facing staff shortages. and more schools are now turning to remote learning with a brutal battle still playing out in the city of chicago. while in new york a massive fire at a high-rise in the bronx killing at least 19 people, at least nine of them children. we will be live at the scene. and overnight a big win for tennis star novak djokovic, he can stay in australia despite the visa battle over being unvaccinated. so what happens now on the court? and a nation remembering bob saget, the actor and comedian best known for his role on "full house" has died at just 65 years old, and this morning the tributes are pouring in. we've got to start this morning's broadcast with major developments overseas where the united states and russian officials are holding critical talks in switzerland over ukraine's border crisis, as the west tries to avoid an all out war with russia. tens of thousands of these russian troops have been building up along ukraine's border for months and months, and the u.s. and our western allies are pushing to get russia to back off from a possible invasion. the biden administration saying no firm commitments will be made and the feeling is mutual for russia with officials warning to the u.s. not to overplay its hand. carol lee joins us from washington, matt bod ner and admiral james stavridis and gary kaspiroff. matt, the u.s. and russia did not sound optimistic on either side even going into these talks. tell us where we are now. >> reporter: so the case for optimism appears to be getting harder to make. russia is bringing a very, very hard line to these negotiations and essentially they published a list of demands just before the holidays that demanded a lot of nato, of the united states and the collective west, and to summarize those points they essentially want a partial dismantling of the alliance back to the 1997 status quo, that 1997 date was actually invoked directly by deputy foreign minister sergei ran could have just over the weekend as they walked into these talks and he said something essentially to the extent of rufgts has been giving on the nato issue for 30 years and it's time for the united states ornate toe to give something in return. so we're now just kind of waiting to see is russia serious about that demand? that's a very hard line to ride and one that we know to be unpalatable to the united states, to nato or is this just a very strong bargaining position, can the united states, for example, today offer something that russia might go for? one of the things that might be on the table is some kind of return to the intermediate range nuclear forces treaty that the trump administration withdrew from. we know that's something russia would probably love to see. they have said specifically they want to talk about american missile placements, nato missile placements in eastern europe, but everything else doesn't appear to actually be on the table in the united states's mind and the big question is can russia actually give anything at this point that will disarm the crisis or are we going to see talks break down later today? >> that's talk more about the bargaining chips because president biden was just talking about the threat to democracy here in the u.s. and here he is dealing with it on a global stage overseas. what can they actually do to get putin to back off because just having these talks, these men being seen as peers, is exactly what putin wants. >> reporter: steph, and the white house is intentionally setting very low expectations for these discussions, saying that they don't expect any commitments to come out of this, but that's largely because they don't know whether or not russia is serious about having a diplomatic resolution to this crisis. what they have decided to do is go into these talks with various options for different scenarios, whether scenarios -- including whether putin was to further invade in ukraine, there is a number of options that they are prepared to lay out, including sanctions, including blocking certain technologies to russia, among other things, and including pressing up troops, nato troops in the region if putin were to take that step. they've also built things for confidence building things, things they might offer russia if they are indeed serious with negotiations and that's a willingness to talk about things like missile deployments and the scope and scale of military exercises, things like that. now, the white house says that they are not considering cuts to u.s. troops in the region, but our own reporting shows that there are certain options that have been under discussion that would reduce the u.s. military footprint in the region, but, steph, all of this depends on whether or not russia shows that they are serious about negotiations and that's something that the u.s. just isn't sure of and that they're hoping to get a sense of in these first initial negotiations. >> richard engel is on the front lines in ukraine. let's share what he's seeing. >> reporter: here in sr. ukraine ukrainian troops are digging new trenches. it is slow, incredibly back-breaking work. they have to chip right into the frozen ground and these trenches go on for miles. the reason that they are preparing for the worst now is that they worry that negotiations between the united