reflection but also warnings that history could repeat itself and that the danger is not over. new capitol police chief thomas menger appeared before a congressional hearing this morning and testified that while his force is better prepared today than a year ago, the threats against lawmakers have only grown over the last year. >> i mentioned the threats against congress. many people in this very room, committee members, have experienced them. over 9,000 threats in 2021 alone. that's an astounding number. >> the biggest challenge i think we have is keeping up with the number of threats. prior to the 6th, we were not sharing information the way we should be. intelligence is only useful if you act on it. we're going to get tested again, and -- but we have put things into place to make sure that we will not be impacted by intelligence failures or failure to plan ahead. when we're tested again, we're going to be fine. meanwhile the man who called on that mob to march a year ago, donald trump, scrapped plans to speak on the anniversary from florida. not because of any misgivings about repeating the lies that he won the election when he did not, but instead blaming the committee investigating the attack. a panel that has since interviewed 300 witnesses and initiated contempt of congress charges against two of the former president's top aides. that committee is now hoping to question another trump ally, sean hannity. chair bennie thompson and vice chair liz cheney are asking the fox news host to cooperate voluntarily. they want to know what he knew about the former president's plans for january 6th, writing in a letter, it appears that you were expressing concerns and providing advice to the president and certain white house staff regarding that planning. the letter included what is described as a text that hannity sent to mark meadows on january 5th. hannity said he was, quote, very worried about the next 48 hours. with me now is a member of the january 6th select committee, republican congressman adam kinzinger of illinois. always good to have you, congressman. let's talk about what the committee is doing at the moment. there are a number of current lawmakers you're looking at. and the committee has said it will use all of the tools at its disposal to get those lawmakers to cooperate. what exactly are those tools? >> well, i mean, the first thing we want to do, we have to do, is to ask them to voluntarily come in and cooperate. the expectation, of course, is that they will resist, that they're trying to buy time, and then we are exploring options we have after that. there are certain speech and debate clause issues we deal with, and the role of congress in subpoenaing members of congress. but my expectation is that the force of law still applies. and so if we get to the point where they're certainly not agreeing to come in voluntarily, we'll explore those options. and i think it's been obvious from the committee's work that we won't hesitate to do that. >> so you're not going to rule out subpoenas, you're not going to rule out holding them in contempt of congress. these are sitting lawmakers. what about getting them off of their committees? >> well, i mean, look, i think it's a possibility. i think pulling people off of committees on a whole house vote needs to be reserved for special cases like with marjorie taylor greene. the republican caucus is not disciplining its members. whether you agree with the committee's investigation or not, whether you agree with what we're doing, we're represented by a legitimate vote of the house of representatives to be the people's voice to get information. the american people deserve this information. the history books written in the future deserve this information. and we're going to make sure we move heaven and earth to get it. this is not a partisan issue. the only thing partisan is whether you believe in democracy or you don't. and those who believe in democracy should beg for the results of this committee to be accurate, truthful and fulsome. >> given that, the committee sent a letter to sean hannity saying that we know you love your country, we know you believe in democracy, we're hoping you're going to voluntarily comply with our questioning. the text messages from hannity to the chief of staff warning donald trump not to go through with january 6th, you've released those. why are those messages significant to committee? >> it's significant for a couple of reasons. first off, the communication behind the scenes, both during and prior to january 6th, keep in mind we know that donald trump, quote, unquote, this decisive president, who is anything but, was sitting watching television for about 180 minutes while this was going on. the question, and i think the thing that will get to culpability, which i don't have an answer to yet, the committee will get to, is what did he know prior to this occurring. was he simply a spectator, and this was something that shocked him and he was indecisive? obviously his oath requires him to defend the constitution, to defend things like the capitol. he didn't. what did he know prior? a text message to the chief of staff that says, hey, call off january 6th, seems to imply that maybe there was an understanding that something big was going to happen. i personally said on january 1st that there was going to be violence on the 6th. i don't know that i envisioned the occupation of the capitol. but that will be important, what did they know prior. >> what's your expectation on what the committee is going to find against the president of the united states? where are you going