guidelines. on the hill, capitol police laying out plans for better security for the anniversary of january 6. and new criticism. somebody here today to talk all about it. member of the house select smt, congressman adam schiff joins us one on one later on in the hour. a lot going on. i'm hallie jackson along with the rest of our nbc news team. kick can off with peter alexander at thehite house and medical contributor and founder and ceo of and vancing health ceo. president biden is making news on a couple fronts. right? saying schools should stay open and talking about the government doubling order of covid anti-viral pill? >> reporter: exactly right. the president speaking within the last hour. challenge for schools, you'll discuss later this same hour, staffing shortages there, because many teachers calling out sick and concerns among parents. the president saying schools should remain open. anti-viral pills. pill from pfizer, the president noted today, he'll be doubling the availability of those pills but something that won't take place for the course of the next several months perhaps into the summer. the immediate issue facing the president today in this briefing is the question of testing. the president put testing sort of in the frame of all the available options to americans. the tools in the toolbox as he describes it, with boosters. effectively pleading with americans to get vaccinated and get boosting as we wait for final approval from the cdc that those aged 12 to 15 can get a booster shot. on testing, the president recognizing there are long lines around the country and having promised there would be tests, at-home tests rolled out to americans beginning of the month. the president expressed his own frustration. take a listen. >> i know we're all tired and frustrated about the pandemic. these coming weeks will be challenging. please wear your mask in public to protect yourself and others. we're going to get through this. we're going to get through it together. we have the tools to protect people from severe illness due to omicron, if people choose to use the tools. >> reporter: the president saying he is frustrating about the lack of available tests right now and says there are improvements made at this time, but notably, he said to americans they should go on google and try to find out when the free tests are available in their communities. hallie, anybody that's tried that, likely a lot of folks at this point with a surge in cases now. a million in just 24 hours, recognizing eving if you show up at one of those places, you could be in line for hours. >> no kidding. peter alexander, stand by one second. bring in dr. blackstock into the conversation. you heard peter lay ow one of the things president biden weighed in on, keeping in-person learning in schools. schools stay hope and have the tools to do that. give us a gut check. reality check. do they? >> hallie, obviously, we'd love for schools to stay open. the fact is how can they stay open if they're not safe? teachers are still getting sick? we know that schools receive funding from the american rescue plan, but we don't know where some of that funding has gone. not all schools have the rapid tests to test students. not all schools are ensuring that students can wear the proper mask. so that's why we saw here in new york city yesterday, only 70% of families ended up sending their children to school, because either children had been exposed or were worried about the infrastructure in place to protect their children. so, yes. we want schools to stay open. we want to make sure they have the tools to stay open. the fact is all schools do not have the tools to stay open safely. >> there's also the news that peter laid out, too, ordering of another 10 million treatments for the anti-viral pfizer pill. how important is that? >> the thing about a covid pill it has ingredients taken from china and india and has to go along the supply chain and takes months to manufacture. this order placed now, we won't receive it for a month. unfortunately, we need the medications right now. there's going to be a delay. i would say while that is a great gesture, it's not enough for the moment that we're in. i would have liked to have heard from president biden, we are in a very difficult moment and will be in this moment the next four to six weeks. here are policies we need to put in place to make sure it's safe for everyone as a collective. >> peter, go to you on this, because what is next for the white house here? what are you hearing from sources, very well sourced in the west wing behind the scenes on what the next step is for president biden. is it going to be weekly, regular public remarks on cove ed? something more coming down the pipe. >> reporter: recognize it, high on the president's priorities, he'll speak about it as he has consistently over the next several weeks. you're right. the president said we're in a tough place but didn't say start of the year as americans come off that holiday break the next one to two months could be the toughest of the entire time we're in this pandemic. to this point. consider the facts we've noted. a million people testing positive in just 24 hours on monday. of course, that takes into account some of the backlog over the past weekend right now, but this is going to get bad before it gets better. it's already pretty bad at this time. the president facing real urgency and notably didn't cake take questions from reporters and myself about where tests are. the president said his expectation because the presentation was under way, free at-home tests would go out beginning of january. we're in the beginning of january, the order not finalized, tests have not gone out to this point. americans in many cases left at home waiting for whatever that will take place and comes at the very same time learning those very rapid tests may not be all that accurate, and in properly identifying your infection. >> and before we let you go, doctor, indications comes out this is an upper, appears to be an upper respiratory infection more and more. right? different from the other strains of covid more sitting in the lungs, creating problematic breathing issues. long covid, et cetera. that's obviously a good thing. when you see what peter referenced? 