you from msnbc headquarters. it's high noon here in the east, 9:00 out west. the number of coronavirus cases and hospitalizations in the u.s. hitting some record highs as the omicron variant rages on, but there is new hope today. the cdc says there is evidence those numbers will drop dramatically in the coming weeks. >> i do think in places that we are seeing this really steep incline that we may well see also a precipitous decline, but we're also a much bigger country than south africa, and so it may very well be that we see this ice pick shape, but that it travels across the country. hospitalizations among the nation's youngest children are at the highest level since the pandemic began. states are reporting nearly twice as many severe cases of covid in children under 5. that of course the only age group ineligible yet for the covid vaccine. and a major decision from the supreme court is expected within days on president biden's vaccine, mask, and testing requirements for large businesses. the court's conservative majority has signaled it will block that mandate suggesting they do not believe the government has the authority to impose such a broad requirement on millions of private employees. we're going to go beyond the covid headlines now with nbc's gadi schwartz in los angeles, josh lederman joining us from the white house. good to see you both. the hospitals in l.a., how are they handling this alarming spread of the omicron variant? >> reporter: hey, alex, just to put it in perspective, here in los angeles we saw the county report the highest number of covid-19 cases in one day ever. some 43,000, and now the governor is calling in the national guard to help staff some of the testing sites because finding a test is getting harder and harder. the good news is we haven't seen a corresponding spike in hospitalizations here in california, but hospitals across the country are looking now at a crisis that's turning into a shortage of health care workers that are out sick themselves. american hospitals are in need of help. nearly one in four reporting a critical staffing shortage. thousands of health care workers are out sick with covid-19 as patient numbers rise. >> this has now been the largest influx of patients that we've ever taken care of. >> reporter: in los angeles, so many ambulance crews are out sick some covid patients had to come to the hospital by fire truck. the hypercontagious omicron variant infecting both vaccinated and unvaccinated, but doctors say the vaccines and boosters are highly effective at preventing severe disease. at the doctors community center in maryland, covid cases are up 925% since thanksgiving. about 70% are unvaccinated and the icu is full. nbc's gabe gutierrez visited on friday. >> it's very tough. a lot of times you just have to take a break, you cry and you come back. then you do it all over again. >> reporter: the cdc saying the number of young children hospitalized has also reached alarming levels. >> pediatric hospitalizations are at the highest rate compared to any prior point in the pandemic. >> reporter: experts say with the rapid spread, vaccines, masks, and testing are more important than ever, but across the country, frustration over testing shortages. in florida, some are outraged after learning as many as a million rapid test kits expired during a period that saw testing lines stretching more than a mile. a new report out of the university of florida predicts 70 to 80% of the people living in the sunshine state will have contracted covid by the end of the omicron wave, making for choppy waters in industries just beginning to recover. cruise line canceling voyages as covid-19 cases mount on the open seas. and many experts are expecting the omicron wave of infections to peak in the next few weeks. with every lag there is obviously that lag in hospitalizations and deaths, and that soon follows. so the biggest strains on the health care system are still yet to come. alex. >> got to tell you, though, that nugget you shared about 1 million test kits expiring, you know, when the need for them is so dramatic, that's frustrating news you shared, but i thank you for it nonetheless, thanks, gadi. president biden is in nevada for senator harry reid's memorial service while back in washington, the administration tries to paint an optimistic picture of the future. this as they're grappling with the surge in covid cases. let's go to josh lederman standing by at the white house. welcome to you on this saturday. it's been a really busy couple of days for the president. overshadowing all of it is omicron. so what is the president saying about that? >> reporter: alex, president biden is insisting that the u.s. is getting back on its feet despite the ongoing challenges posed by covid-19 and by the omicron variant in particular. the biden administration still racing to get that new test distribution program off the ground to try to address the shortage of tests that gadi was just describing. we have some new details about what the administration is planning to do with that. the first two contracts have now been awarded to try to buy those 500 million tests, and we now know they will be sent out to americans for free through the usps through a website that's still being built, although the administration is still targeting a rollout date hopefully sometime this month for that, but that testing shortage coming as a group of former biden advisers had been warning it may be time for a new strategy that's about dealing with the new normal of covid, as rochelle walensky, the cdc director said this week that she envisions covid-19 being an endemic