with this questioning? you're talking about hannity sending a text message, warning him not to go through with january 6th and the implications of that. what's your expectation for, when you find the results of this, where the president is going to stand, the former president? >> i'm trying to not go into this with expectations. i want to let the facts direct the answers. that's what the committee is doing. i know i have a gut feeling, because, you know, i lived that life prior. i lived the whole area, as we all did, between the election and january 6th, where you continued to hear some conspiracy theorists that have since beam main line, talking about our ability to just overthrow the will of the people, how january 6th will be the magic day that we reinstate trump as president. this report and anything that comes from this committee isn't necessarily about convincing those who don't believe or reaffirming those that do. it's about layering a groundwork for what needs to be done to ensure this never happens again. any time you have violence or any norm violated in politics, that doesn't become a special education in the future. that becomes the baseline activity. so what's going to happen in 2024 and onward, that's what we need to get to. >> let's talk about the other white house aides that you might be talking to. trump's former press secretary stephanie grisham will meet with the committee tonight. how many white house aides have you spoken to so far without a subpoena? >> plenty. i can't give the exact number, i don't know if i know the exact number. we've, as you've heard, interviewed over 300 witnesses. i think this is the key to understanding, is what we see is a little tip of the iceberg. we see some of the activities above board, the meadows stuff, the bannon stuff. but underneath, the staff of the committee, the members of the committee are extremely active in gathering information. so let's say we never talk to president trump or we never talk to, you know, any high profile individual. we're going to have people all that have a piece of that story, a slice of different moments in time that we can put together into the bigger picture. as we know how investigations go, you know, you put those pieces together and then you move up the ladder. that's what we're doing. and i think you're going to have continued cooperation by a significant number of people. there are people that have gone quiet, that also see the tragedy of january 6th and have no current reelection political interests in trying to push a false narrative like so many of my colleagues do. >> do you expect to change anybody's mind in congress? i know you're not talking about the broader public, but any other republican's mind about what's coming down the pike for 2024? there's a lot of reporting out there, i know you're finding out a lot of information in your committee, that is not so reassuring for our democracy, especially as we go to the polls in november 2024. >> it's really frightening. look, a year ago i was much more optimistic about the impending, you know, recognition of democracy being at threat. now i'm a little more pessimistic. that's what i'm trying to do through my movement, countryfirst.com. we're trying to bring all that together. is it going to change anybody's mind? probably not, because honestly, most members of the republican congress understand what happened on january 6th. they're just not courageous enough to go out and tell the truth. and so you put people like -- it's easy to demonize and isolate liz cheney and i. we're willing to play that, to do that, because it's the right thing. if you put everybody on truth serum, they would agree with us. the problem is the base voters are not having anybody tell them the truth. and they're the ones that are going to be misled and abused as they have been for so long. >> public hearings could happen later in the spring and in the summer. who are you going to call, who is the public going to hear from, what kind of witness, if you can't tell me any specific names? >> i can't tell you specific names, but it's painting the picture and putting the story together from those involved at various levels, those that are experts in some of these issues like when we talk about domestic radicalization. i expect that we'll have some discussion on potential changes. we need to be discussing about the electoral count act and changes that can be made to that. because we've seen so many areas where there were linchpins on january 6th that weren't necessary. we'll put this out in hearings in front of the american people, free of spin, free of conspiracy which we've heard so much of, and tell the truth, tell the story, because i've got to tell, self-governance isn't easy. i think we're kind of raised believing it was easy because it was so ingrained. but you recognize you have to have a base level of trust even between people who have nothing in common in order to do it. look, i've made friends on the other side of the aisle that i don't agree with on things in politics but we agree on the defense of democracy. that's the most important thing right now. >> i know you want to talk to vice president pence, there is consideration to asking him to come speak with the committee. what about the secret service agents that might have been with him on that day or frankly the secret service agents that might have been with the president on january 6th? >> i think that would be important. i think there are questions about the secret service having obviously a duty to confidentiality in order to be able to protect a president. but