spreading covid misinformation. days before the anniversary of january 6 new polling shows just so divided we are as a nation. that is coming up. and then happening right now a crucial call for president biden today with the ukrainian president offering help. but we want to begin with that breaking news on covid. the nbc news tally shows the u.s. surpassed 55 million cases over covid. an illustration of how quickly this omicron variant is spreading. this is just two days after hitting 54 million cases. and four days after hitting 53. a noted acceleration of cases. and at the nation's airports, more than 3,700 flights canceled as millions of americans head home. this is coming after at least 2,700 canceled yesterday leaving thousands sleeping on benches and unsure how to get home. we have two reporters standing by for us. steve, on this one, passengers not only dealing with an unbelievable number of cancelations from the weather and omicron variant impacting travel. talk us through this. >> reporter: it is a bunch of different factors to make a perfect storm for the frustrated travelers starting the new year with low spirits. you mentioned people sleeping at the airport. i saw people around the baggage carousels this morning and the line to check in with the luggage lost stretches back 40 people and that line continues to grow. so much frustration. airlines say it has to do with the weather along with the people out due to coronavirus diagnosis and also the staff shortages that they have been dealing with for several months creating the problems. weather a big problem. weather in aspen, sliding on a ramp off a plane why the ramp there is so icy. the snow and ice less fun in chicago where delays and cancelations had a domino affect across the country and then the holiday rush of travelers and aaa says 6.4 million americans traveled since december 23rd. they are back in the air but airlines aren't getting the staff members back in the numbers they need them. staffing issues are coming together with passengers' fears of omicron and a tense situation. let's listen to the passengers. >> had double mask on the way down and will double mask again on the way up. it is what it is. you know, the problem you don't know until days later. it's -- people here dropping like flies. it hasn't hit that bad at home but it is coming. i say mask up. it is coming. >> reporter: i talked to a couple passengers this morning whose flight had been canceled twice yesterday. they showed back up today hoping to make that today. but no sign yet if they have made it or not. hoping they did. it is a story to see play out again and again here at laguardia today. yasmin? >> thank you. michelle, a lot of covid related cancelations across the board but weather related, as well. will it let up? >> it will not be letting up either. we have a ton of problems out there. the storm system of yesterday not as expansive today. steve mentioned the snow that was in place yesterday in chicago. they had over four inches at midway and o'hare. if we could go to weather 6 that would be great to start with the severe part of this storm where we are looking -- weather 6. we are looking at a tornado watch for the gulf coast into parts of the southeast. panama city, tallahassee to columbus and watching through 9:00 tonight. just issued as of 2:00 so that threat continues until 9:00. that's the immediate concern. yesterday a ton of wind reports and damage in kentucky and alabama so now concentrated to the southeast. you can see storms moving through with the reds and yellows is indication of heavy storms and rain moving through and the storm prediction center with the risk. yellow is greatest risk for severe storms and expect this to expand throughout the next couple of hours and wilmington, columbia and savannah. widening out here this is the view. an expansive storm with the rain and sleet and freezing rain an snow tennessee valley to the northeast. certainly continuing to see some problems weather-wise at the airport just we have the cold front moving through. an area of low pleasure riding along this deepening to bring in cold air. we could see accumulating snow in the mid atlantic. this is the commute tomorrow morning expecting it to hit in d.c. and virginia, southern new jersey and maryland. it's not let up. the west is looking pretty good and the eastern half of the nation seeing a lot of weather. >> thank you. omicron is also threatening to keep children from the classroom. school officials facing tough calls as kids prepare to return from the holiday break. cases among u.s. kids are quote high and increasing with nearly 200,000 cases in the week of christmas alone. liz mclaughlin is covering this for us. it is a difficult decision for both parents and administrators to send the kids to school or not. keep them remote or not. school districts are making that decision for them. what are you hearing? >> reporter: yasmin, it varies widely from coast to coast. schools across the country are ramping up those safety protocols and seeing more lean on testing. a negative test is required for students to return. here in wake county with raleigh they are having testing access expanded for every week staff and students. they resume in-person learning here. educators on edge with the sharp rise in cases why in north carolina more than 1.5 million cases statewide. nearly 20,000 deaths. now nationwide the majority of these new covid cases are the highly contagious omicron variant. educators are trying to think how can we keep classes in person and do so safely. the majority of large school districts said they're committed to keep kids in the classroom thinking they can do that safely and outweigh the negative impact that remote learning had on mental health and academic success. we heard from the education secretary. let's listen to what he had to say. >> i know we have had an omicron surge but i still believe very firmly and passionately not only as an educator but a parent that we can do it safely. we have better tools than in the past to get it done. we know what works and i believe even with omicron the default should be in person learning. >> reporter: i have been talking to