virus in the future. president biden asked whether he agrees with that yesterday, here's what he had to say. >> no, i don't think covid is here to stay, but having covid in the environment here and in the world is probably here to stay, but covid as we're dealing with it now is not here to stay. we're going to be able to control this. the new normal is not going to be what it is now. it's going to be better. >> reporter: the president last night took a visit to colorado, alex, to witness the devastation from the marshal fire. today he is in nevada where he shortly will be attending and speaking at the funeral for harry reid, the former senate majority leader who served with president biden for decades in the senate, also helped shepherd the obama administration's agenda through congress when biden was vice president. biden praised him as a dear friend, in a statement upon his death, and we should note this is actually the seventh time that president biden has attended or participated in a memorial for a lost friend or colleague just since he took office, alex. >> that is a lot. okay. thank you for that. we're going to certainly be tuning in for all the president has to say and more. as i thank you, josh, we're going to get more on that memorial right now. nbc capitol hill correspondent leigh ann caldwell is joining me from las vegas. i should note this is also your hometown. i'd love you to set the scene for us. tell us what you're hearing and seeing there in las vegas. >> reporter: hey, alex. this is my hometown and every single part of this state and this city has been touched by the late senator harry reid from transitioning las vegas when it was controlled by mob bosses to a tourist destination for the entire world, to the infrastructure, the highways, the university of nevada las vegas. he has left such an imprint on this state and the city. even though he was very partisan and sometimes very divisive, even here in nevada, i will say on my plane last night there was at least a dozen people who used to work for him who were on that plane coming here to memorialize him. and this is going to be a who's who of democratic politics, as you already mentioned. the former president obama is going to be here to eulogize him, current president joe biden, speaker nancy pelosi, majority leader schumer as well. we can expect president obama to credit the late senator for his rise to the presidency. he has often said that senator reid called him into his office to say that he should run for president, and he then did and of course won. so this is going to be quite a big ceremony and memory event for the late senator who is from a very small mining town 45 miles away from here called search light, nevada. he grew up with no running water, no toilets. he had to hitchhike in order to go to high school 40 miles to the town of henderson. he has come a long way, and this is quite a sendoff, alex. >> it is quite a sendoff. i know you covered him as well, and had a remarkable interview with him just about two years ago. thank you for your perspective as well. for all of you, stay with us for the live coverage of the memorial service. we're going to bring you president biden's address as well as the eulogy delivered by former president obama, and also in the next few minutes, i'm going to get the inside story on reid from yet another journalist who has covered him since 1986. we turn now to capitol hill, the marking of one year since the attack on the capitol has sparked a fresh push on voting rights legislation. let's go to nbc's julie tsirkin joining us from capitol hill. could this week be a critical one in determining any fate of voting rights legislation? >> reporter: yeah, alex, it's going to be a big week coming up here in the senate. it's when the senate will start to take up one of the pieces of legislation to reform voting rights known as the freedom to vote act. that, of course, had senator joe manchin's hand on it. he co-authored it when the senate was unable to pass a bigger, more reformative piece of legislation earlier in the summer without him. january 6th, the one-year anniversary, we saw countless speeches from senate democrats who tied in the need to pass voting rights election reforms as a measure to address january 6th to make sure that something like that never happens here again. there were tons of grass roots organizations putting pressure on majority leader schumer, on senate democrats to do something about it, and just this upcoming tuesday, president biden will actually devote an entire speech in atlanta to voting rights. now, the freedom to vote act, as i mentioned senator joe manchin co-authored it, but it still requires a rules change in order to get it across the finish line because it needs just democratic votes. they don't have ten republicans needed to pass it. i want you to take a listen to what majority leader schumer said on the floor yesterday about what they're going to do moving forward. >> democrats are currently exploring the paths we have available to restore the senate, so it does what the framers intended, debate, deliberate, compromise, amend and vote. as i said in my dear colleague earlier this week, if republicans continue to hijack the rules of the chamber to prevent us from protecting our democracy, then the senate will debate and consider changes to the rules on or before january 17th, martin luther king jr. day. >> reporter: so alex, this is really the first time we're going to get a concrete vision of what these rules changes will look like. of course senate democrats have been bringing in expert, have been holding countless calls