1 million new cases in a day, how should people think about this variant? >> i'll say that we've seen an increase in cases. not seeing as much increase in hospitalizations across the u.s. look closely at new york, maryland, d.c. we are seeing a steep rise in hospitalizations. we see that the sheer volume of cases is going to impact hospitalizations. so while it's milder overall, because it's so much more transmissible we are still going to see hospitalizations. we know what happened in a certain part of the country eventually impacts the rest of the country, unfortunately, if interventions are flot put in place. >> thank you both very much for your time. appreciate you being with us this afternoon. going to come back and talk more about the omicron variant and what it means for schools with an exclusive interview you will see first right here on msnbc with education secretary cardona. getting to other big headlines happening here in washington and behind me as d.c. gets ready to commemorate the insurrection january 6th. moments ago, members of the united states capitol police force talking with reporters about what they've done to try to make security better over the last year. watch. >> the united states capitol police as an organization is stronger and better prepared to carry out its mission today than it was before january 6th of last year. there have been nearly a dozen reports offering over 100 recommendations on needed improvements and reforms. to date we have completed or addressed over 90 of those recommendations. >> it comes as nbc news is learning attorney general merrick garland plans to talk to doj employees tomorrow thanking them for work investigating january 6th cases. congress and white house planning a full day to mark that anniversary thursday. this speech is from the president and vice president, prayers on the house floor and prayers and testimonials from those who lived through that day. joined by our "washington post" national security reporter. thank you for being with us. and sahill, capitol police trying to get out in front of this. here are the security improvements, what we've done to make things better's what have you seen in action on the ground? >> reporter: hallie, one of the things we've seen, more aggressive about use of a fence to rope off the place when they receive threats. not the case january 6th and made it easier for rioters to come in and attack the building. that fence was up months after janu september. no violence did occur at that place. a lot of changes made are not visible to people like me walking the happens. one of the words the new capitol police chief used again and again and again was intelligent. beefed up protocols and processes for gathering and analyzing and sharing intelligence. said they've enlisted a secret service expert to come up with ways to deal with large events, a blueprint he called it, to deal with large events. enhanced protection for members. congress, video footage shows very much in danger, close to being reached by those who breached the capitol on that day. so those are the kinds of improvements the capitol police have tried to make. also talked about coordination between law enforcement agencies, themselves and others. one issue was they had information, had a lot of intelligence that violence was going to occur january 6th last year but simply failed to act. that's the capitol police chief indicating that don't want that to happen ben and the biggest struggle recruitment. not of you to staff. serious outages during the last year. many did not realize they'd sign up to combat violence and now that's the call of duty. >> you have new reporting what we expect to hear from attorney general garland tomorrow. talk us through it. >> attorney general garland, a day before the anniversary, is going to give a speech directed to justice department employees, but also the wider public. it will be streamed on the justice department's website addressing where the department is at with the investigation and prosecution of those responsible. i think it's going to be most notable, frankly, not for what he's going to say, which is broad platitudes about protecting democracy and the rule of law, but for what he's not going to say. which is any sort of information on specific people or charges at issue. he is under a lot of pressure, intensifying pressure in recent weeks, to hold accountable not just those who breached the capitol sort of low-level trump supporters, members of maybe far-right groups but leaders and organizers up to and including president trump himself. so far the justice department, "washington post" review of all charges the justice department has brought, and there have been hundreds of them, found most of those being charged are jut low-level kind of one-off people. not a part of any kind of grand conspiracy. garland is under pressure to charge people like that. we'll see what tea leaves we can read into what he says and if we can get hints how the justice department is viewing those questions but we know he woend head-on address hey, we're coming after former president trump. >> what are you hearing behind the scenes relating to that pressure? now you have including one democrat member of congress recently raised real questions about attorney general garland's ability it essentially meet the moment and pursue an aggressive investigation, and some feel needs to be pursued? how are folks in the justice