was a long time ago, gang. our financial expert has more on what this whole thing means for your money. we'll also take you behind the scenes of that npr interview with former president trump. we're talking about being pushed about his election fraud lies. i'm hallie jackson. good to be with you here this afternoon. kelly o'donnell, garrett haake and maryanne levine. kelly, talk us through as we wait for the white house briefing to begin, maybe a little delayed. next steps the president is trying to take including the meeting with senate democrats tomorrow. >> pretty old school strategy. work the phones. go see them in person and try to persuade using kind of the playbook we've seen joe biden use before. a member of the institution for 36 years. i know the senate, i've been where you sit. that kind of an appeal. and also saying there was a time when joe biden, of course, for a very long time supported the filibuster and believed in the rights of the minority party in the senate. wanting the senate to have a place where consensus could form and where it isn't just a simple majority vote like you have in the house. a place where there could be some bipartisanship. he's saying that time has passed when it comes to the issue of voting rights and what he says is an urgent issue now in terms of democracy in large part because he is adopting the language of the pro, sort of the progressive left in calling the former president's big lie out. saying that the claims about the 2020 election which were false and are promulgated by president trump and his friends and associates that are false. that that has to be a reason to change the rules of the senate. that that is imperative enough. now, the big problem is the president does not have the power to do this on his own. so persuasion is what he has and this is not a new effort. he has been trying to persuade for some period of time. and one of the interesting things is the clip you played of mitch mcconnell along with that. he said, you know, joe biden and i are friends. so, that is coming at a time when you've got republicans who are basically saying the president is calling out those who disagree as bigots or racists, not a way to attract them perhaps. whether they be republicans who don't agree with the president's view on this, or a couple prominent democrats who we often talk about who don't see the same set of views on how to get to a change in filibuster as the president does. >> good point. kelly, thank you. garrett, listen, i'm hard pressed to remember the last time we frequently described mitch mcconnell as spicy, but that speech today was. he described president biden and talk me through how that's landing on capitol hill and now you see that playing into this discussion. >> mcconnell really excoriated the president here today. it is in line with what he has been saying for weeks. he has been against this particular piece of legislation on voting rights as he has been opposed to anything during the time of the biden presidency and democrats being in control of the senate. so, i don't think we should be surprised at his language or even his relative level of spice on the senate floor today. the bigger problem for democrats is what their own members aren't saying, which is that the biden speech moved them to change their minds. here's what happened when i asked joe manchin about that earlier today. >> what did you make of the president's speech last night? >> it's a good speech. he gave a good speech. >> did it change your opinion at all on the senate rules changes? >> we are still talking kind of the ellipsis of any conversation with joe manchin. he says he's always willing to talk and not much has changed in his view. makes that presidential visit here tomorrow more important. but to piggy back on kelly's reporting. not that long ago that joe biden came up here to talk to house democrats on several occasions to push for the build back better bill and on the first visit he left absolutely empty handed. he got more traction in the second visit, but he's not been able to close the deal immediately in these viz toots to the hill in the recent past, hallie. >> you're hearing from sources and democrats as they listen to chuck schumer on this vote to change senate rules. >> right now senate democrats are still expecting schumer to hold this vote, regardless of whether all 50 senate democrats are actually onboard with changing the rules. right now we know that they do not have the votes to do so. so, i think a lot of democrats also are wondering what they're actually going to vote on. i mean, we've seen a lot of proposals out there and discussion about the talking filibuster going back to that. talk of a carve out and from talking to sources today it seems like senate democrats still don't know yet what they will be even voting on if this vote happens by monday as schumer has promised. >> do you? what does your reporter spidey sense tell you, marianne? do you think this vote will happen monday? other agenda items that they need senator manchin and senator sinema to get onboard with, too? >> i think it's hard to know at this moment. there are democrats in addition to manchin and sinema who have not committed to changing federal rules. mark kelly going over the proposals. hard to see them wanting to take this vote if we know it is going to fail given that manchin and sinema are so reluctant to change the rules at the moment. >> garret, your spidey senses. what are they telling you? >> i'm not sure this isn't a bluff to see what he can squeeze out of manchin and sinema between now and