parents. hearing from officials vaccines are important. if your child is not vaccinated they are really encouraging parents to do so. i spoke to a family on this playground about an hour ago. they have an 8-year-old and said even though they are vaccinated they're hesitant to get the child vaccinated. it is encouraged and not required they're waiting worried that the side effects have an impact there but officials saying it is safe. the cdc saying it is safe and free for kids 5 and up. and that boosters play a big role in this variant and expecting the fda to approve a pfizer booster or expand the eligibility to kids 12 to 15. yasmin? >> we are hearing from many experts that the increase in hospitalizations that we have seen amongst children are unvaccinated. liz in north carolina for us, thank you. for more on this i want to bring in dr. peter hotez. as always, it is greet see you, sir. happy new year to you. first time seeing you in 2022. let's talk through this. is the eve of return to schools balancing act or administrators as parents as i was talking about but as you have said this country just doesn't have the appetite for school shutdowns. >> yeah. it is tough to be a school educator or administrator this week to make a choice between a bad decision and a bad decision. there's no good decision to make here. if they decide to go back to being virtual we heard from the surgeon general how damaging this is for kids to not be in schools, not only for the education but this is a source of mental health counseling, school meals so that's really tough. on the other hand, despite everything they have never dealt with a surge like this. this is so much more transmissible than anything before. it is like measles where not near he enough kids are vaccinated. it is not just a problem for the kids but keeping the teachers, staff, bus drivers safe. we recognize the importance to bring kids back to school but with a screaming high level of community transmission, in washington d.c., new york city, you wait another week or two for that to subside and feel comfortability that transmission will go down and here again is the problem that school administrators are not getting the help they need in many cases because that's been so dee pleated o a few decades and asking them to become epidemiologists and run a mini alth departmt with testing. i have empathy for the decisions this week. >> okay. so you bring up the idea of testing. there are some school districts choosing to go remote for january. new jersey being one of them and new york city public school district and washington d.c. that are saying we'll ramp up testing. it is a great idea but we know there's a major testing backlog. i could test my kid today or tomorrow and if it's a pcr i don't get the results for at least three to seven days. what good does that do? >> no good. it has to be a rapid testing system and may mean if you do and again based. it's sensitive but you're right. if you have to wait more than 24 hours it is almost useless. you might be infected after that period. this means making those decisions if you're in a period right now where transmission is revving up maybe hold off why what's happening in washington, d.c. is different from california or oklahoma. seeing this surge in the northeast in a big wave and now down into georgia, mississippi, louisiana. so if you look at a heat map it is almost all the eastern half of the country right now and will change and start going down most likely in a couple weeks within the eastern half and then rarp up in the west. we need granular decisions how to operate. >> i just want to mention also the biden administration and the president committing to 500 million at-home tests into the public to help with the testing situation but not a time line on that. dr. peter hotez, thank you. it is great to talk to you this hour. >> thank you. also breaking news from capitol hill where the representative taylor greene twitter account is suspended. a statement reads this. twitter is an enemy to america and cannot handle the truth. that's fine. i'll show america we don't need them and it is time to defeat our enemies. greene suspended in august making false comments about the vaccination. georgia republican appears to have access to the congressional account. tensions are high with tens of thousands of russian troops on the ukrainian border. first, january 6 a year later, is our country even more divided now than on that deadly day? what new polling reveals of attitudes around january 6. a guest joins me live and what it takes to move forward. we'll be right back. try align, the pros in digestive health. 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the house committee tasked with investigating what led to the insurrection have some idea. take a listen to bennie thompson this morning on "meet the press." >> as i viewed the film and toured the capitol and talked to the capitol policemen, metropolitan policemen, national guards men, we came critically close to losing this democracy as we have come to know it and so it's our duty as patriots, as americans and members of congress to make sure that we get it right. >> so this is coming as new polling from "the washington post" and university of maryland finds americans are split on what happened on that day and then who to blame. more than half of americans believe people who entered the capitol mostly vie leapt but only 26% of republicans agree with that. coming to former president trump's part in this 72% of republicans and 83% of trump voters say he bears just some responsibility or not all. i want to bring in representative clarke. congresswoman clarke, thank you for joining us. happy new year to you. >> happy new year. it is great to be back with you. >> thank you. let's talk through the polling numbers. fairly troubling to say the least that the former president many republicans believe to have some or no responsibility with what happened on january 6. reflecting back on that time last year, how do you feel? what do you think? >> you know, i think the misinformation, disinformation, constant bombardment of really a conspiracy led to so many in the nation just believing in what donald