department dealing with that pressure and criticism? >> frankly, the justice department tries to ignore that. another form you've seen take the criminal referrals from the house committee which uncovered a lot of information about what happened on january 6th and sort of events surrounding it. public talk, hey, we are going to send over a referral to the justice department and make sure, try to make sure they do something about it. try to force them to address the questions. but the way the justice department generally views this stuff is, look. we have to do our work. we have to just follow the law, follow the facts where they led. we investigate this from the ground up. we don't start with trump in our cross hairs as maybe some democrats want. we start with the people who entered the capitol. then move to the people who maybe told them to do that, or organized their efforts to do that, and then we move to the people who organized those people's efforts. the justice department i think is trying to stay out of the political fray, but -- but -- garland is feeling some pressure. i think that is playing a role into why you are seeing a public address on this subject. the justice department doesn't like to talk about ongoing investigations. the fact they're even talking about it in broad strokes is notable and a signal they're aware of the political climate. >> thanks to both of you for being with us. appreciate it. a lot more on january 6th coming up when we talk to a member of the house select committee investigating that attack and what they're getting to go public with after more than 300 interviews so far. asking congressman adam schiff in a couple of moment. and new reporting from our hill team. joe manchin meeting maybe as we speak. we know the meeting is happening this afternoon. might be delayed because of weather problems. talk about what he's telling our team today that might throw a wrench in his party's plans for 2022. nurse mariyam sabo knows a moment this pure... ...demands a lotion this pure. new gold bond pure moisture lotion. 24-hour hydration. no parabens, dyes, or fragrances. gold bond. champion your skin. 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 this is elodia. she's a recording artist. 1 of 10 million people that comcast has connected to affordable internet in the last 10 years. and this is emmanuel, a future recording artist, and one of the millions of students we're connecting throughout the next 10. through projectup, comcast is committing $1 billion so millions more students, past... and present, can continue to get the tools they need to build a future of unlimited possibilities. senate democrats set to meet this afternoon to push ahead on this push for voting rights reform. chuck schumer and other dems appear on the hill to talk how they will try to get something passed in a 50/50 senate with majority leader ready to pull the trigger and change the rules in the senate. basically allowing democrats to, with majority they have now, get more stuff done. >> if republicans continue to hijack the rules of the chamber something at critical at protecting our democracy the senate will debate and consider changes to the rules on or before january 17th. >> didn't take long for senate minority leader mitch mcconnell to give his response to the plan saying a couple minutes ago basically, nope. no way. one of senator schumer's colleagues he has to worry more about. guess who? west virginia senator joe manchin reiterating really hesitant pulling the trigger on those rule changes. following this, you caught up hi senator manchin who says, yeah. not super into this at the moment. not at all shocking considering where he's been disturbance of democratic colleagues who would like to see him view this differently. what's the point of this meeting set to happen with senator manchin, kaine, trying to get up for this meeting, too. >> trying to make this meeting. part of the reason the meeting is pushed back is because senator kaine is still stuck on i-95 for 27 hours. as far as senator manchin is concerned, part of the question earlier today. he continues to be resistant to these rule changes, but he's been involved in these negotiations and these conversations for longer than a month now. he was talking to his colleagues over the holiday. he is part of this meeting with leadership and senator warnock and others who want to change the senate rules for voting rights later today, but he says he's just talking. not committed to anything and he is only talking and still has concerns. let's listen to how he put it himself. >> -- being open to a rules change that would trade a nuclear option, it's very, very difficult. >> i think these are things republicans and democrats both could and should agree on. so we want to talk to everybody. i want to engage everybody. i'm just not going to from one side. >> reporter: so a couple of senator manchin's concerns is eliminating that 60-vote threshold for it to pass the procedural votes, and then also changing the rules with the just democrats. he wants republicans onboard, too, and so i'm told my sources are saying that, of course, there's discussion about broad-based rules change, but then other discussions about changing them just for the specific issue of voting rights and a carveout. that seems to be the direction senate democrats are going, but, hallie, they have a couple weeks based on senator schumer's deadline. self-imposed deadline are doing something, and they have a lot of work to do. it's not just senator manchin the senator sinema, too. and the secretary of education on a push to keep kids safely in school. the rising concerns about the number of kids that are getting hospitalized with covid. that exclusive right after the break. asis. now, there's skyrizi. with skyrizi, 3 out of 4 people achieved 90% clearer skin at 4 months after just two doses. skyrizi may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. before treatment, your doctor should check you for infections and tuberculosis. