actions today focused on policing, police reforms and racial equity. we'll have more in a moment. but let's start with the impeachment trial. for that let's get over to manu raju. you're learning new details about what this trial is going to or could look like. what could you tell us? >> reporter: we don't expect it to go as long as the last trial, 21 days but we do expect it to take time as democrats and the impeachment managers in the house lay out their kay. one of the things they plan on doing is presenting video evidence of what occurred on january 6th. the president's remarks, what was said that the crowd interpreted and how they reacted afterwards. there is going to be an extensive video collection of evidence to show what they saw, what a lot of people saw and that led to the deadly riot here on capitol hill that day. of course, all trying to prove the case that donald trump inciting an insurrection in that deadly riot that day. the question, too, is whether or not the democrats plan to bring forward witnesses. there is still an ongoing discussion about whether they could bring in witnesses, potentially people who could shine the light into donald trump's thinking at the time he made remarks to the crowd and as he, for weeks, tried to subvert the will of voters but overturning joe biden's victory. so there is outstanding questions about. that the trump legal team planning to present this. and we have a sense on how the senators plan to view this proceedings. on one side democrats, most of them, are on the side of they believe donald trump should be convicted and barred from ever holding office again. but increasingly republicans are arguing that this is an unconstitutional proceeding, to go after a former president. of course, it is unprecedented to do that. but there is a debate over the constitutionality which is le a central argument in this case and in sign of where senate republicans are going, they are having lunch with someone over the constitutionality of these proceedings so it is unlikely to get to the 17 republicans who have to break ranks to convict donald trump, kate. >> after days of gridlock, mitch mcconnell, he relented and he's now -- he and schumer have reached a power sharing agreement. but what exactly happened, though? >> reporter: you know, each side is saying a little bit different. democrats say nothing. this is a status quo arrangement in there are no changes to the rules in giving the power of the minority to filibuster any senate legislation that requires 60 votes to overcome. some democrats wanted to lower that to 51 votes and mitch mcconnell wants assurances from the democratic leaders that they would not touch the filibuster. chuck schumer said he would not give those assurances but two democratic senators who have long aposed trying to gut it, have said in recent days they would -- they restated opposition to the filibuster and that is enough for mitch mcconnell to say let's move forward. the reality was that they were in a position to come to some sort of agreement because otherwise the senate with not be able to function and the committee to not organize or move on nominations and at the end both sides decided it is time to move forward. >> not a moment too soon. thank you. just a moment ago, i mentioned donald trump is scrambling to put together his team. jeff zeleny is joining me now with details on that. is the former president struggling to find counsel? >> he's asking a lot of lawyers and many of them are coming through the correction of senator lindsey graham, republican of south carolina. so all eyes are on columbia, south carolina, looking for lawyers. there is a scrabbling underway just two weeks before this impeachment trial begins. the president has secured butch bowers a well respected lawyer in south carolina. he's a former bush administration department of justice civil division lawyer. he's represented every republican governor in south carolina in recent years. if you're a republican office holder in south carolina, you get into some trouble, you call butch bowers. so that is what is happening here. and lindsey graham connected him to the former president. but he's also looking for other lawyers. we're hearing there are some other people who are on cusp of signing on but there are questions over payment. the former president has a long history and record of not paying his bills. and anything from lawyers to contractors to others. so there are some people from big firms who are saying, no thank you. we are not going to sign on this because there are some worries about all controversy that comes with it and paying the bill. so by the end of the week there will be more of a defense team in place but there is still a help wanted sign being hung out by the former president. >> and president biden is weighing in on impeachment for the first time speaking to cnn. what did he say. >> reporter: he said, look, we've always known he's not had the appetite for impeachment, but my colleague kaitlan collins ran into the president last evening in the west wing of the white house and he said this, i think it has to happen. let's unpack those six words. i think it has to happen, impeachment trial because the senate democrats and house democrats, of course, could not move on with their business without this impeachment trial actually happening. so he does think it has to go through with this. he thinks there should be consequences for the president but at the same time he does not believe he'll be convicted. he said for the first time that he does not believe that there is 17 republicans who will join on to convict the former president. that does not mean what is going to happen in the proceedings is not going to be