i think the most reasonable people, even those who believe that that was the correct legal, finding in that case. understand the key facts of what kyle rittenhouse did, in kenosha wisconsin last august. what's brought him to that moment. he was a minor. 17 years old at the time of the shooting. he took in a legally acquired semiautomatic rifle to another city, that he did not live in, and inserted himself in the midst of protests and chaos. and he then took the lives of two people. including robbing a young child of her father. his actions are not worthy of celebration, independent of that verdict. and yet kyle rittenhouse is being turned into a right-wing hero. you should see the moment that tucker carlson, was lucky enough to meet him. >> oh kyle rittenhouse. it's so nice to meet you. i can't believe you're here. where fans of yours as you know. >> you'll have to excuse tucker. he gets giddy in the presence of his heroes. we're big fans of you as you know. think about that sentence. what does that mean? there's literally nothing to be a fan of. kyle rittenhouse is a child who shot and killed two, people and wounded at third. that's his body of work. that's it. you're a fan of that? it's not just fox news, i want to show you what that looks like at the right wing america fest 2021 taking, plays over the past four days. in phoenix arizona. kyle rittenhouse receive the rock star treatment, their complete with pyrotechnics in a theme song. >> ladies and gentlemen, please, let's get loud, for kyle rittenhouse. >> this, event hosted by the conservative group, turning point usa, is the kind of place we are seeing a certain grim aspect of right-wing politics, getting increasingly more pronounced. it's a sort of celebration and modeling, of fundamentally average antisocial violent behavior. like being a jerk. that's the donald trump maga model of course. it's wet turn congresswoman -- into stars. this proved on the right, people acting as terribly as possible, seems to be the thing that makes you most adored. it's a fascinating thing to watch on some level. that's the recipe. that is the secret sauce of this current version of right-wing politics. it's not just rhetorical. it's not just rhetorical. it's not just saying stuff that makes people upset. as you saw with the welcome for kyle rittenhouse. kyle rittenhouse is known for one thing. they are literally celebrating, killing people. now all of this comes in a larger context, and that's the broad fetishes asian of guns in violence on the right. a public poll from the public religious research institute found that 30% of republicans agree with the statement. because things have gotten off track, true american patriots may have to result to violence to save our country. we know there are more and more guns in america, and they are held in fewer and fewer hands. we have more guns than people. about 121 firearms in circulation for every hundred residents, making the u.s. by far the most heavily armed society in the world. and most of those guns are owned by republican. 50% of republicans personally own a gun, 60% live in a household in a, gun compared to 21 and 30% of democrats. the right, celebrates, this it's become a sort of core identity aspects. they celebrated this week at turning point usa, so called america fest. with kyle rittenhouse at the center of it all. i have to say. watching that tape. of him walking out, in the big, cheering is one of the most honest despicable developments in our politics in recent memory, which is recently saying something, because boy we've been full of them. turning point usa events are also the kinds of places where you get questions about one to start killing people. this happened in an event and boise state university and idaho and october. >> at this point, we are living under a corporate and medical fascism. this is tyranny. when do we get to use the guns? i'm not that's not a joke, i'm not saying it like that. i mean literally. where is the line. how many elections are they going to steal, before we kill these people? >> hold on. stop, hold on. i'm going to denounce, that i'll tell you why, because you're playing into all of their plans, and they're trying to make you do this. >> when that guy says i'm not joking, take this seriously. you should take it seriously, he wasn't joking. the person who responded to that question, was the founder of turning point usa. surely kick, kirk, who did knock down that suggestion. which is a low, bar but give him credit for crossing it. but the celebratory missions around, violence coming from the right wing, coming from charlie kirk's group saying, here's kyle rittenhouse guys. it's very clear. sometimes that message is, implicit sometimes it's explicit, sometimes it's just a rhetorical, flourish just laying out there. just another version of, it from jesse waters, again, jesse waters is one of those people, the only reason anyone knows his name, is because when he was a younger fox news personalities staffer, he was the one willing to act like a bit of a sociopath, hounding people in the, street and sticking alike from their face and ambushing them. sometimes he do that to fame