a better job of doing that. >> okay. guys, unfortunately i'm going to have to wrap it there. jeff, i apologize to you for the brevity. but thank you both so much for your time. so, at this time on friday, everyone, their lives were normal. now everything is changed. we have some new information on the effort to get help to tornado victims, kentucky's lieutenant governor is going to join us next. join us next b against you creating friction. and your clothes rub against you all day. for softer clothes that are gentle on your skin, try downy free & gentle. just pour into the rinse dispenser and downy will soften your clothes without dyes or perfumes. the towel washed with downy is softer, fluffier, and gentler on your skin. try downy free & gentle. recognized by the national psoriasis foundation and national eczema association. ♪ ♪ ♪ hey google. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ no one can deliver your mom's homemade short ribs. that's why instacart helps deliver the ingredients. and you add the love. ♪ ♪ ♪ (sha bop sha bop) ♪ ♪ are the stars out tonight? (sha bop sha bop) ♪ ♪ ♪ alexa, play our favorite song again. ok. ♪ i only have eyes for you ♪ (vo) t-mobile for business helps small business owners prosper during their most important time of year. when you switch to t-mobile and bring your own device, we'll pay off your phone up to $1000. you can keep your phone. keep your number. and get your employees connected on the largest and fastest 5g network. plus, we give you $200 in facebook ads on us! so you can reach more customers, create more opportunities, and finish this year strong. visit your local t-mobile store today. at this hour, the dhs secretary and fema director are preparing to survey the tornado damage in hard-hit kentucky. they're going to give an update with the governor this afternoon. beyond the stories of tragedy and survival from the tornado outbreaks, some rather surprising stories are emerging. winds from the storms were so powerful that items flew for miles, including an historic family photo from dawson springs, kentucky, that landed in the driveway of katie posten nearly 130 mile as way in new albany, indiana. >> i took a picture of it, put it on social media. he was surprised initially because he didn't recognize the names. he was surprised to see that it was his family, but then also that it traveled so far. >> well, that man said that the photo belonged to his relatives. posten plans to return that photo some time this week. and our coverage continues now with ali velshi in mayfield, kentucky. ali, take it from here. every half an hour you've been joining us and bringing us absolutely extraordinary stories of survival and recovery. >> and there's another one in this house here. jared and his family, five of them, rode out the storm in this house. by the way, most of it's like this. there's no roof left at all. they went down into the basement and rode out the storm. jared's joining me now. like a lot of people around here, you're cleaning up, you and your family are trying to make sense of what happened. but you were here when this storm came in. you went -->> oh, goodness. we don't want to lose ali velshi. you know what, we're going to speak with the lieutenant governor jacqueline coleman of kentucky right now. it's something that ali was going to do, but i'm going to handle this interview right now as we hope to reconnect with ali and get those stories. lieutenant governor, though, welcome. i know that you have been touring around the state this afternoon. i cannot even imagine what you are seeing there. but let's talk about what you've learned as you've met your constituents. first of all, how are they doing overall? >> well, first of all, thank you for having me. thank you for bringing this story to the folk as cross america because it's so important. but, you're right, you can't imagine what we're seeing out here. it is devastation like i've never seen before. but what i will say is as breathtaking as the devastation is across the western part of kentucky, it is rivalled by the compassion and the community that we are seeing as these towns big and small come together, there are trucks coming in from other cities, other states. people are doing everything they can to help folks who lost everything. as hard as it is to see and to be on the ground, it is remarkable to see these members of team kentucky come together across the state. >> yeah. do you have any idea the numbers of people that remain missing? i know when you have a tragedy like this where you have police departments and city halls and, you know, official buildings completely flattened, it's hard to get those kinds of numbers. but do you have the scope of who all is missing still? >> right. the numbers are slow going because there is so much cleanup that has to happen. but i can tell you that when the governor and i spoke this morning, the death toll was upwards of 80. and it's expected to grow beyond a hundred. the highest concentration of that being in mayfield, kentucky, which is where the candle factory is getting a lot of attention because of the concentration of death out there. but i can tell you i just left another county, and a town where in city limits there's 300 people, the county has lost 12 lives. that's a huge hit where people are -- you're related to them or you're friends with them, everyone knows someone who's lost a life or who has lost everything in the process. >> yeah. and how do you even begin to come back from that? i guess my question to you is when you talk with people, what are they telling you that they need? i mean, food, water certainly just at the bare minimum. but beyond that i keep talking with my colleague ali velshi, and i say where do people begin? >> yeah. it is -- when you drive through these communities and you see the devastation, you realize that this is -- there are layers and layers to this recovery. the first is cleanup