i think anybody that has information, we should hear from if we can, recognizing of course that there are some of those limitations. but again, i don't think even all of that is necessary, because the pieces of information that are coming together, it's like a puzzle, you can look down and see a bunch of pieces but when you begin to put it together, it paints a real picture from start to finish. not just january 6th. i think actually january 6th is a symptom of a deeper problem. the rot prior to january 6th and then the conspiracies that have justified it since january 6th. that to me is the bigger concern than even that awful day. >> congressman adam kinzinger of the january 6th committee, congressman, thank you so much for joining us. again, always good to talk to you. >> you bet, take care. let's bring in our panel. nbc news senior credential correspondent garrett haake. nbc news correspondent steve kornacki. and olivia troye who served as an aide to mike pence when he was vice president. so there are sitting lawmakers who the committee might be interested in speaking with. you heard adam kinzinger say there will be nothing off the table, that they would be willing to subpoena and then hold in contempt if necessary. >> yeah, though it did seem like he was not exactly embracing the idea of kicking lawmakers off committees. there have been questions about the validity of subpoenas from lawmakers to other lawmakers to testify. i'm interested to see what other tools the committee has to compel their testimony and whether they decide it's worth it. remember, anything they decide to do in this committee could be precedent for future committees and congress tends to be fairly careful about how they escalate actions against their own members. >> steve kornacki, there's a lot of numbers out there about how the country currently feels about january 6th and feels about violence at the capitol, whether or not it's justified. can you just walk us through where the public opinion is right now? >> yeah, take a look here, some of the numbers coming out this week that caught our eye. first, this is a "usa today" poll asking folks how do you think of what happened on january 6th? 53%, a majority, say it was a protest aimed at overturning a legitimate election. but there are almost 30%, 29% who say no, it was actually a protest aimed at preventing a fraudulent election. so there are far more saying overturning a legitimate election. but what's interesting is the partisan divide that emerges when you dig into this question. so take a look at it this way. among democrats, 85% say they were trying to overturn an legitimate election. among republicans, it's a majority, 56%, who say no, this was about preventing a fraudulent election. independents, 51% there on overturning the election. the partisan divide is even more stark when you get to what you were just talking about with your guest there. the january 6th committee, what now, how do you view the work of the january 6th committee. again, you see that 53% number. they say the committee is important for the future of our democracy. but over 40% say no, it's a waste of time from other important issues. and check this out, partisan divide on this one is even more clear. nearly 90% of democrats say the committee is important to the future of democracy. nearly 80% of republicans say no, that committee is a waste of time. the one area where you actually do see real overlap between the parties, this is interesting, is when you ask, how worried are you about the future of america's democracy. there, more than 80% of americans say they are worried, they're either very or somewhat worried about it. and it completely cuts across party lines. democrats, republicans, independents, they all say they are worried about the future of democracy in this country, katy. but obviously it breaks down when you breaks down when you ask the question, why are you worried, what about democracy makes you worried. >> count me among those worried about the state of our democracy. olivia, let's talk about what's being done for the future. and i've been curious to get some answers on this. but there have been so little out there. i wonder, do you believe there's enough being done at doj and dhs right now to identify and then also combat the threat of violent extremism? >> i certainly think there's more being done now under the biden administration than there ever was under the trump administration. that is 100% clear, having worked these issues during that tenure. but i will say that there is more to be done. i think this problem is only getting worse and it's being driven by the messaging by republican leaders in office who continue to double own on these narratives. fundamentally they're pervasive at the state and local level, they're impacting households. when we talk about democracy, what matters here is, when it starts to impact your local communities and you see what's going to happen with the violence continues to rise at that level, that is when the reality is going to actually hit of what this messaging is doing to tear us apart as a country and undermine our democracy. >> ag garland is going to speak on the investigation in a few minutes. a lot of pressure on the ag right now to forcefully go after not just donald trump's allies but donald trump himself. olivia? >> i'm here. >> there's a lot of pressure on ag garland to go after donald trump's allies and donald trump himself. do you think that that would be something that would combat whatever might happen in 2024? or make it worse? >> i think that doj is under a lot of