government's prosecution of the attack on the u.s. capitol taking a new turn. as stewart rhodes, founder of the oath keepers, makes his first court appearance on a charge of decision conspiracy. rhodes went barra federal judge in texas this afternoon. his lawyers spoke to reporters just after the hearing. >> he says he's not guilty and he wants to fight the charges. >> he intends to fight the charges until the very end. >> we expect some. we got several witnesses we're going to contact. we've been in touch with family and coworkers and things, so we plan on presenting evidence. >> rhodes entered a not guilty plea. tonight he remains in custody in texas. his attorneys say they plan to fight the government's efforts to keep him in jail until his trial. >> he's been living free for the past year. he's been paying taxes. he has no criminal history. he's a yale law graduate. he has no passport, so he's not a flight risk. we'll have to hear what the government has to say as to the primary criteria of assuring the safety of the public upon his release. >> rhodes will be back in court on thursday. meanwhile a source tells nbc news that the house january 6th committee has interviewed former acting defense secretary christopher miller who was in that post on the day of the riot. miller previously said that former president donald trump, quote, encouraged the protesters with his comments. the panel is weighing whether to subpoena house republican leader kevin mccarthy who has refused to cooperate. lawmakers want to talk to him about what he discussed with trump during and after the riot. here's what mccarthy said in a radio interview one week after the attack. >> i say he has responsibility. he told me personally that he does have some responsibility. i think a lot of people do. >> the january 6th committee has also said they want to hear voluntarily from former vice president mike pence, although they haven't formally asked for his cooperation. tonight pence is out with an op-ed in "the washington post," the calling insurrection a, quote, power grab, and uses the same words to describe the removal of the filibuster to pass voting rights legislation. today the white house vowed to continue working on trying to make those voting bills a reality, even their future looks uncertain. one democratic house member says voting rights legislation is more important now than ever. >> there is a slow-moving coup that is occurring, and the voting rights act is one of the -- a couple of the bills we need to pass in order to truly protect our democracy. i think the coup we'll see is going to be staffed by men and women in very well dressed suits and in our courts, running for the electoral boards. >> the petition to change the filibuster has failed to yield progress. it's one of several setbacks he's had, including the supreme court's decision to block his vaccine or test mandates for large businesses and escalating inflation. but earlier today president biden did take time to highlight his bipartisan infrastructure bill passed last year. the white house says it has no intention of giving up on what he promised voters. >> the truth is, an agenda doesn't wrap up in one year. we'll continue to fight for every component of his agenda and his -- and his -- his plans for his presidency that he outlined when running for president. >> biden will markeries one-year anniversary in office with a news conference. today the white house announced those 500 million free at-home covid tests would soon be available. orders can be placed on a federal website starting january 19th. with that, let's bring in our lead-off guests, jonathan lemire, veteran house reporter. pulitzer prize-winning investigative reporter if the "washington post," coauthor of "the new york times" blepharo"i alone can fix it" and a law clerk for sonia sotomayor on the federal bench before her nomination for the supreme court. good to see you all. kashlgs i'm going to start with you. the january 6th committee interviewed trump's former acting secretary of guess, christopher miller today. why is his testimony important for them? >> there could be a lot of reasons, but the first two that come to mind is, a, he was in the defense department, in the pentagon on the day of the riot, the storming of the capitol. he has already testified that he was aware at 1:34 p.m. that the capitol was under attack and the police lines had been breached, and he's testified it took him another three hours to authorize dispatching a real plan for the national guard to go and help to essentially be the cavalry to save the capitol police and the metropolitan police officers who had tried to prevent what happened there. so that's really critical. the second thing, of course, is he was with donald trump a lot prior to january 6th, including a crucial january 3rd oval office meeting. in that meeting the president closed the session, which was really about iran, to confer with miller, his new acting secretary, about how safe his protesters, his fans were going to be on january 6th. he just sort of wanted to check in with him. it's interesting. other witnesses feel like the two of them had a prior conversation about what exactly did donald trump want to happen on january 6th. >> tough pivot from iran to your fans. melissa, what should we be looking for as we follow the government's case against oath keeper stewart rhodes and ten others? >> well, i think this is the first time we'll be hearing about sedition since the adams administration, so we're going to have a very old statute with prosecutions that date from