increasingly dilutioned with the idea of voluntarily cooperation. he told aides that the committee has taken a sharp partisan turn by openly considering the potential for criminal referrals to the justice department about mr. trump and others. the times adds he is annoyed that they have secured a greater degree of cooperation from his top aides than it actually has. something he sees as part of the pattern of democrats trying to turn him against former president trump. here is what one member of the committee said about that very report just a few hours ago. >> we would just like him to share with us what he knows. he knows what's right for the country. he knows what happened in the election. he knows the pressure campaign he was under. and he knows he could do a service to the country by talking about it, but he also knows that there is a political cost that will come with that. i hope he makes the right decision. the vice president has very material testimony and we hope he'll do the right thing. >> and in new news that is no surprise, republican congressman jim jordan now signaling he may not comply with the committee's request for a voluntary interview about what he was doing on the 6th. he sent the committee a lengthy letter saying in part, quote, this request is far outside the bounds of newly jit. inquiry and he called it an outrageous abuse of the select committee's authority. also happening today, lawyers for trump himself asked a federal judge to toss out lawsuits that seek to hold him liable for his own role in inspiring the january 6th attack. and in another legal battle for trump, rachel maddow reported attorneys for the former president have met in person with the fulton county, georgia, attorney general's office in georgia. a georgia prosecutor investigating trump's efforts to overturn that state's results says a decision on potential charges could come the first half of this year. could being the important record. president biden and vice president kamala harris will be headed to georgia tomorrow for what the white house says will be a major push to protect voting rights. biden's speech is expected to call on congress to pass bills overhauling election laws and dealing with a high stakes foreign policy challenge at the same type. u.s. diplomats met with russian officials for the first of several talks to try to diffuse the crisis over ukraine. russia has some 100,000 troops stationed along ukraine's borders. the white house has threatened severe sanctions if russia invades. today the kremlin insisted it has no plans to do so. we will get a report from ukraine's border later in the hour. with that, let's bring in our leadoff guests. ashley parker, white house bureau chief with "the washington post," eugene daniels, politico, and jeremy bash, former chief of staff at the cia and the pentagon. ashley, first, this january 6th committee needs witnesses with firsthand knowledge of what went down on capitol hill. walk us through how critical mike pence is and let's get real. if mike pence doesn't cooperate, what are the actual consequences, because thus far it seems like the consequences to turn on trump are worse. >> well, it's interesting. mike pence is incredibly critical in the run-up to january 6th. he was the critical person who the former president and all of his aides, his attorneys, people in trump's orbit were putting pressure on to, as we now know, overturn the results of the election. so the former vice president was in frequent contact, including on january 5th with the very conversation again on the morning of january 6th when he again told the president in what we know was -- from his side at host, a very unpleasant conversation that he was not going to do it. on the actual day after that conversation, mike pence has very little contact. and this is one of the things that republicans -- were upset about, that as trump's supporters are chanting hang mike pence, as "the washington post" reported in 60 seconds of seeing and being able to reach -- there is no outreach from the former president from the white house to anyone on pence's team. pence's chief of staff at the time called the white house saying, hey guys, just so you know, we're okay. so he has a lot of insight in that run-up. not that much that tay. it would be incredibly important. to answer your question, he has almost never crossed president trump except on january 6th when he did his constitutional -- upheld the election results. it seems unlikely -- flip on him now the way the committee would like to see. >> given how unlikely it is, given that people like jim jordan are not going to cooperate, jeremy, is the committee really able to make these criminal referrals because, if they don't, they are not getting anything. >> well, i think the committee's objective is to do several things. first and foremost, put out all the facts so that the american people can see exactly what happened on january 6th, the dimensions that were seen on live television, and the dimensions that were hidden, the plotting that went on at the white house, the pressure campaign behind the scenes against vice president pence, the effort to coordinate with insurrectionists to stage an armed revolt on our democratic process. and i think if there are criminal referrals to be made, i think the committee will not shy away from making