damaging, perhaps, to the former president. but even joe biden does not believe there will be a conviction here. they want to move on from this as quickly as possible to get on with their agenda, kate. >> thank you very much. joining me now is one of the senators who is about to be sworn in as a juror in the impeachment trial. democratic senator tina smith. thank you for coming in. >> thanks, kate. >> they were just reporting and saying that president biden telling our colleague kaitlan collins that he thinks that when it comes to the impeachment trial, that this has to happen but he also said that and acknowledged that he didn't think 17 republicans will vote to convict donald trump. do you agree with him? do you think this is a foregone conclusion? >> well, i don't think anything is a foregone conclusion. but i do agree with him that this has to happen. it is our responsibility. the whole world saw what happened with this attack on our capitol on january 6th. and for that to happen, to be incited by the president of the united states, and for there to be no consequences, i think that goes against the core principles of our democracy. now what my republican colleagues decide to be remains to be seen. ly admit it is an uphill climb to get 17 of them to agree to convict the president of these impeachable offenses. but, you know, sometimes i wonder, aren't they looking at this and going, why can't we just -- just make a clear statement that what he did is wrong, we will not stand by it. he committed high crimes and misdemeanors and maybe it would help them to move on and get the unity that i think we actually need in our country. >> let me read for you something that trump's former national security adviser john bolton, now quite critical of donald trump said about the trial. i'm curious as your take. he said there is to doubt the senate trial will provide more oxygen to trump to garner attention. attention is what trump lives for. if his foes want to punish him and inflict the most terrible fate possible, they would simply ignore him. do you see that, senator? >> you know, i'm 63 years old, almost, a grandmother and i have never seen if you ignore your problems they go away. and that is clearly not the case for donald trump. how many times have we heard that is just words and that is just what he said or does. and look at what happened. we a violent attack on our capitol and insurrection happened because he incited it. you can't just ignore him and hope he'll go away. >> you said that you will vote to convict when the trial plays out. do you want to hear from witnesses? do you think it is necessary? >> well, you know i'm hoping to hearing from witnesses. when i voted to convict the president a year ago, almost exactly, i felt that it was important that we hear witnesses. this is a different situation. so i think we need to see how this plays out. as i said a minute ago, the whole world saw what happened and watched the president's speech on the ellipse and we've been listening to his telling this big lie that the election was stolen from him and stolen from his supporters and we've seen the results of that. so it is a different situation. think we've seen a lot more but i think we have to see how the trial unfolds. >> and you, yourself, and other members of congress are witnesses to the violence that played out and witnessed the president's remarks during it and afterwards. how long do you think this trial is going to be? >> it is hard to say. i agreed with what we heard earlier. i don't think it needs to take 20 days but it is important that each side has an opportunity to present their case and their president -- the former president also certainly has that right to present his case. so i hope that it doesn't drag out for a long time but it is important that americans see this as being a fair trial. and you know, mean while, we have so much work to do for americans. we need to get the vaccination program up and running and help the 10 million americans that are out of work. we need to help kids get back in school. so i think that we have a full plate of work in the senate. >> you absolutely do. but on that front, on the covid relief package, republicans are really largely bulking at the scope and price of the package as the biden team has proposed and been asking for. what would you like to see here? would you support a smaller more targeted bill in order to get republican support, senator? >> i believe that we are not going to look back on this moment a year from now, five years from, and say oh, we did too much. we try too hard. we helped too much. we are in a public health and an economic crisis, the likes of which we have never seen all at once in our country. and the need for strong action is so clear to me. and that -- >> that is really interesting. because when you think about looking back, will you look back and will it matter if it was a bipartisan bill that was approved or if it was approved just by democrats? >> well, i think if we do the right thing and then do a big bold, ambitious plan, that everybody will want to be part of that. and they won't remember so much whether it was bipartisan, they will remember whether we helped people and that is what is on my mind right now. >> thank you for your time. thanks for coming on. >> thanks so much, kate. so president biden once again is turning to executive action to fulfill a campaign promises today, new orders that will tackle racial inequality and police reform. the details ahead. and a deadly tornado rips through alabama. we'll have an update on the damage, next. spend less, get way more. shop everything home at wayfair today. president biden taking on an issue that became central to the 2020 election and to his