states and russia could either fail or that russia is not negotiating in good faith. that russia is just going through the motions of diplomacy so that it can claim that it gave peace a chance and then inn said this country again anyway. >> admiral, you were in charge of nato. the united states and europe's relationship has gotten a lot more strained over the last few years. how critical is it for all of us to be on the same page now? >> it's essential, steph. here is the good news, i think we are. as i look at the way the administration has worked very hard to rebuild those relationships across the atlantic with nato, i think we can count on our nato partners to stand with us economically, diplomatically and even militarily. now, that doesn't mean a nato troop deployment to ukraine in response to an invasion, but it probably means military supplies to the ukrainians, training, exercises, cyber, intelligence. look, we know that vladimir putin is probing here, russian proverb probe until you hit steel, then withdraw. i think we've got a pretty good chance of him not conducting a full-scale invasion. and i will close by saying our negotiator, you saw her picture a moment ago, ambassador wendy sherman, she has a spine of steel. she is a terrific negotiator, she negotiated with the iranians, i want her in the chair for these talks. let's see where they go. >> all right. gary, while it is always good to see you, it's never good news when you are here. give us a reality check. we're watching what's happening across the world, but for those of us who don't focus on it, why do we need to care? you know russia inside and out. >> thank you very much, stephanie. we are talking about ukraine, let's not forget that there is no u.s. ambassador in ukraine and this time is not a fault of senate. biden hasn't appointed anyone. and these talks with putin is our hostage negotiation with a terrorist. he invaded ukraine in 2014 and now he is using the threat of further invasion to demand concessions and his concessions are about basically destroying eastern flank of nato. so this isn't about geopolitical interest of russia, national security, it's extortion in putin's interest of causing chaos, expanding his influence and staying in power. and it's completely backward. the free world should be making the demands of the terrorist putin, the invader putin, the man president biden correctly called a killer. does the united states negotiate with killers over how many people they can kill? >> then, gary, when you hear people talk about blinken leaving the door open for a diplomatic deal with russia, are you laughing at that? telling us that you're negotiating with a terrorist? >> blinken said yesterday that one of putin's goals was to restore the u.s. -- and i was amazed. it only took four u.s. administrations and three putin invasions of neighboring countries to understand putin's own words in his 2007 speech in munich 50 years ago. he said as much himself. a return to influence and to house international law but nobody listened and here we are. >> admiral, what do you think about what gary just said? >> i agree with grand master kaspirov. he understands the national game of russia chess very well and we're seeing a chess game here. putin is pushing, pushing, pushing, he also wants to consolidate defense around what he perceives as a less defendable borders for russia in the wake of nato. one other point to be made here, stephanie, is that putin also seeks to divide nato, he seeks to divide europe on this issue. he knows there's controversy about oil and gas and above all he would like to divide the united states and portray the biden administration as weak headed into our elections. so as always it's a game within a game for vladimir putin. >> a game within a game. admiral, gary, matt, carol, you have sufficiently scared an informed us on this monday morning. we're going to leave it there for now, but he will be watching these negotiations as the day continues. we've now got to turn to the fight against the coronavirus. portions of the administration's vaccination or test mandate are going into effect today for large employers. testing requirements for some 80 million workers will not kick in until february, even as the supreme court considers whether the mandate is constitutional. it comes as vaccinations have ticked down from a month ago, but cases and hospitalizations are up. on sunday we passed 60 million cases and at this rate we could see more new cases in the first two months of the year than we did of all of 2021. but it is a different kind of case because at the same time hospitalizations are also up, pretty dramatically with daily covid admissions at the highest level of the entire pandemic. this is the thing, as many of half of the people who are testing positive in hospitals were not there because of covid, they were brought in for something else and they tested positive after they were admitted. let's discuss and bring in nbc's sam brock in miami, meagan fitzgerald covers the ongoing school standoff in chicago and dr. ezekiel emanuel, one of president biden's former advisers. talking about the new normal of life with covid. doctor, to get to this new normal you say we need more vaccines, stronger mandates. what if we don't get that? at