whenever he holds these votes. embarrassing them on the floor and putting them on the side of republicans and on the side with george wallace or jefferson davis does not do anything to help move democrats towards any of their other policy goals this year. >> garrett haake, marianne levine and kelly o'donnell. thank you. senator tim kaine, good afternoon. it's good to have you back on the show. >> thanks, hallie. glad to be with you. >> let me pick up where the reporters left off. do you believe senator schumer will hold that vote possibly as early as monday to change the senate rules? >> i do. >> you don't think it's a bluff? >> i think we're going to do it because we have to do it because the stakes are so high we just can't keep saying we'll get to this later and punt it down the road. we have been in enough discussions for enough months that we all know what the stakes are. every democrat is a supporter of both the john lewis bill and the freedom to vote act. so there's uniformity there. so far when we put these bills up, we get zero republican help except for lisa murkowski on the lewis act. with the stakes so high right now after the attack on the capitol to disenfranchise 80 million people and after the effort of state legislatures to disenfranchise people, democrats have to fight to protect people's right to vote and the accuracy of calling elections. so, we need to vote on it and i'm confident we're going to. >> so to be clear, senator, unless there is some change of heart from two of your democratic colleagues who are key to this issue here of whether or not to change the senate rules. if senator schumer does bring this to the floor monday, it's going to fail. are you comfortable with that? you still think that's the right move to send this move from democrats to the american people? >> i think we have to fight for this and rather than say, oh, well, you know, we don't have unanimity, there's uniform republican opposition so we're not even going to make the effort. i just don't think that's what we ought to do when faced with this extential threat to our democracy. there are many of ous that believe the democracy is threatened and the only way to protect it is to more robustly protect people's rights. senators get elected to vote on stuff and we don't get elected to not vote on stuff. so, the sequence and timing of votes and i think there could be many of them, i would expect the first vote you'll see is an effort, again, to bring the bills back up which republicans have basically stonewalled. that might be the first vote that you'll see. then you'll see other votes, as well. when they reject, again, an effort to even debate voting rights, you will see for democrats that is not the end of the discussion. we're continuing to have good discussions with senators manchin and sinema about what they might do. they have been pretty plain. they don't want to abolish the filibuster, fine. we have other options on the table. we could restore the filibuster to what it once was. do a narrow carve out for voting rights and democracy legislation and other strategies we're contemplating to meet their concerns and objections but the day of decision is upon us and we must act and we must let people know who feel like their rights are threatened that somebody's trying to stand up for him. >> to give some context to what you're talking about here, i think the backdrop of this new poll out from quinnipiac 58% believe the nation's democracy is in danger of collapse. you mention republican unanimity against this, senator. i don't know if you had a chance to see mitch mcconnell and his remarks. your response? >> senator mcconnell, whatever he said on the floor today here's what i know. his colleagues make very plain that one of the reasons that mitch mcconnell is an effective leader is he gives them latitude. he gives them latitude to do what they think is right. he may not support him. he may not vote with them but gives them latitude. as has been explained to us senator mitch mcconnell the republican leader has two red lines. thou shalt not work with democrats on voting right and campaign finance reform and both of these are contained in these two acts. the freedom to vote act and the john lewis act. we know that because of mitch mcconnell's effectiveness in setting red lines that his republican colleagues won't cross that we won't get republican support to protect these rights that are being jeopardized by republican legislators and governors all over this country. >> 33% of americans approve, i should say, of president biden's job right now. why do you think that is? do you think the white house needs to recalibrate as we head into the mid term year? >> here's what i think. i think the overwhelming factor in this is the fact that americans after nearly two years of the pandemic are feeling burdened and tired by it. i know i am. i know everybody i know is. and so as long as we're dealing with this and we're nearly two years into it, it is putting a lid on people's, you know, enthusiasm about great economic numbers, for example. and unemployment rate 3.69% and jobs created in the first year of the biden administration. my belief is this. i think we're going to get into the spring and we're not going to be past covid, but in the spring and the combination of the percentage vaccinated and the percentage who have natural antibodies is going to be quite high and i think there's going to be a real sense of psychological uplift that the economy is moving strongly and that we are exiting the most challenging two years of my lifetime in this country. and