is people. which that's fair, fine. but a lot of times, they were famous people, they were just being bullied by him. and that was his path to right-wing fame, yesterday, at america, fest jesse waters had some instructions for those who want to follow in his footsteps. he described the way to ambush in her walk you doctor fauci, to catch him in a lie about the origins of the coronavirus. just like everything else about this stuff, it's laced with violent rhetoric. >> now you're going for the kill shot. the kill shot, with an ambush. deadly. because he doesn't see it coming. this is when you say, doctor fauci, you funded risky research, at a sloppy chinese lab, the same lab, that sprung this pandemic on the world's, you know why people don't trust you don't you? blue, he is dead. he is dead. he's done. >> he's dead. that's the kill shot, the question about the chinese lab this spread covid, which, by the way is extremely undetermined at this moment. of course, again, in the immediate context, on that sort of vegas style stage, where you're basking in the admiration of a lot of young, people who maybe want to grow up to be a sociopath like you. but that language is metaphorical. but doctor fauci has had to have security, as a result of language and threats like this. and of course, these words come in the broader context, of everything being said and done on the right. they were spoken at this america fest event, where they are celebrating kyle rittenhouse's, literal kiss shot. against two people. it's hard to see in here all of, that and now here is something that sounds a lot like, your next lid. the rights celebration of violence, their fait is-ization of, guns which is there's a whole lot to say about where that's coming from. but, the fetish annissa of guns, in the celebration of, violence is one of the most dominant developments in american politics. they're putting it now in full display, -- school of journalism. linda chavez serves the highest ranking woman in the rigging administration, they both join me now. linda, i want to start with you, i have noticed something, just in interactions with, people people and social media, about kyle rittenhouse, it's a little bit of a wedge among conservatives, it's similar in some ways to the vaccine. there's a lot of conservatives that are like i'm a trump, person and i hate the, liberals i don't like fauci, but i got the vaccine, and then there's people that are like no it's a secret plot. with kyle rittenhouse, i have seen, there's a lot of concern, people are like obviously we should not be celebrating with this person did. it's just common sense, and i am astounded, i mean i know it exists. but i am astounded, that that is not the obvious consensus view of people on the american right. >> i agree with you, by the way, if this kyle rittenhouse, the tucker carlson charlie cook kyle rittenhouse, had been the young man who had testified on the stand and his own behalf, i don't think he would've been acquitted. the way he was. i think he was acquitted, yes i think he did have the law on his, side whether you agree with the way the laws return, i think you did have the lawn's side. but, he also was a sympathetic, figure he seemed to be genuinely sorry, over what he had done, and soon after, he seemed to think that he shouldn't of been there, he should've been hen ar-15, or whatever other semi automatic weapon he had on the streets. but now, he's become a cult hero. and my guess is, we are going to see more of this. i think it's a real tragedy, it's a tragedy for rittenhouse as well as for the conservative movement. >> you bring in a lot about gun culture, and the role of the gun, and the sort of fetish of the gun of instrument of politics. what do you see when you see this rock star introduction? >> there are two things chris. the first is, i want to be consistent. i've written a lot about juvenile justice, in the way that our system treats young people, who have not psychologically developed into adulthood. cognitively developed into adulthood. in order to be consistent with, that the thing i have to say, is that i'm horrified, that there's this idea of guns in valorize a shun of killing people. under the circumstances in which they were killed. the other thing that strikes, me is this is profoundly unhealthy for a young person. this is, we we know about the psychic toll in the emotional toll, that celebrity takes on young people. it's a well known story. of the child star who is very poorly adjusted as an adult. compound that with being a celebrity for killing two people. and shooting a third. i just think this is wrong. it's immoral, an unethical in ways that go across partisan lines. about the firearm part of his specifically though, this is about him realizing, it an objective, which is been fairly well stated on the right for a long time. there's a great book on this, richard sloughed ins gunfighter nation, talking about the psychology of the firearm. and how it relates in american history, but this is a quick point of it, a decade ago. this was george zimmerman. and he received a similar kind of treatment. this is what goes to the core, of the values