benny thompson is "outfront". >>> we're learning details what manhattan prosecutors may do to get trump's top money man to flip on him. let go "outfront". >>> good evening. i'm erin burnett. out front tonight, covid confusion. the top infectious disease expert says listen to the cdc, not pfizer when it comes to needing a vaccine booster. this after pfizer came out and announced it's applying for emergency fda authorization for a booster that americans could get always early as six months after the second dose. here is dr. fauci moments ago. >> nothing has changed with regard to the cdc's recommendations. so we respect what the pharmaceutical company is doing but the american public should take their advice from the cdc and the fda. the cdc and the fda say if you've been fully vaccinated at this point in time, you do not need a booster shot. >> so, look, this is a weird situation. that's not what we're hearing from pfizer who is doing the research and actually saying immunity was waning and specifically sited israel he health ministry data. pfizer said and i quote the press release in part

the chairman of the committee, bennie thompson, said this could go on through next year. this is not going to be done by the end of this year. i asked him, will you call in former president trump? he said he's not opposed to calling him? he's also open to calling in those republican members of congress who had conversations with trump ahead of january 6. >> that could include kevin mccarthy. thank you very much. >>> mike shields is currently a paid strategy for kevin mccarthy and former rnc chief. thanks for taking the time. look, kevin mccarthy could have supported a bipartisan committee, like 35 republicans in the house voted to do. he didn't. even after nancy pelosi gave in on nearly all of his demands outlined in that february 22 letter, like equal representation by democrats and republicans, co-equal subpoena power. why is he deadset against getting answers here? >> this is a partisan committee, and i disagree with you. kevin mccarthy, yes, i am a paid adviser to kevin, but i don't talk to him about this stuff. but this is a partisan committee, and kevin did propose

look, the chairman of this commission is benny thompson. benny thompson is an elect denier. he didn't believe the 2004 election was correct. you had jamie raskin on earlier. he was an election denier in 2016. so this is a joke. the idea you have to have someone that believes in the mission and nancy pelosi should remove the election deniers she apoenpointed to the commission herself. >> this is part of the problem. in 2004 you had a few people who raised their hand to try to call attention to a couple problems. you didn't have half of the caucus or more of the caucus reject the election. to carawl back through the history back and hold up and pretend it's the same thing as the mack truck that run through the democracy doesn't make sense. here is the problem. you got people at home, put reasonable people together. nobody wants violence and this kind of stuff, though, i think is going to result in more of it going forward. >> our law enforcement on capitol hill deserves what you said. i wish they could be bipartisan and hadn't played games. nancy pelosi admitted today this is

a source says she'll be giving an opening statement after benny thompson. look, there are a lot of issues politically where you and she do not see eye to eye, many, in fact. i know you've talked about a recent phone call where you and she formed a bond about your families. what did that tell you? what does that tell you about liz ch cheney's character? >> i liked her for a long time and she's a woman of strong integrity and character and we disagree about policy issues but fundamentally what we're looking for in america today is a collision of constitutional patriots that is people who will stand up for the constitutional order for elections and for democratic norms in the rule of law against this new form of domestic violent extremism and donald trump's authoritarian politics which are outside of the constitutional order. they don't accept our elections. they don't accept our constitutional rules. i think we got to solute and embrace liz cheney and congressman adam kinzinger and republicans, democrats who will stand up for american democracy. >> congressma

the democrats, including bennie thompson, the chairman of the select committee, said he has been discussed with the speaker and said that this would be a positive addition. the former congressman riggleman is being looked out as an outside adviser, a republican to help the investigation going forward. this is someone who liz cheney has recommended here. so this is occurring as this committee is staffing up. they have announced key staff hires and planning to move quickly on this investigation once they get through the first hearing next week and map out the investigation for the weeks ahead. >> and it's important to emphasize, this hearing is happening next week. so when liz cheney agreed to be part of the committee, it appeared she would be punished by her party. but what are you hearing now how that will play out in the gop? >> reporter: in talking to a wide range of republicans today, we heard that there's just not much appetite among republican lawmakers to punish liz cheney at this moment. believing that it would amount to a distraction of sorts, as the party tries to retake control o