this point there are vaccines all over the place and people who don't want to get them and those who don't want to get them don't plan on it unless a mandate is put in place, and those are in question. >> yeah, i think the supreme court should not take away one of our most important tools in the fight against this pandemic. we're still in an emergency, as you point out hospitalizations are at record highs, we have 1,500 deaths a day, even though omicron isn't as deadly, we still have an enormous burden on the country. we do need these mandates. i've called for these mandates since april. we can get to about 60% of the population vaccinated by voluntary efforts, by making them free, by giving them some incentives, but to get to the 85%, 90%, we need to really effectively combat coronavirus and reduce the mortality rate in this country, we are going to need mandates. that's what has been shown. for the supreme court to take it away from the government, from osha would be terrible. it would be a real blow to the effective fight against this pandemic. >> it's an important reminder we have not gotten a ruling yet and there are all sorts of major employers who support this mandate, who have put it in place at their places of business. sam, for a while hospitalizations were relatively flat. that's not been the case over the last two weeks and we know at the same time hospital staff are getting sick. what's going on inside those hospitals? >> reporter: steph, we've got some new reporting on this. right now in the united states there's about 138,000 people hospitalized with covid-19, the all-time high according to nbc news's figures is 142,000, which is to say probably within the next couple of days we are going to break the record during the entire pandemic of people hospitalized with covid. now, as i talked to folks on the front line what they tell me is that it's not an issue of available beds, it's not equipment, it's not medication, it's people. here in south florida baptist health is one of the largest providers, they have 500 people out right now with covid-19. that's not a massive portion of their workforce, it's about 3% or 4%, but when you talk about a dozen or so people in one location who are sick, what baptist has had to do is shut down urgent care centers to reshuffle and reposition their staff. it has gotten so bad in california, stephanie, that they've resorted to changing the guidelines for health care workers who test positive. i'm not talking about being exposed to the virus, test positive. they can go right back to work without isolation, without an additional test as long as they are asymptomatic. one other thing i'd like to point out is that icu capacity has exceeded 80% nationally, that is the highest that it's been since delta. why is that so concerning? doctors say once you get into the range of 85% to 90%, lives that could have been saved will be lost because we do not have the available resources, steph. >> doctor, can you explain this to me because if you are someone who works in a hospital and you test positive but you're asymptomatic, they want you to go back to work, but that's not the case in all sorts of other jobs where you're not dealing with health issues. >> yes. i mean, you need to have -- first of all, hospitals have extremely good ventilation to prevent and reduce the risk of transmission. doctors and nurses and respiratory therapists can wear n95 masks fit to their faces. we have a lot of safeguards, but it does tell you that so many health care workers are getting omicron that, in fact, this is incredibly infectious and as pointed out, we are going to have a rough next three or four weeks as lots and lots of people, not just in health care, but in many other areas, get sick and have to stay out for a few days. there's a real workforce challenge here and part of that does require better workforce health and safety, just like osha is trying to do. get people vaccinated, get them boosted. we also need to improve the air ventilation system to reduce transmission between people. >> can you explain this one to us, though, because the argument has been it's not just about testing positive, it's whether or not you get so sick you need to be hospitalized. so when people read that headline that hospitalizations are up 80% but at the same time all sorts of people in hospitals who are testing positive aren't there for covid, they are there for other reasons. >> yeah, so say you are a cancer patient, like some of my patients, you then, you know, might get covid, but you are in because you need surgery or because you need chemotherapy or for some other reason. so you're positive for covid but that's not bringing you in, not causing symptoms, not causing serious illness. that is we call it a primary diagnosis, that's cancer. a secondary or tertiary diagnosis incidental to the admission, so what's really threatening or really needs attention is your cancer, not your covid. this is actually quite common with lots of other diseases. you might come in with heart disease, you also have diabetes, but that doesn't mean the diabetes caused you to come into the hospital. >> but it's another sign that omicron is becoming omnipresent in our lives. given that do we need to start accepting it as our new normal, perhaps