of people on the right. and they're increasingly reactionary violent rate. >> i'm glad you said which you said in that first part to. i feel the exact same way, when he was acquitted i tweeted something about how i hope he takes the opportunity to recognize what he did was awful, and its own for. and change his life. and do something that makes the world a better place. i think people, were angry at, that because they fell a lot of rage at the unjust and they felt with the verdicts. that core point again, to put the politics aside for a second. if this is a six six spectacle. this is a very sick spectacle, with a lot of people, who should know better who don't. watching tucker carlson and linda chavez, quiver and squeal in delight, you are grown asked man. grow up. grow up. your man, in your gravelling at the foot of this kid. because of the people he killed. >> it's really scary. there is this very strange idea of masculinity, this seems to prevail on the rights. and tucker carlson, i think exemplifies it. he is, it really is unfortunate, i think just as a matter of public policy. ronald reagan, who was a real man, with someone who had sensible views on gun control. he was opposed to the open carry law in california for example. he did not want, there is a law passed by the state legislature which she signed which made it illegal to open carry in the state of california. and he came out for other sensible laws. the nra itself used to be all about gun safety, not anymore. >> i should, no i think reagan signed that after the black panther started opening carrying on the capitol steps. which i think points to the subtext of all of this. you hear it all the time. when do we get to use the guns? it's like the narrative here, it's moved from, we like these, this is our way of life, hunting fishing, i learned to my dad. that stuff is still there. to explicitly, no, we have these, to turn against their fellow citizens when the time comes. and that is, that is increasingly explicit, not just implied. i mean, it's charles bronson. we go back to the 1970s. he's been our guest as we are familiar with the incident in the 19 80s. it is a long lineage of this. but the other thing i think that is increasingly important is that the rhetoric has changed from being simply about self-defense to a kind of preemptive self-defense. it is very quickly, as you think about what's ties rittenhouse, zimmerman, to the other case and the death of ahmaud arbery together, is that all three of these incidents involve people who are going up to protect property that was not there. so this is fundamentally about the idea that you can construe self-defense to mean anything. and you can proactively pursue people and still say you were defending yourself. >> jelani cobb and linda chavez, thank you for sharing your perspective. i really appreciate it. you remember that bizarre video that surfaced from police body cam that we played on the show? it showed one of the weirdest stories of the past few years. a publicist for kanye was attempting to strong arm a georgia election worker into falsely claiming election fraud so that donald trump can steal the election. it now appears that that incident was exactly what it looked like. and we just learned wide that publicist showed up in georgia from the trump campaign guy who centered there. that story, next. that story, next crest has you covered. crest, the official toothpaste of santa. follow us @crest to celebrate the 12 days of crest smiles. i said it earlier this month, when we first brought you the story, and i will say it again. donald trump and his allies did everything they possibly cole to try and over throw a democratic election and install an authoritarian ruler in defiance of the peoples will. that included showing up at the doorstep of the local georgia election worker named ruby freeman. now we broke this bizarre story, about a publicist named kuti. pressuring this poll worker, robbie freeman, and trying to get her to falsely admit that she rigged the georgia election by stuffing thousands of fake ballots. freeman had been the target of this ludicrous conspiracy theory based on this edited together video. and it made its way from a fringe website. saying, that is the woman that stole georgia. all the way to the oval office. donald trump even mentioned, ruby freeman 18 times on the phone call with the georgia secretary of state. and because that, friedman's life was essentially ruined. she is barricaded in her house. there are people outside. her family got death threats. and that may be why she ultimately agreed to listen when she is barricaded in this world win. and this public is -- shows up to help. now we need to pause to show some context here. the publicist was first identified for the rapper kanye yes, and that was notable because west is a close ally of donald trump. west himself, rana have big presidential campaign in 2020 that many have to expect it was a kind of dirty trick to siphon votes away from joe biden. but a spokesperson for the rapper now says that he is not affiliated with him at the time of this incident. so the publicist shows up, and he is the poll worker