them. whether or not a prosecutor feels they have all the evidence to bring a case in front of a yir and convict somebody, that's a different standard. but the committee's work, the committee's standard i think is to shine a light on these facts. you it's critical that people participate and cooperate with this investigation. if they don't, i think it showcases how much the trump team wants to hide the facts from the american people about exactly what their role was on january 6th. >> okay, fine, then, jeremy. yes, it showcases that. but what does showcasing do? >> well, i think there is political accountability that i think can emanating from a credible investigation. this is a credible bipartisan investigation. i think, stephanie, if what you are getting at, unless someone goes away had handcuffs whose last name rhymes with frump, this is a waste of time. i disagree. we have to make sure this never happens again. of this is the absolute bare minimum role of this committee and congress to ensure the 2022 elections and 2024 elections are free, fair and open from coercion the kind of which we saw a year ago. >> that same person whose name rhymes with frump, they may or may not do something by the end of the first half of this year. any chance that sticks to the person whose name rhymes with frump? jeremy? >> you know, i personally don't put a lot of stock in just the criminal investigations, jurisdiction by jurisdiction. i think what the president did on grand scale was unconstitutional. it was unlawful. it was criminal. it was annest to inject voter fraud and to steal the election. but ultimately at the end of the day the american people are going to have to hold him accountable. and they are going to have to hold political leaders who align themselves with him accountable. again, weather a fulton county d.a. or a prosecutor can make a case, don't know. but i don't think anyone should hold their breath for that and declare it a failure if that's not the outcome. >> the white house has a legislative agenda ahead of them. voting rights is the whole ball of wax and then there is this january 6th investigation. how much focus are they putting on that? >> on january 6th as you saw on the anniversary, president biden for the first time really leaning in and talking about january 6th, talking about his predecessor without saying his name, painting him as dangerous for democracy. something that aides talked about, how do we -- how much does president biden lean in, because for months you have seen democrats, progressives, activists, historians wanting the president to do so, really call out what happened on january 6th and more specifically tie that to president trump and then tie that to voting rights. so that is what the white house knows that it can do, right. use the bully pulpit to raise awareness, to talk about these things as they see it, to make things plain to the american people. there are a lot of -- the american people are in their corners on this, right. they know that it's going to be difficult to change the minds of republicans on what happened on january 6th as the whitewashing of that day has already started. but they are focused on the democracy aspect, protecting democracy and talking about it as much as they possibly can hoping that it's going to break through. it's proven difficult so far, and with president biden going tomorrow and vice president harris going tomorrow to georgia to talk about voting rights, we know he going to do some of that again from january 6th into protecting voting rights. so they are hoping that to make that connection, continue to make that connection, hope that that helps. but as we all know, january 6th continues to be a day that democrats and people that had -- were able to seend watch that way, we see what happened, and republicans see things really differently. >> let's say, you eugene, the white house calling it a big focus on voting rights. it could be an extraordinary speech. the president gave a strong speech last week, but it doesn't change legislation, and democracy is at risk. are we going to get anything different tomorrow? anything different than what we've heard before? >> i think we are going to hear the president talking about voting rights differently. this isn't the first time he called on the senate to pass these two pieces of legislation that are sitting on their desks. but it is -- he is going to come out, we're told, full-throated in a carve out for the voting rights for filibuster, for voting rights. a plan that is in motion and democrats in the senate have been planning on doing something like this, and then possibly doing a vote on this voting rights filibuster carveout. and he is going to be full-throated about that, is what they're telling us. that's what we're going to see. but he knows, we know there is still a steep hill to climb. he can only do so much when it comes to the filibuster. he can pressure members of congress. excuse me, pressure senators do that, to get onboard with that. we know manchin and sinema have proven to be a little bit difficult there. it's not just them, right. you have mark kelly, arizona senator who is up for re-election in november. also kind of hemming and hawing whether or not he would be onboard with a carveout for the filibuster. so it's not just those two. civil rights leaders hope