we offered, thanks to the negotiation of bennie thompson and john katko, the bipartisan negotiation, a commission that was completely divided in which neither party could issue a subpoena without the acquiescence of the other party. mccarthy didn't want that and he didn't want it because donald trump didn't want it. that's the only criteria for kevin mccarthy. so that was defeated in the senate and it didn't earn that many republican votes in the house. now we have a select committee and he's complaining about the composition of the select committee. you can't have it both ways, but that's what he's trying. in terms of whether any of the people he's contemplating are acceptable or not, i can only hope that he will appoint people that will take the task seriously. i don't care whether they're conservative or not or ultra conservative. what i would hope for are people willing to work in good faith to get to the truth. that has not really been kevin's priority. >> do you think -- so let me just ask you, do you think, congressman, and this is a tough question, right, because people can c

thompson indicated they are likely to come back for that but the decision on the topic of that hearing has not been decided and thompson said there would be subpoenas that issued quote soon because he said the idea of asking for information voluntarily sending letters asking information, that's not necessarily the road they will go down on all document requests. instead, they plan to issue subpoenas that and that's something liz cheney said should happen quickly. there is a push to happen quickly and belief this could happen quickly after earlier today the justice department signalled it would not assert executive privilege to prevent former trump officials from testifying before this house committee. now, that is one area, too, in which the democrats and the republicans want to pursue cheney made that clear today, erin, that they do want to look into all the communications that occurred in the runup to january 6th with the trump white house. she said it was key to the investigation but first, they have to understand other areas, as well, the breakdown in intelligence, the failure to c

i'm sure under the leadership of chairman benny thompson that headed up homeland security for many years, they'll be able to get to new evidence and use the subpoena powers and ability to really focus in and drill down on the truth to find out not only what happened on that day but the how and the why. >> right. >> of what is happening. i'm also really grateful the first hearing will be hearing from those police officers both capitol police and metropolitan police who defended us on that day. >> so, you know, she also said in the letter right that you have to find the truth in a way that retains the trust of the american people in the proceedings and that's really crucial and been made more challenging by mccarthy's rejection of the separate fully bipartisan committee. now, there are republicans on this committee, right, there is growing speculation that republican congressman adam kinzinger could join. we know he'd happily accept that. liz cheney is already on the committee. both cheney and kinzinger have not just been critical, though of trump for pushing the big lie and inciting the b

. >> i want to talk about chairman benny thompson saying subpoenas are coming soon, laura, this is right up your ally here. liz cheney said they should be issued quickly and the justice department is saying former d.o.j. officials can testify, the department will not assert executive privilege. which top officials will be among the first called? could it be the president should be called or will be called? >> i think -- >> the former president. >> i think he should be called and jeffrey are rosen. what the dorj .o.j. would have assert, is why it's a significant thing, remember, you are saying, in order to have transparency and a full investigation, i have to premove the hurdles and people saying i don't care what uyou want to hear, i don't have to tell you. that hurdle is being over come, saying you can speak freely about what it is that you know about the es. if you know the who, what, when, where, why, the paper trail, if you know something different than what your oath of office should have been or otherwise, lets us know. it's a level of transparency that we need here. >> give me a b

the chairman benny thompson who says the committee will issue subpoenas soon without resorting to writing letters asking for voluntary information says we cannot let the liars and cheaters win. >> we did not ask for this, for the house of representatives did its job to give this country its first peaceful transfer of power. and we'll do our job now to make sure the peaceful transfer of power remains a pillar of our democracy. we cannot allow ourselves to be undone by liars and cheaters. >> liz cheney one of two republicans on the committee says that we need to know the truth about every meeting, every conversation, every phone call leading up to and during the attack. >> we must know what happened here at the capitol. we must also know what happened every minute of that day in the white house. every phone call, every conversation, every meeting leading up to, during and after the attack. honorable men and women have an obligation to step forward. >> you will hear more from liz cheney a little bit later on in this show as well as from other republicans on the committee or the other republi

your colleague bennie thompson says that evidence is necessary to produce a report. how are you going to figure out what was said on that call? >> as chairman thompson said, everything is on the table. we really have to dig in deep into all of the events that happened that day. and, you know, i can't say every witness or everything that we will move forward with in the investigation, but we will examine all of the facts and where those facts take us, we will draw from that to come to the conclusions for the committee. >> okay. speaking of witnesses, are you willing to subpoena the former president or people close to him to get answers? >> don, like i said, and like chairman thompson has said, and going into this, everything is on the table. the committee is just now coming together, coming up with a plan, waiting for our additional members. i think we're all here because we took an oath as members of congress, i did, the first time when i was 17, and spent two decades in uniform. we truly think that that oath to protect the constitution against all enemies foreign an