and meetings with joe manchin, with kyrsten sinema to get them onboard to do this in a partisan fashion. right now all republicans are looking to support is something called the electoral count act looking to reform that, which is a centuries old law and schumer called that offensive and distasteful and senator warknock told me that is a distraction from putting in restrictive measures. >> the name, the electoral reform act, doesn't that sound like what a lot of republicans were trying to do a year ago thursday. just saying. thank you very much, julie, appreciate that. joining me now a democratic member of the house energy and commerce and natural resources committees. he is also a member of the select committee on the climate crisis. we welcome you, congressman. thank you for joining me, sir. as we start off our discussion with part of president biden's message on the anniversary of the attack on the capitol, let's take a listen to that. >> new laws are being written, not to protect the vote, but to deny it. not only to suppress the vote, but to subvert it. not to strengthen or protect our democracy, but because the former president lost instead of looking at the election results from 2020 and say they need new ideas or better ideas to win more votes. the former president and his supporters have decided the only way for them to win is to suppress your vote and subvert our elections. it's wrong. it's undemocratic, and, frankly, it's un-american. >> sir, that speech and the overall reflection on january 6th, has that upped the urgency to increase voting rights protections, how critical in your mind is voting rights legislation in preventing another january 6th like attack? >> first of all, thank you for having me on and thank you for that question. i agree with the president wholeheartedly, and i think he touched on what we need to do at this moment, which is pass those voting rights, that legislation. the right to vote is sacrosanct in this country, and if we're going to ensure that our democracy is passed on through posterity as is our charge, then we need to make sure that voting rights are ensured and that they are protected by this act. >> indeed, and some of your democratic colleagues in the senate, sir, spoke on the floor friday about the importance of passing voting rights legislation. let's take a listen to part of what they said then. >> with state legislatures beginning to convene for their 2022 legislative sessions this week with plans to pass more bills that will restrict voting and with primaries for the 2022 election just around the corner, we cannot wait another moment. >> ask yourself this, if the american people don't decide the outcome of elections, who will? right now this is not just another political debate. the future of the american democracy is at stake. >> let's look at what's there, importance, certainly. feels like the momentum is there as well, but the big question remains how does voting rights legislation get passed with what appears to be zero republican support. there is also no clear change yet to senate rules that brings all democratic senators on board, and given the razor thin margin, you need them all on bard. so how do you think, sir, the urgency and the momentum ultimately translate into legislation that gets to the president's desk? >> well, what we need is continued pressure from outside groups that want this sort of reform to take place and the good conversations that i'm hearing in the senate about filibuster reform. from my vantage point there should be no filibuster when we come to fundamental rights such as voting, but the senate is the senate, and they may not take that approach. to reform the filibuster in some form or fashion is absolutely necessary, and from what i'm hearing, that's going to happen. the shape and the contours of a new rule as it affects voting rights have yet to be hammered out. it sounds like to me from all the conversations i'm privy to that that is indeed going to happen. >> well, let's take a look at what happens tuesday, this ahead of the president and vice president's trip to atlanta to address voting rights. a coalition of georgia voting rights groups say do not come unless you have a concrete plan to pass federal laws immediately. they don't to want wait any longer. how do you interpret that, and how does capitol hill overall view in general these frustrations? >> well, i certainly can't speak for all of capitol hill, but i welcome that type of pressure. that's exactly the type of pressure that i'm talking about. we should embrace our outside allies such as these groups. i'm not necessarily familiar with these groups, but those who support the reforms in voting rights, we should embrace them. we should encourage them to be engaged with us and to have conversation with us and to do exactly what those groups are doing. that's ultimately how legislation is passed. you know, the speaker's always quoting lincoln who said with public support everything is possible, and this type -- this is exactly the type of public sentiment that we need. >> let's move, sir, and discuss the build back better legislation because i know you're part of a group of congressional democrats. you're demanding the climate portions of that bill remain intact. could the climate provisions get turned into some sort of stand alone bill? >> that's always a possibility. my understanding at this point is that they may be in pretty good shape, you know, because if you just think about when we reinvent this economy and we move from fossil fuels to renewables, we're going to create hundreds of thousands of jobs. covid costs us hundreds