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms, such as fevers, sweats, chills, muscle aches, or coughs or if you plan to or recently received a vaccine. ♪ nothing is everything. ♪ woman: talk to your dermatologist about skyrizi. learn how abbvie could help you save. it's a thirteen-hour flight, that's not a weekend trip. woman: talk to your dermatologist about skyrizi. fifteen minutes until we board. oh yeah, we gotta take off. you downloaded the td ameritrade mobile app so you can quickly check the markets? 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what are you hearing? >> reporter: 100%. this is the main highway of the east coast. right? this is i-95 where this is happening. not talking about some sort of secondary street. we should start this interviewer saying nobody so far we know of has been hurt in any of this. yes, there's been inconvenience. yes, there has been long, overnight delays and people who are stuck in cars in all of this but thankfully no medical emergency. someone had to be rushed out. that is a blessing through all of this. get to the accountability piece of this. of course. is anybody happy that this happened? no way. but here's what i will tell you, hallie. i stood in that snow yesterday. and it was coming down sideways. i'm not making any excuses, but i was out there all day yesterday, and as soon as the snow plow would push that snow, the lanes would fill right back up. let's not forget that all of this actually started with a six tractor trailer accident on 95 south, started at height of yesterday's snowstorm. when i was yesterday, i got 13.5 inches of snow. where this happened, 14 to 14.5 inches of snow around the fredericksburg area. in the bulls eye of this winter storm that seemed to only center on the d.c. area and, hallie, you know this. one inch of snow around here creates a nightmare. >> oh, yeah. >> reporter: it is a catastrophe. we just don't know how to deal with the snow. for all the years i've been here, you know, i know you've been here a long time. we just can't handle the snow. certainly when we get a 14.5-inch snowfall, it's bad. what could have been done different? a lot of people suggested could 95 have been shut down? i don't know if that's the right answer. then what road do we shut down after that and which roads do we prioritize? the message was out there that, look, this snowfall would come down fast and furious. i will say, did covid play a factor in all of this? the snow plow operators, nudge enough of them? near the d.c. area seen bus operators not on the job, number one, might not want vaccinated, and, two, gotten sick and don't want to be out there. i've asked sources with vdot, enough snow plow operators? they say unequivocally, yes. contract out a lot of work. if there's was a shortage of any operators could have called more people in. the only thing i see here, and there will be an after-action report according to people i'm talking to about all of this, be sure about that. the only thing i can see here is, is there a lane, something we can develop, especially that road? such a heavily used road. is there something we can do where if this -- if this happens again, you know, god forbid it happens again, how can we get to these people quicker? that's what i want to know. >> the people who might need help in some of those situations. adam tuus. the virginia governor apologized but said something similar. told people not to get on the road. looking forward to that briefing from vdot. appreciate it. >> reporter: thank you. close to decision time for congressional investigators as they move into a more public phase of the january 6th insurrection. who can face subpoenas? congressman adam schiff is with us live, there he is, right after the break. e is, right after the break. nd minerals. and ensure complete with 30 grams of protein. ♪ ♪ with 30 grams of protein. aleve-x. it's fast, powerful long-lasting relief with a revolutionary, rollerball design. because with the right pain reliever... life opens up. aleve it... and see what's possible. doesn't your family deserve the best? eggland's best eggs. classic, cage free, and organic. more delicious, farm-fresh taste. plus, superior nutrition. because the way we care is anything but ordinary. ♪♪ now for a couple of exclusives talking about here on this show including one you'll see tonight over on "nbc nightly news". kate snow sat down with jenna ryan who receives 60 days behind bars one of the toughest charges for rioters. here's a bit of that interview. >> reporter: you did walk into the capitol, jenna. >> i did. >> reporter: wrote on twitter we just stormed the capitol. one of the best days of my life. >> yes. >> reporter: still feel that way? >> you know what? i feel like walk walking into the capitol for two minutes and eight seconds was a big mistake. i pled guilty, have remorse for that more on "nightly." meantime the house select committee received more than 35,000 documents in their investigation into what went down in the days before and on january 6th. i'm joined now by a member of that committee congressman adam schiff. democrat from california and chairman of the house intelligence committee. congressman, thank you for being back on the show. >> thank you. >> over the weekend you expect the first hearing to start within a matter of weeks here, this year, rather than months. can you get more specific? who do you want to hear from first? >> i don't have exact timing. we want to tell the story in chronological fashion, what went on in the weeks ledding up to january 6th. the lives promulgated about the election before the election took place, after the election took place. also the efforts to suborn state legislaors and