the 1700s and 1900s, but very few prosecutions in recent years, at least successful ones. the last successful prosecution under the conspiracy to commit sedition act was the blind sheet case from about 26 years ago. so there's very little precedent here, and it's very hard to prove these cases and perhaps that is something the prosecution is really going to be looking for. this is going to be an uphill battle for them, but this perhaps more than any other case might be the exemplar that proves the rule. >> jonathan, all of this going on with january 6th as biden is coming off a difficult week in terms of turning his priorities into law. here's what former attorney general eric holder said tonight about voting rights. take a listen. >> we have to get ready for the possibility that these bills are not going to be become law, so we'll continue doing the work i've been doing at the national redistricting committee to fight partisan and racial gerrymandering and redouble our efforts when it comes to voter registration and making sure that people have the ability to get to the polls in spite of these obstacles. >> how is the white house feeling about where things stand on the domestic policy front, and where do they go from here? >> they're not giving up hope on voting rights, but they can see where things are at the moment, and it doesn't look great. there's no sign that senators manchin or sinema will change their views on the filibuster. there are other democrats who privately have spoken, sinema, of course, delivered her verdict on it just moments before the president showed up at the senate caucus to talk to them. in fact, the presidential motorcade was warming up when she took the floor and said she didn't want it moved. without the filibuster changing, there doesn't seem to be a path in for voting rights. certainly the president is going to continue with the rhetoric. the former attorney general hit some of those points too, the need to out-organize the other side, to motivate voters to get out there, but that's going to be a tough task when so many voters u including parts of the democratic base are so disenchanted with the idea. there ant been further done on voting rights. part of the vaccine mandate the administration rolled out was struck down by the supreme court. build back better act is certainly in limbo right now, and that's an optimistic rephrasing. and the president heads into his one-year anniversary at a low mark, even though aides say he has time to turn it around. >> what are you hearing from democrats who say maybe it's time to narrow the scope of what they are fighting for when it comes to voting rights? >> well, there is some who believe that, look, they don't want to let perfect be the enemy of good and it's measures they can to improve things, they should. even though it's renewing part of the voting rights act or pivoting towards the john lewis act or h.r. 1. even those seem difficult and there are efforts in various states that have been seen new laws passed by republican-controlled legislatures that have restricted voting rights, but the president has run into a tough situation here. he took office at that time of real crisis, and his first year was a tale of two halfs. the first half, a lot of success, the covid relief bill, distribution of the vaccine, just of a sense of return to normalcy after four years of tumult under donald trump. starting in august with the rise of the delta variant and the chaotic exit from afghanistan, he suffered real setbacks. his agenda has taken a hit as well. part of this is because his margins in congress were so slim. sure, democrats control the white house, the house, and the senate, but the senate is 50/50 and the house, just a few seats. that's tough to get big things done. >> carol, speaking of the margins, we're in a midterm year. i do not need to remind you of that. the january 6th committee is weighing a subpoena for house republican leader kevin mccarthy. what is the cost-benefit analysis that they are doing on that? >> so just like prosecutors, anybody who's trying to investigate and get to the bottom of this, including the committee staff, is trying to figure out, okay, what have we got and what do we need? in other words, are there witnesses around mccarthy they've already interviewed, and they have, who give us a good sense of what exactly he said and did with regard to donald trump? we already know that kevin mccarthy was calling donald trump basically pleading with him to get the january 6th dogs out of the building, to protect his own members. but are there witnesses who already can tell you exactly what mccarthy said, what trump said, and are there documents like texts? we've seen quite a few that help buttress that. if that's the case, if that narrates the events well enough, then they don't need mccarthy and they don't need the long, long drawnout legal fight and political fight that's likely to ensue if they press harder legally for his submission. >> melissa, we saw a ruling today from the ohio supreme court in which they rejected the gop-drawn congressional maps. you have a lot of democrats celebrating this as a major win. your take? >> i think it's a more muted win. this is certainly something to celebrate. we know ever since the supreme court decided in 2019 that partisan gerrymandering claims couldn't be harder by federal courts, that this could play out at the state level. this ohio victory, ohio is really usu in th the voters there just recently passed an amendment preventing partisan gerrymandering. most states do not have such