they will see president biden really lean in, maybe call out some of those folks by name. we have already seen that backfire with joe manchin. so i'm not sure that the president is going to do that. but they are hoping to see a completely different shift because this white house knows that they have reached a different level of interest and involvement when it comes to voting rights. >> and then ashley, let's stay on that strategy. does talking to people in georgia matter, or should he be camped out in joe manchin's driveway and outside kyrsten sinema's apartment? >> well, you have mixed attitudes on this, right. you have some activists in georgia and elsewhere who are saying they are frustrated with the president and saying they are deliberately not going to go to this speech. they say at this point, a year in, someone who ran on democracy, someone who made promises about voting rights, we need to see more than a speech. unless you are going to tell us exactly how these two pieces of legislation get through congress, we don't want to hear it. the time for talking is over. the flip side is eugene was saying, there is a lot of activists who think simply going to a state where people voting for -- incredibly important for biden and then democrats -- going to a state that then has some very restrictive voting laws, you know, going -- even the bully pulpit -- and his vice president, the history and the places they are appearing is meaningful and that if you have a divided -- a very narrowed senate when you have the congress you -- there is only so much by executive order. the bully pulpit is a good tool. for those people, they are happy that at the very least biden is finally turning his attention to this. there is a sense that build back better may be on the back burner, if nothing else, he is pushing to -- the filibuster and some of that public pressure may help sway those senators. if it doesn't, going and sitting in manchin's drive way in the driveway of a senator whose state the former president is from, won by a vote of 40 points, the white house isn't necessarily -- >> jeremy, we've all said it. voting rights is hugely important, and those activists, ashley are talking about, have huge influence in the party. but let's talk about regular voters. how does joe biden get them to prioritize voting rights? they are thinking about putting food on the table and their kids in school. >> yeah, stephanie, i think that's of course fair and america's families have to prioritize, but, you know, quote, unquote, regular families, i am not sure what that means. people who are disenfranchised, people of color, minority groups in this country, communities of color, they are, quote, unquote, regular americans. sometimes we say regular americans and we sort of -- what we're meaning is white folks and people -- >> no, i just mean non-politically active people. people who aren't thinking about politics, who aren't thinking about voting rights, just people who are thinking about living their day-to-day lives. to many of them -- >> of course -- >> voting rights is an abstract. >> of course i understand that. but of course the foundation of your ability to have any power at all, any ability to change your community, your civic leadership, your neighborhood, your city council, your mayorship, members of congress, all look to the presidency. the foundation is your right to vote. we were a democracy in this country until 1960s until people had the voting rights act that enabled so many millions of americans who had not been able to cast a ballot to do so. so i think this is foundational, fundamental and i am not sure i agree with the premise that people don't care about it. if people understood that their vote was denied, they would care about it and they do care about it. >> they care about it. are they thinking about it enough? do you think people think about it in their day-to-day life? the way you laid it out, is something we should all understand and prioritize. given all that people are dealing with, how do democrats get people to make it that priority? exactly how you just said. >> you know, i think it's connecting what's happening in the political realm to making sure that there is equal pay for equal work, making sure that the right to make medical decisions on your own behalf are actually connected to your ability to have political power. the ability to have civil rights and human rights in your community, to have good education for your kids, to put, you know, have health care for your family. when those are things that emanating from one place, which is your ability to have political power in a democracy, and i think if democrats make that clear and make that plain, people do and will understand that. >> they sure will. ashley, let's talk about the russia situation. how worried is the white house about it? >> if you look at just this first day of the security talks, both sides, on the one hand, were a little bit cautiously optimistic. but this white house is incredibly clear-eyed that a number of the things that russia is asking for are simply non-starters. the idea that ukraine will never, ever, ever join nato, that's a non-starter for the united states, nato allies. the idea that nato would go back to 1990, 1997 boundaries, that's a non-starter for the united states. while they are having these