campaign. racial inequality he will soon be signing a new set of executive actions focusing on police and prison reforms and more. jeremy diamond is tracking this and joining us now. what is the president pushing for here? >> reporter: well 2020 wasn't just dominated by the coronavirus pandemic but also by the police shootings of several unarmed black men and the ensuing reckoning on racism that followed with a groundswell of protests across the country. the last president didn't address the issues of racism and police brutality at all during his time in office but president biden is coming in and trying to start this conversation and trying to implement several reforms. we're going to see him take several actions today, executive actions, to address this issue of racial equity in the united states. he's going to start with creating a police commission to review the practices of police departments across the country and promote best practices. and also going to reinstate this obama era provision prohibiting the transfer of military equipment to police departments and also takes steps to improve prin prison conditions and eliminate the use of private prisons here in the united states. in one executive action, disavow discrimination against asian-american and pacific islanders here in the wake of this pandemic. so these are some of the steps that we're going to see president biden take today. of course many of these are modest steps or process steps that will kind of seek to start the process of more change down the line. but it is the beginning of his focus on this issue, which as you said, was central to his message during the 2020 campaign. >> and jeremy, we're just learning there is new reporting on new climate actions that the president's set to be announcing. >> reporter: that is right. when president biden came into office on the first day he signed a 60-day moratorium on new oil and gas leases on federal land. he's going to expand that moratorium indefinitely tomorrow. tomorrow we'll see him focus on climate crisis in the united states and that is what we'll see as this moratorium on oil and gas leases on federal land and waters, this will not impact existing leases but it will impact those going forward and create any review process to address that. >> jeremy, thank you for tracking that for us. we are also following the aftermath of some really terrible weather across the country today. at least one person is dead, more that two dozen injured after a powerful tornado ripped through alabama. look at these pictures from this morning. rescue crews are still conducting search and rescue operation this is morning. the powerful tornado ripped through the birmingham area, late last night and caused damage and knocked out power to thousands of homes and businesses. can't even tell what was standing in the place of that rubble when you look at these images this morning. the territornado has more than million people under a winter weather alert this morning. so unfortunately it seems much more to come with that. coming up still for us. president biden is now said that he hopes the country will soon be able to vaccinate one and a half million people a day. is the bar set high enough. we'll be right bag. t you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ want to save hundreds on your wireless bill? with xfinity mobile you can. how about saving hundreds on the new 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variant or the vaccine. joining me now is dr. richard besser former acting director of the cdc, it is good to see you again. on the variants, we've heard so much about these variants but it still does feel like there is still so much unknown. how worries are you about this? >> well, kate, one thing that we know about viruses is it a they continually mutate. what is concerning here is the rate of mutation in how it seems in some countries new strains of the virus have been able to take hold, that spread easier, that may be more severe, that is very concerning and it puts a lot of pressure on us to try and do everything that we can do to get the rate of transmission down, to flatten the curve, that phrase that we talked about, but the biggest part is trying to come together as a nation and see could we get those people would aren't wearing masks to dodo so, if we could do those things we could blunt the impact of the pandemic this winter until there is a time when everybody could be vaccinated. >> an what do you think of the goals and targets coming from the biden administration. first it was 100 million shots in the first 100 days and now the president is saying that he believes they hopes to get to 1.5 million shots per day. and this is after just facing the reality that they hit that target even if nothing would improve. do you think they're setting the targets too low? >> i think that we're having the wrong conversation. one of the biggest challenges is the amount of vaccine that is being manufactured. and what i want to know, isn't the total number of people being vaccinated but are the right people being vaccinated. when we think about this pandemic, it is not hitting everyone the same. we know that people in long-term care facilities are at one of the highest risk for dying from this. but we also know that black americans, latino americans, native americans, people would are essential workers are at the greatest risk of exposure and have hospitalization and death rates that far surpass the proportion of the population. i want to know how states are doing there and if there is such pressure on number, how many people do you have, what is your through-put, you're seeing people with connection and with privilege getting vaccinate add head of those