of thousands of jobs in the clean energy industry alone. getting those folks back to work, improving our infrastructure, improving our public housing, electrifying our public transportation fleet, electrifying our postal fleet, all those things create jobs. all those things create great opportunities and family sustaining employment for workers across this country. that's really the genius behind build back better. we improve the economy, and we improve the environment. it's a double win. >> yeah, here's a hiccup i have to discuss with "the washington post" report that senator joe manchin no longer supports a $1.8 trillion counteroffer, which he sent the white house on the president's build back better agenda, and that's according to three people with knowledge of this matter. the post is also reporting that manchin has been speaking with mitt romney, the republican senator who's trying to broker a bipartisan agreement over the child tax credit with manchin. what is joe manchin doing? do you think democrats are going to get his support? >> i don't know what the gentleman from west virginia is doing. he certainly does not consult with me before making these announcements. but look, he's doing what he feels like he needs to do to represent the good people of west virginia. i remain confident that there will be a solution. look, it is not in joe manchin's interest to tank the president's plan. he is a democrat, doing so would only make us all look bad. it will make us look ineffective, and so i think there will be a compromise that is reached and how he goes about negotiating with his senate colleagues is his business and their business. until i see my senators panic , tim kaine and mark warner, i won't panic. >> i appreciate your insights, your optimism as well. thank you so much congressman, don mckeepen, good to see you. a new study raises concerns for children who contract covid. the cdc tries to ease the confusion over quarantine guidelines. does it make any more sense now? 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>> yeah, i think alex, with a highly transmissible variant, we've seen this both in south africa and uk, which is important to watch because they've always been ahead of us. they are slightly different. they are a smaller country. we are geographically larger. what we've seen with delta is we tend to get rolling peaks. potentially our peak might take a little longer, right? most of the models currently including one i followed from north eastern says most states in the u.s. will reach a peak before the end of january. and then you might see a decline after that. >> okay. which means we still have a few weeks of this. this has been a sticking point here of discussion. the cdc has clarified their new shortened quarantine guidelines after the initial announcement sparked a lot of confusion, but let's take a listen to what dr. rochelle walensky said on "today." here it is. >> so we know that's vast majority of your contagiousness by day five is really behind you. so in this moment where we're evaluating the science and looking at the epidemiology of the disease, we said five days of isolation and then are you feeling better. is your cough gone. if your symptoms are gone, we say come out of -- you're okay to come out of isolation, but you really do need to wear a mask all of the time. >> so how is this different other than the five versus ten days? we were always told, if i recollect correctly, that you're going to wear your mask continuously, right? that's what we're all supposed to be doing, and if you have no symptoms, go out and about. is this specific to omicron now? >> i think it's a balance of a couple of things. i think omicron has shown different viral dynamics, the virus tends to peak a lot faster, right? we've seen it tends to multiply and does go deeper down. we're still learning about it, but they're also seeing that the cdc had a tough time here. they were trying to balance in this month in january with the number of cases that we've had, if there are people who are not transmitting, already finished their symptoms or never symptomatic to begin with, how do you ensure that balance between trying to get people to be able to go pack to work for essential services, so the balance with that is, you know, making sure that people are not going back to work while they're still transmitting. so the importance of i think the rapid test being there, and i wish that there was a little bit more of a stress on people getting tested. there might be a small portion that might still be shedding. of course the trouble here, though, is that if you make that the policy, there's not enough rapid tests, so this is sort of a rock and a hard place. >> what's your thought on kids being back in school right now? good idea, bad idea, necessary for any number of reasons, let alone the quality of academic learning and the emotional stability of the kids, but there's a big picture here. >> i'll start with that last point, alex. it is a big picture because it's one that's different in different places. let me start by saying i think it's important for kids to be in school. we've seen sort of the impact on this. we also have to weigh that against the surge that specifically is happening with omicron right now, and it's lead leaving teachers sick at home, out of the educational classroom. how do we balance that increased number of cases with not enough staff. that's why i say the answer is probably not the same everywhere. if you're in a place where there is enough staffing, where there is vaccination, where you're able to put all those mitigation measures