changing our restrictions, our quarantine rules? >> stephanie, you're absolutely right. we are -- we're not getting rid of covid. it's not going to disappear. we're not going to eradicate it. we're going to have to learn to live with it, just like we learned to live with rsv, adenovirus, flu. we are not there yet. when you have 140,000 hospitalizations, you have 1,500 deaths a day, you are not at a situation where we can live with it normally. we still have to combat it to bring those -- that mortality rate down to about 100 people a day, to bring the hospitalizations down. but once we're down, we have to sustain it and we will live with it. we will be in a new normal. we won't have to wear masks all the time, we can go into restaurants, ventilation will be improved. that is the situation. that's where we want to get to. we can get to it probably by the summer if we work in a very concerted effort, people get vaccinated, we get these rates down. >> megan, i want to shift to chicago because now this is day four without in-person school because of the fight between the city and teachers. on friday the mayor of chicago said what the teachers are doing is not even legal. so how are we starting another school week without kids in the classroom? we are failing chicago families. >> reporter: you know, steph, the biggest question right now is when will students get back no the classroom. it's what the kids want to know. it's what the parents want to know. i had an opportunity to speak with the vice president of the teachers union just moments ago, i asked her that exact question. when are kids going to get back to school? are you any closer in these negotiations? and she says, do you know what, negotiations will continue today. that was the answer. and she also went on to say this is what we're asking for, they want metrics in place to be able to determine when it's safe and when it's not safe for kids and staff and students to be inside the classroom. and then that would then trigger online learning. they want more testing to be made available. they want this opt out metric to be put in place. so basically students would be tested unless their parents hospital them out of that. that's something that the mayor disagrees with. but i want to play for you just a little bit of the conversation that i had with the vice president of the teachers union. take a listen. >> we're going to have to say yes to some things and she's going to have to say yes to some things. so far she has refused to say yes to some things. again, this is not about whether or not to have school. this is about opening schools safely, maintaining a safe school so you don't have to close it. this is about stability for everyone in the school community. >> reporter: now, the mayor is meeting some of these demands. the teachers union wanted more masks so she said that k n95 masks will be available to all teachers, staff and students who want one. she also understands that it is important to have more testing, but the nonstarter here is when the teachers union says that they will returning to in-person learning on january 18th when they believe that the surge in the city with omicron will subside. the mayor says, no, that's unacceptable. she wants these teachers back in class now and she says she's not going to relent on that. so, again, steph, here we are day -- week two, rather, of negotiations that continue while students are out of class for the fourth day in a row. >> she's not relenting, but those kids are not back in school. megan, sam, dr. emanuel, thank you all so much. we will leave it there. developing overnight tennis star novak djokovic winning his appeal to stay in australia after the country's authorities barred his entry over him being unvaccinated and forced him to quarantine in a melbourne hotel after arriving in the country last week. sara james is in melbourne. sara, does this mean he's going to be able to compete in the australian open? he is not there to look at kangaroos, he is there to work. >> reporter: he is here to work and the fact is we don't know for certain. it's looking increasingly likely that he will have the opportunity to appear at center court behind me. we have heard from novak djokovic himself just in the last few moments, stephanie. he tweeted saying i'm pleased and grateful that the judge overturned my visa cancellation. despite all that has happened, i want to stay and try to compete at the australian open. but there is a tiny catch and the catch is this, that although the judge overturned what the government had done, there is another way that the government can proceed, the australian government, and that is that the immigration minister could decide to disregard what the court has done and say that djokovic must leave. well, we haven't heard from anybody on that yet, so we're still waiting to see if that might happen, but djokovic is proceeding as if all systems are go and there's a reason for that, of course, stephanie, and that's the fact that he is vying to win his 21st grand slam, which would be the first time anybody has done that. he has won nine australian open championships. but if people are wondering why this happened in the first place, it's because novak djokovic is unvaccinated, his team said that he complied