laws on their books, meaning that there will be limited efforts to try and limit the redistricting in those states without those measures. michigan has independent but again, it's not in place in all states and not enough to take back the tide of redistricting as well as these ongoing efforts to limit access to the ballot. >> jonathan, i want to turn to pence's op-ed calling january 6th, quote, a power grab. while also saying the same thing about busting the filibuster for voting rights. what is pence trying to do here politically, and what sticks out to you about this op-ed? >> let's be clear. these two things are not equivalent. it's a real case of what-aboutism from the former vice president. this is all being done with his eye on 2024. the vice president, of course, is considering his own presidential campaign. he hasn't declared it yet, and some wonder if he will go through with it, if his former boss, donald trump, declares his own presidential campaign. but there's a real divide there between two men. pence is of course a loyal foot soldier, loyal vice president for donald trump for four years until the very end. he of course resisted calls from trump and other allies to try to not decertify biden's win on january 6th, to throw that process into chaos. remember, the pressure that donald trump put on pence day after day to not adhere to his constitutional duty. pence, in fact, consulted a number of key allies looking for for reassurance he was doing the right thing. one of them, dan quayle, another indiana vice president and, frankly, unlikely hero of the republic. quail told pence, no, you can't do this, you have to do your constitutional duty. that disappointed trump and his follow he recalls, but he's trying to remain in the good graces of the republican base, therefore, attacking the idea of reforming the filibuster. he has largely adhered to the trump agenda since leaving office, otherwise he's trying to appeal to the maga base. but it's hard to see him getting much traction there because so many of them believe he betrayed his former boss by course there signs of election fraud. >> melissa, what is your assessment of the progress the january 6th committee has made? what are we going to be looking for in the coming weeks? >> i think we're going to see a lot of action in terms of trying to get some of these members of congress. i think we'll see a lot more debate about whether the committee actually has the legal authority to do so. most legal experts say that there is authority to do so. the speech and debate clause constitution, which has been touted on the ability of the committee to subpoena its own members. legislators and the legislature are being questioned by other branches of government. in this circumstance where it's about the legislature questioning its own members, that would not necessarily seem to be an impediment. we'll see a lot of action in terms of whether or not the subpoenas can proceed. there may even be lawsuits. that, of course, will take a lot longer and time is really of the essence for this committee because, as you know, at once midterm elections come around, if the house changes hands, this committee will be gone. >> carol, what do you think is next for the january 6th committee? >> i think what's next is going to be some really full-throated public hearings. the hearings that people wanted for the mueller investigation where there would be wide-open kimono, an amazing soap opera on your national television screen every morning, in which firsthand witnesses who were there, some of whole you probably don't recognize their names, they're not bold-face names, but they were there and you'll hear them go in narrate the story of january 6th. people inside the white house concerned and disturbed and unsettled by what donald trump was doing to try to block biden and try to encourage chaos and instability in the country. and you're going to hear from those who are with him, i believe, or at least had information about what he was saying on the day of. >> jonathan, coming out of this week there's new reporting when democrats want to see a reset from this president. when you talk to the white house, is there interest, appetite, or acknowledgment that the party is craving that? >> i think two things are true once the here, alicia. on the one hand, the biden administration believes their track record is pretty good, and they've got a pretty good story to sell. they point to just where the nation was a year ago and the aftermath of january 6th, the height of the pandemic, the vaccine barely in arms of americans at that point, and how much progress has been made, including just in the last couple weeks the bipartisan infrastructure bill. so they'll say, hey, look, we've done a lot in this first year and they'll really defend that. having said that, they also are aware the political realities of the moment with their build back better agenda stalled and the voting rights seemingly not going anywhere. they recognize the year mark is one that will attract attention. the president is having a news conference and he'll address a lot of this and talk about his accomplishments, but also try to steady nervous democrats, democrats who are fearful of his rather poor poll numbers at the moment, and what that could mean for the upcoming midterms where at least on paper they seem likely to lose control of the house of representatives. the senate is a 50/50 tossup at this point. so yeah, the president is going to have to do some calming of nerves while having some difficulty. it will only get harder