who were keeping our society going. i'm looking forward to getting vaccinated when my turn comes but i don't want to get ahead of someone working in my supermarket or working in a poultry processing plant or someone driving a bus. they need to get vaccinated first and it is hard to do that. and the pressure on numbers may make some states move away from the importance of reaching those people at the greatest risk in favor of getting as many arms vaccinated as possible. >> that is very interesting, dr. besser, i must say. because you've heard dr. rochelle wallenski said that one of the things they're up against getting into office is that they don't know how many vaccines are out there. if she didn't know that, she can't tell governors how many to expect and you see the trickle down from there. how long do you think from your experience, although this is unusual, how long should it take for them to get their arms around this? more than a week? >> well, it depends how much transparency there is from the various companies. are the companies being honest in terms of how much is being produced and how much will come to the u.s. supply, versus contracts to other countries. i'll be eagerly awaiting the news from johnson & johnson in terms of their studies because adding another vaccine if it is safe and effective and approved by the fda, will do something to increase that supply. but we need to ensure that we're aligning people's expectations that it is not just getting the systems right in each state, we definitely need to do that. we need to do outreach to community clinics and mobile vaccination and reaching people where they are but we have to set expectations right that there is a limited vaccine supply so it will be many, many months, even if we up the rate, it means we'll go through the existing supply faster. if it is not coming from the companies, we'll not have the vaccine and people will again be disappointed. >> that is what -- i'm quite curious, where do the if you have questions need to go right now, for the companies to be more transparent and clear about how much they are putting out? is it through the logistic pipeline of how they're coming from the federal government with the logistics manager perna, where do the tough questions go because it shouldn't be unknown i feel like. >> i think all of those are important pieces when it comes to the vaccine side. i think there needs to be a push on how we get people to rally around wearing masks. the toughs have to go to any govern who is not mandating masks in their states, it has to go to elected officials who continue to pushback against requirements around wearing masks because it is wearing masks that is going to save live this is wirn. it is not the vaccine. the vaccine will save some lives but the biggest effort is if we could get this downward trend we're currently seeing to continue. as the mute ants spread and they will, the u.k. variant might become a dom nantz strain here by march, as they spread, our b behavior will be amplified. they look for the lapses in behavior and that gives them an end for transmission and we can't allow that to happen. >> as always, thank you so much. >> thank you, kate. coming up for us, she is accused of directing riots during the capitol insurrection and now they are worried she might be destroyed evidence. details next. ♪ ♪ these days you need more than an education. so that's what we give you. introducing career services for life. learn more at phoenix.edu - [announcer] we're thrive cosmetics, we create high performance, cruelty free, 100% vegan formulas and we love that you love our products. like our award winning liquid lash extensions mascara. plus, with every product you purchase we donate to help a woman thrive. join our movement today at thrivecosmetics.com. it is been almost three weeks since the deadly riot and insurrection on the capitol. almost 150 people are now facing federal charges. and that is just so far. today we are learning much more about some of the them as several new charges were just filed. among the most recent arrests, one man who has taken the stage at trump rallies in the past. and a if you concern by federal investigators that another suspect could be destroying evidence. cnn's jessica schneider is tracking this and joining me now. walk us through what you're learning. >> reporter: a lot of these arrests are exposing the deep ideology of these rioters. founder of a republican group called walk away, he's being charged now for his role in the capitol riot. his name is brandon strika and he founded this group which encouraged liberals to abandon believes and he spoke at a stop the steal rally one day before the capitol insurrection, january 5th. so he's now charged with entering the capitol, remaining in a restricted area and disorderly conduct and recorded video where he is heart directing people and telling his fellow rioters to take the shield away from a capitol police officer and after the riot, investigators say he posted this on twitter. he wrote, for six to eight weeks everybody on the right has been saying 1776 and that if congress moves forward it will mean a revolution. so congress moves forward, patriots storm the capitol and now everybody is virtually signaling their embarrassment that this happened. and this speaks to how many of the riots believe they were following orders when they stormed the capitol, including the latest arrest. and the latest on the riley williams, the 22-year-old accused of helping to steal a laptop from nancy pelosi office and now she might have deleted online messages. this concern came in a court hearing yesterday and it was discussed that she might actually be facing pressure from others to delete