to clear a road so that our first responders can get to folks and so we can get supplies to where they need to be, and to count the loss of life because that's not done yet with every hour it continues to rise, and it's heartbreaking when you think about families and what they're going through right now. beyond that you look at the structural damage that's been done to communities, entire communities have been flattened. schools, churches, government buildings, you name it. and beyond that is the long-term effect. like, here's what you're not seeing in this footage right now. there are huge agricultural points in kentucky that are in western kentucky. they have lost poultry, they've lost grain, they've lost cattle. so, the loss of life, of human life is absolutely unbelievable. but when you think of livelihood and how it's agriculturally based in this part of the state, it's going to be a long road to recovery. >> which brings up the point of the federal government. i know that governor beshear said that he's already spoken with the president three times, maybe even more since the storm. how are you ensuring that the federal resources that you will get are going to match the needs of the people? >> well, that is our number one goal is to make sure that we meet people where they are and that folks get resources no matter how big or small their town is. like i said, i just left mullen burg county. you probably haven't heard a lot about that even though there's a loss of 12 lives in that small community. whether it's mullenburg county or mayfield, we're working with the federal government, we're working with local officials to get folk what's they need. and governor beshear has responded with swift compassionate leadership. that's who he is. the president took his calls immediately, and both immediately worked together to declare a state of emergency so that we can get resources to where they're needed. >> last question. what you heard about the amount of time that people had to seek safety to get advance warning. was it adequate overall? >> i think that depends on where you are and what access you had in terms of connectivity and information. it varies across the west part of the state. but what i will say is the way that folks can help, if you're around the country and you're thinking this is devastating, how can i help, we have set up a fund to raise dollars to go directly to recovery in these areas. and that is at teamwkyrelieffund.ky.gov. we ask that folks, if you have a dollar to spare, make sure that we can help these folks recover. it breaks my heart as a mother to think about these homes and we're two week as way from christmas. there's just so much work we have to do. >> well, as you've aptly said, so many layers to all of this. and that is just one of them. lieutenant governor jacqueline coleman, thank you so much. heartfelt best wishes to all of you as you get through this. and we'll be watching very closely. good luck. >> thank you so much. the latest headline reads, it is officially time to start worrying about the january 6th committee, and the author of the article joins me next. want your clothes to smell freshly washed all day without heavy perfumes? 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>> so, for anyone who feels that who has been monitoring the january 6th committee closely, they will have noticed by now that a number of trump aides subpoenaed by the committee have figured out ways to stonewall, stall, invoke in this case things like their fifth amendment right against self-incrimination or argue that they can't disclose the documents that the committee is seeking because of executive privilege. a lot of these arguments really don't have much force behind them, but it doesn't matter. the strategy behind these trump aides is that they want to run out the clock until the likely changing of hands in congress in the midterm elections. republicans are expected to enjoy a wave election and pick up a number of seats and the majority in the chamber. and then what's likely to happen is that the january 6th committee will be dissolved or defanged by them. so, the strategy for a lot of these trump aides is just to wait and just figure out ways to hold on until republicans regain control of the house of representatives. >> how is it that folks like steve bannon and mark meadows think not complying with the law with a subpoena is okay? where does that come from? >> i mean, it comes from their loyalty to donald trump. they are more worried about his wrath and being alienated by the former president than the judicial arm of the federal government. and this really just speaks to their almost cult-like loyalty for the president right now. the former president has said publicly and to aides that he does not want them cooperating with the january 6th committee. and that's what we're seeing. here's the rub, though, for those members or for those aides and trump. for all of these high-profile subpoenas and bannons and mark meadows who are resisting, there are way more people who we don't know whose names are less known who are cooperating with the committee. and the committee is collecting information from them. so, it's not like a report is unlikely to come out at some point. but there is definitely a timetable. and these aides who have some of the most pertinent information about what happened on january 6th are still not cooperating. >> chairman bennie thompson said he hopes to finish up the investigation by early spring. do you think that is realistic? and if it did wrap up that early, does it run the risk of being incomplete when all is said and done? >> i mean, that's an open question, i think, for members of the committee. obviously, this spring is an expedited time line. and it makes sense. it's so that the public will be able to look at this report, and there will be a due amount of attention on that rather than on the midterms. it's a long time. but what we've seen from this committee in how it's performed so far is that they are incredibly thorough. so if they think that they can produce a satisfactory report by then, they probably can. >> okay, daniel strauss, thank you so much for the article and for coming on and chatting about it. i appreciate it. after ten days of testimony and two dozen witnesses, the 11th hour request from ghislaine maxwell's defense team. we'll talk about it, next. to protect people. to help them save. with a home and auto bundle from progressive. ahh. i was born for this. and now it's prime time. cut. jamie, what are you doing? 