with everything that he needed for a medical exemption. the government disagreed. that's where this all began last week, but it is wrapping up now with this latest tweet from novak djokovic and, of course, the ruling from the judge here in melbourne. >> when we get a ruling from the australian open, we will let you know. coming up, 19 people here in new york city are dead, including nine children, after the worst fire this city has seen in decades. what officials uncovered about how it started and why it spread so quickly. and the january 6 select committee standoff with two sitting members of congress over their cooperation. where it could go next after a new public back and forth with congressman jim jordan. new public back and forth with his girlfriend just caught the bouquet, so he's checking in on that ring fund. that photographer? he's looking for something a little more zen, congressman jim jordan so he's thinking, “i'll open a yoga studio.” and as for the father of the bride? he's checking to see if he's on track to do this all over again... and again. bank of america's digital tools are so impressive, you just can't stop banking. what are you recommending for muscle pain? bank of america's digital tools are so impressive, based on clinical data, i recommend salonpas. agreed...my patients like these patches because they work for up to 12 hours, even on moderate pain. salonpas. it's good medicine at vanguard, you're more than just an investor, you're an owner with access to financial advice, tools and a personalized plan that helps you build a future for those you love. vanguard. become an owner. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ with a bit more thought we can all do our part to keep plastic out of the ocean. ever rushed to a doctor's appointment and thought: [whispers] "couldn't i do this from home?" only to get inside, where time stands still. 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family. it's hard to fathom what they're going through. >> let's go live to gabe gutierrez at the scene. gabe, we're now hearing a malfunctioning space heater. the upsetting thing about that is we've heard that narrative time and again over the years. >> reporter: yeah, that's exactly right, stephanie. good morning. it is still very somber scene here, very active scene as you can see behind me, there are firefighters here, we're seen cleanup crews bag g.ing into this 19-story building behind me throughout the morning. as you can see behind me, you can still see the broken windows throughout this building. this was an incredible rescue effort by these firefighters. as you mentioned, 19 people killed, including nine children. some 200 firefighters raced to this scene and tried to pull them out. it was a desperate scramble to get out. >> i just heard people screaming help, help, help. >> i looked out my window and it's flames coming out of the window. >> while it was going down there was a dog, it was dead. i see kids crying for help and at that point we couldn't do anything. >> people were in the window crying for help, help, help. no fire escape. >> reporter: so this morning the shock is still settling in. stephanie, investigators say that this appears to be -- have been caused by that faulty space heater, but the crucial thing is that they say that the door to the apartment that spanned the second and the third floors was either left open for did not automatically close and it was that detail, that open door, that caused the smoke to bill low through this 19-story building. there were victims found in each floor of the complex that had 120 units. stephanie, because this building was built in 1972, it's federally constructed, the fire commissioner says it may not -- it may have been built outside of new york city's current fire code and that is something that investigators are all -- also looking into this morning, stephanie. >> and this, of course, was just, what, two, three days after a similar fire in philadelphia that took the lives of 12 people there. gabe, thank you so much. covering that very difficult and developing story. coming up next, we are going to head to washington where democrats are kicking their push for a voting rights bill into high gear this week. what we're learning about president biden's big speech tomorrow and democrats' potential path forward. spg eech tomorrow and democrats' >> vo: my ca potential path forward ssion zon. ♪ music ♪ >> vo: so when my windshield broke... i found the experts at safelite autoglass. they have exclusive technology and service i can trust. >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ i have moderate to severe ulcerative colitis. so i'm taking zeposia, a once-daily pill. because i won't let uc stop me from being me. zeposia can help people with uc achieve and maintain remission. and it's the first and only s1p receptor modulator approved for uc. don't take zeposia if you've had a heart 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ally and republican congressman jim jordan just said he won't cooperate with the committee. it comes after lawmakers signaled they will ask former vice president pence to appear this month. president biden using the riot's anniversary to push for voting rights in a big speech tomorrow with democratic leaders