local elections officials and overturn the election, to try to make use of the justice department at the highest levels for the same purpose and ultimately this last-ditch effort january 6th to stop or delay the count to allow these other efforts to succeed. we want to lay out that narrative. multiple lines of effort to overturn the election and the first non-peaceful transfer of power in our history. >> i ask about the year-end timeline, congressman. you well know, if things do not go well for democrats in mid-terms as relates to the house of representatives a very real explanation date most likely on the work of your committee. how much is that factoring in to the urgency that you are moving with here to get the hearings going and get the process continuing to move in a more public way? so far we noted much has been behind the scenes so far? >> look, in terms of the mid-terms, i think and hope if the country is in a better place in terms of the pandemic and the economy we will stay in majority, but that kind of calculation really doesn't impact the committee. we feel a sense of urgency from the political calendar and that urgency is driven from the fact we are still at risk of the same lies that led to the violent attack on january 6th continue to be promulgated by the former president and his enablers and those lies led to violence and we are despotly concerned it might led too violence again. we want to get the information out to the american people to tell the story of what really happened and protect our democracy. >> the committee often is making headlines, made headlines recently for looking for information, asking for info from a couple republican colleagues in congress. sitting members of congress. those members are not cooperating and the committee alluded to using other tools. do you believe you have the authority as part of the select committee, that your committee has authority to subpoena sitting members of congress? >> we are examining what the issues would be in terms of the speech and debate clause and other prudential matters. i don't think we've made a decision yet. we haven't had this circumstance in a long time. last time during the russia investigation and they did voluntarily, one democrat, one republican. it's rather astounding members of refusing when it came to a violent attack that put their own lives in jeopardy. we haven't received a decision on that yet and we'll cross that bridge when we have to. >> if you determine you have authority, would you hesitate to subpoena those sitting members of congress, or no? >> you know, again, i don't want to get ahead of the committee. i think we're working our way through the legal issues and the practical issues to make as best judgment as were and also looking at other ways if there are any, to get information that we need, but certainly i think there's, there are members of congress with information that cannot be obtained in other ways and would like their cooperation. we can't get it, have to figure out the steps we much take. >> former president trump mace several videos before the one released, clip january 6th saying leave the capitol. does the committee have those in their possession? if not are they preserved by the national archives? >> i don't believe we have all of that video evidence. we certainly would like to get it. in terms of whether it is all in the possession of the archives, i don't know the answer to that. we are learning members of the administration including mark meadows were using private devices to do government business. and we don't know whether they were following appropriate practices, and providing those communications to the archives. more than ironic given many castigated secretary clinton years ago, but consistency is not their trademark. >> part of your investigation is focusing on extremism and organizers of the january 6th demonstrations. the past year 725 people charged. interesting, democratic colleague congressman ruben die ago oh of arizona says he thinks the attorney general, i don't know if you've seen these comments. merrick garland that been weak. many more organizers should have been arrested by now. do you agree with that assessment? >> i'm deeply concerned that it is the foot soldiers being investigated, prosecuted, and that others that may have been involved in criminal activity do not appear to be under investigation. to me the most pointed case is the former president on the phone with the former -- sorry. on the phone with secretary of state of georgia trying to get that secretary to find 1,1780 votes that didn't exist. anybody else on the phone recording a conversation like that we would be under investigation. the attorney general is giving a speech wednesday and hope he will address these kearns by a lot -- concerns there needs to be accountability at the top as well as the bottom. >> do you believe the department of justice is dragging their feet on getting tougher on former president trump? >> you can't take the position the justice department did the four years a sitting president cannot be prosecuted. then take position as a practical matter neither can a former president. because if you do then, the president becomes above the law. i think that any substantial allegations of criminality propriety of the former president or anyone else need to be investigated and then the attorney general needs to make a decision about prosecution, but you can't simply ignore the role of very high-ranking people in potential crimes related to overturning the election. >> congressman, i have to let you go. literally popped into my e-mail from axios reporting the january 6th select committee preparing to ask sean hannity for his voluntary testimony. i would be remiss journalistic if i didn't ask you since sitting in front of me? are you looking for information or cooperation from mr. hannity? >> yes. i