i think there's a real sense of uplift around the corner. president biden can give a speech at the two-year anniversary ofcovid in march or april and say this has been absolutely horrible for death and economic loss and an american comeback under way. i don't know if anyone to give a comeback speech better than joseph biden. there is one out there for him. i think people's senses and their psychology and their feeling about themselves and this country could be very, very different in a couple months than it is right now. >> senator tim kaine, i appreciate you being on on an important day and an important week. thanks, sir. coming up, the good and bad news from today's inflation report and what it means beyond paying more at the store. plus, later the reporters behind two big scoops are here. first, a major development in that sex trafficking investigation involving. the reporter who broke that story will join us. inside npr's interview with donald trump. we'll be here live. >> mr. president -- one more question. i want to ask about a court hearing yesterday on january 6th. he's gone. okay. 6th. he's gone. he's gone. okayr what's next, even with higher stroke risk due to afib not caused by a heart valve problem. so if there's a better treatment than warfarin i'll go after that. eliquis. eliquis reduces stroke risk better than warfarin and has less major bleeding than warfarin. in rare cases fatal bleeding. don't take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. while taking, you may bruise more easily or take longer for bleeding to stop. get help right away for unexpected bleeding, or unusual bruising. it may increase your bleeding risk if you take certain 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handle that, you can keep your internet and all those shows you love, and save money while you're at it with special offers just for movers at xfinity.com/moving. we are just getting word that president biden and the first lady have just arrived to the capitol in the last couple of minutes to be able to pay their respects to the late senator harry reid, of course, who is lying in state at the capital rotunda today. if we see the president live, we'll bring up that live shot as soon as we can. stick with us for that coverage. another big headline today. if you have been to the grocery store, i assume you have if in the last year or if you filled up your gas tank in the past year, the new consumer pricing data will make a lot of sense. inflation spiked 7% in the last year. that is a historic high. we haven't seen that in decades. the ribeye you want is going to cost you 15% more. carton of eggs 11% more. gas prices up 50% over the last year. milk and housing are up, too. these prices are not the only economic challenge facing the administration supply chain issues still hanging around. secretary of transportation pete buttigieg spoke with jo ling kent about that. watch. >> what we know is as long as there is a pandemic, it will be creating disruptions. now, the good news is we found a lot of steps we could take, including in the short term that have made a huge difference. but if we have to bring in so many goods from overseas that a shipping issue or a factory closure thousands of miles away stops us from getting what we need, that's a problem. >> we're going to go to cnbc ron in just a second. i mentioned the breaking news. president biden at the rotunda to pay his respects. we'll take a moment to just watch and listen. we know, obviously, after the commemorations over the past week including this morning, a number of the top political leaders in this country have done just this. >> a brief and somber moment from president biden there. saying good-bye to the man he called like a brother to him. of course, the president eulogized senator reid just a few days ago at his services in nevada, in las vegas. we expect to see others and we have seen others coming by to pay their respects to senator reid throughout the course of the day. we wanted to just bring you into that moment with the president making that stop and, of course, having conversations here now. we'll keep an eye on these cameras to check on the president's movements. we understand, we believe that the first lady is joining us here, joining him at the capitol, as well. president biden leaving the rotunda. we're going to keep up some of these live pictures and have the team in the control room keeping an eye on that. the president even as he has taken a moment to pay his respects to senator reid he has been dealing with a lot of challenges on his plate. president biden also has these economic challenges related to supply chain issues and related to some of the new inflation numbers that are out. i want to bring in senior analyst. thank you for being here. we talked about the numbers released today showing it is slowing down from 9.9% in november to 0.5 in december. is there good news in these numbers that we should be paying attention to? >> i'm not sure how hidden. the inflation rate of increase would decelerate because some of the supply chain issues that secretary buttigieg mentioned just a few moments ago are beginning to ease. if you go back to christmas where everybody thought no goods would be delivered and we would get lumps of coal instead. instead the strongest holiday shopping season in 17 years. we are seeing more and more those issues get resolved. i think as we move through 2022 relative to the cost of goods last year which was depressed by the pandemic, we'll see more flattening out of those increases and my estimation and i'm not among