press. the possibility of u.s. troops in eastern europe, new orders from the u.s. state department, and a warning that russia may be trying to install a puppet government in ukraine. several fast-moving developments today as concerns over a possible invasion ramp up. the question is, what are president biden's options? plus, new information on some of the documents that donald trump tried to keep hidden from the january 6th committee. the question is, how close did the former president come to seizing voting machines after losing the 2020 election? and perhaps the nfl's best weekend ever.

the bills and chiefs thriller that became an instant classic that was decided in part by a coin flip. the question many fans are asking this morning, is it time to change the league's overtime rules? it's way too early for this. good morning. and welcome to "way too early" the show that always calls heads. i'mon -- on this monday, january 24th, we start with the news. as tensions escalate between russia and ukraine, the u.s. state department is ordering all family members and staff of kiev to leave the area now, and citing quote, increased threat of russian military action. the state department says the security commissions, particularly along ukraine's borders are unpredictable and can deteriorate with little notice. it's also urging u.s. citizens and ukraine to leave, and asking

not to travel to russia as fears increase as moscow may invade ukraine again. president biden is considering deploying several thousand u.s. troops and war ships to nato allies in the baltics and eastern europe. biden met with the top national security advisers at camp david over the weekend and officials say he is likely to make a decision this week. on saturday, moscow was accused of trying to install a pro russian leader in ukraine and russian rejected the claim, saying the disinformation spread by the british foreign office is more evidence that it is the nato countries, led by the anglo-saxons that are escalating tensions. i will be joined by the president of the council of foreign relations richard haas. . meanwhile "politico" has obtained some of the records that former president donald

trump tried to shield from the committee investigating january 6th, including a draft order dated december 16th, 2020, 245 -- that would have directed the united states military to seize voting machine, citing election fraud in georgia and michigan and quote international and foreign interference. the order would have appointed a special counsel to oversee the operation and would have given the secretary of defense 60 days to write up an assessment. as "politico" notes, this suggests trump would have used his big lie to stay in power until at least mid february. the january 6th select in the received more than 700 pages of trump white house documents from the national archives two days after the supreme court denied the former president's request to withhold them. the documents include trump's activity logs, logs of phone calls, handwritten notes from top aides including former chief of staff mark meadow, a

handwritten list of potential or scheduled briefings, and telephone calls concerning election issues. also, records from then press ses kayly mcenany. and records from former deputy adviser. and chairman bennie tofrmgson said last week, the documents would be released to the public but did not say which documents. and attorney general bill barr, about a draft executive order from then president trump to seize voting machines. the committee member later told msnbc the talks with barr had been ongoing for a while. take a listen. >> we've had conversations with the former attorney general already. we've talked to the department of defense individuals. we are concerned that our

military was part of this big lie on promoting that the election was false. so if you are using the military to potentially seize voting machines, even though it's a discussion, the public needs to know. >> it was not a formal, you know, deposition, it's in some discussions that the attorneys on the staff have had with the former attorney general, and it was done on a voluntary basis. >> joining us now, congressional reporter at "politico," nicholas wu, thank you so much for being here to start this monday. you have obviously been covering this story closely. what is the latest you are hearing from your sources about the committee's next moves? do we have any additional subpoenas or hearings in the works based on on all of this new and alarming information?

>> for now, the committee is still on track to hold public hearings this spring. i mean you know, chairman thompson laid a whole agenda out to stick to the public schedule, to really get their findings out there and not to mention put them on track to eventually release a report capturing all of this. perhaps this fall. and so the bigger issue is that the committee is going to have to make some big decisions in the coming weeks about what to do, as it gets closer to the president's inner circle. we already saw them request that ivanka trump come in for an interview the beginning of february. it is unlikely she will come in without a subpoena. and what will they do with other trump campaign members or the former president himself. >> so nicholas, one of the questions that is sort of