and the subject of this malicious viral live that she stole the election. and she is barricaded her house, and he shows up at her door and says that i work for a high-profile individual. she is crucial in -- and so the two agreed to speak at a local tv station, because friedman is whipped up. and thanks to body camera footage from the officer in the room, we have video of the conversation. and it is truly unnerving. >> i cannot say what specifically will take place. i just know that it will disrupt your freedom. the freedom of one or more of your family members. i would like to connect now on the phone, harris -- who would be taking the situation to a detailed level to let you know exactly what is at stake. >> are you harrison ford? >> harrison ford, harrison ford is a black progressive crisis manager. a very high level with authoritative powers to get you protection that you need. >> okay. i come from these people, they are talking about the black progressive crisis manager, he is going to get to protected. before we go, aren't they identified harrison ford, but as journalist uncovered, it's her son floyd. his phone conversation would ruby friedman was not caught on camera. but they did talk with him. and they said that if you don't tell everything, you're going to jail. in other words, you're going to get locked up unless you confess two years since which didn't happen. so what is happening here is pretty obvious. though it is bizarre. we kind of needed at the time, but now we know it for sure. trivia kuti, and harris and floyd are trying to bully ruby friedman to admit she ranked the election. because then that would give donald trump and their allies something concrete to use to challenge the results because they've been striking out all over the place. and floyd is not a black progressive as he claimed. he is a right-wing operative. he is head of an organization called black voices for trump. he wants even got a shot up from trump during an atlanta rally. >> we are delighted to be joined by harrison floyd of our black voices correlation. [applause] >> harrison thank you very much, i appreciate it. great job you're doing. >> now, journalist hunter actually spoke to floyd who denied being involved detroit during the incident. the way tells it, he was just trying to offer a helping hand. i started getting phone calls from a lot of people saying that ruby freeman wanted immunity. she wanted to talk to the president. so you see, floyd just wanted to help or ruby friedman when she reportedly told her she was going to jail if she did not admit to crimes that she did not commit. hunter walker's piece is titled, former trump campaign aide admits involvement into than involving kanye's publicist and georgia election worker. and hunter, this has been truly one of the most bizarre stories i have ever seen. who is harrison floyd? and what is his connection to trump? >> i think it is important for your readers, sorry, your viewers to understand the black voices for trump is actually part of the trump campaign. he is the executive director of this coalition. which was basically the centerpiece of the trump campaign's effort to black voters. potentially, this length this coup incident directly to the trump campaign. in my conversation with harrison floyd, who also ran for congress very briefly in 2019, he insisted that he is not employed by the trump campaign after november 15th of 2020. at the same time, he didn't exactly tonight being in touch with the campaign. although he said to be repeatedly that any conversation he had with them was in a quote unquote, overcapacity. he was somehow connected to the campaign. and he also was the man on the phone in this police station meeting with trippy kuti, the publicist, and ruby friedman. >> i don't want this to get lost. he's a trump campaign aide. a trump campaign aide teamed up with publicist to pressure a random georgia election worker? and intimidate a georgia election worker into confessing to crimes she did not commit so that donald trump would have a predicate to overturn the election. that is the story? >> right. i'm prior to this, there was already questions to the number of republican operatives uncanny stuff about whether his hold, have big campaign, it was an effort to help trump take away votes from biden. people i have talked to about that wonder if it was adrift or was it dirty tricks because connie sort of threw $12 million around so that people might have had motivation to join him besides helping trump. but this is also a connection between the trump campaign and the kanye west campaign. but i think as you alluded to, one of the most interesting things here is that this took place on january 4th. two days before president trump stood on the lips and told people to march on the capital. as we talked about last week, chris, at this time this whole loose confederation of trump allies were sort of looking for evidence of voter fraud from the january six organizers who talk to both of us. they were hope to be presented on that state. and at that time, he was there saying ruby friedman, i need to move you in 48 hours, and you need to make this confession