the closer the midterms get. >> jonathan, before i let you go, the other wild card, of course, the pandemic we're all lig through, how do they see that factoring into their agenda? >> it's the biggest part of it. the pandemic is the central piece of the biden administration. he knows he was elected. he said this repeatedly. he was elected more than anything to try to tame this pandemic, store a sense of normalcy but talks to nation -- boosters are out there for anyone who wants it, that's great news, but americans still not taking those shots. omicron doesn't seem as deadly as delta, but it's still a real thing. cases are surging. schools across the country have had to close. businesses shut. americans have had their lives thrown upside down again. biden administration is going to get tests out. they have a surge in tests in the hundreds of millions of tests out to the americans. that's going to start next week. that will help, they hope. they also are encouraged by how quickly this variant indeed burning through the populace, and maybe it will have moved past, but those are a lot of hospitals and a lot of people sick and dying. and of course there's no sense as to what variant may be down the road. their vaccination mandate took a hit this week with the supreme court. the president frustrated by that when we heard from him this week. they recognize that some of this is out of their control, but this is how they will be judged. the president has said the buck stops with him, and no more so than with the pandemic. >> jonathan lemire, hope you get to sleep tomorrow. thank you all so much for being with us. coming up, now what? what can washington get done? our political experts are here to hash out what the democrats should do now that so much of the president's plan is stuck in cartoon quick sand. as code of washes over america, the cdc is out with timely new mask guidance. one of our top doctors is here with what you need to know. "the 11th hour" just getting under way on a friday night. under way on a friday night. hey google. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ new year, new start. and now comcast business is making it easy to get going with the ready. set. save. sale. get started with fast and reliable internet and voice for $64.99 a month with a 2-year price guarantee. it's easy... with flexible installation and backing from an expert team, 24/7. and for even more value, ask how to get up to a $500 prepaid card. get a great deal for your business with the ready. set. save. sale today. comcast business. powering possibilities. what does a foster kid need from you? to be brave. to show up. for staying connected. the questions they weren't able to ask. show up for the first day of school, the last day at their current address. for the mornings when everything's wrong. for the manicure that makes everything right, for right now. show up, however you can, for the foster kids who need it most— at helpfosterchildren.com there's a lot of talk about disappointments and things we haven't gotten done. we're going to get a lot of them done, i might add. but this is something we did get done, and it's of enormous consequence to the country. >> biden today touted his bipartisan infrastructure legislation, but that's only some of what he promised, build back better still languishing in the senate, politico puts it this way. with little progress on joe biden's signature legislation, elected officials and operatives from across the presidents's party are busy plotting how to run midterm campaigns without the benefit of a bill to bolster the social safety net and make generational investments to address climate change. it's far from the ideal position. with us tonight, victoria defrancesco soto, dean of school of public service at the university of arkansas, msnbc political analyst, and susan del percio, veteran political strategist and msnbc political analyst. vickie, i want to read you this from senator dick durbin. he says i'm sure they're frustrated. i am, said senator richard durbin of illinois when asked about the chamber's inability to act on mr. biden's agenda. discussing the impact on voters ahead of the midterm elections, he added, it depends on who they blame for it. vickie, do you agree with the senator's assessment that there will be frustration on the part of voters but the question will become as whose feet they lay that frustration? >> i have a very technical answer, which is kind of, and it depends on the emotional connection that the voter has to what they see is going on. i think we have to understand that folks respond to politics both with their heart and with their minds. some people may be focused on what are the policies getting through, what are the policies that are not getting through, but at the same time, a lot of it is about how do i feel? is this someone who's fighting for me? is this someone who's looking out? is this the good guy? is this the protagonist? it's a lot about narrative. so in my mind, i see a lot of the problem with democrats, not necessarily that they're getting stuff stalled, it is what it is in terms of the numbers in congress, but for me, it's always been about messaging, really reaching that heart, and making sure they connect with voters. maybe they're not getting everything passed, but they're still fighting for them. they're doing what they can. it really comes down, as we look at the next nine months, is how the democratic party across the nation gets the narrative of we may not be hitting it out of the park, but we are fighting for you. if anything, they