hanging over the proceedings, is whether the january 6th committee would need to issue subpoenas to members, to their colleagues, to other members of congress, those like jim jordan and others who have such close ties to the former president who may have spoken to the president on january 6th, 021, or soon of that, what's the latest on that? are they willing to take that step? >> the discussions are still ongoing on that front. the committee met at the end of last week to look at report on where things were going with the discussions over subpoena, and really over whether they each have the authority to issue subpoenas for other members of congress. it appears that they have a president to do so but the bigger question is how exactly you enforce it. and this gets us into somewhat uncharted territory here. and so you know, we've already seen the requests by a few members of congress, kevin

mccarthy, the republican leader, rejected it, and so you know, it looks like, if they really want to try to secure testimony from these folks, the subpoena might be the way they need to do but they might not be able to enforce it. >> with the national archives turning over those documents, with the talk of subpoenas with the possibility of public hearings, maybe even prime time public hearing, it sounds like the committee is heading to an aggressive new phase. thank you for being here today. still ahead, at least three law enforcement officers were gunned down, the line of duty over the weekend, and a man hunt is under way for a suspect in one of those incidents. plus, across the united states, covid-19 cases are finally falling. what dr. anthony fauci is saying about that trend, those stories and a check of the weather when we come back. k of the weather w we come back

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two law enforcement officers, one in texas, one in new york, were killed in separate shootings over the weekend. a third is in critical condition, still in the hospital. nbc news correspondent kathy park has more. >> reporter: in houston, the man hunt intensifying for the suspect who shot and killed corporal charles galway after an early morning traffic stop. >> the witness described the suspect as an hispanic male and got out of his feel and immediately fired on the deputy multiple times. >> authorities are looking for a white toyota avalon, what they believe to be the suspect's car. >> what we are seeing on what appears to be a regular basis on the streets of harris county has got to stop. >> this tragedy comes less than two days after a gun bat until new york city killed nypd officer jason rivera, and badly

injured willbert mora, fighting for his life responding to a domestic disturbance call when the accused suspect, 47-year-old fired multiple times when the pair approached. >> we can't continue to allow violent shooters to remain on the street. we need to collaborate, with city, state and federal entities the way we did during 9/11. >> the latest violence brings the tally to five nypd officers shot this year. as communities in texas, and new york mourn the men who died in the line of duty, we're learning about who they were, behind the badge. 47-year-old corporal charles galway is described by colleagues as a bee loaved mentor. >> his role was taking a lot of these young officers sworn in and mentoring them, teaching them what it is to be a safe and efficient officer. >> 22-year-old jason rivera said he joined the nypd to strengthen

ties between law enforcement and the community. his cause and spirit captured in this 2017 message to students. >> stay strong. do good in your schools. and trust me, you'll be finished soon, it goes by like that, all right? >> and roe v. wade marks hits 49th anniversary, president biden and vice president kamala harris say the ruling is under assault as never before. the anniversary came a day after friday's march for life, the annual anti-abortion rally that draws thousands to the national mall in washington, d.c. thousands of protesters rallied in the bitter cold, and marched to the supreme court which has indicated it will allow states to impose tighter restrictions on abortion. the ruling is expected in the coming months. and will potentially overturn the landmark 1973 roe v. wade decision that affirmed the constitutional right to an abortion. still ahead, the kansas city chiefs and the buffalo bills

duel it out in a thriller. an amazing game. and a wild, wild ending. we have a wrap-up of all of the playoff action on this spectacular week in the nfl, when "way too early" comes back with sports. nf l, when "way too early" comes back with sports. o) this year, t-mobile for business is here to help you hit the ground running. when you switch to t-mobile and bring your own device, we'll pay off your phone up to $800. you can keep your phone. keep your number. and get your employees connected on the largest and fastest 5g netwo. plus, we give you $200 in facebook ads on us! so you can reach more customers, create more opportunities, and make this the best year for your business yet. visit your local t-mobile store today. like pulsing, electric shocks, sharp, stabbing pains, or an intense burning sensation. what is this nightmare? it's how some people describe... shingles. a painful, blistering rash that could interrupt your life for weeks. forget social events and weekend getaways.