bennie thompson, the chair of the committee, has worked with republicans as chair of the homeland security committee. he told me he will work hard to enforce the rules and make sure this committee sticks to their intended goals and that is finding answers as to what happened on january 6. they'll go wherever they need, that could ultimately mean calling someone who is on the committee to come forward as a witness, including jim jordan, kevin mccarthy, or even donald trump. >> and there we go. thank you very much, ryan nobles, i appreciate that. kirstin powers and former republican congressman denver riggleman, good evening to both of you. denver, what do you think of mccarthy's picks for this select committee, are you surprised he actually chose two people who voted to certify the election results? >> i was pleasantly surprised. i think there's a good faith effort with kelly and rodney, i know them very well, they're very good people. i have a feeling kelly's background is legal, recordny has -- rodney has been there a long time. i wasn't surprised about jim jordan being chosen either. it

democrats are saying -- bennie thompson said, look, they're simply trying to muddy the waters. this is not going to be a committee that is going to independently look at this. it's going to be another washington sort of drag-out fight. being out here in the country, one thing is clear. people are not interested in another food fight in washington regardless of what side you're on. but that is what sounds like is coming down the way. >> quite frankly it's a desperate attempt because it's hard to change the narrative when we have so many images coming out. >> and arrests. >> and none of them mention nancy pelosi except that they don't like her and they stuck their feet up on top of her desk. thank you very much. >>> i want to turn now to "washington post" investigative reporter carol leonnig. so happy to have her here. she's the co-author of the explosive new book "i alone can fix it: donald j. trump's catastrophic final year." again, so good to see you again. thank you so much, carol. listen, there are so many details from your book that we need to discuss. but i want to start w

bennie thompson, excuse me. she talked, today, about how, in her view, this is bigger than politics. >> um, and a really important opportunity to remind everybody about the necessity of accountability. for what happened. for making sure that it never happens, again. >> accountability. accountability. accountability. that's what all this is supposed to be about. yet, kevin mccarthy, who just days after the attack on -- on the capitol, said that the then-president bore responsibility. now, he is calling liz cheney and adam kinzinger pelosi republicans. kinzinger called that childish. pointed out it was republicans, actually, who killed the independent commission in the senate. listen. >> we had an opportunity for a 5-5 commission that didn't even include members of congress. then, at every junction, it kept getting blocked, despite that we negotiated the 5-5. and so, it's become obvious that there are some that just, simply, don't want answers. and that, to me, is unacceptable. >> people don't want the truth. ther

. >> i want to talk about chairman bennie thompson saying that subpoenas are coming soon, laura. this is right up your alley here. liz cheney said they should be issued quickly. the justice department is saying former doj officials can testify. the department won't assert executive privilege. so which top officials are likely to be among the first called? you think the president should be called or will be called? the former president? >> i think he should be called. i think jeffrey rosen. i think others. remember, the executive privilege in terms of what the doj members would have to assert or be able to no longer have to assert -- so the notion here and why this is such a significant thing is, remember, you're saying in order to have transparency, in order to have a full, holistic investigation, i have to remove the hurdles of people saying, i don't care what you want to hear. i don't have to tell you anything. that does not bode well on the integrity of the department if there's no real basis for it. but also it's a hurdle that now is being overcome by the decision to say, you

bennie thompson, who is the chairman from mississippi, is a serious individual. he's worked with republicans and democrats for a long time in his capacity as chair of the homeland security committee. he told me today that he is going to work hard to enforce the rules and make sure that this committee sticks to their intended goals, and that is finding answers as to what happened on january 6th. and they're going to go wherever they need to find those answers. that could ultimately even mean calling someone who's on the committee, jim jordan, to come forward as a witness. that's a real possibility, including the possibility of kevin mccarthy and maybe even donald trump being called in front of this committee. >> thank you very much, ryan nobles. i appreciate that. joining me now, cnn senior political analyst kirsten powers and former republican congressman denver riggleman. good evening to both of you. so, denver, what do you think of mccarthy's picks for this select committee? are you surprised that he actually chose two people who voted to certify the election r