insurrection. this as the january 6th committee teases plans for the new year. the latest on how congressional investigators are working at speed to get a hold of the twice impeached ex-president's documents and what is revealed in the series of public hearings they are promising to roll out in the coming weeks. the legacy of the roberts' courts and the effective end of protections for abortion rights. why is chief justice john roberts' approval ratings so high? i'll puzzle it out with the two legal minds. and it has been 2022 for several hours now. it is time to talk about the elections. if you sit out the midterms, don't. i'll explain why there is more than control of congress at stake this november. "velshi" starts now. good morning. happy new year. i'm andy hassan filling in for ali velshi. the country rang in 2022. we are in the third calendar year that the world has been gripped by the pandemic. the ball drop in new york, which featured 60,000 people in times square, was reduced to 15,000 who were required to wear masks and show proof of vaccination. this as covid cases fueled by the omicron variant sought record highs on new year's eve. the daily two-week average was up by more than 200%. the hospitalizations over the same two-week period was 21% increase. the death toll on december 31st, was 1,181. offering a tiny measure of relief. sadly, the majority of cases and hospitalizations and deaths are totally preventable through the available and free covid vaccines. unfortunately, according to the census data in december, 15% of american adults over age 18, roughly 49 million americans, still remain unvaccinated. this segment of the population is a driving force behind the recent deaths and strain on our hospitals. >> we should see peaks over the next several weeks. peaks mean potentially as high as 1 million plus cases. i think we are at 1 million plus cases a day. we have so many people that are not testing and can't get a test or tests at home. that doesn't get reported into the stats. the faa is warning that the flight delays are going to continue with airline staffing shortages brought on by omicron. the cdc says people should avoid cruise travel regardless of vaccination status. on a positive note, the headline offering a glimmer of hope reading south africa says it is passed the fourth wave of cases and counts few added deaths. this is optimistic for countries like the u.s. dealing with its wave of the highly contagious omicron variant. we have dr. patel. medical contributor. happy new year. hopeful news from south africa. things could go differently as well. couldn't they? >> absolutely. happy new year, mehdi. i don't want people to get complacent with this. complacency will translate into lives lost. it already has by hearing that omicron might be mild and this effect on hospitalizations and deaths may not be as severe. the sheer numbers alone with with less severity is still stunning. >> we played you speaking this week about testing and the likelihood of 1 million cases a day. that is a staggering number. what does it all mean if omicron is more like the flu as we are hearing as suggested by some? >> i'll use more simple numbers because it is hard for us to think exponentially. i think everyone is listening to a third less severe or hospital attack rate of 1%. we are thinking, that means there will be so many fewer hospitalizations. on the surface, that may seem true. if you have a virus that has an ineffective rate of giving it to one or two or three people compared to delta linked to one or two other people. being able to infect more people with the flu, even with a lower hospitalization rate, literally means we have higher numbers than we had with delta or other ones. i want people to remember. i have the flu. we are used to it. two, we have the higher vaccination rate in some years than the flu than with covid right now. we still have way too many people not boosted and vaccinated. we know omicron boosters -- third boosters are the most effective. >> you mentioned delta. where is delta? we didn't leave it behind. it is still killing americans every day. >> it is. i've been trying to look. we have had these conversations are repeat. we don't have enough genetic sequencing or testing. that is still the case. we don't have enough understanding of exactly how much delta is in the united states. however, hospitals doing in-pay sent sequencing on labs and patients inside the walls are still about one-third of hospital cases that are delta to 60%. that could explain the numbers in minnesota and parts of the midwest. this kind of omicron, omicron, omicron is misguided if we just think delta has gone away. omicron will in a week or two be more dominant. we are still dealing with hospitals with delta. >> and 30 seconds left. i have to ask. the lack of testing nationwide. the lines at testing centers. that's a scandal. >> it is a scandal. something we will look back on and many people will probably write about what we could have done. never too late. we need to prepare for the next surge. getting that shored up now is a priority. it seems like it is. it needs to be done post haste. we have a surge around the corner. >> yes, indeed. dr. patel, thank you for joining us this morning. joining us now is sarah nelson. the association of flight attendants. happy new year. good morning, sarah. i want to begin with the cdc guidance. let's start with the guidance from the cdc. cut ten days to five days. have a listen to the director rochelle walensky. >> we thought people would tolerate. we thought we would have more cases. many would be ya symptomsymptom. people would not tolerate being home and not comply with being home. this was the moment we needed to make those changes. >> what is your reaction to the policy from the cdc? >> the problem is this came at the behest of delta airlines and others that complained of staffing shortages. that takes the sting to the credibility of the cdc. going beyond that, let's