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he has made his last eight. to the end zone. for the win. chiefs to the championship game. >> an incredible finish to one of the best nfl playoff games ever. that was patrick mahomes finding travis kelce at the side of the end zone in overtime to give the kansas city chiefs a 42-36 win. that touchdown came after an absolute final two minutes of regulation in which the chiefs and bills combined for 25

points. an nfl record. the bills seem to have the game won. the score was just 13 seconds left in the fourth quarter but their kickoff went to the end zone, a touchback to save the chiefs valuable seconds to put the chiefs in field goal position and set up the tying group. a heart breaking loss for the bills who have still never won a super bowl. the chiefs are the first time in nfl history to have four straight afc championship games. yesterday's early game was a blowout. halfway through the third quarter. but then tom brady worked his magic and got the bucs back in it late. >> throw deep down to the right side. score! >> perfect throw. tampa bay was down 27-3 at one point. and that long touchdown pass to mike evans got them within seven. they would then tie it up later in the fourth quarter. but they left a little too much

time left on the clock for matt stafford and the rams, and some terrible defensive play calling, allowed a deep shot to cooper kupp down the middle, tackled at the 10, the rams spiked it with a game-winning field goal which denied brady and the bucs a chance to repeat as super bowl champions. >> there was increased chatter after the game that the 44-year-old brady could consider retirement. and the sports greatest player was noncommittal about next season. >> this is lard for me to even think about. come on, tom. one more. . >> brought you back to saturday. the san francisco 49ers took down the top seeded green bay packers at lambeau thanks to a spectacular special teams play. the 49ers blocked a point. it's snowing. late in the fourth quarter. scooped up the ball. and tied the game at 10. aaron rodgers and the packers couldn't get down the field on the next possession and had to punt. and you can see that there, and that allowed the 49ers with time

running out in regulation, to drive the ball down the field goal range, and converting a key third down play and then the game winner here, with no time left. sending san francisco to the nfc championship game. and twit near a frenzy of jokes about aaron rodgers unvaccinated status. >> and the spectacular games this weekend, started with another upset. saturday afternoon, joe burrow and the cincinnati bengals went to tennessee and beat the number one seed in the afc. the titans had the ball with less than 30 seconds left in the game. tie game. but the pass was deflected. and the bengals grabbed the interception. that gave joe burrow and the bengals goods field position and burrow has a pretty throw here, to find ja mar chase down the sideline to get into field goal range. a few plays later, mcpherson hits the 52-yard game-winning field goal as time expired. sending the bengals to their first afc championship game since 1988. so here's a look at what we got

a final four teams, next weekend, the cincinnati bengals go to kansas city to play the chiefs. that game is 3:00 on sunday. and that's followed at 6:30, the san francisco 49ers in los angeles to take on the rams. the winners will go on to super bowl 56 also in los angeles, that's on february 13th. such fun football. the nfl absolutely lived up to the hype this past weekend. time now for the weather and meteorologist bill karins here. did you watch any of the football? and let us know what the forecast looks like today. >> yeah, i stayed up way too late last night. and it was so much anxiety, it was hard to fall asleep after the game was even over. you kept thinking about it, yes, this was nuts and i got a lot of bills fans that i grew up with and i don't even know what to say to them. yeah, it was incredible. that's all it was. heart breaking for them. let's get into this forecast. this week's going to be kind of

on the quiet side. we will start with some cold air a little bit of snow. we may end the week with a big snowstorm but we will deal with that when we get there, and let's talk about the snow this morning, from green bay, all the way down to milwaukee, to chicago, you will wake up to an inch or two of snow, just enough to cause a little bit of treasury on the roads, 17 million people are under the winter weather alerts, and that does include the areas around detroit, too, the snow will eventually move your way, so south bend included in this also, madison, milwaukee, again not a lot of snow, just a tiny bit right before the morning commute will make it a little difficult and plenty cold enough to stick everywhere so detroit two to three inches. lake effect areas, more of that. and pittsburgh more snow later today. same with areas of northern new york and how about the cold all the way down into south central florida this morning. about 9 million people impacted, temperatures in the 20s and the 30s. and that freeze warning is almost down into orlando, so this is one of the coldest mornings yet for areas of