talks, there are troops amassed on the border. there is helicopters and other things moved in. president biden has been very clear that he does not trust vladimir putin. so president biden is always someone who makes -- diplomacy, he wants talks. but of course they are worried about this. >> jeremy, earlier today i spoke to russian political activist gary and i want to share what he said about putin. >> 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 these concessions are about destroying the eastern flank of nato. so this isn't about geopolitical interests of russia, national security. it's extortion in putin's interest of causing chaos. it's expanding his influence and staying in power and it's completely backward. the free -- the man president biden correctly called a killer. >> did the u.s. come away with any concessions today? hard to do that if you are negotiating with a terrorist. >> he has point here. i think the u.s. posture is appropriate. russia tabled these two draft treaties that said nato should not expand to the east. and the united states came forward and say very clearly with our allies, hey, you, vladimir putin, don't get to tell another country who they can be an ally with and you have to de-escalate the situation by removing your troops from the border. you want to talk about offensive missiles, a nuclear treaty that you abandoned, we will be happy to talk about avoiding this in europe. we are not going to make concessions that slams the door on nato. the u.s. was firm. tomorrow they will be meeting with 30 countries meeting together. that's an asset the united states enjoys that russia doesn't dream about because they could never have 30 countries in alliance with them. i think the u.s. has a strong hand. and to gary's point, the united states is going to be making those demands of putin. i think putin will back down. >> we will soon find out. ashley, eugene, jeremy, thank you so much. thank you for the important reminder that protecting and preserving our right to vote is everything. when we come back, why one of our next guests calls the past five years an effective democracy stress test for the country. and why his prognosis is not good. and later, the stress of omicron on hospitals, on parents, and on society. dr. gupta will join us. 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realtor.com to each their home. at fidelity, your dedicated advisor will help you create a comprehensive wealth plan for your full financial picture. with the right balance of risk and reward. so you can enjoy more of...this. this is the planning effect. when you're born and raised in san francisco, so y you grow up more wanting to make a difference. that's why, at recology, we're proud to be 100% employee owned with local workers as diverse as san francisco. we built the city's recycling system from the ground up, helping to make san francisco the greenest big city in america but we couldn't do it without you. thank you, san francisco. gracias, san francisco. -thank you. -[ speaks native language ] let's keep making a difference together. something out that the more free we are, the more people are allowed to vote, the more people of color that are allowed to vote, they can't win elections anymore. the only way they can win now is prevention or lying. that's it. the country is moving way from them. there is no game. there is no answer other than let's not play fair. >> even as the white house embarks on a serious effort to codify voting rights in congress, state republicans are remaining hard at work rewriting voting laws to that very point. house speaker nancy pelosi has this warning for all americans. >> what the republicans are doing across the country is really a legislative continuation of what they did on january 6th, which is to undermine our democracy, to undermine the integrity of our elections, to undermine the voting power, which is the essence of a democracy. so we have to do that. there is no more important bill. >> welcome back to the program. michael steele, former mayor chan of the republican national committee, former lieutenant governor of maryland and host of the michael steele podcast. matthew dowd, former george w. bush strategist. michael, here's what's scary. what republicans are doing is unjust and it's un-american. but here's the problem. they are doing it and it's working. what can democrats do about this right now? >> well, they've got to get serious about the threat that's in front of them. they have to be ablearticulate what it is and why it's so animated. this relates back to the conversation in the opening segment where it really does boil down to the simple question. how do you reason someone out of a position that they never reasoned themselves into? that is the rub of this. donald trump came in and got people who everybody would say, oh, this was -- you know, this was a regular joe republican and, you know, stood for, you know, strong defense, russia was the bad guy, grow the economy, et cetera, and now it's all trump. and no one has put their finger on how and why that happened. so when you look at the proposals that democrats have put out on the table based off of the 2020 election, voters are going, i didn't vote for that. i voted to get rid of trump, but not all this other stuff. so that's the gap right now that you're seeing playing