pressure here, obviously, and i think they have a right to maintain neutrality. and i think that is a fine line to walk. on the other hand, i think there absolutely needs to be accountability for these individuals who are responsible, especially for what happened on january 6th. and i think the longer these people are not held accountable, we are showing the american public that they can get away with this and they will continue to behave in this manner going forward and they will learn the lesson they are learning. and i will say a lot of these republican leaders are showing it firsthand, is that they can get away with this behavior, continue these lies that are damaging to american society, and continue to win elections in the future, potentially. and that is why prosecuting these individuals, showing accountability at this level really does matter, because, you know, we're holding the people that showed up and attacked the capital, they're being tried, they're being sentenced. but the people at the very top, the leaders of our country, some of them, you know, a former president and the inner circle and these elected officials also who played a hand in this, need to be held accountable for their actions. >> olivia troye, steve kornacki, garrett haake, thank you so much. it's notable that congressman kinzinger said the committee has interviewed plenty, in his words, of former white house aides without a subpoena. i know we talk a lot about the big names not complying, but there have been plenty of others who have been complying. everybody, thank you very much. we are continuing to wait on that speech from ag merrick garland on the doj's efforts to prosecute the capital rioters. we'll bring that you to live. and we'll go to florida where cases are up 700%. one hospital there forced to close its maternity ward. and later, the dark money group spending big money to get joe manchin to part with his party on voting rights. new neutrogena® rapid firming. a triple-lift serum with pure collagen. 92% saw visibly firmer skin in just 4 weeks. neutrogena® for people with skin. ♪ got my hair ♪ neutrogena® ♪ got my head ♪ ♪ got my brains ♪ ♪ got my ears ♪ ♪ got my heart ♪ ♪ got my soul ♪ ♪ got my mouth ♪ ♪ i got life ♪ 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. the u.s. has hit another new record for covid cases for the seventh straight day. omicron now accounts for 95% of all cases, according to the cdc. with all the new cases, health experts expect this surge could hit its peak sometime in the next couple of weeks. >> the coming weeks are going to be challenging. we're going to see cases continue to rise because omicron is a very transmissible variant. while we are seeing covid cases among the vaccinated, if you're fully vaccinated and especially if you've gotten a booster shot, if you're eligible for a booster shot, you're highly protected. and it's very unlikely that you will get seriously ill. >> the outbreaks is worst in florida now, up nearly 700% in the last two weeks. the surge forced fort lauderdale's holy cross health to temporarily close its labor and delivery unit, the maternity ward, because of a rapid rise in infections among hospital staff. joining me now, nbc news correspondent sam brock from florida and dr. peter hotez, co-director of the center for vaccine development at texas children's hospital. we've been warning about this, sam, that it's not just the covid cases overwhelming the i felt -- icus, but now we're seeing it bleed into -- excuse my language. we're seeing it affect other parts of the hospital that are necessary to keep things running. i mean, the maternity ward, that's a really big deal. >> 100%, katy. part of the problem here is it's an allocation of resources. when you have a dwindling amount of health care workers who have been on the front lines for years now caring for patients, suddenly dropping out because of attrition or because they're getting sick, it's really problematic for the health care system. on the ground here in florida we've been reporting on long testing lines that stretch for miles. it turns out that positivity rate coming out of those lines is way too high. it's almost 30% of miami-dade. some of the testing sites, i'm told, are closer to a 50% positivity rate. just the sheer amount of infection, katy, is stunning. between december 7th and 20th, we saw 54,000 cases of covid reported in florida. the two weeks after that, 550,000 cases. the health care system is strained right now, forcing some really difficult decisions, as you described in your open a second ago. one hospital in the fort lauderdale area having to close down labor and delivery. jackson health where i am, they're offering more pay and incentives right now to those front line workers who have been at it for so long. such a difficult situation. the transmissibility of omicron is wreaking havoc across the board. the chief medical officer here outlined the possible outcomes if you just get vaccinated. >> let's talk about that. >> this particular strain, while causing less severity of illness, is still causing illness, so we still have some patients in the icu getting very sick from covid. most of the patients admitted to the hospital are unvaccinated. for those who are being admitted to the hospital who are vaccinated, their severity of illness is less. >> so katy, that is the bottom line. the state of florida has a vaccination rate of 64%. in miami-dade where i am, it's more like 80%. >> dr. hotez, there are a decent number of americans who do have two doses but there are not that many americans who have gotten boosted. less