think you'll see an announcement about that very soon. you know, we believe that he was texting with the chief of staff, and that he has information that would be relative to our committee. he was more than a fox host host. also a confidant, adviser, campaigner for the former president. and i would hope that if asked by the committee, as in fact he will be very soon, he would cooperate with us. >> that's a voluntary request? just so i'm clear on that? >> my understanding, and you'll get confirmation soon, we are making voluntary requests that he speak with the committee. >> congressman adam schiff thank you very much. appreciate your time as always and insights especially this week. thank you. we note on that reporting from axios, attorney to sean hannity jay sekulow old axios if true any request would raise serious constitution issues regarding freedom of the press and first amendment rights. and the 2020 election becoming a rallying cry for a number of right-wing groups who believed the lies about the election. talked about them. many facing charges for actions on january 6th. another group maybe you haven't heard of. stop the steel rallies trying to keep former president trump in power. a grouped call the 1ap. despite active role on january 6th and beyond. i'm joined by nbc news national security correspondent ken dilanian. explain who this group is, explain their role january 6th and why they seem to fly under radar compared to, for example, the oath keepers, proud boys, et cetera? >> reporter: hallie a group made up of military veterans and former intelligence officers began serving as body guards to maga celebrities including former national security adviser mike flynn. the group founded in september 2020 by a former army special forces medic robert patrick lewis. after the claim the election was stolen lewis and comrades set out to scour the internet for what they called open source intelligence about fraud allegations which they sent to lawyer sidney powell, you recall, made nor outlandish accusations. the days ledding up to the january 6th asset, one ap warning, advantages violence. one january 4th said may be young national guard captains facing tough voices in the next 48 hour. another member of the group tweeted on the 6th part of a quick reaction force ready to respond at the capitol, hallie. got the committee very interested in this group. >> ken dilanian, thank you for that. next up, how the world's top men's tennis player is is getting special per in addition to play in the australian open, even though he didn't follow covid requirements. covid requirements you don't e to eat diet food. i can enjoy the things that i really love like wine, cheese. you can add points for eating vegetables or being active. i lost 26 pounds and i feel incredible. the all new ww personalpoints program. join today for 50% off at ww.com. hurry, offer ends january 10th. 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. now to an interview you are seeing first exclusively right here. with the secretary of education. wrapped just a couple of minutes ago. in his first interview since millions of kids returned to the classroom from holiday break. some physically, some back in school virtually and just minutes after president biden said he believes schools should stay open. heidi, talk to us about it. >> he's also talking us to first about what they're doing to alleviate some of the staffing shortages. today, the department of transportation and education partnering to basically loosen the requirements on commercial licenses for bus drivers. this is really one of areas that's been most critical with staffing shortages, with bus drivers, with 50% of districts describing the situation as severe. this will be a waiver for the next few months. they're just saying you don't have to identify certain parts under the hood in order to pass the competency hood. they're not waiving anything that would really put at risk any kind of driving competence here. also on school's proper, he seemed to acknowledge that things could really get worse before they get better but here's what he said about their plans. one, doubling down on vaccination clinics in schools and testing. testing, testing. we know that has been the real stressor with the shortage of tests nationwide. here's a little bit of what he said about their plans to try and help schools when it comes to testing. >> with this surge in omicron, we recognize there's a greater need for tests. i'm pleased that half a billion tests will be making their way out in january. but we're not resting there. we're also working with states and districts to set up contracts with local labs, also. like hospital labs. that can administer tests with a quick turnaround so our students stay in the classroom. >> i tried to press him a bit on timeline. when is this going to happen? that this is going to get better on the testing situation and he would not commit to anything specific. although we were talking about maybe an end of february wave we're talking about and hopefully the testing supply getting into the market here with those .5 billion tests going out. he said a lot of those will go not to schools, but to families, which then would be expected to test their children before they go to school. he said they are working to clarify this guidance they gave to schools called test to stay. i said how can they test if they don't have the tests? so the department of education is working the phones to try and clarify with schools how they can use this protocol without the actual tests until they get the tests so then hopefully other the next few weeks. on staffing shortages, it was interesting he said he's hoping that'ven within the next week, some of these staffing shortages may improve. but again, a lot of them are due to the christmas spike and we may very well see a new