florida, and as far as what the companies will dip down to, it looks like 29 right now in jacksonville, we're not horrible in tampa but even when miami gets into the 40s. it's a big deal for them. for today's forecast, enjoy the warmth in oklahoma city. minneapolis, 10 degrees. another chilly day in the northeast and then that bitter cold is heading for chicago on tuesday. and then jonathan, that bitter cold gets to the northeast on wednesday. and thursday, and that potentially could set the stage for a snowstorm on the eastern seaboard come saturday. a close call right now. it is going to be a big storm and we don't know if it is close enough for snow or out to sea. >> bill karins, we trust you will keep us posted. thanks for being here today, buddy. still ahead, secretary of state blinken amplifies his warning against a russian invasion of ukraine. what he had to say following his meeting with russia's foreign minister last week. we'll get a live report from ukraine coming up next. before we go to break, we want to know, just why are you

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a.m. on the east coast, 2:30 out west. i'm jonathan le mire. secretary of state blinken made the rounds on television yesterday morning. he offered assurances that the

united states and its allies were prepared to counter russia if it continues its aggressive actions towards ukraine. >> we have been clear that first, in the event that there is a renewed russian incursion, russian forces going into ukraine, there is going to be a swift, a severe and united response. but we've also been clear there are other things, we were just talking about this, that russia could do sort of sending forces into ukraine to try to destabilize topple the government, cyber attacks, and there will be a swift response and a calibrated response, there will be a united response. even as we're building up deterrents and defense for ukraine, we're engaged in diplomacy and dialogue and i met as you know with the russian foreign minister, in geneva a few days ago, to try to find out if there is a real path forward on diplomacy and dialogue. the russians have put concerns on the table that they say they have about their security, and

we exchanged some ideas, we'll be sharing with the russians in writing, not only our concerns, but some ideas for a way forward that could enhance mutual security on a reciprocal basis. so look, that is clearly the preferable path forward for anyone are everyone. >> joining us now live from kiev, nbc news foreign correspondent matt bradley. matt, we're so grateful you're with us today. obviously, tensions are escalating. give us the very latest. give us a sense of what is going on today in ukraine. >> reporter: when you walk around kiev, as i have, it doesn't feel like a nation that is getting ready for war, not at all, in fact, everything is still open, the restaurants, the bars, there's crowds on the street, it does not seem like people are uniquely nervous about the imminent invasion that seems to be projecting from the white house. and you know, those messages that we're seeing there, and there were a couple, there's the reporting that was available to a lot of different reporters

saying that the white house is now considering parking more troops, mustering more southerlies, in some of the eastern reaches of -- more soldiers, in some of the eastern reaches like estonia and the countries could host more troops and there still doesn't seem to be a plan to send u.s. troops to ukraine but there sound loose ache plan for bolstering any resistance forces by the ukrainians should the russians invade and we heard saturday, that there was this optional order, sort of an order, for embassy staff, and thar families to leave. so embassy staff who would want to leave, voluntary departure, but also embassy staff families have been told to leave. now, this of course, these two pieces of news together, the one, the idea that the u.s. could, and we can expect a decision on that this coming week, could station more troops into nato territories, that is

exactly what vladimir putin was hoping to avoid, and that could end up provoking his even further and of course, this was a response to russians stationing their troops across the border in russia and in the neighboring belarus, but by putting more troops on the ground, the u.s. risks a tit for tat kind of escalation that could lead to war. and of course we heard from the ukrainian government, they were not happy with that decision to withdraw u.s. embassy families. that just makes it look like that there is more of an opportunity for war, and that war is in fact imminent. and like i said, here in ukraine, a lot of politicians, they're not expecting war to be imminent. they're still holding out hope for negotiations and diplomacy. >> nbc's matt bradley, thank you very much for being here. stay safe. we will talk to you again soon. now let's bring in the president of the council on foreign relations richard haas, great to have you with us today, and obviously, we have several

significant developments over the weekend, with the situation in ukraine. the u.s. asking families of the embassy staff in kiev to leave and the -- the u.k. remarkable announcement that they have negligence that moscow is trying to install a pro-russian leader in ukraine. what is your sense of all of this? where do things stand right now? >> in some ways they stand where they were. mr. putin is still in the driver's seat, here, jonathan, in terms of whether there will be a war, when, if so, what kind. and which leads to the british announcement. it's a reminder that he has a menu of options. we're obviously focused most on tens of thousands of troops, cop bining forces, coming across a border but obviously that has lesser options including cyber, and including the efforts to disrupt from within, to bring about a kind of puppet government through some kind of a regime change, using intelligence assets, who knows what sweeper assets they do have in that country.