on capitol hill saying voting reform could stop history from repeating itself. >> it is absolutely essential to our democracy. if we do not pass this legislation, it's clear that the republicans will try to undermine our democracy as they did on january 6. >> let's bring in nbc's sahil kapur on capitol hill, also with us punch bowl news co-founder jake sherman. sahil, joe manchin and kyrsten sinema say they support voting rights but don't want to change the rules to pass the bill so last i checked that does nothing. >> reporter: it's not clear, stephanie, that it will work because joe manchin and kyrsten sinema's position is that if these two bills, the freedom to vote act and the john lewis voting rights act would clear filibuster and come to a final vote they would vote yes, the senate has the majority to pass both of them but neither support major changes in the rules to get it there. let's consider their positions here, manchin has over the last week told reporters including jake and me that he supports some modest changes to filibuster rules, things like requiring the minority to talk on the floor, hold the floor while obstructing, changing the thresholds to three-fifths of senators voting and present rather than 60 flat. it's highly unlikely that those would enable passage of a voting rights bill because republicans would be happy to fight it on the floor. sinema's position has been that she supports the filibuster because she worries about radical swings in federal policy from one government to the next if it is eliminated. many of his colleagues object to that but she has a vote. senator chuck schumer the majority leader appears likely to force them to cast their votes on the floor, put everybody on the record about where they stand on voting rights. he seems to have decided that he doesn't want to be the majority leader who doesn't do everything possible to get voting and democracy legislation through. he believes and many in his party believe this is an extension threat to democracy they're trying to fight. president biden has a big speech tomorrow. activists have krit soozed him for not doing enough, pushing hard enough to change the rules and twist arms among the holdouts in his party to get it done. seems like this is a do or die moment for democrats to find a way to get something big done on voting rights or maybe turn the page. >> jake, can we get brutal for a second? it doesn't matter how big of a speech the president is making. unless these two are willing to vote to change the rules that will pass a bill, none of this matters. >> reporter: no, it doesn't matter. i mean, it matters because the base wants to see biden fight and that's what he's going to do, but manchin and sinema, i mean, sahil and i have heard them say thousands of times that they are not interested in changing the rules, as sahil put it they're very -- manchin seems interested in minor changes in the rules. they are not going to change the filibuster. manchin is a filibuster supporter. i'm not -- i'm not sure why that's not coming through to democrats. manchin supports the filibuster. he supports the 60-vote threshold. he supports those measures. he supports those tactics. so i'm not sure why people think all of a sudden he's going to change his point of view. he's not. he's made that abundantly clear. >> he's not and the base doesn't matter to him. you wrote this morning in punchbowl news that democrats have a big decision to make when it comes to the january 6th probe. what are you talk being? >> reporter: jim jordan and scott perry two close allies of donald trump have said they are not going to cooperate with the probe. this is interesting, steph, let me dwell on this for one quick second. jim jordan has suggested that congress doesn't have the right to see his deliberative -- his deliberative work, anything that he was talking to the white house about when it comes to legislation. he's invoking the speech and debate clause which protects members of congress from having to divulge things that they use in the legislative process. he seems to be arguing that the challenge to the election was a legislative action and he could protect his documents under that clause. we will have to see if that works. here is what the democrats have to decide right away, are they going to subpoena jordan and perry, and if they don't comply with those subpoenas are they going to hold them in contempt and refer them to the justice department for contempt of congress? those are huge decisions and we will have to see what they do and they're going to have to make a decision quickly because this investigation is only going to last this year if republicans take the house majority. >> but, jake, he's also saying i want an investigation into what nancy pelosi knew. why don't democrats say, fine, we will show you ours if you show us yours? >> reporter: that's a good question. i mean, i'm not sure what exactly he wants to have an investigation into nancy pelosi, i think he's suggesting that there wasn't enough police presence or there wasn't enough national guard. >> that's nonsense. >> reporter: it's nonsense for the most part, yeah, it's absolute nonsense. >> yeah. so, do you know what, let's see what you got, jim soareden. sahil, jake, thank you so much. you have