within 48 hours. >> yes, she keeps saying 48 hours. the clock is ticking. and basically the strong sense to get is that this is the last shot. because everything else has and, work every claim has been left out of court. the lawyers have even been sanctioned at this point not saying that she should yet. the audits have come back with nothing. there is nothing. here it, is the last shot, get this woman to confess. to confess that she and her daughter, have stuff thousands of dollars -- and that would be the thing that brings on the whole house of cards. and here's the pressure. it's a team effort between economy publicists and a former trump campaign aide who, by the way run for congress with this ad just to give people a little bit of what this individuals vibes are, take a listen to his. that >> i am running for congress because my family and i didn't fight for our freedom to allow our country to fall to socialism. i will fight socialist and congress the same way i fought terrorists in the desert. so help me god. >> which, you know, killed them. that is the point. there he didn't win his congressional race. hunter walker, fantastic reporting, thank you so much for joining us tonight. >> thank you chris. >> all right, coming up, possible criminal referral for donald trump in a stonewall from a sitting member of congress. the latest indulgent into the january six investigation with committee member, adam schiff, that is next. that is next the january six committee is taking their first up and trying to talk to lawmakers who may or may not have relevant information. the first person on that, list is a republican member of congress. yesterday in a letter requesting pennsylvania republican scott perry is cooperation, the committees chair benny thompson rates quote, then president trump considered appointing jeffrey clark's acting attorney general, as mr. clark pressed's department of justice superiors to use agency authorities to challenge election results. we have received evidence from multiple witnesses, that you had an important role in the efforts to install mr. clark's acting attorney general. perry responded this morning saying quote, i declined this entities request, and will continue to fight the failures, of the radical capitol left. tonight the committee is indicating a firm response to perry's resistant, to talk about that in one moment with a committee member adam schiff. it's just another sign of how serious this investigation is getting. remember, as the new york times reported last, night the committee is recommending, donald trump himself face federal criminal charges. adam schiff of california, is a member of the house select committee, he's also the lead impeachment manager donald trump's first impeachment. he joins me now. congressman, let's talk about congressman scott perry. obviously this is interesting. and i feel like almost uncharted waters. i'm trying to rack my brain, for a similar situation, in which you had a specially impounded committee, you have witnesses who are themselves member of congress, and how to treat that. what is your response to him saying, he simply won't cooperate? >> there is precedent certainly for calling members of congress, before an investigatory committee. in the russia investigation, we asked a republican and a democratic lawmaker, both to come, and both agreed to do so voluntarily. in this extraordinary member of congress to refuse, and here we have the question, why is he trying to obstruct the work of the committee. why is he unwilling to volunteer what he knows when he evidently had some role in trying to install the department of justice, reportedly used -- to get georgia and other states to not send in their electors, or send in an alternate electors. he reportedly, was also involved in conspiracy theories about dominican voting systems. and communications with the white house chief of staff. including apps? why is he unwilling to talk to congress about, that if it's all about -- why is he unwilling to talk to congress? >> there is quite a bit of public reporting, that he was a key sort of intermediary, with getting jeffrey clark, who of course was at the department of justice, insert applauded directly with the president. to overthrow the acting attorney general at the time, and descend out these, letters telling oh we found fraud in your state, you can just have another election, or singer electors. we know that perry was involved in some way with clark. that's pretty established. >> on the basis of testimony we have received, we have reason to believe that yes, he was involved in efforts to install jeffrey clark at the justice department. and why were they trying to effectively decapitate the leadership of that department? and install clark, and i think there's good reason to believe it's because clark was willing to try to get georgia to withhold its electors. or send an alternate slate. they were developing plans to do that with other states. look, perry has a lot that he could share with congress, and the country. and legally at this point, he's been asked to volunteer. if he refuses, we will have to consider what comes next. >> we should