so again, this could play out in any number of ways and the u.s. decision to begin to draw down, you know, its presence in the country. my only problem with that, it is called an abundance of caution but it also does send a signal of contributing to the momentum towards war, which again, i don't think is an inevitable by any means. >> on that idea, the president, who was reported last yesterday is considering sending troops and war ships to eastern european countries and the battic baltics, near ukraine, what do you make of that decision, that move or could it escalate an already tense situation? >> it is multiple effects. one of the threats meant to detear mr. putin and if you use armed forces against ukraine and we will reinforce nato in some areas you prefer nato not be present and part of the deterrent, part of the cost if you will of his going in.

and doing that i think reinforces nato. again it raises the cost, hopefully it deters. on the other hand, it also highlights ukraine's separate status. its vulnerability. so it does nothing to help ukraine ukraine per se but a reassuring signal to the allies and a deterrent signal to mr. putin. calculate the cost carefully, of what it is you think you're going to gain from intervening in ukraine. >> so despite these sort of ominous signals there is still a path of diplomacy. white house aides told me there is no interest in a face to face biden/putin summit but blinken and lavrov are scheduled to meet again in a handful of days. do you think there is any democratic offramp the u.s. could give to putin right now? >> absolutely. we've given him one. you have various types of arms control arrangements in europe, you would have certain assurances about ukraine not coming into nato for the foreseeable future and then some and then security talks, that

are europe wide or mr. putin may simply take matters into his own hands. he may decide an off-ramp is increasing the access of russian bombers. and some countries in this hemisphere. and then he can say you can move forces close to my border, i can move forces closest to yours, and we're even. in a sense he could create his own off-ramp. so this could play out in lots of ways, and so i know there's a lot of pressure, to say exactly what's going to happen, but i don't think we know. and one other fact of the timing which is the olympics. you can't imagine that xi jingping is anxious to see what he's going to do upstaged by his friend from moscow, who is meant to show up in beijing, in less than two weeks. so i think that's another break of the unlikely events here. >> a great point. we appreciate you being with us. we will talk to you again soon. take care, my friend. still ahead, a look at the markets after the worst week for

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before discovering nexium 24hr to treat her frequent heartburn... claire could only imagine enjoying chocolate cake. now, she can have her cake and eat it too. nexium 24hr stops acid before it starts for all-day, all-night protection. can you imagine 24 hours without heartburn? time now for business, and let's bring in cnbc, i hope you had a nice weekend, the u.s. stocks, they tumbled on friday. closed out a losing week and frankly continued a rough start to 2022. what do you make of that? what can investors expect on wall street this week? >> well, jonathan, good morning, it was another rough week for u.s. equities as you say, a third consecutive weekly disease for the s&p index and a lot of selling at the end of the week,

tech shares were among the worst performing, the nasdaq dropping nearly 8% on the week, 14% below its all-time high. the indicator of volatility, increased substantially over the course of the week. now investors attention turning to two things. number one, the federal reserve. and number two, earnings. and the fed is going to deliver its first policy division of the year on wednesday. also, expect a lot of focus during the press conversation on inflation, the hiking path and the financial condition and more and in terms of earnings, the tech giants coming into focus alongside a number of other companies, 106 companies in the s&p 500, due to report. so a bugsy week ahead -- so a busy week ahead. >> lots of headlines on this one. >> the largest cryptocurrency by market value bitcoin extended the decline on saturday and shed 50% from the record high in november. what's the driving force behind the huge decline?