than 40% of the vaccinated. what's stopping people from getting the booster shot? is it that they're just getting sick and waiting to recovery from getting the booster? >> we had a real problem, even before the omicron epidemic, of getting americans boosted. part of it was there was a lot of confusing messages that came out of washington and atlanta that said fully vaccinated constitutes two doses. so if you got two doses, why did you need to get a booster? we've talked about this, katy, for over a year, that fully vaccinated should mean three doses. that was always the case. had we gotten americans boosted at a much higher rate, i think that could have mitigated a lot of the transmission of covid and in some cases the severity. because when you look at what two doses does, it really offers almost no protection against symptomatic covid-19, although it does have a little bit of mitigating effects against severe illness. so we really need americans to get those third doses. and by the way, after you get the third dose, it looks like it's about 70 to 75% protective against the omicron variant in terms of symptomatic illness, much, much better in terms of severity. but then in terms of symptomatic infection, it drops to 30 to 40% after a couple of months. so it's not really holding up that well against omicron. and that was the reason i made the recommendation to give a second booster. the health care professionals who are more than two months out of their booster. so the bottom line is, too few americans got boosted in the first place. and we probably should have given a second booster to the health care workers or at least offered them. >> there was some confusion in the rolling out of the boosters about who exactly would need them, that was before omicron came on the stage and made it clear that everybody needs it. dr. hotez, thank you so much. and sam brock, thank you as well. the midterms are coming. and the anxiety around them is building. will democrats be damaged by a stalled agenda and could republicans be haunted by january 6th? first up, though, an nbc news exclusive. inside the million-dollar pressure campaign aimed at senator joe manchin and democrats' efforts to reform the filibuster. i'm always up for what's next, even with higher stroke risk due to afib not caused by a heart valve problem. so if there's a better treatment than warfarin i'll go after that. eliquis. eliquis reduces stroke risk better than warfarin and has less major bleeding than warfarin. eliquis has both. don't stop taking eliquis without talking to your doctor as this may increase your risk of stroke. eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. don't take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. while taking, you may bruise more easily or take longer for bleeding to stop. get help right away for unexpected bleeding, or unusual bruising. it may increase your bleeding risk if you take certain medicines. tell your doctor 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filibuster. instead manchin has suggested he is open to the idea of small changes to make the path forward a little easier for democrats, though there is debate about how much of a difference these changes would make. and it comes as nbc news exclusively learns that a republican dark money group has launched a new $1 million ad campaign in west virginia to pressure manchin to keep the filibuster rules just as they are. joining me now with that exclusive reporting is nbc news capitol hill correspondent leigh ann caldwell. >> reporter: hey, katy. this dark money group, one nation, is closely aligned with senate minority leader mitch mcconnell who is adamantly against changing any senate rules which would give the minority party in the senate, which is the republicans right now, any less power. so what this group that he's associated with is doing, they're spending $1 million, that is a lot of money in a cheap media state like west virginia, pressuring manchin to buck his party and resist pressure to change the senate rules and get rid of this 60-vote threshold for voting rights. now, this could very well be an effective tactic against senator manchin on behalf of the republicans because manchin knows his state. i've been covering him for a very long time before he was the center of every single debate that's happening on capitol hill, and he, i'm told repeatedly he's an excellent politician who knows his state and his voters. it is a very red state. former president donald trump won it by nearly 40 points. it is very conservative. and so he is listening to his voters and by this ad reminding voters what is at stake here, it could be a disincentive for manchin to act. but these negotiations are ongoing with senate democrats on changing the senate rules and they are slow going, katy. >> leigh ann caldwell, thank you very much. if past is precedent, the president's party always loses ground in midterm elections. but this year could be a weird one as both democrats and republicans have a lot to worry about before november. joining me now is punchbowl news co-founder and msnbc political contributor jake sherman. so jake, thank you so much for being here with us. let's talk about the democrats first. usually when a president is in power, his party loses the midterm elections. so what do democrats have to worry about? >> three things off the top of my head, katy. the bbb, build back better act, is completely stalled, going anywhere. joe manchin as you just discussed basically told us to stop asking about it yesterday. number two, voting rights, which has become the