messages and maybe even ordering people to delete messages. so she's in court today. and we've also got this video from her inside of the capitol, she's directing people. definitely a key figure in this attack on the capitol on january 6th. so, you know, all of these cases, they're moving forward. and, kate, we're looking at possibly bigger arrests. more charges that carry steeper penalties for a lot of people that planned these attacks. in the meantime, just a lot of court appearances right now and we're getting more details. >> thank you for tracking it. so if we also take a step back, the broader fallout from the capitol attack is playing out all over the country. the cracks and fissures growing in the relief package are now starting to be really [ technical difficulties ] . the group is not only standing firmly with donald trump, it passed a resolution, a statement of support for a complete and utter lie. trying to claim that the attack on the capitol was a false flag operation, an attempt to discredit president trump and all of his supporters. the republican party of oregon now said. and michael is joining me. this is state party of oregon who is not only whispering this despicable conspiracy theory, they are shouting it. what is going on here. >> that is right. on top of the oregon republican party, this is a culminate of four years by efforts of pro-trump maga movement folks within the republican party to dominate the state and local parties. the oregon republican party is an extreme example of what has been happening across the country. and we saw this just in the last weekend in the arizona republican party efforts to censure three prominent republicans, including the sitting republican governor of the state of arizona for not being pro-trump enough. this is really what is happening, the front lines of an internal republican civil war, it is happening in the state and local parties, it is a big sort of activist grassroots movement. what is different about this than other past grassroots movements as it has as the standard bearer, the leader of the party, the former president, donald trump, who has accelerated this kind of thinking throughout the party. that is something that is different, past leaders and other leaders within the party try to keep the activists at arms length. it is not happened this time around and this is a legacy of the president -- of the former president as we move forward. >> that is a great point. good reporting. good to see you, thank you. coming up for us, new york city was planning to open three mass vaccination sites this week. now that is postponed because the city doesn't have enough vaccines. how long will the city have to wait to get more? when you shop with wayfair, you spend less and get way more. so you can bring your vision to life. for small prices, you can build big dreams. spend less, get way more. shop everything home at wayfair 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policy qualifies. or call the number on your screen. coventry direct, redefining insurance. new york city is quite frankly struggling. already running out of covid vaccines. the shortage has forced the mayor to postpone opening the mass vaccination sites they had set to open at places like cityfield. so what is happening here. what is going so wrong. joining know now is the chair of the council health committee mark levine, it is good to see you again. thanks for coming on. >> thank you, kate. >> so it all comes down to supply. you would open them if you had the shots. he wouldn't be canceling appointments if you had the shots. have you gotten a good answer as to why you're not getting the supply. >> the situation is just dire. the stock of first doses in new york city this morning is at about 7,000. in a city of 8.5 million people and that is why tens of thousands of appointments have been canceled. the health system is closed toepd and will be tomorrow. we need more supply. it has to come regularly in a reliable fashion or we will not get to herd immunity in 2021. >> 7,000 shots is ridiculous when you think about how many people live in the city. have you gotten a good answer, is the mayor getting a good answer on where the supply is, if you're going to be getting more? >> well, the biden administration is indicating an interest in accelerating production. we need them to use the defense production act to shooj out the supply problems. and new york city doesn't get it fair share because we don't get compensated for the tens of thousands that we vaccinate and drive here from other parts of the state and region. so the biden administration could fix that. and we need more flexibility and when we use doses and how. we have over 200,000 second doses that are stored today in new york city. some of which won't be used for weeks. we could use some of them now to avoid canceling appointments. so there is a lot the biden administration could do to ease the problems here and we are desperate for action. >> what are you hearing from constituents, how hard it has been to get an appointment even when there is shots available? what are folks up against? >> getting a vaccine appointment in new york city has been like the hunger games. it is a brutal competition for a small number of slots and also a very complicated to navigate scheduling system. you have to have tech savvy hours of time and -- >> that is got to get fixed. >> it has to. it has to get fixed. >> who is the person -- who is the person that needs to be held to account on that? >> the city of new york can fix this. it has to fix this. there is an equity impact, kate. because people who are vulnerable, seniors, people who don't speak english, they have the hardest time navigating the system. we