>> well, jonathan, there were a number of factors at play and the bottom line is this is a new asset class, so nobody knows for sure what is driving the moves in bitcoin and in some of the other cryptocurrencies but one thing that is really interesting around this sell-off in bitcoin, it has been touted as a hedge, something that people could buy as an alternative to traditional asset, as a hedge against inflation, but what we've actually seen is that bitcoin has moved in tandem with stocks, so we saw this major sell-off in bitcoin, it fell 15% last week, including a substantial 11% decline on friday. and then as you mentioned the selling turned on saturday. another factor at play here in addition to general market concerns around what will happen when the federal reserve begins to raise interest rates is regulation, and there's a lot of question marks around what the regulatory landscape for crypto moving forward will look like. >> and pharmaceutical giant,

glaxo smith klein, what can you tell us about that? >> well, this company came into focus last week, for its consumer health care arm, being the object of affection for uni-lever, the consumer giant based here in the uk. it had bid three times for this business unit, unilever shareholders were up in arms and the stock plummeted 11% last week on the news. the shareholders clearly didn't like this idea, so unilever came out at the end of last week and says we're not going to increase our offer for this business unit so we're going to step away and shares in unilever rose. this morning, they continue to rally and that's because we've got news an active investor had taken a stake in unilever, according to multiple reports, you may know the name, trian has been heavily involved in the consumer space for a number of

years, most notably he had they had a seat on the board of procter & gamble. one of the founders just stepped down from that position in august. over the course of the holding of that stock, shares appreciated about 85%. so unilever shareholders now are looking at the prospect of some major change as a result of this activist shareholder getting involved. >> thank you. we appreciate it. still ahead, encouraging signs in the fight against covid. the u.s. health officials warn it is no time to let our guard down. >> dr. pa tell joining us next. p t t searching for savings on your prescriptions? just ask your cvs pharmacist. we search for savings for you. from coupons to lower costs options. plus, earn up to $50 extra bucks rewards each year just for filling at cvs pharmacy. entresto is the number on art failure brand prescribed by cardiologists and has helped over one million people. it was proven superior at helping people stay alive

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. if the pattern follows the trend in other places, i think we will see a turn-around throughout the entire country. we don't want to get overconfident but it looks like it is going in the right

direction. >> that was dr. anthony fauci warning against overconfidence amid the downward trend of covid infections, the average number of cases fell about 5% in the past week. joining us now to talk about this, physician and fellow at the brookings institution dr. patel, a former obama white house policy director and msnbc medical contributor. we're so grateful for you to be here. it does seem like cases are still dropping. here in the northeast, they have definitely declined from the peak, and because the peak is so high, despite the decline, they're still relatively high and the country is averaging 745,000 new cases per day. what is your take on this? what do the next few weeks hold? >> just from a big picture, you will see those national peaks kind of continue to come down, as you mentioned, dr. fauci kind of highlighted, but if you're in certain parts of the country, murd west, parts of the south -- midwest, parts of the south and southern california, this is raging and you are still kind of

riding up that wave, and i think what's really interesting is we surpassed a record number of hospitalizations in the past couple of days that exceeded any previous surge hospitalization rate. so from just a big picture point of view, we're still dealing, in the throes of this, with the hospital setting and the icu setting, while we're seeing much of that community-related transmission, people who are well, coming down. and that's a good thing. looking forward though, what will happen next, have we belt enough wall of immunity with so many people have been infected or vaccinate and i think that's the remaining question and we're watching other countries closely to see if they experience the second surge of omicron, and so far, there are signs of that. but it is too soon to tell here. >> our fingers remain crossed on that for sure. i want to get to this. over the weekend, thousands of people rallied in washington to protest covid vaccine mandates. what ramifications, despite

seemingly encouraging trends right now, on omicron, what are some of the ramifications we might expect the vaccination rates don't improve across the country? >> jonathan, i kind of drove by the protest, didn't look anywhere near as big as i had feared, but in and of itself, i of itself your point is exactly right. even just the kind of sentiment there's this anti-vaccination kind of energy is really destructive. so 65% of the country has been kind of, quote, fully vaccinated with the first doses. here is the statistic that troubles me. only 24% of the country that's eligible has been boosted. we know really if there's a theme to omicron, boosters matter. i think that's really where your point of any anti-vaccine or even vaccine kind of relaxation comes into play and can be destructive. we need to get much of the country that's already been vaccinated boosted and make a lot more progress. mandates are a step to get there. i support them, especially the health care worker ones, but,