many who say this. i do think inflation is going to come down pretty hard this year. particularly in the good sector where, again, we've seen the big jumps relative to the last couple years that were affected by the pandemic. i think we'll see much more normal price activity going forward. >> we know that the fed, right, with the chairman of the fed telling lawmakers on tuesday i believe they're considering raising interest rates to try to get a handle on inflation and tame inflation. from a very consumer focus perspective, ron, what should people be doing with their money right now under the assumption that the fed may raise interest rates or try to get a check on inflation. anything different? >> not much anybody needs to do differently with a long-term discipline plan. you put your money away on a daily basis and dedicate and as some suggested goldman sachs or if the fed were to raise rates four times or more some time this year, then at that point the stock market could run into serious difficulty. we've seen it wobble a little bit this year. for the moment not much to do except to adhere to one's discipline and put the money away. until you really see something that is overtly aggressive by the fed, you don't have to worry too much. you have to speed up the process of a closing on a house because those rates are likely to go up, as well. >> do it sooner rather than later and contending with a hot housing market in some of the places d.c., new york, et cetera. bottom line, do you think, i wonder if you feel like these inflation numbers make the economy look worse than it actually is. i think for people you go to the grocery store and your chicken breasts are more expensive. that hurts. you feel that in your week-to-week or month-to-month budget. a as we've seen the economy is growing and unemployment getting back to where they were before the pandemic. >> and wages are going up about 6%. so, the real loss of purchasing power is close to 1% rather than the 7% inflation number that everybody talks about. wages have gone up, economy is strong, employment is strong and i think this temporary increase in inflation will as the fed used to say prove transitory and i think people will find their purchasing power will get stronger as the year goes on. >> ron insana, so great to talk with you. thank you for being on. the new push on capitol hill to try to ship you medical great, real n95 masks for free. why the uk prime minister is fighting to keep his job today. what we know about his covid house party scandal. house party scandal. i'm ok! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ only in theaters december 17th. there's so much new in the new chicken & bacon ranch, did you just spike the footlong? sorry, i didn't want the delay of game. save big. order through the app. looking to get back in your type 2 diabetes zone? once-weekly ozempic® can help. ♪ oh, oh, oh, ozempic®! ♪ ♪ oh, oh, oh ♪ ozempic® is proven to lower a1c. most people who took ozempic® reached an a1c under 7 and maintained it. and you may lose weight. adults lost on 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this map. i want to bring in erica edwards at a testing ship in charlotte, north carolina, and dr. nikki bedelia. talk about the surge in north carolina and what you're hearing from folks there. >> the carolinas have seen just an astronomic rise in covid-19 cases in the past few weeks and doctors are telling us we have not seen the peak yet here in the carolinas. as you said i'm standing right outside of an urgent care center accepting walk-ins for covid-19 testing and a steady stream of people all day long here going in with symptoms, cough, congestion, headache, fatigue. right now a three-hour wait to get a test at this facility and doctors tell me it has been like this for weeks. now, i really want to show you, compare to what is going on now versus what we saw a year ago in january 2021. nationwide, in 2021, we were averaging about 220,000 cases per day. now look at it. up to a quarter of a million cases per day. as you mentioned earlier, about 31 states are now breaking hospitalization records. let me throw some other numbers at you specific to the carolinas. the number of new covid-19 cases in south carolina has gone up 1,285% just in the past two weeks. and north carolina, new covid-19 cases are up 425% in that same time period. now, the good news here is, of course, a lot of the cases and illnesses are mild. people are generally able to get some tlc at home and take care of themselves. because of the sheer rise in numbers means a huge rise in hospitalizations. we talked to one doctor at duke university hospital in durham to tell us what he's experienced. >> we went from 60 patients needing beds to 260 patients needing beds in the space of about three weeks. which is higher, quicker and less predictable, frankly, than what we saw in previous clusters. it's just much more fast. we would say probably 90% of them have absolutely come here because of directly because of covid or because of complications that covid triggered. >> and, hallie, the vast majority of covid-19 cases are that fast-spreading omicron variant. >> erika, great to see you in the field. thank you. let me bring you into this conversation. a new fighting in boston showing the covid levels are dropping but some taking the sign that we're starting to peak on the current omicron surge. are you reading into that? other reasons why some of these numbers might be changing, as well. how much should we be putting stock in the waste water thing here? >> hallie, waste water is