trump was selling and at the end of the day the select committee on january 6 will reveal to the american people the truth of the matter and those that want to remain in denial over the attempted coup of the u.s. government will to do so and many more will have the eyes opened to how close we came to losing our democracy. >> what makes you think that people will change their mind after seeing the findings from the january 6th committee? >> it's very clear that the january 6th committee is going methodically through the information, the testimony that they have received, over 250 testimonies, more information to come that they are really unpacking. you know, from dawn to dusk. everything that took place during the insurrection at the capitol. and they're going to have public hearings so that the american people can be presented with this information, with exactly what took place, the timetables and everything. i really believe that there are those who are suspicious about what they have been fed in terms of misinformation and once the truth of the matter is put on the table they will see, they will see exactly what donald trump and many unfortunately within their communities were up to on january 6 which is overthrowing the united states government, our democracy. >> talk about the poerpt of this happening again. another troubling poll from "the washington post" finding about 4 in 10, almost half republicans think violence against the government is sometimes justified. how worried are you something like january 6 could happen again, maybe worse, and do you think we are prepared to defend against it? >> it's extremely troubling to believe that there are people who believe that the peaceful transfer of government can end in violence. that's extremely troubling. again, i think that when you're fed a steady diet of violence from people supposed to be responsible for upholding the constitution, when there's this climate that is created by donald trump, his sick fantd sy this is extremely troubling and we have to do everything we can to make sure that, one, we work towards the unexpected because we never expected that individuals would take up arms against the united states, would actually come and create a riot situation at the capitol where the capitol police had to defend our democracy. we have to do everything we can to learn from january 6, to make sure that we are prepared for any eventality. that means doing a number of things on the homeland front and passing laws to make sure that we are protected in places where we were vulnerable in the past. >> democratic congresswoman clarke of new york, thank you. great to see you once again. >> likewise. we are monitoring that call from president biden to the president of ukraine. we are going to bring you that news on that call coming up 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. age is just a number. and mine's unlisted. try boost® high protein with 20 grams of protein for muscle health. versus 16 grams in ensure high protein. boost® high protein also has key nutrients for immune support. boost® high protein. welcome back. happening right now a phone call between the president and ukrainian president zelensky. just days after biden's tense call with vladimir putin urging the russian leader to de-escalate tensions or face sanctions should he proceed with an invasion. i want to go to mike memoli in delaware where the president is now. it is great to see you. thank you for joining us. we are a couple days since the phone call between russian president putin and president biden and of course a few days ahead of the diplomatic sitdown on january 10th. walk us through what we can expect from this call today with the ukrainian president. >> reporter: yeah. yasmin, good to be with you. biden officials are keenly aware from the perspective of ukraine there's a strong interest to have what they would call reciprocity. when the u.s. top official including president biden speaks with the russian counterparts they want to see a similar call especially when the subject matter is ukraine itself and the white house has a policy nothing about you without you. in other words, having the conversations with russians we include the concerns. that's behind the call happening this afternoon. biden speaking with zelensky about what they talked about a few days ago and hear from zelensky and the concerns are and the situation on the ground. a big concern looking ahead to the next round of discussions starting next sunday in geneva is a question of we know the threats that the u.s. put on the table and they said it's triggered by an invasion of ukraine and there's concern russia could destabilize ukraine short of an invasion and we heard that concern in the last hour. >> we keep thinking invasion or not. actually, putin has a lot of options between a full-scale military invasion and doing nothing. cyber attacks bombing some sites and if he does something in between that may make it harder for president biden and nato to respond in a commiserate way. look on the lookout for that and something i think is one of the options that putin is thinking seriously about. >> reporter: biden likely to hear similar concerns today from zelensky and not just that call today and then speaking with the leaders of the bucharest nine in eastern europe will have a lot at stake if russia escalates the situation a full round of talks ahead of the meetings in geneva, yasmin. >> a lot of folks have opinions on this. i had gary kasparov on yesterday saying biden should be dolling out the sanctions now before there's an invasion if in fact that happens from russia's side and evelyn farkas saying to agree with him to an extent and that ukraine needs to be armed and ready. mike memoli, thank you. great to see you. breaking news from florida why the governor there held a briefing in the last hour. the big headline another missing person has been found leaving two missing. steve patterson is on the ground with more. good to see you. what else did we learn from the governor and officials at the prez conference? >> reporter: yeah. a couple headlines. one they are working as fast as they humanly can to clear out scenes like the