out -- >> so what do you mean. hold on a second. what do you mean the other stuff? do you mean that democrats need to slim down what they're trying to put in this new proposal? i don't follow. >> yeah. exactly. listen to what the voters are telling you. i mean, they love the infrastructure plan. build back better, not so much. so you keep trying to force a square peg into a round hole politically where the voters just aren't ready to accept that. it doesn't mean they don't want build back better at some point, but other things are more pressing to them, and that's the conversation i think democrats are not having, which is what reflected in the polling and why the landscape looks the way it does politically for republicans. the country feels these guys don't get me, you hear it with black voters, with hispanic, white, doesn't matter the group. if they don't understand why i gave them the power in the first place, then maybe these other guys will get it back and we'll sea what happens and you don't want that attitude to set in. you need to speak to what the voters are telling you, what's driving them right now, and it's not the things that some of the democrats are pushing. >> matt, you conducted what you classified as a stress test on american democracy. what does that mean and what did you learn? >> well, i didn't conduct it. it's what we have been going through in my view the last five years. i mean, to stress test, as your viewers know, and as you know, is what we do as we advance in age. you think you're fine. you go through a stress test, they put you on an exercise machine and whatever increases your heart rate and you discover who you thought were healthy, you are actually not healthy and there is underlying problems, whether it's cardiac or -- >> so you're saying -- >> our country -- >> so you're saying -- >> our country -- i think what happened was so we thought we were okay as a democracy. and this is pre-trump. we had our ills and pains and aches and we had certain things, but we thought we were okay. what donald trump, his election and the aftermath and january 6th and i believe also covid and how we -- how it's been politicized has shown our democracy is not healthy. it was not healthy when it led to trump. it has not been healthy through trump. and i -- my fear is all of the prescriptions are like giving people tylenol or advil to relieve their headache or relieve their fever and we are not dealing with the fundamental problem, and the fundamental problem which led us to here and in my view endangers our democracy is, in my view, threefold. first, there is a huge segment of the population that has been lied to and now is propagandized through cable networks and radio and all of that. we have a segment of the population that no longer shares a common set of facts with us. a democracy can't survive with that. the second part of that is that now we have people that are on cable and people that are exacerbating people's fear and hate and grievance. that then leads to this, one, a rise of white nationalism or a seeding of what already existed here. it stunt allow us to get to the common good if we no longer shares value with our neighbor or care for our neighbor. we don't have a common set of facts. the gray grievances have been done gave rise to a lack of the common good which we arrive at donald trump. to me donald trump isn't the singular cause of this. donald trump is a reflection of the sickness of our democracy. and until we, you know, excise the tumors or understand there are some fundamental problems in our democracy that need to be fixed, we are going to keep repeating this and repeating this and repeating this. >> michael, tomorrow president biden will be speaking publicly to the people of georgia. we will see those remarks. what does he need to say? >> you know, i think he just needs to pull back the veil, the curtain, if you will, on how he sees what they're going through. how he sees their, you know, holding on to this sort of trumpian notion, where know don't seem to be that upset about, you know, the georgia legislature changing the voting laws there. there were no protests in the streets. there weren't people calling for the heads of elected officials who it dare to change the voting process in the state to make it harder for seniors and african americans and others to vote. so i think speaking to that and contextualizing that more broadly is going to be an important first step here. >> but, michael -- >> right now the democratic narrative is wrapped up in a policy debate that is outside of what people are really concerned about. i mean, the whole thing with manchin over the summer, voting is the key central thing, then go and go right to the heart of that. you just can't -- >> you have to -- >> 11 months go, oh, well, now voting is important. >> let me add something to what michael just said. i think joe biden needs to start connecting the dots on -- and instead of a theoretical conversation about democracy, which everybody will say, yeah, i believe in democracy, they have no idea what actually that means in practical -- so i think he needs to say what it practically means to have a democracy or not have democracy, and how that's going to affect your life and how lack of voting and lack of ability to vote affects your life, affects your ability to get good