potentially a promising metric and it can be a leading metric compared to cases and hospitalizations because we all contribute to sewage. so what researchers are doing in this setting are just looking at a cumulative amount of the virus itself in waste water and that it's independent of people who are asymptomatic who don't get tested and sometimes it can provide a picture as long as it continues to be consistent. and we're seeing few days of drop in it and we've seen plateauing of cases and not a drop of cases in the boston area. the other thing to note hospitalizations, they are predicting hospitalizations continue to increase because a lag between cases and hospitalizations. but it is a promising new technology and a lot of other cities are also pursuing this houston, santa clara county, new york city, but it is not consistently something that all places are doing. >> let me ask you about masks, right. because we talked about how senator sanders is introducing the legislation that would give us all free n95 masks. a lot of discussion of what keeps you safest during the omicron surge with the cdc warning that 60% of imported are not kn95. where this ranks in the key steps and key priorities that there should be for the administration given that if you send masks to all americans, you know as well as i do, not all americans are going to wear them, right? >> yeah. i think that n95s are an additional tool. you may not need that high qualtry of a mask in every setting. but if you're in a crowded indoor setting with a highly transmissible setting like omicron, it provides an extra level of protection. you need to ensure the quality of the mask you're getting and a couple other steps for the public to remember. not just getting a real n95 mask but also how you wear it and wearing it consistency if you take it off in the middle of a crowded space it will not give you the protection. a couple other things to note for people who are using this. make sure auththenticity. look for the national institute for occupational safety and health mark on the n95 or the mask that you're using. that shows there is some sort of laboratory that's done the testing and the fda and cdc have approved products on their website. two other things that i just want to tell people. when you put on these high-quality masks to ensure that you have a good fit. healthcare workers when they use it they go through fit testing to make sure no air is getting around the mask. if your glasses are fogging up, you're not using the mask well. it may protect you, but you're still breathing on other people. i just want to put those perils out there of what healthcare workers are doing. >> thanks for being on with us this afternoon. coming up next we're going inside the humanitarian crisis in afghanistan on what it is like on the ground and a million kids are at risk of starving to death this winter. f starving to f starving to death this winter. and unforeseeable. for investors who can navigate this landscape, lthe potentiald, is gilh for rich returns. are you taking a statin drug to reduce cholesterol? it can also deplete your coq10 levels. i recommend considering qunol coq10 along with your statin medication. the brand i trust is qunol. people in the uk are ticked off at the prime minister for attending a byob party organized by his office at his official residence. you want to be a prime minister and have a party, fine. but this happened at the height of the 2020 lockdowns. his own political party are asking him to resign. you can see some of the tweets here. johnson apologized in parliament today. watch. >> mr. speaker, i want to apologize. i know the rage they feel with me and with the government i lead when they think downing street itself the rules are not being properly followed by the people who make the rules. >> i want to bring in nbc news correspondent matt bradley. context is important here, right. this was happening at a time in the uk when people couldn't attend funerals of family members they had lost. the prime minister was attending this byob party. scandal is not new to boris johnson necessarily. put this one into perspective for us. is this another one he can shake off? >> yeah, i mean, hallie, is not only scandal new to boris johnson, but this particular scandal is a repeat. this is like the third or fourth party during lockdown that he has been accused of attending depending on how you count these parties. why is this one so much more serious? not just because it is the latest breaking their own covid rules but because the british public is just tired of the lying. i spoke with a professor here and political analyst and here's what he told us about boris johnson's moment. >> is the prime minister now in the greatest political jeopardy he has been since he has become prime minister? >> i think so, yes. quite clearly what we're in to and, again, you said a couple moments ago he has enemies. that is for sure. he's lost -- >> those enemies that he's talking about aren't just the political opposition. theyjohnson's head. people within johnson's own political party are coming out for him and, remember, boris johnson is a prime minister, not a president. he does not have to be impeached and they don't have to wait until the end of the term and they can withdrawal their support and stage and have their support because 66%, two-thirds of the british public. >> is there a pivot point coming up for him? is this something where he could theroretically ride it out? >> the one thing is that they have an investigation by a woman named sue gray who is a top official in