one behind me to get people back to survey the damage and say there needs to be done more for mitigation for neighborhoods with the unpredictable natural of the fires and the climate. that's something they'll work on in the future. three, that media reporting that they have seen can compare to the level of devastation that you see on the ground here behind me. i concur with that talking to people that lost the homes and seeing the houses entombed in snow left in ruins is so heart breaking. i spoke to a teacher that works up the road here. this is lewisville. this community he serves some students that live here and at least five students lost everything and so overwhelming and heart breaking for him. he said he's been through columbine and 9/11 and those are individual students and this is a community. i want you to hear what he said to me. listen to this. >> the community going to recover from this? that is going to be the question. how do you get contractors in to rebuild this? where do families go while this is happening? how do you deal with the elementary, middle school, high school kids that have now got to putt their lives back together? there isn't a kid that doesn't know someone that's lost everything. >> reporter: those are excellent questions to ask but i think you have to deal with the heart break first. there is an investigation going on. we heard from the governor. the sheriff's department will speak in a half hour. they served a search warrant trying to determine if this was man-made. yasmin? >> steve, thank you for that. the stark reality of so many folks in the community face right now. all right. the toll of the unvaccinated. hospitals across the country crippled by covid patient just the volume so overwhelming it is compromising life saving care. after the break, we are going to talk to a doctor on the front line in a state with one of the lowest vaccination rates. >> people view getting vaccinated as being on one side or the other when it is really a public health issue. the numbers are now mind boggling why the u.s. topping 55 million cases of covid and look at this spike. new york hit 85,000 newly reported cases in 1 day. many other states like arkansas reporting record numbers of new cases but practically no change in vaccination rate but yet here's what arkansas governor said earlier today. >> right now, i oppose any vaccine mandate because there has to be a greater public acceptance of it, greater experience in terms of our use of it. >> so all this is taking an unprecedented toll of hospitals in arkansas and the country. workers who are not out with the virus reach the max. physician jones has been through a lot, a veteran of afghanistan, a wife, mother of three and now in a state with little vaccination rates and high numbers of cases. thank you for joining us. we spoke last monday and i know the situation was fairly dire then and seems not much changed in arkansas right now. 15 people dying every week because of this omicron surge. you heard the governor say there not advocating for vaccine mandates. how does that make you feel? >> well, thanks, yasmin. thank you for having me on. the vaccine question is so difficult because as a health care professional and as a public health professional i believe in vaccines and throughout history we have seen the benefit of vaccine and vaccinations preventing and eliminating illnesses and childhood deaths. look at measles and mumps and the things that we regularly vaccinate against and seems with this particular vaccine there's such controversy and it is disheartening when you consider infectious diseases and looking at them, especially with the point of vaccinations they become preventable illnesses and disheartening for people not to be vaccinated because we know this is a tool in the tool box that is effective to prevent death. >> how do you talk to folks in the hospital that are unvaccinated and don't want to be vaccinated? how do you try to talk to them about the vaccine telling them that it's safe? >> so again, it is about a one on one conversation. i unfortunately feel that the statistics we provide sometimes don't hit home saying the governor at the weekly press conferences puts up a graphic that talks about how many of those that are hospitalized with covid-19 are not vaccinated. and when you hear percentages like 85%, those are pretty significant numbers and those things don't seem to hit home with people and in the emergency department when there's time you have the opportunity to speak one on one and address some of those concerns, some fears specifically and answer questions one on one. i find that that is useful when there's time. unfortunately, when people come in in respiratory distress from covid-19 there's not a lot of time before going on ventilation so the opportunity at this point is lost. hopefully once they come out of it on the other side they realize that the condition could have been prevented. it is a matter of meeting people one on one and removing the conversations and like i said statistics don't perhaps land with them and talk about how you almost died and didn't have to be in this position and so take your message and i encourage you to be vaccinated and to go tell those that you know about your experience and the importance of vaccinations. >> has it worked ever? >> you know, i again, if i have time to talk to folks in the emergency department they're not at that point yet and i have heard folks that after we have had our conversation they're like, okay, yeah. i think i will do it now. those fears, thank you for talking to me and taking the time and i think i will be vaccinated now so on occasion it's worked. >> that's got to feel good for you. another way of saving a life. sometimes through conversation, as well. dr. jones, thank you. great to see you again and happy new year. still ahead, the lapd in the spotlight. the police shooting of a 14-year-old girl trying on christmas dresses reignites scrutiny of a police force. rachel lindsay joins me live after the break. the towel washed with downy is softer, and gentler on your skin. try downy free & gentle. 