year's eve spike as well. that you know, really cuts across industries including staffing at schools. >> great interview. looking forward to seeing more on that the rest of the day here on msnbc. that's the news that just broke on that show. you watched it happen. adam schiff, a member of the committee investigating the january 6th attack, telling us that yes, the committee does plan to ask for cooperation from fox news host, sean hannity. saying that hannity is more than just a fox host. calling him a confidant of former president trump. he obviously is and was. leanne caldwell is on capitol hill. we've got to be, congressman schiff said yes, this is coming. we should be getting more information shortly. i haven't looked at my phone in the last 30 seconds so i don't know if the e-mail has popped in on that. but the congressman made clear about why they would be interested in hannity. anybody who covered trump knows the two of them are close. they would talk often and it appears that from congressman schiff's comments, that's why theft to hear more from hannity. >> that's right. i'm checking my phone, too, but what we expect is the committee to send a request, not a subpoena, to sean hannity. and the reason is is because as you said, sean hannity is a close confidant of the former president and representative liz cheney, the vice chair of the committee, she said previously that hannity is one of the people who sent a text message to the former president on january 6th asking him to do something about the people who were storming the capitol. and so the committee thinks that hannity has information that would be useful to them and that is why they are calling him. now, we expect this week, of course this is the one-year anniversary week of january 6th, the committee hasn't necessarily been extremely active so far this week. but we really do expect them to keep ramping up their requests and their subpoenas of people as this investigation really ramps up. >> thank you very much for that. keep us posted if we get anything more as we expect we will from schiff. thank you. back to covid news now because in just a few weeks, the world's best tennis players are heading to australia for the open there. the australian open is mandating that everyone be vaccinated including all top tennis players. sorry. not all top tennis players. everybody except the number one player on the planet. novak djokovic. he just got the green light to play, posting on instagram he's ready to defend his title thanks to his exception permission. the open granting him this after a rigorous review process. neither the open nor djokovic are saying why he got that. but this is the first time he's been weary about the vaccine. here's what he had to say at the u.s. open last august. >> i feel like that should be always a personal decision. whether you want to get vaccinated or not. so i'm supportive of that. so what if someone wants to get a vaccine, that's completely up to them and i hope it stays that way. >> i want to bring in sports writer, tameka. is djokovic getting very special treatment because he's so good or is this a legitimate exception? >> i don't know if i can answer that question. victorian government and tennis australia have been adamant that the process people have to go through to get an exception is both lined in that the reviewers don't have the name of the applicant and is a two-pronged process. so if we're believing everything we're told, the reviewers who approved this didn't know it was djokovic applying. that being said, i think it is fair to ask how the number one ranked men's tennis player in the world might have a medical exception. he also didn't specify it's medical. i should say there are non-medical exceptions, but i think that's a very generous inration. >> what kind of message do you think this sends and how do you see the tennis world figuring this out moving forward or do they think they've figured it out? >> the deputy premier said last month in regards to the australian open, not only players, but all personnel and fans would be required to be vaccinated except for a small, small percentage. he said vaccine exceptions are not a loophole for tennis players and i believe the atp has said that 95 of the top 100 players are vaccinated. this seems to be quite a bit of a turnaround from the message we were getting pro vaccine just a few weeks ago. >> thank you very much. appreciate it. as always, we appreciate you watching this. i told you it was a busy hour and it was. see you here tomorrow. you can find us on twitter and on our streaming platform in just about an hour from now, show number two tonight and every weeknight, 5:00 eastern. deadline white house starts after the break. 0 eastern. deadline white house starts after the break. hi there, everyone. it's 4:00 in new york as the country careens toward the one-year anniversary of the january 6th insurrection. more divided than perhaps ever in our history. the select committee is having its you're going to need a bigger boat moment. the committee starting to make clear to us that it is in possession of a trove of internal documents, high level communications and witness testimony from donald trump's inner circle that detailed the events leading up to and on january 6th, including the conduct of the ex-president. the committee is trying to complete its work ahead of a possible gop takeover of the house in the midterm elections. we're getting new reporting in "the new york times" goes under the hood of the january 6th inquiry as it prepares for a new phase. one that involves public hearings which will reportedly entail election officials testifying about the accuracy of the 2020 election results among other things. the times reports this, working in color coded teams, investigators have interviewed more than 300 witnesses from white house officials close