democrats' top priority, is also going nowhere for the time being, the filibuster is staying in place. number three, what will they get done this january? the month comes to a close very quickly. they'll spend all week on voting rights and then it's the end of the month. so they have a lot to worry about as they get into february, into the spring, and as campaigns get into full swing. >> what about the republicans? >> so this morning, dave wasserman, also frequent on this air, reported that redistricting is not as good as republicans hoped for, basically a wash for democrats and republicans even though republicans maintain the advantage. number two, to mark january 6th, what do republicans say tomorrow about this heinous attack on our democracy and on our capitol? mitch mcconnell is not going to be in the capitol, neither is kevin mccarthy, they'll be back home in their districts. mcconnell is go to johnny isakson's, former republican senator's funeral. number three, a nagging issue for republicans wanting to crack down on tech companies after marjorie taylor greene was kicked off of twitter. so they're setting their sights very high when it comes to reining in tech. this has been a problem for republicans. they set up their base for disappointment, as every party does when they go into the majority, so that's something republican leadership will have to contend with going forward. >> how about all the retirements among the democratic party? we hear maybe one, two a day, it seems. >> yeah, 25 house democrats are retiring, katy. everyone has their own reasons. some are old. some have been in congress for 20, 30 years. but there is a truism for all of them, no one wants to serve in a house minority with republicans in the majority if you're a democrat. and we can say that about nearly everybody. it's just a really bad harbinger. some of these seats will stay in democrats' hands, some democrats will have to fight for. but you combine all these factors, the fact that it's going to be a good midterm for republicans historically, a lot of democratic retirements, biden's bad job approval numbers, and it paints a grim picture for democrats right now. >> some are old, some are new, some are red, some are blue. jake sherman, thanks for joining us, always good to see you, my friend. attorney general merrick garland is about to deliver a speech on the investigations into january 6th. we'll bring that to you live when it starts. this comes as merrick garland faces increased pressure to ramp up prosecutions against those who stormed the capitol. an update on one of the largest doj probes in history. k in your type 2 diabetes zone? once-weekly ozempic® can help. ♪ oh, oh, oh, ozempic®! ♪ ♪ oh, oh, oh ♪ ozempic® is proven to lower a1c. most people who took ozempic® reached an a1c under 7 and maintained it. and you may lose weight. adults lost on average up to 12 pounds. in adults also with known heart disease, ozempic® lowers the risk of major cardiovascular events such as heart attack, stroke, or death. ozempic® helped me get back in my type 2 diabetes zone. ozempic® isn't for people with type 1 diabetes. don't share needles or pens, or reuse needles. don't take ozempic® if you or your family ever had medullary thyroid cancer, or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if allergic to it. stop ozempic® and get medical help right away if 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[ watch vibrates ] proactive notifications from fidelity keep you tuned in all day long. so when something happens that could affect your portfolio, you can act quickly. that's decision tech, only from fidelity. attorney general merrick garland will update the public on the investigation into the insurrection in a moment. he is expected to reaffirm the doj's commitment to holding all january 6th perpetrators accountable and say that his department will, quote, follow the facts wherever they lead. we just got a two-minute warning so let's quickly go to our justice correspondent pete williams along with university of alabama law professor and former u.s. attorney joyce vance who is also an msnbc legal analyst. pete, what should we expect from the attorney general? >> yeah, i think two things to listen for is, one, we know he's going to say the following: the justice department remains committed to holding all january 6th perpetrators at any level -- >> pete, i'm so sorry. it was more like a 20-second warning. let's go to the attorney general. >> -- for two reasons. first and foremost, to thank you. thank you for the work you have done, not just over the last ten months, but over the past several years. work that you have done in the face of unprecedented challenges, ranging from an unprecedented deadly pandemic to an unprecedented attack on our democracy. thank you for your service, for your sacrifice, and for your dedication. i am honored to serve alongside you. and second, as we begin a new year and as we prepare to mark a solemn anniversary tomorrow, it is a fitting time to reaffirm that we at the department of justice will do everything in our power to defend the american people and american democracy. we will defend our democratic institutions from attack. we will protect those who serve the public from violence and threats of violence. we will protect the cornerstone of our democracy, the right to every eligible citizen to cast a vote that counts. and we will do all of this in a manner that adheres to the rule of law and honors our obligation to protect the civil rights and civil liberties of everyone in this country. tomorrow will mark the first anniversary