be clear. what director walensky said is true. some people feel better and could get back into the work force. that could happen and five days. what we know from what she is saying is that there will be people infectious. the airlines and other companies are going to be pushing people to come back to work before they are ready. before they feel better. we don't have a test component added on to this. we encourage the airlines to go above the minimal guidance from the cdc. if we continue to go with this, we know we will send infectious people in the work space and on planes and communities and extend the pandemic. >> you mentioned the reporting that delta airlines lobbied for the cut in the quarantine period. now reported that delta airlines cut their own sick pay. paid sick leave for employees as soon as the cdc changed from ten days paid to five days paid. >> it is a scandal at delta airlines. it is a scandal in the country. we need to pass the build back better act. we need paid sick leave in the country. i sad sat with people who had to make the choice to go to work sick or not get paid. we have a baseline. we have a lot of agreements for paid sick leave due to coronavirus. not just employee accrued sick leave. according to the contract. delta airlines does not have a union. they are going to push people with discipline and they will push people with this strain of saying we're not going to pay for time out to get better. it is going to push people back into the work force and on to our planes when they are still infectious. we will have long-term pain from this for whatever short-term gain delta will get out of it. >> i'm not pr expert. if i ran a company called delta in the middle of the pandemic, i would be concerned. sarah,travelers headed home. how concerned should they be with shortages with omicron? >> we have people who are sick. before the holidays, we negotiated incentives for people who are well are willing to pick up more flights. they have been unwilling to do that with the conflict with the skies. there should be more crew out there who are incentivized who are well. let's be clear. just like the rest of the country, crews are infected and getting sick. this will cause a staffing shortage because of that. >> yes, it will. sarah nelson, thank you for joining me this new year's day. >> thank you. coming up, the view is looking for a unicorn. six months since they had a conservative host. the seat is not as easy to fill as you think. and ghislaine maxwell may not have seen the inside of a jail cell without julie brown. she is here to talk about the charges for her role in jeffery epstein's abuses. and colorado is getting help from mother nature. the governor is saying it is a new year miracle as no deaths have been reported so far. we are live in colorado next. we are live cinolorado next new vicks vapostick. strong soothing vapors... help comfort your loved ones. for chest, neck, and back. it goes on clear. no mess just soothing comfort. try new vicks vapostick. ♪ limu emu and doug.♪ and it's easy to customize your insurance at libertymutual.com so you only pay for what you need. isn't that right limu? 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(vo) subaru and our retailers believe in giving back. that's why, in difficult times, we provided one hundred and fifty million meals to feeding america. and now through the subaru share the love event, we're helping even more. by the end of this year, subaru will have donated over two hundred and twenty five million dollars to charity. this is what it means to be more than a car company. this is what it means to be subaru. we hit the bike trails every weekend this is what it means to be more than a car company. shinges doesn't care. i grow all my own vegetables shingles doesn't care. we've still got the best moves you've ever seen good for you, but shingles doesn't care. because 1 in 3 people will get shingles, you need protection. but, no matter how healthy you feel, your immune system declines as you age increasing your risk for getting shingles. so, what can protect you? shingrix protects. you can protect yourself from shingles with a vaccine proven to be over 90% effective. shingrix is a vaccine used to prevent shingles in adults 50 years and older. shingrix does not protect everyone and is not for those with severe allergic reactions to its ingredients or to a previous dose. an increased risk of guillain-barré syndrome was observed after getting shingrix. fainting can also happen. the most common side effects are pain, redness, and swelling at the injection site, muscle pain, tiredness, headache, shivering, fever, and upset stomach. ask your pharmacist or doctor about shingrix. shingles doesn't care. but you should. i always wanted to know more about my grandfather. he...was a hardworking man who came to new york from puerto rico when he was 17. with ancestry, being able to put the pieces of the puzzle together... ...it's amazing. it's honestly amazing. new vicks vapostick. strong soothing vapors... help comfort your loved ones. of the puzzle together... for chest, neck, and back. it goes on clear. no mess just soothing comfort. try new vicks vapostick. mission control, we are go for launch. um, she's eating the rocket. ♪♪ lunchables! built to be eaten. o man, that's a whole lot of wrinkly at least my shoes look good! looking good start with bounce wrinkleguard, the megasheet designed to prevent wrinkles in the dryer. if you tune in to "the view" on abc, you know there has been a rotation of republican women vying for meghan's seat. it has been six months and the show cannot find the permanent conservative voice fit for the task. maybe that's because the republican party is a trumpian cult peddling lies. quote, they are really looking for a unicorn. they want someone who wants to fight, but not too hard. that's just it. finding a republican that's days who doesn't thrive on fighting and conspiracy theories and trumpian lunacy would be a unicorn. we need to be honest. this story is a microcosm of what is happening in america as a whole. 