cdc, and she s been pressed after the decision to relax isolation guidelines just as covid cases hit record numbers. the question is did she provide assurance that the agency can, in fact, be trusted? and fully vaccinated. it s currently defined as two doses of either pfizer or moderna vaccines or one dose of the j&j. the question, is it now time to redefine that term? and ghislaine maxwell, convicted of sex trafficking for her role in recruiting teenage girls for jeffrey epstein. the question this morning, is the case closed? it s way too early for this. good morning and welcome to way too early, the show that is really ready to close out 2021. i m jonathan lemire on this thursday, december 30th, the penultimate day of the year. we ll start with the news. ghislaine maxwell will likely spend the rest of her life behind bars after she was found guilty of five sex trafficking charges. nbc news correspondent ron allen has all the details. reporter: after six days
reporting on the cdc s decisions to relax guidelines as cases hit record numbers. plus, we ll have the renewed questions of what constitutes being fully vaccinated. good morning, welcome to morning joe, it s thursday, december 30th, i am willie geist, with us the host of way too early, jonathan lemire and susan docille. good morning, guys. first, the verdict of the trial of jeffery epstein s long time associate, ghislaine maxwell found guilty yesterday. reporter: the jury found maxwell guilty including five charges and sex trafficking of minors and carries 40 years behind bars. today justice has been done. reporter: prosecutors called two dozen witnesses. four women who say they were recruited and groomed and lured by maxwell when they were teenagers so they can be sexually abused by epstein. epstein was able to sexual abuse young girls because maxwell was the key to the whole operation. jurors were reminded that she lived with him for years and referred to the lady
tonight, the house of representatives is entering week three without a speaker. eight candidates are now vying for the job, after one dropped out in the last hour. and right now, as we speak, republicans are meeting behind closed doors to figure out some kind of a path forward before an internal vote tomorrow. gotta hold your breath. after all the reports of screaming and cursing, some physical altercations in previous meetings, you can t really imagine what s going on in that room right now. we re gonna talk to some people who do know in just a moment. but if you are wondering out there why this matters and why we are still talking about this circus, well, the thing is, nothing can happen in congress. no new money for israel, no new money for humanitarian efforts in gaza, nothing without a speaker. now is the time when we really actually need government to function. and you will never guess who is involved in all of this dysfunction behind the scenes, or maybe you wi
Early with us on thursday morning. this is our final show of the year. i want to offer sincere thanks everyone who works on it. we could not do it without them and of course thanks all of you for watching each and every morning. we can t wait to take on 2022 with you. that s all for us, morning joe starts right now. we ll see you monday. as you noel, the cdc has been criticized for mix messaging throughout the course of the pandemic whether on masks or boosters. why should americans trust the cdc? my job right now is to take all the science and the information that we have and to deliver guidance and recommendations to the american people that s adapted to the science at hand. this pandemic has given us a lot of new and updated science over the last two years and it s my job to convey that science through those recommendations and that s exactly we are doing. this morning we have new
Dictated by what s going on in florida right now. and mitch mcconnell has decided and made clear that he believes rick scott will be elected. eventually will be the next senator and as such sure participating. look, as you noel, anything can happen over the course of the next couple of days as this recount goes through. republicans do feel confident that rick scott will be the next senator. i also think there is a posture here that the majority leader wants to send across and that probably rick scott s campaign that he is the elected senator in their view and therefore he is going to take part in all of the activities that any newly elected senator would. right now that s the posture they have and that s where the leader certainly stands right now. phil mattingly on the hill, thanks very much sglrchlts still ahead, as president trump contemplating shaking up several senior positions in his administration, a report is giving new insight into his mood