know and that letter, that cher thompson, said he said when mr. clark decided to invoke his fifth amendment rights, he understood we plan to pose questions addressing his interactions with, you among a host of other topics. this is not, he has not declined a subpoena at this point, this was simply an invitation to cooperate given that he's a member of congress, will be an expectation that a member of congress wouldn't. so what happens next? >> we'll discuss it as a committee, whether the next step is to issue a subpoena. to compel him to appear. we've had to take that step with other witnesses, and with it's been successful, still others have not. they continue to resist. i would hope this will not be necessary, and congressman perry seems intent on refusing to volunteer what he knows. again, we have to ask why. if the congress investigation of a violent attack on the capitol, believes he is important information, clearly he, does why is he refusing to volunteer to cooperate? >> i want to read to you from a new york times article that came out last, night just before we went to, air it reads as follows. according to people briefed on their, efforts investigators for the committee, that's the committee you, sudan are looking into whether a range of crimes were, committed including two in particular. whether was wry or fired by republicans who raised millions of dollars off the election was stolen. despite knowing the claims are, natural and whether mr. trump and his allies destructive congress by trying to stop the certification of the votes. can you confirm that reporting that you are looking at? >> i can say certainly, our primary purpose is a legislative, one that's we want to establish all of the facts, as well as take legislative action to protect the country going forward. certainly, if we discover evidence of criminal activity, we will consider referring that to the justice department, if they are not already investigating, it we have many referrals in the past, most of the referrals we make our people who have come before congress, and we believe have lied to us, like roger stone, like mike flynn and others. not mike flynn terms of congress, but like roger stone, and so, we have all made those kind of referrals in the past, if we discover other criminal activity, we will discuss referring those as well. >> okay, congressman adam schiff who sits on that, committee thank you very much. thank you. up next, the head of the cdc is here to talk about the new covid variant. and the administration's plan to tackle. that's next. >> i know you're tired. i really mean, this i know you're frustrated, we all want this to be over. but we are still in it. but we are still in it but we are still in it or with vicks vaposhower. take a soothing vicks vapo moment wherever you chose. ♪ after a night like this, crest has you covered. crest, the official toothpaste of santa. follow us @crest to celebrate the 12 days of crest smiles. >> more than 200 million americans are fully vaccinated. in march of 2020, no one was fully vaccinated. what that means is today the cases of covid-19 for a fully vaccinated person are most likely related to no symptoms or mild ones similar to the common respiratory viruses. over 200 million americans showed a peace in mind that they did not have in march of 2020. >> today, president joe biden address the nation on the omicron coronavirus variant as administration faces unique challenge at this point in the pandemic. he wants people to get the booster shot because the data show that your vaccine immunity does decline overtime. so if your shots were six months or longer ago, a booster shot helps restore. it and that could help a lot against omicron based on some of the data we are seeing. at the same time, the white house does not want to downplay the importance of vaccination itself. because the one consistent takeaway we have is that the vaccine, just the normal vaccine course, does not just produced transmission. it is also our greatest protection right now against serious illness and death from the virus. and in this wave, that is more important than ever. because omicron is causing outbreaks even in highly vaccinated places. one example that is in denmark, that is one of the most vaccinated countries in the world. 81% of the eligible population is fully vaccinated. 36% is boosted. to give you some context of how high that number is, here, about 66% of the eligible population effects unaided, and 30% disgusted. so it's a very vaccinated place. while in denmark, they are in the midst of the worst wave of the virus that they have ever seen. since this whole thing started, averaging over 5000 new cases a day. in a place of the population in 5 million in the state of wisconsin. omicron is just incredibly transmissible. but here is the hope. if we turn our attention to denmark. in the uk, 70% of the population is fully vaccinated. we could see a model that would hopefully have been here in the eunice. and we're seeing data right now. in the summer, the uk had a big spike that trickled into the fall. that was caused by the delta variant. but you will see that the number of covid related