the government. civil servant and not political and known as a very tough investigator. sort of like the robert mueller to the british government right now when it comes to, well, parties. that's what she's investigating. this isn't going to be a top investigation. this was at 10 downing street. there is video of this. everybody knows who attended. the police know. none of this is a tough nut to crack but still waiting on the results of this investigation to determine. boris johnson is going to decide whether or not that investigation basically means that he committed a criminal act. that apology he made earlier, he's apologizing for the perception of breaking the rules, not necessarily for breaking the rules. a bit of a conditional apology. bit of a half apology. >> matt, thanks for that reporting. staying overseas with a disturbing story that is critical to talk about and the statistics in this country, in this day, i should say, in 2022 should be upsetting to you. here it is. nearly nine million afghans could freeze and starve this winter in that country. talking about 8.7 million people. that is more than the entire state of virginia. below freezing temperatures and a drought making it almost impossible to harvest and farm crops. the united nations is now begging the international community to try to get more than $4 billion to try to help people in afghanistan. the united states has already donated about $308 million in aid. i want to bring in now somebody who knows what it is like on the ground there. david milivant. thank you for being on the show. good afternoon. >> thanks for having me, hallie. we're pleased to do this. >> tell me what your staff is seeing on the ground. >> so, we have about 2,000 staff working in nine provinces. and we're now supporting about 100 health centers around the country and what we're seeing is the consequences not just of the natural disasters you mentioned, but the economic squeeze put on the country since the end of military operations in august which was followed by the end of economic support for afghan economy. and malnutrition rates sky rocketing and a million kids of the 9 million at the brink of level four, level five is famine. enormous numbers of people who don't have enough food. over 90% of the population don't know where their next meal is coming from. the private sector is not able to function so the humanitarian aid system is struggling to keep up. >> what is going to help? what is the most important thing that you need that your staff needs? what is the unlock to this? right to make sure that people there get what they need which is right now food. >> it's food. but the problem is not that there isn't food in the country, it's that people can't afford to buy it. they can't afford to buy it because they can't get cash out of their banks. they can't get cash out of their banks because no liquidity in the banking system and no liquidity in the banking system because international support for the economy has been frozen since the middle of august. we warned in august that military withdrawal must not be followed by economic and political withdrawal if we were to avoid an absolutely failed state in south asia. that's what we're seeing at the moment. so it's returning economic life to the country that is absolutely key if the humanitarian aid system is able to do its work. we need teachers, doctors, nurses to be paid. we need our own staff to be able to cash their salary checks in banks. we need the banking system to be able to support commoners within the country. remember this is a country when 90% of food, fuel, medicines is imported. so, they need to be able to buy on the open market to support themselves. >> what would you like to see the biden administration do here? >> i'd like the biden administration first to ensure that those private assets of afghan cooperations and individuals who are frozen be released. secondly i would like to tell the world bank that instead of releasing $280 million, they should release the full $1.5 billion sitting in world bank. third, they need to make clear that sanctions apply to individual members of the taliban, not to the whole governing system because that's what is putting a freeze on any private sector. the only way out of this is to maximize the humanitarian help on the scale of the $4 billion that you mentioned the u.n. have asked for and we've also got to get the private sector market working, as well. >> david miliband. thank you for being on the show and talking through this critical moment for afghans. thanks. next up here on the show, our brand-new scoop from right here on nbc news. matt gaetz ex-girlfriend testifying in front of a grand jury. what it says about where the investigation stands now. it sae investigation stands now growing up in a little red house, on the edge 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to fight them. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms or if you had a vaccine or plan to. emerge tremfyant® with tremfya®... ask you doctor about tremfya® today. we have some big breaking news to get to from the january 6th house select committee and right now looking for information from kevin mccarthy, the top republican in the house of representatives. this is significant news that the select committee, again, with two republicans on that committee is now seeking information from mccarthy, somebody who has long been an ally of former president donald trump. in the immediate aftermath of january 6th was critical. reports of what was happening with him on that day now chairman benny thompson is officially releasing information that he says the committee needs to learn about how the president's plans, president trump's plans for january 6th came together and all the other ways he attempted to alter the results of the election. let me bring in ali vitali who will talk through this with us. significant here as kevin mccarthy says to him, you have acknowledged speaking directly with the former president while the violence was happening on january 6th. this is why the committee wants to talk to kevin mccarthy. i should note, i know this is literally just out in maybe the last 45 seconds or so, this is not a subpoena, obviously. a voluntary request for information and kevin mccarthy believes this is a partisan committee. >> yeah, it is. nevertheless, one of our house producers kyle stewart was talking with chairman benny thompson as this dropped and thompson believes mccarthy will voluntarily come forward to testify. that is what his thinking is at this point and an important distinction that you're making here this is a request, not a subpoena. we have not hit the phase, even though other republican lawmakers have been asked to comply. we have not yet hit the phase where the january 6th committee have moved up by making these subpoenas. at this point they're requests. subpoenas. s that request. when they talk in the letter about needing to know about the conversation mccarthy had with trump on that day, this came up during the impeachment hearing last year. it is a well litigated well talked about phone call. but it is a key point of their information, the key hours while the capitol was actually under attack. what was the former president doing? who was he talking to? this interview with mccarthy, if it happens, will certainly speak to that. there is also the issue of mccarthy's communications with then chief of staff mark meadows, who was in contact that day as well. this is part and parcel of figuring out what was happening on the inner portions of the white house on january 6th. >> it is also about the days after, mccarthy talked about trump might face some kind of impeachment, removal under the 25th amendment, which did not happen. just to refresh people's merms on this, at the time, in the days and weeks following january 6th, that mccarthy had had this conversation with former president trump as january 6th was unfolding urging him to get help to the capitol, right. >> yes. >> this very heated conversation as it was reported i think by a local news outlet, i think politico revealed more of that conversation that mccarthy shared with his caucus in the days after january 6th. on that call, on january 11th, i want to read what chairman thompson says, former president trump admitted some responsibility for january 6th in that one-on-one conversation. this is why it is so important to get information from kevin mccarthy? >> yeah. it also explains where we are in the landscape, mccarthy is the potential next speaker of the house the republicans retake control house chamber. he is the person the committee is working so quickly to do their work because if he takes over control of the house this committee is likely to be disbanded. he is one of the key figures who repeatedly lashed out against the work of the committee calling ate witch-hunt saying their work is partisan. he's someone who has not been supportive of the committee's work here. the same frankly can be said for jim jordan and congressman perry, the other two republican law mickers, alies of the former president who the committee also wants to talk to. i think it is notable that thoimp seems to believe mccarthy could cooperate here. yesterday around this time we were having another conversation about more subpoenas coming were the committee. it is becoming clear they are trying to fill the gaps here so they can patient a clear narrative about what was happening on january 6th, the weeks before, the days after. all of that is information they can get from witnesses, whether it is people who were subpoenaed yesterday who were involved in the planning or the conversations around the rally at the ellipse, people in charge of drafting the president's speech, all the way up to top republicans including kevin mccarthy who were in touch with the former president on that day. it speaks to the narrative they are trying to be able to present as they head into the next more public phase that could be starting in the next weeks here that the committee touted as the culmination the work they have done over the last few months. >> i assume we have reached out the to kevin mccarthy's office and have not heard back. is that a safe assumption. >> i have reached out, have not heard back. the only person we have seen is chairman thoimp about the issuing of this letter and his understanding that he will cooperate. >> can you answer this question. i am struck by the chairman's optimism, that he thinks kevin mccarthy will participate or voluntarily will provide information here, especially given the way that republicans have attempted to cache this fact-finding investigation as mostly partisan despite the fact two republicans sit on the committee and who are working with democrats in order to be able to find out more information about what happened on and leading up to january 6th. >> apologies for looking down as we are having this conversation. kyle is still telling us about the conversation he was having with chairman thoimp. thoimp said -- he left the door open here before saying that with the voluntary invitation he thinks mccarthy will cooperate but that the subpoena option