71% of republicans don't believe president biden was rightfully elected to the white house. more than two-thirds of republicans are not worried about climate change. when that is the current gop base you are trying to curry favor with, it is understandable you cannot find someone to participate on top issues of the day on daytime television. it is long past time that we have to accept we don't have normal political parties or movements in the country in 2022. one is no longer committed to democracy or reality. joining me now is rena shaw. the former staffer and adviser at the new initiative. happy new year. is there, in your view, a politician or pundit in america today, who has the credibility and popularity with the gop base, but isn't a conspirasist or bigot? >> we live in an era with a lack of reason able voices on the right. we are coming up on the one-year anniversary on january 6th. anyone furthering the narrative that donald trump and his people were not responsible for what we got the visual evidence of on the insurrection, they own the narrative. they own frankly everything that is ugly in america. if we are talking about republicans that can appeal to the current base, i think the view should stop looking. they would serve the viewing audience and do well by the tradition they set in the show and precedent for dialogue that is substantive and forward thinking by having a republican that not just has center right thinking, but has other things, mehdi. there are so many other qualities they can find in republicans today, but again, lacking, but also matter. daytime tv is important. we saw the rise of right-wing talk radio. rise of the number of the programs. it is important that the view push back by bringing a logical and reasonable conservative to the table. it is hard to do with two conservatives out there today. ones that say, nothing is wrong. everything is fine. i'm okay with trump back in office in 2024. the other side saying the republican party left me. i didn't leave the republican party. i belong to the latter camp. i have a lot of thoughts. >> the problem is the latter camp grows smaller by the day. look at donald trump's re-election campaign which failed. he lost. he got more votes than 2016. you say, well, the view should stop looking and you are right about that. the reality is we live in a country where a big chunk of the population with tens of millions of people still support trump and think joe biden was not fairly elected as president. still hold nonsense views about democracy and science and masks and vaccines and climate. the reality is that people in the quote/unquote liberal media want to appeal to these people. you have the problem where it is not just the view, but sunday morning political programs and panel shows and npr. trying to do both sides in a world where one of the two sides is completely bonkers. >> i think it is a good thing they brought on the right leaning women. i hope they continue to. it is important for viewers to see there are other viewpoints out there. that does belong in american life. you can't vote both sides of the american democracy. you should stop appealing to a segment that is out of touch with reality that is divorcing themselves from fact and unwilling to engage in reasonable conversation. when you are trying to vote both sides of the democracy, one camp is pushing back. how do you do that with a woman today? you find a woman that fits a few things. they find a woman that is not only a millennial and mother and suburban woman and woman of color and the last thing i would say a new american. somebody that is the daughter of an immigrant. that is the real beauty of america. talk about the values in a way that appeals across the broad base. that is the hope we have for democracy. the view has a part in that. i think the executives understand that. i think this year they will recognize that there are center voices out there. they have to find them. >> rina, it sounds like you are pitching yourself there. thank you so much for your time this morning. happy new year. >> happy new year. thank you. we are less than a week from the one-year mark from the capitol hill insurrection. as some republicans try to rewrite the history of that day, we will tell you how lawmakers will be remembering it and what is done to prevent it from ever happening again. prevent it fro happening again. psoriatic arthritis, made my joints stiff,... ...swollen, painful. emerge tremfyant®. tremfya® is approved to help reduce joint symptoms in adults with active psoriatic arthritis. some patients even felt less fatigued. serious allergic reactions may occur. tremfya® may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms or if you had a vaccine or plan to. emerge tremfyant® with tremfya®... ask you doctor about tremfya® today. the conviction of ghislaine maxwell is unceremonious end to the jeffery epstein saga for now. never really paid for his crimes. surely maxwell is not the only one who benefitted from his depraf tys. epstein and maxwell came this close to getting away with it if it wasn't for one investigative journalist in florida. julie brown forced the world to pay attention to epstein and his sexual exploitations. epstein was sent to prison and procuring a girl for prostitution. he served in a private wing in the jail. brown delved back into the case and uncovered the authorities to accommodate epstein and his army of lawyers and she focused on the victims. brown identified 80 women who claimed they were abused by epstein when they were girls and she got four to go on the record. she released the article and federal authorities reopened the investigation and eventually arrests epstein. i'm delighted now to bring in julie brown on the show on this new year morning. she expanded her series into the book. julie, thank you for joining me. your investigation was not