could even pass it as being an underdog, that, yes, there may be a technical majority in the senate, but because of the filibuster at the end of the day, we're basically a minority party. so i think a lot more work needs to go into the messaging and stop the hammering about, well, we didn't get everything that was promised in the campaign passed, but instead focus on the bigger picture. >> i'm going to loop back with you on part of that bigger picture. but before i do, susan, there seem to be genuine surprise that sinema and manchin are proving as intractable as they are, that they didn't move with pressure from their own party. what do you make not just of what we saw this week from manchin and from from sinema, but the general surprise that they could not be moved? >> i don't know why people are surprised, especially when it comes to joe manchin. he's been saying this for years and years and years that he would not give up the 60-vote threshold for the filibuster. so we have known where he stands. he's been very transparent that way. but the problem is that when the president came in, the democrats were -- this is your fdr moment, look at the things we're going to achieve, there's nothing stopping us. but there was. it was a 50/50 senate, and a majority in the house of, like, three or four votes. it was not an endorsement of joe biden as much as it was a rejection of donald trump. it is time that the democrats -- because in a midterm election, it is a referendum on the white house, full stop. that's what midterms are all about. so it's time for joe biden -- and i hate to say this -- to get out his pen and starting doing executive orders and start talking about the good parts of the economy. this is not 2008. you cannot govern that way. you can't govern the way he saw in the senate or as vice president. he's got to go out there and brag and talk about it, whether it's the stock market, whether it's executive orders on police reform, go and do it and talk about the good. >> vickie, do you agree? >> i do. i think he needs to get out there. i think you need to brand yourself and not let others brand you, not getlet the repped direct your messaging. i think it's about taking the wins where you can get them. okay, it's not the whole package, but maybe it's the small executive order. maybe it's focusing on the fact that, you know, we got the build back better part of it of the infrastructure bill, highlighting on that. alicia, it's about the glass half full, not glass half empty, and at the same time hustling. >> susan, i hear you on executive action, i still wonder, though, if there is the possibility of smaller pieces of this legislation moving through, if they start to break this legislation apart, which i know there are people who do not want to see that if they can pleas claim sum pieces off this victor. >> at this point it's critical that the white house get into political mode and political mode means wins. and they should just sit down with joe manchin, find out what he wants to get passed and go pass it. i know it's not ideal, i know it's not good governance, but if they want to hold on to the house and senate, it's the only shot they have. and i slightly -- i hesitate to do this, disagree with vickie, in the fact of don't talk about what you didn't get done. just talk about what you're doing and getting done and how hard you're working for the american public. there's no reason to talk about we didn't get this quite done but we're trying. just say we're trying. just sign an executive order you can get behind. again, they need the wins and the president needs to go out there. even when it came to infrastructure, they waited three months to actually pass it after the senate did with the house so biden could sign it. take the wins, become political and start focusing on 2022 midterms. >> if i heard correctly, i think you were actually violently agreeing. you can tell me if i was wrong on the other side of this break because you're both staying with me. coming up, as the former president prepares for a rally in arizona tomorrow, we're going to discuss new reporting on what he is planning for republicans who don't back his false claims of election fraud. when "the 11th hour" continues. when "the 11th hour" continues with chase security features, guidance and convenience, banking feels good. chase. 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meredith mcgraw reporting an adviser said he plans to hold about two rales a month leading up to the midterm election. trump is lending his support to die-hard supporters. as for those who refuse to back his 2020 election lies, axios reports this, quote, trump's goal, his advisers say is to either make life so miserable for them they quit or end their careers by backing a successful primary challenge. trump's efforts are working. his few remaining opponents in the party are quitting out of exhaustion or choosing to keep their descent to themselves. still with us, victoria defrancesco soto and susan del percio. john katko just became the third republican who voted for impeachment to retire. did he have a choice here? >> not really, because first of all, new york isn't a democratically controlled when it comes to redistricting. his seat was not looking promising for him, especially since new york is, in fact, losing one congressional seat. add to that he was a target for conservatives. new york state has conservative party that was actively challenging him, and a primary was sure to happen. the ironic part is that he's someone who is seen as a centrist. he did better