of january 6th, 2021. the day the united states capitol was attacked while lawmakers met to affirm the results of a presidential election. in the early afternoon of january 6th, as the united states senate and house of representatives were meeting to certify the vote count of the electoral college, a large crowd gathered outside the capitol building. shortly after 2:00 p.m., individuals in the crowd began to force entry into the capitol by smashing windows and assaulting u.s. capitol police who were stationed there to protect the members of congress as they took part in one of the most solemn proceedings of our democracy. others in the crowd encouraged and assisted those who attacked the police. over the course of several hours, outnumbered law enforcement officers sustained a barrage of repeated violent attacks. about 80 capitol police and 60 dc metropolitan police were assaulted. as our own court filings and thousands of public videos of the event attest, perpetrators punched dozens of law enforcement officers, knocking some officers unconscious. some perpetrators tackled and dragged law enforcement officers. among the many examples of such violence, one officer was crushed in a door. another was dragged down a set of stairs, face down, repeatedly tased and beaten and suffered a heart attack. some perpetrators attacked law enforcement officers with chemical agents that burned their eyes and skin. and some assaulted officers with pipes, poles, and other dangerous or deadly weapons. perpetrators also targeted, assaulted, tackled, and harassed journalists and destroyed their equipment. with increasing numbers of individuals having breached the capitol, members of the senate and the house of representatives, including the president of the senate, vice president mike pence, had to be evacuated. as a consequence, proceedings in both chambers were disrupted for hours, interfering with a fundamental element of american democracy, the peaceful transfer of power from one administration to the next. those involved must be held accountable. and there is no higher priority for us at the department of justice. it is impossible to overstate the heroism of the capitol police officers, washington, dc metropolitan police department officers, and other law enforcement officers who defended and secured the capitol that day. they demonstrated to all of us and to our country what true courage looks like. their resolve, their sacrifice, and their bravery protected thousands of people working inside the capitol that day. five officers who responded selflessly to the attack on january 6th have since lost their lives. i ask everyone to please join me in a moment of silence in recognition of the service and sacrifice of officer brian sicknick, officer howard leibengood, officer jeffrey smith, officer gunther ashida, and officer carl defreytag. i know i speak for all of us in saying that tomorrow and in our work in the days ahead, we will not only remember them. we will do everything we can to honor them. in the aftermath of the attack, the justice department began its work on what has become one of the largest, most complex and most resource-intensive investigations in our history. only a small number of perpetrators arrested in the tu january 6 itself. every day since, we have worked to identify and investigate and apprehend defendants from across the country. and we have done so at record speed and scale in the midst of a pandemic during which some grand juries and courtrooms were not able to operate. led by the u.s. attorney's office for the district of columbia and the fbi's washington field office, doj personnel across the department in nearly all 56 field offices and nearly all 94 united states attorneys offices and in many main justice components have worked countless hours to investigate the attack. approximately 70 prosecutors from the district of columbia and another 70 from other u.s. attorneys offices and doj divisions have participated in this investigation. so far, we have issued over 5,000 subpoenas and search warrants, seized approximately 2,000 devices, poured through over 20,000 hours of video footage and searched through an estimated 15 terabytes of data. we have received over 300,000 tips from ordinary citizens who have been our indispensable partners in this effort. the fbi's website continues to post photos of persons in connection with the events of january 6 and we continue to seek the public's assistance in identifying those individuals. as of today, we have arrested and charged more than 725 defendants and nearly all 50 states and the district of columbia for their roles in the january 6 attack. in charging the perpetrators, we have followed well worn prosecutorial practices. those who damaged the capitol face greater charges. those who conspired with others to obstruct the vote count also face greater charges. those who did not undertake such conduct have been charged with lesser offenses, particularly if they accepted their responsibility early and cooperated with the investigation. in the first months of the investigation, approximately 145 defendants pled guilty to misdemeanors. mostly defendants who did not cause injury or damage. such pleas reflect the facts of those cases and the defendants' acceptance of responsibility. and they helped conserve both judicial and prosecutorial resources so that attention could properly focus on the more serious perpetrator. in context cases, initial charges are often less severe than later charged offenses. this is purposeful as investigators collect and sift through more evidence. by now, though, we have charged over 325 defendants with felonies. many for assaulting officers and many for corruptly obstructing or attempting to obstruct an official proceeding. 