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(carolers) ♪better♪ (kate) because everyone deserves better. it's the eat fresh refresh™! let's meet the new all-american club™. this playmaker's coming in strong with new oven roasted turkey, black forest ham, and hickory-smoked bacon. it's good, hall of fame good. save big. order through the app. ♪ ♪ don't touch anything. save big. order through the app. ♪♪ add downy to your wash for all the freshness, and softness of home. even when you're not at home. feel the difference with downy. welcome back. the police shooting of a 14-year-old girl in a department store dressing room has sparked outrage and renewed scrutiny of the los angeles police department. her death was one of five killings by the lapd in a nine-day period last month capping a brutal year of scandals. in their latest podcast episode my next guests dive into the perpetrator and what if any consequences he may face. >> what has happened to officer jones since this killing? >> he was on a leave of absence from january of last year through february of this year. and in that time off he was arguing with twitter activists online. he was defending other fatal shootings by police officers. and he was actually advocating for racist voting i.d. laws. he came back to his station and he was called to respond on this day. since that he's been put on paid administrative leave and that is where he will remain for the foreseeable future earning $173,000 a year and will continue to cash the paychecks. >> geez. >> wow. all right. joining me is rachel and van. welcome to you both. thank you for joining us. rachel, those are startling numbers talking tonight that police officer who shot and killed that 14-year-old goirl in a dressing room. i want to read this. of people shot by the lapd in three years, 2019, 26 people shot, 12 killed. 2020, 27 people shot and 7 killed. 2021, people shot and killed doubled to 18. are you surprised? >> i am because we see the lapd brag about the changes in the department, they had techniques, working with the community in several different programs to restore that trust. they added initiatives and would think after coming from 2020 and all that that brought about that there would be changes implemented within the police department in l.a. and the numbers show that the killings have doubled. it is really alarming and it puts the question up, what can be done to change this? >> van, why don't you think the changes have been implemented? >> i don't think that there's anything that can be changed. if i'm being honest with you. i have completely lost faith in modern day policing. i think that reform is a good idea. i think that the most police departments need to be stripped down to the bare essence and rebuilt and reimagined. i think why you see the numbers not changed despite the lip service is there has to be an overreaching oversight that ensures that there are penalties for cops when they behave poorly and until we see things like qualified immunity reexamined and things like real citizen oversight i don't think you see much change from the police and the disease is too baked into it. >> before i pivot to another conversation do you expect those things to come to fruition, qualified immunity for instance as you say? >> no. no. i think we have reached the point and i don't want to sound like i'm not hopeful and throwing in the towel. i think we have reached a point where the conversations have become so to lit -- politicized. it happens in state houses where police unions have to be power and politicians need them to be re-elected. i think the average american needs to be okay with the fact that the police are beholden to no one in this current. >> rachel, weigh in switching gears here on the conversation about joe roggin and spoke on the podcast that the former first lady michelle obama would be the best person to run against donald trump. talk me through your reaction there. >> well, did we all see the social media picture of michelle obama and former president obama on new years? clearly living the best life and she's said numerous amounts of times she doesn't want to be involved in politics and i find it disrespectedive that he put that comment out there and i particularly had a problem with the fact to continue to talk about how articulate she is and if you've learned anything from 2020 we learned about micro aggressions and emphasizing how articulate she is is degrading in my opinion. and i felt like she is outstanding without talking about how smart and articulate she is. >> rachel, van, thank you both. great points there. we appreciate you joining us. higher learn is part of the ringer podcast network. tune in wherever you get your podcasts. coming up, with the news that twitter suspended congresswoman greene, a closer look at pandemic politics. why an expert believes it should be a contributing cause of every american covid death. a new star studded netflix film sparking the take on climate change. the don't look undebate. >> this is comet is what we call a planet killer. >> this exact moment i say we sit tight and assess. >> sit tight and assess? >> sit tight. >> and then assess. for strength and energy. woo hoo! ensure, complete balanced nutrition with 27 vitamins and minerals. and ensure complete with 30 grams of protein. ♪ ♪ up at 2:00am again? wittonight, try pure zzzs all night. unlike other sleep aids, our extended release melatonin helps you sleep longer. and longer. zzzquil pure zzzs all night. fall asleep. stay asleep. how not to be a hero: because that's the last thing they need you to be. you don't have to save the day. you just have to navigate the world so that a foster child isn't doing it solo. you just have to stand up for a kid who isn't fluent in bureaucracy, or maybe not in their own emotions. so show up, however you can, for the foster kids who need it most— at helpfosterchildren.com welcome back, everybody. i'm yasmin vossoughian. welcome. if you're still with us, thank you. this hour a special report. january 6th, a year later. days before the anniversary we look at how things have changed and an investigation that's still just beginning into what caused it. >> we came critically close to losing this democracy as we've come to know it and