a lot of work to do in the next couple of days. big speech does nothing if you don't have big legislation. coming up next, surge in covid cases forcing first responders to call out in major numbers. l.a.'s police chief joins me as the city sees a surge in gun violence now reaching a 15-year high. violence now reaching a 15-year high it's clinically shown 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find inspiration anew. viking. exploring the world in comfort. the omicron wave is taking a kramt tick toll on law enforcement and first responders across the country and l.a. has been hit especially hard. more than 1,000 police officers, firefighters and paramedics in the l.a. region are calling out sick and isolating at home, after testing positive for covid last week. the massive sickout triggering new concerns about public safety, with gun violence reaching a 15-year high in the city. joining us now to discuss los angeles chief of police michel moore. chief, what a way to start the year for you. how big of an impact is covid having on your police force and your ability to protect your city right now? >> well, stephanie, it's had a tremendous impact on us as well as overall society. we are no different, we work and live in the same opportunities as angelinos this last week, we saw a five-fold increase in the number of affected officers and resulting in their quarantine. i'm thankful that the vast majority are quickly on the mend and will be back at work here shortly. the challenge with us is not unique to us but we're working through t we're taking protective measures, vaccinating our workforce, doing everything possible to minimize the risk to them, but we also mourn the loss of 11 of our personnel we have lost to this pandemic. the risks are real, we're working through it, the dedication of our men and women is real, it's what they do, and i'm proud of them. >> the concern for many, though, is there's not going to be enough people on the job to keep the city safe. right now gun violence and crime are on the rise in l.a. this last weekend a fatal shooting of a taco bell employee who was shot dead after not accepting a counterfeit bill from a customer. what is behind this rise in crime? >> well, first of all, let me talk about our staffing. we have mobilized our workforce in the sense of reassigning personnel to patrol, calling in officers on overtime. we have and will have sufficient resources to keep our city safe, as much as possible. that tragic homicide this past weekend, it's just -- it's senseless, it's just devastating to us as angelinos to recognize this return of violence, violence we have not seen at these levels in more than a decade. gains that have lost to, we believe, a major portion of the pandemic, the impact it has had not just on the social fabric of our communities, but also our court systems and the accountability systems that are out there and we believe that there is an element within our community that is seizing the moment, if you will, that this pandemic has created for them, this sense of allowance that they can go out and commit crimes and have little to fear as far as punishment or consequences. >> i want to ask you about the death of 14-year-old valentino paralta. she died just two days before christmas. she was in her mother's arms in a changing room of a store after an l.a. police officer opened fire while he was responding to a suspect inside the store. he was doing his job but it sounds like the job is not getting done right. what changes is your department making around training and responding as a result of this shooting? >> well, the tragic outsome of the loss of valentina cannot be -- cannot be measured in words. we are sorry for her death. our officers responded to that day to reports of an individual inside attacking store occupants, of being an active shooter. he was later found not to possess a firearm, but as officers ran into that store their efforts were to protect people from a person harming and potentially killing other people. a woman was viciously assaulted and as the officers turned that corner our body worn video which we released just days after this event shows that an individual, an officer believed -- we believed -- he believed him to be armed, that the officer fired his weapon and struck that suspect, however, one of those rounds ricocheted off of the ground and went through a wall and behind that wall was valentina and her mother that were sheltering in place, hiding from this brutal attack that was ongoing. i am terribly sorry for this loss, i cannot imagine as a parent, as a police officer the hurt, the injuries that this is causing, but we will investigate every aspect of this from the very beginning moments of our response to every decision that was made. i promise transparency, accountability. we will look at what our policies and training also -- how were the officers' efforts -- what were their actions in regards to our expectations and i promise the public that this all will be brought before them and decisions that were made will be evaluated. we have three investigations that are going on, not just the department's internal investigation, but also our office of inspector general is conducting their own investigation and the california attorney general