in 2020 in a democratic district than joe biden did by one point. so he is someone who could win a swing district, and yet the republicans will probably put up with conservatives that cannot. >> vickie, i think we all understand what donald trump's re-emergence means for republicans. what does it mean for democrats in 2022? >> well, i think -- let me back up, alicia, and really remark on how incredible the strategy is that donald trump is putting forward. it's one in terms of grassroots, in terms of preparing for the campaign, the midterm campaign, and then with his sights on the 2024 presidential campaign. and at the same time, getting folks in line for governing. a lot of times the folks that run, they're not thinking about what happens once you win an election and you govern. but in this, we see it happening at the same time. so i think that that is a really powerful combination and one that democrats need to take incredibly seriously. serious as a heart attack. and then my theme of narrative. what we see donald trump doing in in the arizona rally he'll be having is hammering the fact of election fraud. dig a little deeper, and there's an underdog, and donald trump, love him or hate him, he's a master at that narrative, and he's going to be able to build that momentum among his base about him being an underdog, about the republican party as brantd trump being an underdog. so i think this is what the democrats have to watch very carefully and figure out how to provide their own counternarrative or at the same time building their own narrative. >> susan, i have to ask, is he preparing for governance or for the appearance of governance? and what impact do you see his return to the trail having on these midterms? >> well, right now his main agenda is a vengeance tour. he's going after people, republicans specifically, who voted to impeach him or who actually believe joe biden is the president of the united states. he only wants to talk about the past, and that's the only problem -- i agree completely with everything vickie just said, and she's right to bring up the combination of the grassroots, the underdog, and that messaging. i just think to add to it, though, the fact that he's only looking backwards in his speeches and talking about 2020 puts republicans -- some republicans in a difficult situation. right now mitch mcconnell and kevin mccarthy want to talk about how bad joe biden is in their opinion and what they can do in 2022. donald trump is preventing them from getting the best candidates to run in swing districts because he only wants those who are true trump believers. so it's a little more difficult now for the establishment republicans who want to win back the majorities. >> i'm going to zou put on your political scientist hat, but i know you never take off, but what does it mean for this party if republicans who would rather distance themselves from trump instead decide, all right, i'm out, i'm done? >> you know, i think that what we've seen in the arc of history is when the pendulum swings too far to one extreme, it starts to come back. i'm not saying we reached that one extreme in terms of the republican party having gone so far to the conservative side, to the trump brand of conservetism, but i think you're starting to see pockets of that. i'm thinking of my former state, texas, where somebody who was such a die-hard trump supporters, attorney general james paxton, is starting to get a lot of challengers. there's still a lot of the republicans, trump-supporting brand, but i see signs of discontent, and i think that that is something when you get too far to an extreme, you start to see snapback. it may not happen in the next cycle or next few cycles, but it is going to happen, and it is a truism of our political history. >> susan, is there a way to remain tethered to reality and run as a republican who's loyal to donald trump? >> no, absolutely not, because you have to buy into trump's reality, which is not real. his authoritative point of view that he did everything, necessary charge, you have to be loyal to him. when we talk about trump conservatism, i almost laugh because i don't know what that is. name one principle or value that donald trump has that's not to him that he has used to govern when he was president. there are none. it's just -- there's no principles. it's just loyalty to him, whatever he may be doing. >> i was going to answer your rhetoric question with loyalty to donald trump. so we were on the same page. victoria defrancesco soto, susan del percio, thank you both. a doctor discusses the omicron and if we're prepared for the next possible variant when "the 11th hour" continues. when "the 11th hour" continues ♪ what a wonderful world ♪ at intra-cellular therapies, we're inspired by 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recently is while we do need medical staffing, there's a lot of other functions within the hospital that need additional staffing, in particular because of the omicron variant and how it's taking other staff within the hospital out. so we've been able to expand our policy in order to make sure we're providing whatever type of resources are available to keep those hospitals functioning. so an incredible step forward to make sure they can keep moving. >> fema administrator announcing more resources and personnel for states in crisis today as the omicron variant continues crowding hospitals. "the new york times" reports the data showed that in 18 states and washington, d.c., at least 85% of beds in adult intensive care units were full, with the most in