in, yeah, this is absolutely necessary. in fact, i've said this throughout the pandemic. i mean, you should close bars and restaurants and large venues first before you close schools because there's a benefit there. but then there's the other parts where you can't get those mitigation measures in place, but there isn't vaccination where tons and teachers are out, can you do it safely. that's the question. i don't think the answer is the same everywhere. >> okay. good advice as always. next, remembering harry reid, why his tenure as senate majority leader was so consequential, and why he was regarded as a very savvy deal maker. s a very savvy deal maker. y encouraged: kindness, honesty and hard work. over time, i've come to add a fourth: be curious. be curious about the world around us, and then go. go with an open heart, and you will find inspiration anew. viking. exploring the world in comfort. right now flags at capitol hill and official buildings around the united states are flying at half-staff in honor of former nevada senator harry reid. in less than two hours, president biden and former president obama will speak at a memorial service in las vegas. joining me now, kris tan ortman, newly minted education director of the democratic national committee, and john ralston, founder and ceo of the nevada independent. that's a nonprofit news outlet. john is writing a book about senator reid right now. a really poignant day for both of you given your really close relationships in varying ways to the late senator. kristin, you first i know your twitter bio says forever team reid. you were there at the height of his senate leadership. what stands out as you look back on his life and his work? >> i mean, i flew into harry reid international airport yesterday and i couldn't help but think how he's known for his national work, but here in nevada, the modern day las vegas, the las vegas strip, the hundreds of workers, culinary workers, construction workers who built this city and all throughout the state i think his enormous impact on the state, i think it's a sad day, but it's a really proud day for a lot of people on team reid. >> yeah. john, you started covering reid in 1968. do you think that his role in passing the affordable care act was his proudest accomplishment? and does he get the credit he deserves for that, another obama era initiatives that he was behind. >> alex, i did a lot of interviews with the senator before he passed away, and he brought up the affordable care act a lot. i had written before that it should probably be called reid care, not obamacare, and i think the former president would probably acknowledge that it never would have happened except for the legislative -- and i don't think it's an exaggeration -- genius of harry reid. whatever else you thought of him, he was able to essentially legally bribe a couple of his colleagues to come across at the last moment to get that done. he basically told the president's team just leave this part to me. i'll get it done for you. and he did, and i think it was his proudest accomplishment. >> you mentioned the book and the interview, i think you had 24 zoom interviews for this book, so it will be comprehensive. you've also referred to him as ruthless. who is it that you think influenced him politically, and who do you think would have shaped his outlook and strategy in running for the senate? >> i think the biggest influence politically and maybe even personally outside of his wife landra, who was his biggest influence and more of an adviser than people know, was a former governor by the name of michael callahan who was his teacher first at basic high school in henderson and essentially became a surrogate father to harry reid and instilled in him a lot of the values and the determination and the work ethic that made him successful. many people know the story of harry reid's father. he was an alcoholic who committed suicide when harry reid was in his early 30s, but he was never really around in his childhood. he was a hard rock miner, and michael callahan who was a legendary figure in nevada took harry reid under his wing, taught him how to box, and taught him how to box in life as well. >> thank heavens he did. i know kristin some have written about his partisanship and those character traits that went along with it. were those deliberate calculations that he made in the way he managed people up and down the chain? >> i think it's a testament to him that there are about 300 plus former staff who flew in for his services today. i think it speaks to how much of a mentor he was to hundreds and thousands of people that worked for him. i think he's known as ruthless as jon said publicly. i think privately he was one of the best bosses anyone who's ever worked for him would say. he treated people with respect. he was inclusive. he brought people into the process, whether they worked for him or whether they were at the grass roots of the party or the state, and i think we'll see that reflected in some of the speeches here today as well. >> perhaps he figured out how to be a good mentor for governor callahan. he learned and passed it on paying it forward. many aspects of reid's career are less known nationally. kristen mentioned the fight with the mob in nevada, also the work that he did with native americans. do you have a most memorable story about reid that may not be widely known? >> well, i have so many, i'm going to save a lot of them for the book if you don't mind, alex, but there are a lot of great private harry reid stories s and the stories, i don't really have a specific one, but let me tell you that's not known