easy. overworked local journalist without the resources of your counterparts in d.c. or new york. looking back on when you started this investigation, is this the outcome you expected? >> no. i never expected that anyone would really be held accountable. this case was old when i delved into it. i think a lot of people had forgotten about. it i think they forgotten about the victims. i was quite surprised along with other people when authorities in new york decided to reopen the case. >> we live in a country where there is so little accountability for the rich and powerful. it was a rare turn around. you played a big role in that that. julie, what is next? there is rumor that ghislaine maximum will start naming names. >> this case was a challenge for federal prosecutors. a lot of the crimes happened 15 or 20 years ago. they were up against the statute of limitations. they did legal gymnastics to get certain charges that would fit into the or outside the statute of limitations. anything she might have, if she goes that route, would have to be either outside the statute of limitations or be more recent events or crimes that happened. so it is hard to know exactly how much information she has. she can't just go and say i saw so-and-so on the island and in 2001 and he or she was with so-and-so. it will not work that way. this case was a challenge because it was dealing with memories from a long time ago. >> julie, in your opinion, will we see more convictions connected to jeffery epstein and his crimes? >> one would hope. i know the victims are hopeful. they certainly believe authorities should keep working on this and get to some of his other enablers. jeffery epstein could not have done this alone. he had a whole orbit of people who helped him with this. ghislaine was not the only person. she stepped out of the picture in the early 2000s. other people stepped in her role of trying to recruit and schedule these massages which were excuses to sexually assault young girls. >> one of the victims tweeted this after maxwell's conviction. my soul yearned for justice for years. today, the jury gave me that. i hope today is not the end, but another step injustice. maxwell did not act an alone. i have faith that they will be. she launched a civil suit against prince andrew. he denies the accusations. have you talked to her since maxwell's conviction? >> i haven't spoken with virginia, but i have spoken with other victims. i believe the same as she does. that they believe more people should be held accountable. this was a big, you know, conviction for them. she really was at the top of this conspiracy and to have her be held accountable was a big step. >> it was a big step. we can only hope it provides sense of justice and closure to the victims. julie brown, thank you so much for your time this morning. >> thank you. it is now officially, officially a midterm election year. i can't think of a midterm more important for the future of our democracy. you are watching "velshi" on msnbc. stick around. "velshi" on msnbc. stick around s! (sighs wearily) here i'll take that! 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>> that said, a lot can happen between now and november of this year. we don't know what the state of economy will be or the pandemic will be. historical patterns and polling suggests republicans are well positioned to gain house majority and senate majority. and then the down ballot races. a lot on the line and republicans are optimistic. time will tell. >> yes, plenty of time between now and november. well put. susan, do you see a red wave coming ahead of the mid terms? what would you advise nancy pelosi and chuck schumer to do ahead of november? >> i think it is likely the history will follow and republicans will take back the house. the house, but i do not think it will be at the margins that republicans hope it will be. i think we'll start seeing they'll likely overturn the roe v. wade in late june by the supreme court. that will be a motivating factor for a lot of center right, independent women, suburban women who will be out there in force if all of a sudden their right to choose control over their body is put on the ballot, and i look at, for example, what happened in virginia last november. i wonder if the turnout would have been the same if that decision had been made then and how independent and republican suburban women would feel. i think that could be a motivating factor. one other thing to take into consideration are republican primaries. right now the craziest wins. so in a lot of potential swing districts, you may see very extreme republican candidates winning the primary, but then in turn, making it very difficult to win a swing district against a democrat. so that looks like it will make kevin mccarthy's job very, very difficult. so while i do think history is on the republican side, i don't think it's the tsunami that people expect. >> we've seen that also in senate primaries and you look at the senate seats and what's going on in ohio and pennsylvania. you can imagine that mitch mcconnell was wishing he had more serious candidates and there are studies suggesting that republican gerrymandering could give him the house. we talked about the threat for democracy in the future, but it's threatened now, is it not? >> it is. after the 2020 census this was a concern that journalists had that they would be in the position to pick the voters as opposed to the candidates. there are some states in which democrats have a similar advantage and they were able to gerrymander the map for candidates. there are more republican states that are in a position to lock in republican seats whether they want them or not and compounding that problem at the federal level there is legislation in the senate that's pending right now in which democrats are prepared to undo the gerrymandering problems and so we have the challenge where we can fix this problem of gerrymandering, but it's having to overcome the gerrymandering