deaths stay pretty flat. see that blue, on the right there? it does not spike up the way that the cases do in red on the left of your screen. right? so the reddest cases, they're going crazy. what you see is that the deaths don't spike with cases. so that is the hope. the wedge between people getting this infectious disease and not getting super six. that is what the vaccine should do. it's what we know they do do. and we are hoping now for in places in new york city where omicron six folding. preventing the worse outcome. because hospitals have been really pummeled throughout this pandemic, and of course worth, death. that is still the way out of the worst of this pandemic. and it is the one thing that vaccines do really well. that said, it is not the only tool we have. there are other tools that we need to fight this outbreak, or who knows, that there is another variant after this one. today, the white house announced that they are sending at home testing kits for free to american households. this is welcome as an announcement. i will ask cdc director, rochelle walensky, about that announcement, next. announcement, next make your nights anything but silent. and ride in a sleigh that really slays. because in a cadillac, tradition is yours to define. so visit a cadillac showroom, and start celebrating today. ♪ ♪ facing expensive vitamin c creams with dull results? 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and not able to get tested, and wondering what took so long to ramp up testing? >> come on, what took so. long >> i am hearing that is the people who are trying to get tested before the holidays. >> well with took so long is that it didn't take long at all. would have been to us, the omicron virus spread in more rapidly than what anyone thought. i told you, four weeks ago, that this would spread by a day-to-day basis. it would spread by 5000 percent, 200%. i think you look at me and then you'll see, biden water you're drinking? >> trying to head on criticism on the covid testing. front today he announced the government will start mailing 500 million at home test kits to american homes for free. joining me now for more on the administration's efforts against the omicron variant, the director of the center for disease control prevention, rochelle walensky. it's good to have you doctor. let me follow up on that question. the president was asked, and i follow this very closely, i'm not an epidemiologist, but it's been my job for the last 19 months to follow this, we didn't know that omicron was going to spread very quickly. i think the peace surprise some people, before five weeks ago when we started looking at with the lab isolation of the mutation and the earliest data we were getting from south africa was, it shouldn't really be a surprise to anyone. we have this massive outbreak right now. >> good evening chris. good to be back with. you let me just step back and say where we are right. now i know people know that things are moving quickly. we have about 70% of our cases now that are the omicron variant. that was protected by the cdc and released in the last 24 hours. we have seen as we watched this virus, this variant, in other countries, is exactly what we are fearing here. the doubling time for this vibrant has been one and a half to three days. when you have a vibrant with a doubling time it can increase very rapidly. and that is exactly what we've seen. here we were anticipating this, we were preparing for this, and this is really the motivation for the presidents announcement today to really help with search supports in the hospital setting. it was to increase access to testing. and then of course to increase access to vaccination. and that is all of the package of what we are doing just in this moment. but i do want to remind everyone that we are in a very different place today than what we were a year ago. now we have the science and now we have the tools that we know we need to come back this. and that of course includes getting vaccinated, getting boosted and practicing those prevention measures regardless of whether you are vaccinated or boosted. and this is wearing a mask in public and outdoor settings. >> one of the problems folks have had is not having access to quality mask. and also the access to testing for group gatherings, holiday dinners, and stuff like. that it does feel like the capacity, and again, i know that the doubling time is nuts. i have watched it myself. i have never seen anything like. it i have never seen an infectious disease do with this disease is doing right now in new york through the just in terms of the -- transmission. >> but it does seem like the capacity that we have, new york is a very strong infrastructure for testing. and it has not kept up in the spikes in cases. at the worry is that, you know, when it comes to pieces that have less of a public health infrastructure that new york city, that is going to be a real problem. >> yes, the government right now is doing a lot and we know that we have more work to do. there is a huge demand for tests in this moment, not just in new york, not just in this country but truly around the world. so we have