that much about reid, who was known as this kind of terse, laconic always driving forward, sometimes very partisan and even very harsh kind of guy in public. in private he could be very gentle. there are countless acts of kindness to people you've never heard of i've heard about. but most of all, his dead pan humor. i've told this story before about him, alex, as he came on my tv show once and his book had come out. and i had written a book and i decided to put up the amazon readership numbers, and his book of course had many more readers than mine, and i asked him how that could possibly be, and without miss ing a beat, he said i'm just a better writer, jon. that is really something about harry reid that people don't know. by the way, i think it helped him get through some of the really tough times in life. both in growing up in abject poverty and what kristen alluded to with the mob when he was the top gaming regulator in the state. you have to have a sense of humor to get through tough times. >> last question to you, kristen. anything in memory that many people may not know about that really sticks with you? >> i think we'll hear today from five of his kids. i think mrs. reid has spoken about how wonderful of a father he is, how much of a family man he was, and i'm really looking forward to those sort of personal speeches and stories later today. >> yeah, i think i am too, having had to speak at my own father's funeral. that is something that is an almost out of body experience. i admire any child who does that. we'll be listening closely for that. thank you for your time, your recollections, your insights. i hope you guys get a lot out of this service today, i know it's going to be extraordinary. thank you. we're going to bring you the harry reid memorial with remarks from president biden, chuck schumer and nancy pelosi. it's all ahead for you at 2:00 eastern. but first, begging for forgiveness, but for what? we're going to talk about senator ted cruz next. t. stare out of the window... ...so that no one knows i'm secretly terrified inside. inner voice (sneaker shop owner): i'm using hand gestures and pointing... ...so no one can tell i'm unsure about my business finances. inner voice (furniture maker): i'm constantly nodding... ...because i know everything about furniture... ...but with the business side... ...i'm feeling a little lost. quickbooks can help. an easy way to get paid, pay your staff and know where your business stands. new business? 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ask your doctor about nurtec to find out! as members of congress solemnly marked one year since the insurrection on capitol hill, a stark and telling visual during a moment of silence in the house chambers. only two republicans were present. congressman liz cheney and her father, of course former vice president dick cheney. joining me now kurt bardella, adviser to the dnc and zerlina maxwell, host of the show "zerlina" on peacock. so good to see you both. let's get into this right now. you've heard it said a million times, a picture is worth a thousand words. this image alone, i feel really encapsulates so much of our politics today. what do you make of the near total absence by republicans there? i mean, their safety was also at risk that day. >> that's such a good point, alex. i think a lot about the fact when lawmakers and staff were running to hide from the folks that were attacking the capitol carrying trump flags and banners, they weren't running just with republicans or just with democrats. they were running as human beings who were in fear of their safety. and rightfully so. there were five people as a result of that attack who have subsequently died and people who died on the day of the insurrection. i think it's incredibly saturday to see that photo and just see the former vice president dick cheney and his daughter as the only representatives. adam kinzinger probably would have been there if he could be, but what does that say about our politics? i think it says that the republican party has made a decision. they are not going to tell the truth or believe the truth about what happened on january 6th because they understand what it means that they support a former president who tried to subvert the will of the american people. that was the first time we did not have a peaceful transfer of power. >> but for one brief, shining moment let's listen to a reminder of what some of the staunchest trump supporters said last year right after that attack. >> we've had a hell of a journey. i hate it being this way, oh, my god i hate it. from my point of view he's been a consequential president, but today, first thing you'll see. all i can say is count me out, enough is enough. >> if this election were overturned by mere allegations from the losing side, our democracy would enter a death spiral. >> the president bears responsibility for wednesday's attack on congress by mob rioters. >> what happened, kurt? >> well, i think that zerlina's right. the republican party has made a conscious decision to withdraw from democracy, and even after what we saw in the immediate aftermath of january 6th, what we've seen from the year since then has been a concerted, a contrived, a deliberate effort by the republican party en masse to completely whitewash what happened on january 6th. and it just -- you know, that death spiral that leader mcconnell talked about, they're leading that death spiral now, that death spiral of democracy, and when none of these republicans can muster the courage, the fortitude to show up and honor what happened, even honor the people who saved their life. the