need something like a travel website where you have one place to go where a smooth interface where all of the different booking systems are united. we don't have that in new york right now. it is extremely factured and difficult to navigate. the shortage blows that all up and makes it worse so i don't want to take our eye off of that but there is no doubt there has to be easier access for people of all backgrounds. we're pushing to get demographic data on who is vaccinated in new york city, we suspect it will show people of color are underrepresented. that is unacceptable and part of the >> the mayor said just this morning that in his mind, there is no doubt that new york city public schools are going to be reopening full-time in person come september. do you agree with that? do you have any doubts that that's going to happen? >> i think it's too soon to answer that question. we have uncertainty about the pace of vaccination. as i mentioned, at a current pace, we won't hit herd immunity until sometime in 2022. secondly, the confirmation of new variants in the city. the u.k. variant has already been confirmed in the city, and this is, unfortunately, a very connected city. we have to assume that the brazilian and south african variants are here. that throws a wild card that we just don't know how that's going to play out. so i think we need to monitor this virus closely. it's really a routine vaccination in the variants right now. we have to make sure the vaccination wins. >> it's good to see you, mark. thank you. >> thank you, kate. coming up for us, record number of unemployment. the entire industry is in freefall. what joe biden has inherited and a few million families who are desperate for help right now. that's how you do it right. usaa insurance is made just the way martin's family needs it with hassle-free claims, he got paid before his neighbor even got started. because doing right by our members, that's what's right. usaa. what you're made of, we're made for. ♪ usaa ♪ it was 1961 when nellie young lost her devoted husband. without him, things were tough. her last option was to sell her home, but... her home meant everything to her. her husband had been a 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stories. >> reporter: michelle bennett and her children are leaving in fear. their landlord is trying to evict them after she lost her job and can't pay rent. >> i don't really have anywhere to go without me having the income to pay during a pandemic. because i don't want to be homeless. >> reporter: the eviction crisis is just one of the economic disasters facing the biden administration, including historic job loss and a growing hunger crisis. last week president biden signed an executive order extending a ban on evictions through march. but that doesn't help bennett, whose lawyer said her landlord is using a loophole that's becoming more common during the pandemic. biden's $1.9 trillion stimulus plan proposes about 30 billion in additional rental assistance. for months bennett tried applying so she can stay in her home, with no luck. >> when you call, it's like no money, or call back next month. maybe there will be money then, you know. and then you call back the next month. it's still, oh, we're out of money. >> reporter: gabby riley is also out of a job. weekly unemployment claims are back hovering around a million. and last month the economy shed jobs tore the first time since april. every single one of those 140,000 jobs lost was held by a woman. riley is one of them. >> it's maddening, it's frustrating, it's defeating. >> reporter: riley worked in sales at the loews hotel in minneapolis. leisure and hospitality lost more jobs than any other u.s. industry last year. riley, a single mom, is worried her career is over. >> we have a long way to go yet before our economic society is really feeling and appreciating what females have to contribute to society. >> reporter: as covid-19 cases continue to rise, food banks across the country are running out of critical government funding. the campaign against hunger in brooklyn, new york says their money is nearly gone. >> it's frightening. i don't know what i'm going to do because i still have food to buy. >> reporter: president biden signed an executive order to address hunger, directing the department of agriculture to give families more money to replace school lunches and increase food stamps for about 12 million americans. but some on the brink will still fall through the cracks, and food banks need federal funding to feed them. >> i need assurance from all our policymakers that, listen, you started, we need to finish this thing. we started helping families, we can't leave them in thin air. >> reporter: another element to economic recovery is addressing the economic racial inequities that existed before the pandemic but have only been made worse by it. so many minority small business owners have lost their businesses, minorities are seeing higher rates of unemployment, more so than white americans, and we know, kate, that the biden administration has dedicated their attention to race and the economy, but it's really about targeting both those things together in order to try to close this gap. kate? >> thanks so much, vanessa. really appreciate it. thanks so much for joining us. i'm kate baldwin. john king picks up our coverage right now. hello, everybody. top of the hour. welcome to "inside politics." i'm john king in washington. thanks so much for sharing a busy day for us. we have a packed hour ahead. president biden's pick gets his vote. racial equality is the big biden them today. the new executive actions target police conduct, improving prison

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