missouri, rhode island, and texas. we welcome back dr. nahid pedal i can't founding director of boston university's center for emerging infectious diseases. even as more resources are being sent, how worried are you about the next few weeks? >> i think what we're seeing is in some states you're reaching the peak and the modeling in most cases says by the end of january, a lot of states are not yet at the peak. and what happens is you get the cases that peak and then you see hospitalizations and then deaths. so we're still under a crunch potentially of hospitalizations stressing out hospitals. as you just mentioned with the fema administrator, this is a different kind of wave compared to what we've seen before, alicia. an outbreak response, we look at staff, sops and space. earlier we had issues with getting stock. we had sops in how we take care of these patients. in this wave, the big part is staff because there's so much transmission. so everybody who's working in hospitals is also living in communities. so they're getting sick. even if their illness isn't severe, it's keeping them from working within the health care system, which is overwhelming the system we're seeing currently. >> the other big news today, the cdc updated its mask guidance to reflect the need for more protection from omicron. i think a lot of our viewers have heard all of our doctors speaking for months about the need for better masks. why did they wait until now to do this? >> alicia, they are behind the public on this one. i think a lot of people have sort of -- many experts, including myself v talked about the importance particularly within indoor crowded spaces, so much greater protection than n95s or kn95s can present because they're a better blockage over a longer pert of time if you're around people. the reason there's always been this hesitation is will people use these masks in a way that would offer them the greatest amount of protection? it's interesting as they terminal guidance where they clearly say look, cloth masks provide some protection but the highest is n95s and kn95s. a lot of it is will you keep the mask on. it only gives you that protection if you can keep it on. now we do have a lot of options on the market. there are many different fits, and i urge people to check out project n95.org that does provide a huge range of these validated, certified n95s and kn95s. the other thing i want to throw out there is you want to make sure the masks have good seals so that there's no air going out from around them and they don't have insulation valves where so on you're not breathing on others. i think that delay has to go hand in hand with education, but i welcome this guidance. >> education, as and you have often talked about, who has access to those masks, who can afford the masks. i want to ask you about something dr. fauci said on the subject of possible your life vaccines this week. take a listen. >> a lot of work as i mentioned in my opening statement about looking at using the tools of fundamental basic and applied science to develop next generation of vaccines, particularly your life coronavirus vaccines, or at least your life sars-cov-2 vaccines, so we won't be chasing after the next variant. >> how likely is such a your life vaccine? >> i think that a huge part of this has always been funding. let me walk people through what we're talking about. one of the reasons we're so dependent on these vaccines with the change in variants and changing the vaccines is that our current vaccines are aimed against the part of the virus that evolves the most, the spike protein, which is also the business end of the virus. that's also the part that actually goes through the most evolution and mutates the most. and so variant comes along and what you see is exactly what moderna and pfizer are doing, which is working on a vaccine that's got to be coming out in march that's variant specific. in the future, there's a conversation that, you know, at the least you might have multivariant vaccines where you might put a bunch of different variants, but the holy grail here, alicia, just so we're not chasing our tail with the variants are two other types of vaccines, ones that look at the part of the virus that are not part of this highly mutated part of the virus, but another part that still blocks the virus function. that's something that looks at the entire sars-cov-2 blocks. there are promising data from walter reed, but there might be such a vaccine, and the biggest part of this is we could develop a vaccine that just attacks every single virus of this family of pandemic viruses and organizations such as the coalition for the prepared of vaccination already funded this. we may see some great progress in the next year. >> all right. doctor, as always, thank you. coming up, what you need to know about the major winter storm sweeping across the country when "the 11th hour" continues. try when "the 11th ho" try when "the 11th ho" continues.rd. so you can enjoy more of...this. this is the planning effect. so you can enjoy more of...this. ♪ ♪ ♪ hey google. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ amazing. jerry, you gotta to see this. seen it. trust me, after 15 walks... gets a little old. ugh how not to be a hero: because that's the last thing they need you to be. you don't have to save the day. you just have to navigate the world so that a foster child isn't doing it solo. you just have to stand up for a kid who isn't fluent in bureaucracy, or maybe not in their own emotions. so show up, however you can, for the foster kids who need it most— at helpfosterchildren.com as we mentioned, a major winter storm hitting the upper midwest tonight. it's sets to impact much of the east coast over the weekend. from georgia to maine, millions could be impacted by snow, ice, and rain in the coming days. nbc news correspondent dasha burns has a report. >> reporter: tonight, the monster winter storm already hitting north dakota. drives battling near white-out conditions. in minnesota, cars skidding off icy roads. the cedar river now frozen over. 64 million americans now under win the weather alerts. up to 10 inches of snow across the plains and sections of the midwest. in new england, wind chills could plummet to a frigid minus 40. >> heavy snow tonight moves south through iowa into missouri. not a lot of snow saturday morning, but watch out saturday afternoon, especially through areas like memphis, tennessee, and then on sunday a big huge snow snowstorm moves into west virginia and the appalachia, ice storm for the carolinas. monday morning, watch out, southern new england. high gusty winds would knock out power and a coastal flood threat for new york city. >> reporter: handling ice buildup on power lines with fears of worker shortages because of covid. >> we're doing we can humanly do possible based on our limited resources of trucks in a after last week's nightmare in virginia on i-95, the governor today declaring a state of emergency. crews pre-treating the interstate for ice. expect travel delays this weekend as airlines face worker shortages due to covid in addition to these storms. some airlines already waiving change fees. >> thanks to dasha burns for that report. coming up, we are back with more of "the 11th hour" after a quick break. of "the 11th hour" quick break. at fidelity, your dedicated advisor will work with you on a comprehensive wealth plan across your full financial picture. a plan with tax-smart investing strategies designed to help you keep more of what you earn. this is the planning effect. thanks to realtor.com's home alerts we were able to see the newest homes on the market, super fast. so we could finally buy our first "big boi house." big boi house. big boi kitchen! big boi waterfall shower! big boi crawl space. big boi sold sign, big boi logo. realtor.com to each their home. meet ron. that man is always on. and he's on it with jardiance for type 2 diabetes. his underhand sky serve? on fire. his grilling game? on point. and his a1c? ron is on it. with the once-daily pill, jardiance. jardiance not only lowers a1c... it goes beyond to reduce the risk of cardiovascular death for adults with type 2 diabetes and known heart disease. and jardiance may help you lose some weight. jardiance may cause serious side effects, including ketoacidosis that may be fatal, dehydration that can lead to sudden worsening of kidney function, and genital yeast or urinary tract infections. a rare life-threatening bacterial infection in the skin of the perineum could occur. stop taking jardiance and call your doctor right away if you have symptoms of this infection, ketoacidosis, or an allergic reaction, and don't take it if you're on dialysis. taking jardiance with a sulfonylurea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. a once-daily pill that goes beyond lowering a1c? on it with jardiance. ask your doctor about jardiance. for people living with h-i-v, keep being you. and ask your doctor about biktarvy. biktarvy is a complete, one-pill, once-a-day treatment used for h-i-v in certain adults. it's not a cure, but with one small pill, biktarvy fights h-i-v to help you get to and stay undetectable. that's when the amount of virus is so low it cannot be measured by a lab test. research shows people who take h-i-v treatment every day and get to and stay undetectable can no longer transmit h-i-v through sex. serious side effects can occur, including kidney problems and kidney failure. rare, life-threatening side effects include a buildup of lactic acid and liver problems. do not take biktarvy if you take dofetilide or rifampin. tell your doctor about all the medicines and supplements you take, if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, or if you have kidney or liver problems, including hepatitis. if you have hepatitis b, do not stop taking biktarvy without talking to your doctor. common side effects were diarrhea, nausea, and headache. if you're living with hiv, keep loving who you are. and ask your doctor if biktarvy is right for you. you don't get much time for yourself. iso when you do, make it count kwith crest pro-health.. it protects the 8 areas dentists check for a healthier mouth. the #1 toothpaste brand in america. crest. . that is our broadcast for this friday night. with our thanks for being with us, you can catch me tomorrow and every saturday and sunday on "american voices" where we'll be focusing on the push for vogue rights with congressman mondaire joins of new york. "american voices" gets underway 6:00 a.m. eastern here on msnbc. on behalf of all of my colleagues at the networks of nbc news, good night. of nbc news, good night rachel has the night off, but we do have a really big showed a night. capping off would has been a really extraordinary night of news today in the united states. the last few days may be a part of our history in the last few days, as the thing we look back on. it's coming closer into focus. it was orchestrated by many republicans to overturn the results of the 2020 election and the our democracy. we're gonna get to everything that happened this week in a second. first, i want to rewind a bit furt