people who stood between harm's way and them, who barricaded, who stood their ground, who held the line, republicans, the so-called party of law and order can't be bothered to show up to honor their sacrifice? >> ted cruz received a lot of backlash for calling the insurrection a violence terrorist attack. he went on the tucker carlson show to clean up what was an accurate characterization of that day. however, it did not go so well. let's take a look. >> the way i phrased things yesterday, it was sloppy and it was frank lip dumb. >> i don't buy that. i don't buy that. look, i've known you a long time since before you went to the senate. you're a supreme court contender. you take words as seriously as any man who's ever served in the senate. and you repeat that had phrase. i do not believe you used that accidentally. i just don't. >> so tucker, as a result of my sloppy phrasing, it's caused a lot of people to misunderstand what i meant. i wasn't saying that the thousands of peaceful protesters supporting donald trump are somehow terrorists. i wasn't saying the millions of patriots across the country supporting president trump are terrorists. that's what a lot of people have misunderstood. >> i don't often say this, but okay, tucker. i mean, you know, i want to get both your reaction to that overall. zerlina, you first. >> it's just funny to see ted cruz sort of flail around there because he did accurately describe what happened on january 6th. that was a violent terrorist attack, and if you just picture the people any different color than what they were, i think it becomes pretty clear, particularly given the way that we talk about terrorism in this country, but i think that ted cruz, you know, tucker's right. he is somebody who is pretty careful with his words, harvard educated lawyer, so he knows what words mean, and to pretend otherwise just demonstrates that perhaps in this moment he's behaving as if there are no principles other than power and holding power and keeping power no matter what. and i think that the cost in this moment is the health and the long-term viability of our democracy. that's what's at stake. that's what changed this week. the white house shifted in their messaging around that as well. that's important. but every time a republican like ted cruz doubles down on the big lie or the idea that what happened wasn't a terrorist attack, they're showing us who they really, really are. >> last word to you, kurt, on this. >> well, i think that we just saw tucker carlson completely take out one of his would be rivals for the presidential nomination. anybody who's working for anybody who wants to be president in the republican party, you might want to think twice about going on tucker's show. he's coming for you. he's taking you out one by one. ted cruz is victim number one. >> always good to see you. for all of you who want more of zerlina, you can catch her show weeknights at 6:00 eastern on the peacock streaming channel, the choice. lawyers for novak djokovic, the new claim and a report from melbourne next. the new claim and a report from melbourne next who came to new york from puerto rico when he was 17. with ancestry, being able to put the pieces of the puzzle together... ...it's amazing. it's honestly amazing. are you tired of clean clothes that just don't smell clean? being able to put the pieces of the puzzle together... downy unstopables in-wash scent boosters keep your laundry smelling fresh way longer than detergent alone. if you want laundry to smell fresh for weeks, make sure you have downy unstopables in-wash scent boosters. . ahead for you today on "politics nation." reverend al sharpton talks to congresswoman brenda lawrence about her decision to retire. he's going to speak with martin luther king iii about the struggle to pass a voting rights bill. lawyers for novak djokovic are filing court documents challenging his deportation are from australia. the tennis star contracted covid-19 last month. he was denied entry at the airport earlier this week after failing to meet the country's requirement that all non-citizens be vaccinated against covid. reporter nicole johnston from sky news is in melbourne, australia. welcome, and what happens since the accident. >> reporter: hi, alex, the world's number one tennis player novak djokovic is being held for a third night in this immigration detention hotel behind me. he's waiting for his day in court, which is happening here in melbourne on monday. now, he's presenting court documents that say that he was granted a medical exemption, that he had previously been infected with covid-19 and tested positive on the 16 16th of death. for the last few days his supporters have been gathering here outside the hotel. this has become a real political battle here in australia, between tennis australia, the victorian government and the federal government. the australian prime minister scott morrison insists that rules are rules, but it's also a political headache for australia, the serbian president has called it a witch hunt. now, novak djokovic is asking for access to his personal chef. he's also requesting that he be moved from this hotel to a house with a tennis court, but for now both of those requests have been denied. back to you in the studio. >> thanks so much, nicole. i guess tba on all of that. a new report about an aggressive escalation by the january 6th committee inquiry and what it might mean for the former president. how bout sushi? i just had sushi for lunch yesterday. indian? ehh, maybe... how bout seafood? you know i don't like seafood. 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