roads, to get health care, affects your ability to hold anybody accountable, whether you're a republican or a democratic or independent. basically, democracy is the only vehicle that allows us to hold leaders accountable. otherwise, we might well have stayed what monarchy from 250 years ago. and i think joe biden needs to connect the dots of why voting rights and democracy matter to somebody's life and not some theoretical argument and get up and say i love democracy. we need to keep democracy. a third of the country responds one way, a third another and the other third is like, what does that mean? >> michael, we have to take a break. you two gentlemen are staying with me. maybe people didn't protest those restrictive voting laws because they didn't realize the impact it would have on them. and this is the moment to discuss it. gentlemen, stay with us. when we come back the three of us are going to dig deeper. why the former president is slamming a fellow republican senator for guess what? telling the truth. and what it means for gop candidates around this country ahead of the midterms. we got a lot more to cover when "the 11th hour" continues. don't move. hour" continues. don't move living with metastatic breast cancer means being relentless. because every day matters. and having more of them is possible with verzenio. the only one of its kind proven to help you live significantly longer when taken with fulvestrant, regardless of menopause status. verzenio + fulvestrant is for hr+, her2- metastatic breast cancer that has progressed after hormone therapy. diarrhea is common, may be severe, or cause dehydration or infection. at the first sign, call your doctor start an anti-diarrheal and drink fluids. before taking verzenio, tell your doctor about any fever, chills, or other signs of infection. verzenio may cause low white blood cell counts, which may cause serious infection that can lead to death. life-threatening lung inflammation can occur. tell your doctor about any new or worsening trouble breathing, cough, or chest pain. serious liver problems can happen. symptoms include fatigue, appetite loss, stomach pain and bleeding or bruising. blood clots that can lead to death have occurred. tell your doctor if you have pain or swelling in your arms or legs, shortness of breath, chest pain, and rapid breathing or heart rate, or if you're nursing, pregnant or plan to be. every day matters. and i want more of them. ask your doctor about everyday verzenio. one of my favorite supplements is qunol turmeric. turmeric helps with healthy joints and inflammation support. unlike regular turmeric supplements qunol's superior absorption helps me get the full benefits of turmeric. the brand i trust is qunol. irregularities, there were none which would have risen to the point they would have changed the vote outcome in a single state. the election was fair as fair as we've seen. we simply is in the win the election as republicans for the presidency. >> there you have it. republican senator mike rounds public refusal to adhere to trump's big lie causing the former president to call him a jerk and rhino, republican in name only. the senator stood behind his comments again earlier today. >> i think as republicans, we owe it to tell the truth. and i think integrity matters. and so, in my opinion, if we want to keep the confidence of our supporters and our voters, then we have to be honest with them. >> okay. with us, michael steele and matthew dowd. michael, a year late, but a republican telling the truth about the last election. is this going to catch on? >> probably not as much as some would hope, but here's the rub. and i applaud the senator's comments and thank him for saying that because he is absolutely right. but here's the rub. when he was asked a little bit later on, so would you vote for donald trump if he is the nominee of the party in 2024? he said i will support the nominee of the party. and that's the rub. you cannot on the one hand say we've got to be honest and integrity matters, but then want to put back into power the very thing that undermined that integrity and put forth the big lie. and so this is the space that republicans like the senator are going to find themselves over the next few months as they sort of roll out this kind of, oh, emancipation moment where, i'm free at last of donald trump, until they are asked, are you going to vote for him if he is the nominee, support his candidacy for the president? when you say no to that in addition to the first part, oh, baby, now we've turned a corner. >> i don't know. mr. dowd, what is your take? he is not out there saying that he openly supports trump. could this be the opening where we actually start to see the republican party fracture in a meaningful enough way that another republican could challenge trump? >> i think the real answer is probably not. i mean, the problem is the republican party is very unified. people like what mike brown said, what mitt romney said earlier today, liz cheney, adam kinzinger are unicorns. i mean, they are unicorns in the party. some of them can't win re-election and some of them left. mike brown, if he goes any further, could lose the republican primary in south dakota. he's got a governor that's completely on the opposite side of him on this issue who praises and, you know, follows around donald trump