is also conducting an investigation to determine whether the officer's actions were reasonable or did they follow policy and at the end of this we will look at each of our policies and procedures and determine if there's any changes or adjustments that need to be made so we can try to avoid such a tragic outcome to this terrible -- to this terrible event. >> we appreciate that transparency, chief. before you go, i do want to ask you about this incredible video that was seen over the weekend, your officers saving a pilot who made an emergency landing on railroad tracks before an oncoming train collided with the small aircraft. i mean, it was minutes, seconds before this plane -- right there. how often earth did this go down? >> well, it was a poignant reminder that -- of the work our men and women do each day. yesterday was law enforcement rf the important work our men and women do each day. i don't think an event such as this, there's no other event that could properly showcase what our men and women do each day. they come to work, day don't know the circumstances they'll find themselves in, but they're there with heart of service. they'll put themselves at risk each day in every action they go about and do. i was grateful that yesterday they were present as this man made an emergency crash landing on the railroad tracks and these officers nearby ran to his aid, pulling him from this -- the carnage -- the wreckage of this plane, and pulled him to safety, just moments before this train struck that disabled plane. the -- again, it's chilling when you look at this and recognize how much risk those officers were in. i'm grateful for their heroic actions, i'm proud of them. they demonstrated what they do each day, which is protect and serve the people of los angeles. >> so grateful on law enforcement appreciation day. chief, thank you so much for joining us this morning. i really appreciate it. >> thank you. when we come back, remembering actor and comedian, bob saget. tributes rolling in after his unexpected death at just 65 years old, including 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are. >> i did two shows a day. one in class and one in detention. >> reporter: the actor and comedian was most famous for his role as danny tanner on the hit sitcom, "full house." >> okay, i have everyone's sandwich just the way they want them. there's a horse in my living room. >> reporter: playing the widowed father of three young girls for eight seasons. >> you girls are the greatest. >> reporter: his neat freak character was often uptight. >> just a little soot. >> just a little soot? did you hear that, michelle. >> i'm afraid i did. >> reporter: but could always make audiences laugh. >> let's talk strategy. >> hey, man! >> let's forget aout strategy. >> reporter: during that time, he also hosted "america's funniest home videos." >> look at all of these wonderful moments. oh, is this fun. >> reporter: saget had just kicked off a new comedy tour performing on sunday this weekend. authorities found saget unresponsive in his hotel room where he was pronounced dead. >> the security officers found a guest not breathing, he has no pulse. >> reporter: just hours earlier, saget posted on instagram writing, i'm back in comedy like i was when i was 26. i guess i'm finding my new voice and loving every moment of it. police said they found no signs of foul play or drug use. for years, saget lent his signature sense of humor to a variety of shows including "raising dad" and "surviving suburbia." he also narrated the hit show, "how i met your mother." >> kids, it's been almost 20 years since that cold april night in 2013. >> reporter: recently, he reprised his role in "fuller house." while his on screen characters were mostly family friendly. >> what are you laughing at, pudding head -- >> reporter: on stage, his stand-up was sometimes raunchy, talking about that balance on "today" in 2014. >> i have always had comedy that was both family comedy, whether it be a role that i played or my stand-up, i kind of was a little more unleashed. >> reporter: overnight, an outpouring of emotion. "full house" co-star john stamos wrote, i am broken, i am gutted. i will never, ever have another friend like him. his tv daughter, candace cameron bure tweeted, i loved him so much. and mary kate and ashley olson who grew up on "full house" said that they were deeply saddened, saying, that they know that he'll be by their side to guide us as he always has. a man who made so many laugh, being remembered in hollywood and in homes across america. >> bob saget being remembered today. that wraps up this hour. i am stephanie ruhle. thank you for watching. my friend and colleague, jose diaz-balart picks up breaking news coverage on the other side of the break. side of the break are you tired of clean clothes that just don't smell clean? 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. the comfortable way to work out. -that looks fun actually. -looks like a paisley. -hey, a paisley, we'll take it. -yeah. oh my god, i could do this and watch tv at the same time. -exactly! -fantastic. oh yeah, i can do this. this is easy. and definitely better than the floor. -it feels sexy. -it feels good. i want this in my house. 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