20 defendants charged with felonies have already pled guilty. approximately 40 defendants have been charged with conspiracy to obstruct a congressional proceeding and/or to obstruct law enforcement. in the months ahead, 17 defendants are already scheduled to go to trial for their role in felony conspiracies. a necessary consequence of the prosecutorial approach of charging less serious offenses first is that courts impose shorter sentences before they impose longer ones. in recent weeks, however, as judges have sentenced the first defendants convicted of assaults and related violent conduct against officers, we have seen significant sentences that reflect the seriousness of those offenses, both in terms of the injuries they caused and the serious risk they posed to our democratic institutions. the actions we have taken thus far will not be our last. the justice department remains committed to holding all january 6 perpetrators at any level accountable under law. whether they were present that day, or were otherwise criminally responsible for at salt on our democracy. we will follow the facts wherever they lead. because january 6 was an unprecedent add tack on the seat of our democracy, we understand that there is broad public interest in our investigation. we understand that there are questions about how long the investigation will take and about what exactly we are doing. our answer is, and will continue to be, the same answer we could give to -- with respect to any on going investigation. as long as it takes, and whatever it takes for justice to be done consistent with the facts and the law. i understand that this may not be the answer some are looking for. but we will and we must speak through our work. anything else jeopardizes the viable of our investigations and the civil liberties of our citizens. everyone in this room and on these screens is familiar with the way we conduct investigations. and particularly complex investigations. we build investigations by laying a foundation, we resolve more straightforward cases first because they provide the evidenceary foundation for more complex cases. investigating the more overt crimes, generates linkages to less overt ones. overt actors an the evident they provide could lead us to others who may also have been involved and that evidence can serve as the foundation for further investigation leads and techniques. in circumstances like those of january 6, a full accounting does not suddenly materialize. to ensure that all those criminally responsible are held accountable, we must check the evidence. we follow the physical evidence, we follow the digital evidence, we follow the money, but most important we follow the facts. not an agenda, or an assumption, the facts tell us where to go next. over 40 years ago in the wake of watergate scandal, the justice department concluded that the best way to ensure that the department's independence, integrity and fair application of our laws and therefore the best way to ensure the health of our democracy is to have a set of norms to govern our work. the central norm is that in our criminal investigations there cannot be different rules depending on one's political party or affiliation. there cannot be different rules for friends and foes and there cannot be different rules for the powerful and the powerless. there is only one rule. you follow the facts and enforce the law in a way that respects the constitution and protects civil liberties. we conduct every investigation guided by the same norms and we adhere to those norms even when, and specially when, the circumstances we face are not normal. adhering to the department's long-standing norms is essential to our work in defending our democracy, particularly at a time when we are confronting a rise in violence and unlawful threats of violence in our shared public spaces and directed at those who service the public. we have all seen that americans who serve and interact with the public at every level, many of whom make our democracy work every day, have been unlawfully targeted with threats of violence and actual violence. across the country, election officials and election workers, airline flight crews, school personnel, journalists, local elected officials, u.s. senators and representatives, and judges, prosecutors and police officers have been threatened and/or attacked. these are our fellow citizens who administer our elections and ensure our safe travel, teach our children, report the news, represent their constituents, and keep our community safe. some have been told that their offices would be bombed. some have been told that they would be murdered and precisely how. that they would be hanged. that they would be beheaded. police officers who put their lives on the line every day to service our communities have been targeted with extraordinary levels of violence. flight crews have been assaulted, journalists have been targeted, school personnel and their families have been threatened, a member of congress was threatened in a gruesome voice mail that asked if she had ever seen what a 50 caliber shell does to a human head. another member of congress, an iraq war veteran and purple heart recipient, received threats that left her terrified for her family. and in 2020, federal judge in new jersey was targeted by someone who had appeared before her in court. that person compiled information about where the judge and her family lived, and