problem. >> steve, is there a particular state or collection of seats that we should keep our eye on this year? >> where to begin? in terms of states that are worth watching, the gubernatorial races in arizona and michigan, republicans at the top of the ticket will be in a position to do an enormous amount of harm in the next election cycle. certainly, the gubernatorial races in georgia, and there were a variety of democrats in new hampshire, georgia, arizona and nevada as well as other states in terms of the republican senate open seats in ohio. for election watchers, there will be plenty to do and plenty to watch in the coming months. >> susan, you're right to raise the issues on culture wars, and the republicans have their own social issues including abortion, but also we've seen the critical race theory bogeyman, just as the caravan was deployed pre-2018 midterms andwell see some more, i'm guessing much more focus on race and race baiting and racism than weigh saw in 2021. >> we will, and you bring up an interesting point about school board elections and local races. one state i'd like to add to steve's list is wisconsin. wisconsin should be a state where democrats are focused on not only because they have a democratic governor, but because a super majority could be obtained in their state legislature by republicans. it's not sexy. it's not going to get the big money, but right now the house and the senate, the state senate of wisconsin is controlled by republicans. they are just a few seats away from being able to override the governor's veto. in this case, we can look at absentee ballot restrictions, whichever did, in fact, veto did become law, and republicans could get a super majority and that comes from the local base. that's where these culture wars and that's where you see the school board races and local amger come from the base and it comes from the heart of the heart of it and that's at the local level. >> wisconsin is where infamously republicans in 2018 won a minority of the vote and a big majority of the seats. that's american democracy in the 21st century. steve, let me ask you the big question, the biggest of all questions. if the republicans take the house as the polls suggest they will, will a republican house agree to certify the 2024 presidential election should a democrat win it? >> there are so many crises in the house republican majority. certainly, there will be possible shutdowns and possible debt ceiling crises and the house majority and what they will be doing in the 2024 presidential election and the past resolutions, for example, condemning the results. in terms of certification your guess is as good as mine. certainly recent history does not bode well. we all know what happened on january 6th of last year. that is a crisis that weighs heavily on all of our minds. one can hope cooler heads will prevail and given republican politics it is hard to be optimistic about the future. >> there are no cooler heads. mccarthy and steve scalise both joined the lawsuit pre-2020 and post-2020 and they voted to overturn the election so it's not looking good for american democracy, i'm sorry to say on the first of january 2022. susan to you, will kevin mccarthy even be the speaker of the house if republicans take it back, for a fair few cases, will we one day see a speaker taylor green or a speaker boebert on the gop side? >> i don't think we'll see that, but that's what i'm talking about as far as republicans not winning by big numbers and why that's concern for mccarthy. if there is an overwhelming win by republicans then there will be more people behind mccarthy than the lunatic branch, as i call them or the neofascist branch, if you will, of the house of representatives. so marjorie taylor green and others, their voice won't matter if there's a bigger majority. however, kevin mccarthy will be in lockstep with them in maybe only ten seats. that's a tricky one. the bigger they win the more likely fascism comes to america. we'll have to leave it there on that slightly depressing note. dan percy and susan del percio thank you for coming on. >> stick around for the next hour, pennsylvania congresswoman madeleine dean is here to talk about the future of the january in particular. >> and we're remembering the life and legacy of betty white and her iconic career. another hour of "velshi" starts right now. ♪♪ ♪♪ good morning and happy new year. it's saturday, january 1st. i'm mehdi hassan in for ali velshi. we are day away from the anniversary. congress will mark the first anniversary of the insurrection with a series of events at the capitol. a vigil will be held and noted historians and john meacham will also participate in a panel discussion to, quote, establish and preserve the narrative of january the 6th. that's presumably because a large faction of the republican party continues to minimize and re-write what happened on that shameful and violent day. that includes donald trump who will be holding a press conference on january 6th. the disgraced former president who was impeached for inciting the insurrection is the last person anyone should hear from on the anniversary. more than 750 across country have been arrested connected to the capitol right on the including 225 who have been charged with resisting, assaulting or impedes police officers and that's released by the u.s. attorney's office in d.c. yesterday. among those arrested are leaders of the far right group the proud boys. their lawyers recently tried to dismiss the indictments against them and a federal judge denied that request. insurrectionists faced the consequences of their actions and as that somber anniversary approaches. january 6th remains a traumatizing day for many of the people who were working at the capitol that day. for some, like capitol police sergeant goknell, finding closure is more complicated when you are tasked when protecting the same people who may have put you in harm's way a year ago. here's what he said in an