whenever she can. and so i think the problem isn't donald trump, as i keep saying. you know, donald trump is signifies the ailments we have. the problem is 75 to 80% of the republican primary voters are not aligned with the idea that integrity matters. and that the truth matters. they are not there. they don't believe -- they believe the election was stolen. they believe that the majority believes that joe biden suspect the legitimate president of the united states. they don't believe in covid science. they don't believe in all these things. that's the republican voting base today. and so donald trump can be here or not be here. the problem republicans have is when they run in those primaries, they are facing voters that believe exactly what donald trump says and whether donald trump is saying it today, tomorrow or never, that's the party and that's the problem. >> okay. then, michael, take us to the midterms. the big lie is an absolutely. and americans know that. the majority of the american people know that joe biden, whether you like him or not, won in a secure election last year. people say, oh, democrats are going to get killed in the midterms, but are they? given the big lie that keeps getting pushed, which is nonsense, if covid does keep this spring, if inflation slows, we have a strong underlying economy, are we writing off the fact that democrats could win in the midterms? >> well, now you are going back to how we started the conversation because that's exactly the point. all of those things that matter are the threads that kind of roll beneath the surface, right? and people are tapped into the inflation thing because gas prices went up and the cost of bread went up and a fwal of milk is 30 sentz or a dollar more. it goes pack to what matt was saying about how you talk about this stuff in a way that people kind of see themselves reflected in it. and so, yeah, you are absolutely right that, you know, we can be in that position where we see the democrats make the case, but again to what matt just said, when you have a significant portion ever of the base and not just republican-based voters, by the way. let's be clear about who is part of this mix here. there is some, you know, conservative or center-right, independent and other types of voters in that mix. if they believe the big lie, how do you help them turn that corner, which gets back to the point i was making with the senator. you begin to turn the corner when the leadership is consistent from point one to point end in their discussion. you cannot tell me the thing was bad, but then on the back end say, well, i think i am going to be with the thing that's bad. and that's the problem. you don't turn that with the voters because the leadership is coming across as duplicitous. they are trying to have it both ways. what i'm saying is you don't get to have it both ways. donald trump is that existential threat from beginning to end. and if you it don't state that clearly, you'll see 70% of the voters go, they're all lying. >> and a reminder. donald trump lost the last election. michael steele, matthew dowd, every time i speak to you, you make us smarter. coming up, as the omicron surge continues, we are going to take a deeper look to rising hospitalizations numbers. when "the 11th hour" continues. s when "the 11th hour" continues hi, my name is cherrie. i'm 76 and i live on the oregon coast. my husband, sam, we've been married 53 years. we love to walk on the beach. i have two daughters and then two granddaughters. i noticed that memories were not there like they were when i was much younger. since taking prevagen, my memory has gotten better and it's like the puzzle pieces have all been [click] put together. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. covid is not over. health experts are pleading with parents to get their kids vaccinated as schools are struggling to stay om. in chicago after a standoff over covid safety protocols, forced classes to be canceled several days. city schools are expected to resume in-person classes by wednesday. back us with tonight to discuss, dr. vin gupta, a critical care pulmonologist in seattle, also on faculty at the university of washington institute for health metrics and evaluation. dr. gupta, you make us feel safer and definitely smarter on all things covid when you're here. "new york times" is reporting that in some hospitals as many as half of the people who are testing positive were actually brought into the hospital for something else, testing positive after they were admitted. when we look at the soaring numbers about the omicron variant, are they even close? what should we believe about how serious the hospitalizations are? >> good evening. good to see you. what i will say for all the viewers is this. the hospitalizations numbers, the case numbers we have to take them in context. by january 23rd, the university of washington institute for health metrics is predicting we will see a peak in daily deaths from this virus. about 2,000 at that point, january 23rd. then a pretty precipitous decline, stephanie, to less than 1,000 by, say, valentine's day, middle of february. then it's going to be a spring of renewal. by march 1st that number will come lower and april 1, the date i want everybody to imprint in their mind, we are talking estimated infections might be 8 # to 