invested and the government has announced a three billion dollars in rapid at home test. and we have today, 20,000 sites where you can get a pcr test for free. and there are going to be new federal fight for pcr tests. there are going to be in places that have high demand just at this moment. and those are happening right now. especially in new york city. so there's a lot of work going on right now as this demand is increasing. >> i want to ask another policy question about travel then. south africa scientists first identified this variant. the world in some ways is in their death because they are the first one to figure this out, to notify the world and ringing the alarm bells. we still have, in relation to, that a travel ban in south africa. former fda commissioner, scott gottlieb, notified that the travel ban did not. work it didn't even buy us time. but it did records show political cooperation in how we treat nations that do the right thing in identifying new pathogens, alerting the. world should and we get rid of the travel ban in south africa given the levels of community transmission that we have here? now >> i think the many important points that you have made need to be answered. one is that we identified the african colleagues and how hopeful they have been as we learn more and more about this omicron variant. we, at the time of the travel ban was put on out of an abundance of caution, the goal was to diminish the spread that we were going to have here. and to bias sometime. and that is exactly what we did. we did put the travel ban on in a place that had the most disease with omicron at the time. we are obviously revisiting that decision right now and we all anticipate that that will be temporary. >> final question for you. i think people are trying to figure out right now what we are in. and as a policy maker at cdc, what our success over the next six week look like? how does the administration to find success over these next six weeks as the variant inevitably spreads across the country? >> right. we have a lot of deceased out there now. and what we are working right now to do is to decrease the amount of severe disease and death. that is associated with this current search. how do we do that? we have 40 million americans who are not yet vaccinated with their first dose. we want to get them their first dose. we want to get them their second dose. and ultimately, we want to get them their booster dose. we want to get our most vulnerable populations, and truly, the entire eligible population with their booster dose. because we know that especially against this omicron variant, we need extra levels of vaccine protection in order to remain safe from severe disease and death. and so we are working to support more vaccinations and more booster doses. and really to make sure that we can maintain our hospitals so that they are not overwhelmed and that we can maintain regular hospital services. so that, in my mind, if we can decrease the amount of cases, get more and more people vaccinated and boosted, and decrease the surge on the hospitals with low rates ultimately of disease i think that we can come out of this search successfully. >> all right, doctor rochelle walensky, director of cdc. thank you for making time with us tonight. i really appreciate it. >> thank you for having me chris. >> before we go tonight, have you heard of nft's? i hadn't before a few years ago and then this year they are everywhere. and people are making millions of dollars on little pieces of unique little codes called non-fungible tokens. and i think that if you listen about it casually it seems like it must be a scam. right? but is it. that is what i wanted to find out from new york times, ted column is, kevin roose. and i feel like i have my arms around this. not you can listen to our conversation right now on why is this happening. wherever you get your podcasts. that is all in on this tuesday night. the rachel maddow show starts right now. good evening rachel. good evening rachel. i guess what i would say is there is lots of things like it. there are lots of things in life that people pay crazy amount of money for. it is sort of in that category. that was my basic takeover. it >> that is good though. because taking away the fact that it's digital itch or it has an acronym that is hard to remember. therefore it must be a unique thing i'm putting it in the realm of other stuff like this realm of other stuff like this which may or may not that is very helpful. >> i found it useful. i found it useful. >> well done, my friend. much appreciated.it thanks to you at home for being with us tonight. it is official. as of today you have made it. you have made it through the longest night of the year. it is all downhill and brightening horizons from now on. it's great to have you here. okay. one year ago, to be precise, exactly one year and one week ago, on december 14th last year, this quite nutty thing happened at the state capitol building in lancing, michigan. a group of 16 michigan republicans came to a side door of the state capitol and they tried to get in.an a very polite state trooper at the door told them the capitol