is still on the table here. we have heard from congressman king zinger saying the subpoena option is on the table. all of them have left the door open. but it becomes a different story. we have seen different levels of subpoenas here, for steve bannon, the subpoena came, and then was obviously received to the department of justice. his claim to executive privilege is different than mark meadows' claim to executive privilege. and then, certainly, you get into an even more sense category of discussion about can you subpoena sitting lawmakers and how you can force them to comply. that's definitely where this conversation is going at this point. i do think it is notable, this is certainly one of the most high-profile requests that we have seen. we have been anticipating for a lng time that this been committee was going to start asking sitting lawmakers, their colleagues up here to start testifying before them. >> that's right. >> it is clear we are now at that point. i would also add we are talking about the two republican members who were on this committee continuously at each point of this, we have heard especially from vice chair liz cheney trying to make the moral argument to her republican colleagues that this is not a partisan political moment, it is a moral moment for them to decide what they will do in defense of democracy after a day like january 6th. that hasn't changed many hearts or minds here on the hill so for but that's the claim she's made throughout this. >> ali, stand by, i want to bring in npr's steve ins keep. we are bringing you on for a whole back story on your interview of former president trump. we have been overtaken by breaking news. thank you for staying with news understood. >> you understand the ins and outs of washington and the work that the select committee is doing. >> i just want to point out -- >> go ahead. >> i want to point out another layer of this. it is happening at the beginning of an election year. you not only have benny thompson wanting to talk to the leading republican, he wants to talk to the republican who is anticipating perhaps becoming the speaker of the house after the november elections. democrats are understanding that this january 6th report is coming in a political context. in fact they would like it to get out some time prior to the november elections. >> right. >> because there is some political impact to that. and surely, a lot of them would like a lot of the focus in the election to be ant attack of the capitol and the strength the democracy itself. i suspect the irony is there is one republican that would like to talk about the past in the 2022 election. we talked to donald trump yesterday. he very much wants republican candidates in 2022 to reright gate his version of 2020 election and everything that followed. >> yeah, the version that does not exist in the actual reality based universe in which we live, steve. do you get a sense -- because this is something we talk about at nbc with our colleagues here, this is a ticking clock on the work of this select committee. you bring up importantly, the idea they would like this to be wrapped up before the november mid terms because if, in fact, democrats lose the house it is entirely possible the person they are seeking information from today, kevin mccarthy, becomes speaker. >> and the investigation certainly ends or takes another form if it were still going on. maybe in the spring they can get around to public hearings, then they need time to write a report. it seems like there is a lot of time before november, but there really isn't. >> ali, we have just 30 seconds left in the show. i know -- not to blow up your spot either, but you have been working the phones. any new information. >> we have one new nugget. it goes in part with the conversation we have been having. but mccarthy's specific change of heart you could say around the january 6th insurrection -- you will remember he gave a speech that was somewhat critical of the president in the days immediately after january 6th. clearly his tune changed because of that. that's one of the things that chairman thompson told reporters here in the last few minutes is something they are very interested in hearing. why did he criticize the president and then stop criticizing the president about january 6th. all of it part and parcel of the conversations he had with the president before, during, and after january 6th. >> why did kevin mccarthy stop talking about january 6th the way he did in the beginning? because of the 2022 elections that are coming up and his chance to be speaker of the house. he wants the support of trump. >> steve ins kyi of npr. thank you for rolling here. i appreciate you coming on. this is afternoon on the show. ali vitale thank you for scrambling to the camera with the breaking news. that it for us. we will see you tomorrow. and "deadline: white house" will be picking up coverage of this in just a second. be picking up coverage of this ♪♪ hi there, everyone, it is 4:00 in new york, we come on the air with big breaking news a. few moments ago, the january 6th select committee requested information from house republican leader kevin mccarthy. in a letter to mccarthy committee chairman benny thompson rights, quote, we write to request your voluntary cooperation with our investigation on a range of critical topics including your conversations with president trump before, during, and after the violent january 6th attack. you have acknowledged speaking directly with the former president while the violence was underway on january 6th. the letter adds this, quote,