100,000. that's estimated. not confirmed. that's what we think is happening in communities across the country and that's the total across the country, but estimated deaths we're thinking less than 50. so this is a going to be a quick peak and then maybe two to three weeks of sustained deaths over 1,000 and, hopefully, we will see sustained relief here we have been waiting for for the last 2 1/2 years. so there is hope on the horizon. >> that is excellent news. i mean, just hearing that, going through that timeline, amazing news. but how do we prepare for that? because thus far we keep looking at covid like it's an on or off switch, we are home or out, masks or no masks. given that timeline, how should we be living our lives? >> this is where we are going to be entering a phase rapidly of individual risk assessment. i will take this moment to speak to everybody who considers themself high risk because they are over 65 or because of an underlying condition. you probably want to upgrade your mask. regardless of what you believe in, regardless of how you have been approaching this pandemic, we live in time of wildfires, of i think respiratory epidemics and pandemics with a big threat of our generation, of our time. so upgrade your mask. have a respirator at home. if you are high risk, go to health data.gov and in the search engine type in therapeutics and what you will see, and this is for everybody here to hopefully mitigate the loss of life, places across the country where you can get access to monoclonal antibodies that are active against omicron, that might be helpful for preexposure prophylaxis. or for these oral anti-virals that a lot of people are struggling finding access to, that's how we think about the next six to eight weeks. protect those at highest risk where the rest, say, glide past normal. >> that is such important information. i really appreciate it. dr. vin gupta. we are not done on "the 11th hour." coming up, tensions still running high in ukraine despite today's hours and hours of diplomatic discussions. our chief foreign correspondent richard engle is there with an update when "the 11th hour" continues. n "the 11th hour" n "the 11th hour" continues. a place where everyone lives life well-protected. ♪♪ and even when things go a bit wrong, we've got your back. here, things work the way you wish they would. and better protection costs a whole lot less. you're in good hands with allstate. click or call for a lower auto rate today. trelegy for copd. 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qunol sleep formula combines 5 key nutrients, that can help you fall asleep faster, stay asleep longer, and wake up refreshed. the brand i trust is qunol. you're a one-man stitchwork master. but your staffing plan needs to go up a size. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. indeed instant match instantly delivers quality candidates matching your job description. visit indeed.com/hire u.s. began formal talks with russia today to try to prevent the kremlin from invading ukraine. but with no visible progress after hours of discussion, ukrainian troops along the border are preparing for the worst. nbc's chief foreign correspondent richard engle is there as well and filed this report. >> reporter: you can see how confident ukrainians are in diplomacy with russia with every scrape and swing of their shovels. today troops are digging new defensive trenches in the frozen ground close to russian forces. ukrainian troops are preparing for the worst because they worry that russia is not negotiating in good faith, and is just going through the motions of diplomacy so it can say it gave peace a chance and invade fee bay. in geneva today, senior american and russian diplomats met for nearly eight hours. no breakthroughs. though russia's lead diplomat today insisted it has no plans to invade, he added a warning. >> after every mistake, every miscalculation with respect to what should be done, security of countries to the west of russia suffers. >> reporter: russia has 100,000 troops positioned near ukraine's borders. it is demanding ukraine never be allowed to join nato, and that nato shrink back to what it was in 1997. dismantling much of the alliances presence across eastern europe and the ball particulars. u.s. officials say it's such an unrealistic demand, they worry vladimir putin is building a case for the talks to fail, creating a pretext to invade ukraine. at the front soldiers told us they'll stand their ground as long as they can. olesky says, we all want to return to tour families, but this is our land and we'll defend it. troops told you us they hope putin is bluffing but they are not counting on diplomacy, suspecting it may be a trick. the only good news is that the u.s., russia and nato have all agreed to keep talking with two more rounds of negotiation later this week. richard engle, nbc news, eastern ukraine. >> there is more of the "11th hour" just ahead. stay with us. e 1t"1h hour" just ahead stay with us inflamma might be to blame. let's kick ken's ache and burn into gear! over the counter eye drops typically work by lubricating your eyes and may provide temporary relief. those drops will probably pass right by me. xiidra works differently, targeting inflammation that can cause dry eye disease. what's that? 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