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(excited yell) woo-hoo! ensure max protein. with thirty grams of protein, one gram of sugar, and nutrients to support immune health. zblanchts surprise in the ghislaine maxwell trial. the prosecution rested its case and now defense attorneys are calling an acquittal. there's a concern prosecutors are fumbling the case. in fact one says victims have appeared unprepared for cross examination and high profile co-conspirators have not been called to testify for the alleged role in the sex trafficking. joining me is executive producer of chasing ghislaine. it's good to see you on the broadcast. you've been in the court watching this trial from the start. do you agree the prosecution is dropping the ball? >> i do agree with what gabe wrote about that. you know, red by both the defense and the government. they are completely aware of what inconsistencies there might be between what witnesses said say, two years ago about ghislaine maxwell or not about ghislaine maxwell and now. they're also aware that because of jeffrey epstein's history, that some of the witnesses would have been interviewed by the fbi going back to 2007, and again, the defense will be looking for inconsistencies between those sets of testimonies regarding ghislaine maxwell. and yes, gabe sherman's observations and reporting, i think, is dead right. the witnesses for the government with the exception of annie farmer, the last witness whose story is somewhat different, have seemed to be unprepared for questions as to why, what they've told the fbi and the government as recently as within the last two years about ghislaine maxwell is so different now and obviously what the defense are arguing is that the death of jeffrey epstein is what made all the difference because suddenly there was all the money available from his estate for them to claim in the compensations fund. i think the big question is why the government, there are many reasons not to have mentioned ghislaine maxwell going back for years and years. as we know sexual crimes are people who have been victimized have great issues talking a their victimizing. >> what you're talking about is the prospect of reasonable doubt. in the mind of jurors, that's what it's all about. did you hear anything that was devastating to maxwell's defense? >> i think the power of pictures is possibly going to be very important for jurors. that pictures may say more than words in this trial. the defense was noticeably upset when the closing evening the judge allowed pictures of ghislaine maxwell with jeffrey epstein over a number of years. some of them sort of clearly sexual in nature like the one you're showing right now. because what the defense has tried to do is separate ghislaine max well from jeffrey epstein. they've tried to say look, they had a professional relationship. they may have had a romantic relationship, but that was brief. what the pictures clearly do in a way that it may be more effective than any of the words of the witnesses is show these two as being very, very tight. and that, that could be very damning for the -- in the eyes of the jurors. >> do you notice any differences in her behavior between last week, i know you were on last weekend talking about it and this week? as the trial goes on, does she exude an air of confidence? is she maintaining just sort of an anonymous sort of look? i mean, what are your observations on that front? >> well, it's -- she's definitely this week shown signs of more upset than previously. there have been moments when her lawyers have clearly sort of come into comfort her. she's also done something unusual. she herself has sketched not just the sketch artist but all of us sitting behind her. you know, in the moments when her lawyers and the judge are out having side bar on the juror and we're all sitting there, and she's sitting there, and she has turned around and stared at all of us and then drawn us. you know, an unusual thing to have done. but she -- but i would say overall, last week she was much more confident looking. this week, definitely moments of upset. >> vickie ward, thank you so much for your observations. we'll look forward to talking to you more as the case goes forward. that does it for me. i'll see you next saturday. stay with us. ay stay with us ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ experience the power of sanctuary at the lincoln wish list event. wondering what actually goes into your multi-vitamin. at new chapter. experience the power of sanctuary its innovation organic ingredients and fermentation. fermentation? 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yep. lou! mom said she could save up to $400 on her wireless bill by switching to xfinity internet and mobile. with nationwide 5g at no extra cost. and lou! on the most reliable network, lou! smart kid, bill. oh oh so true. and now, the moon christmas special. gotta go! take the savings challenge at xfinitymobile.com/mysavings or visit an xfinity store to learn how our switch squad makes switching fast and easy this holiday season. good afternoon. we begin this hour with breaking new developments in the aftermath of the deadly tornadoes that barrelled through half a dozen states friday night. search and rescue efforts continue in multiple towns as the confirmed death toll