jonathan, that alone is probably only going to pick up 5% to 10% of the population. workplace mandates, employer mandates, we still have a lot of room to move with much of the country. >> certainly we should expect to keep hearing the drum beat from the white house about people getting their boosters. dr. patel, we appreciate it and will talk to you again soon. earlier in the show we asked this question. why are you awake? jen writes this, with special thanks to mika and her inspirational know your value, i am up way too early because i am starting my third semester of college. there you go. dan, what do you have back there? >> i have one from steve who says, my wife and i are spending a few days with daughter and family. we have political differences. way too early is something to agree on. >> it unites rather than divides. we appeal to all demographics. i recommend watching every morning. will tweets this. i've had problems sleeping since the end of the bengals' playoff

win against the tight tans. ive lived through too many years to get to this day. the buffalo bills, a cursed franchise that never won a super bowl, a heartbreaking loss yesterday. but the bengals too have never won one, 0-2 in the super bowl, one game away. it won't be easy to win in kansas city. they're a fun team. i wouldn't count them out entirely. up next, "axios" one big thing. on "morning joe," congresswoman abigail spanberger will be a guest. plus mike florio of "pro football talk" will help us break down the action we saw on the grid iron this weekend and what may have been the nfl's best weekend ever. "morning joe" just moments away. "morning joe" just moments away. tide pods child-guard packaging. to be a thriver with metastatic breast cancer

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thing today? >> good morning, jonathan. great to be here with you. the one big thing today is looking at how essentially in races across the country in 19 houses across 12 states we're seeing this breeding ground really for extremist candidates ahead of the midterm elections. this is really because in a lot of these districts they're open seats so incumbents aren't running. that's a breeding ground for a lot of this, you know, extremism and so we're going to see a rise of this in the lead-up to the mid terms and potentially after november where the polarization in these districts only continues to grow. >> certainly on the republican side, it will be interesting to see the role former president

trump plays, if he gives his backing to some of the extremist candidates it may give them a leg up in the primary contest but could make them tougher to be elected in the general election. we will be watching that. democrats this past week or so made another effort to get their voting rights legislation through the senate and that failed. it is not clear what the federal move -- legislation path will be going forward. tell us, how are the states taking up the fight? >> well, that is where a lot of people are looking to now since they failed to do this with congress, failed to do this nationally. a lot of lawmakers and especially at the state level are looking how they can take it local. we're seeing a lot of ballot initiatives. in kentucky, wisconsin, across florida, they're looking at how they can do these state ballot initiatives to try and change the level -- or change the voting rights at the state and local level. the problem is though this is a lot of democrats who are trying

to change these laws. they're meeting so much opposition in red and purple states. republicans have over 90 bills across the country they've already introduced, that they're looking to prevent a lot of these democratic efforts from expanding voting initiatives. it is just going to be another continued battle. i think, of course, what happened in congress this week, the failed effort by democrats and president biden to get that sweeping voting rights bill across the finish line, it makes it very difficult and it also is a signal to a lot of these state election activists that it will be very hard to get change. i think it was a defeat not only for those nationally but also at the state level. >> white house officials signalled to me it is certainly something the president still will be talking about and they're exploring executive orders and actions to strengthen voting rights but they acknowledge their hands may be tied for sweeping national

legislation. we appreciate it. thank you for being here. thanks to all of you for getting up way too early with us on this monday morning. "morning joe" starts right now. ♪♪ mcpherson trying to kick the bengals into the afc championship. the snapper. huber will hold it. sweeps the leg! mcpherson, he's got it! cincinnati wins. they are going to the afc championship game for the first time since 1988. >> the kick was down the middle and good! 49ers win it! san francisco is moving on with a 13-10 win here at lambeau.

this crowd and that packers' team is stunned. >> 30 yards to win the game. matt gate. boots it through. and the rams by the hair of their skinny teeth. >> mahomes has hit his last eight. look it. to the end zone for the win! he caught it! ball game, chiefs to the championship game! what many consider to be the best weekend of nfl playoff football ever. good morning. welcome to "morning joe." it is monday, january 24th. with us we have the most of "way too early" and white house bureau chief at "politico", john that lamire. msnbc contributor mike barnicle and conrv