And lockstep with president as he pursues different recounts and litigation across the political map. It is an example of the solidarity in the gop despite trumps defeat. T elect biden who is trying to mount a transition at this point but he doesnt have formal backing from the current administration. Host what are you hearing is the mood inside the white house, officials and sources you talk host what is the mood inside the white house from the sources you talk to . Guest trump is unlikely to concede. He may walk away in january if the election is certified if biden becomes president. Trump views himself as a political outsider, someone who has grievances against the system and establishment. For his own branding services, he will never call himself a loser or someone who has been defeated. But itikely to walk away wont be until the bitter end after he has exhausted all legal and political options. Two also signaled to his voters ahead of a potential run in 2024 he did Everything Possible to stay in power. Host the public faces of the effort so far seem to be people like rudy giuliani, matt slacked, and others matt schlatt. Trump and markka meadows who when we last heard was quarantining because of covid19. Guest the role of his advisers is to be cheerleaders, to be supporters of a president who is besieged, who is facing defeat. Nevada isaw in someone who is a staunch ally in holding news conferences the same as mayor giuliani. There holding news conferences, going around the country and they are alleging widespread corruption and fraud. Based on the Washington Post, there has been no evidence of widespread widespread voter fraud. The New York Times today hits at the same point. The New York Times called state officials and found no evidence. The secretaries of state, many republicans not stepping forward to allege fraud. Anecdotal evidence of election irregularities have popped up as they do every election. Election officials in all of the states are not saying the election was in any way corrupt. The biggest flashpoint to Pay Attention to is georgia where the republican secretary of state has maintained the election was done in an honest way without any problems. , botho state senators republicans who face a runoff on generate fifth for their senate seats, they have called for the georgia secretary of state to resign even though there is no evidence on their part of fraud. We have the standoff where both sides are accusing the others of bad faith. , ins clear the trump side this case the republican side in georgia, are bringing forth allegations without evidence. Guest we will see the president today for the First Time Since the election day at arlington , laying a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier. Robert costa, there was reporting the president may go back on the road and do rallies postelection. What do we know of that . Host in my story guest in my story, trumps administrators told us they were interested in doing rallies. He has delegated much of his response ability to surrogates. His responsibility to surrogates. He went to work on his strategy without creating a stir. This could change as the georgia runoff nears. The president has been unusually quiet. It desecrated this tension with president elect biden in his transition process. Host our guest is robert costa, National Reporter with the Washington Post. We are talking about the election standoff. The line to use if you are biden supporters. 2027488001 for those supporting trump and mike pence. For all others, 2027488002. You talked about this momentarily in your reporting from the other day with the headline fear of losing Senate Majority in georgia runoffs needs gop stew brace unfounded claims of Election Fraud. Welikely we we have will have a result before that happens. How might republican messaging change before that election . Guest it is a good point. If the election is certified as we expected to be in the Electoral College, what you could see in georgia is a focus on the democrats and traditional flashpoints in these races. Republicans told me they want to run a Traditional Campaign calling the democrats too leftwing for georgia. That will probably be the closing message. At this point, the message is different, it is contrasting. That is why i wrote this story for todays Washington Post. What you see in georgia and across the Republican Party is a willingness to stand with trump with his claims of Election Fraud brought forward without evidence. The reason theyre doing this in part is to make sure the Republican Base is energized and activated in georgia. In georgia, it is a fast changing state. You look at the rising latino population, Asian American population along with an influx of white liberals and black americans into the atlanta area, you see estate that symbolizes you see a state that symbolizes the changing of the south. Win, theycans want to in the stoke turnout majority white suburbs of atlanta. To do that, youve got to stand with trump who is so popular with those voters. To stoke white voters in the atlanta area throughout rural georgia republicans will if you can start to depart from President Trump at this fragile moment in trumps political career. Host when was last time you had a chance to interview or talk on the phone with trump . Guest i dont love to discuss sourcing but i would say i had a formal interview with President Trump and i believe it was last time we spoke when i did a story a few months ago on lou dobbs. He is a fox business personality and i did not expect trump to participate in the story as a source. He did. This is probably a year ago. Who isbs is someone symbolic of how the trump error era works and trump turns to him for device both on the phone and on television. He sees lou dobbs who is hard on immigration and populist it also a Current Business commentator as well as political commentator, someone who is a kindred spirit. Read my story at the Washington Post and realize as much as trump had advisors formally formally in the white house, some were tv personalities. He would watch tucker crossan, he would watch lou dobbs and get cues on where his base is and what issues are important at the moment. Host a couple of postelection, we have heard the president may start up a Political Action committee. We heard there was considerations of him running again in 2024 and that rumors of ericons donald junior and having greater involvement in the Republican Party. Guest it is unsurprising. This is a family that since day one in 2017, since the first day of the campaign in 2016 has been at the forefront of their fathers political career. Jared kushner and ivanka, donald presences onctive the campaign trail along with eric trump and his wife. Tiffany trump, the president s youngest daughter has not been as politically involved but she shows up from time to time. Donald trump, jr. Has been mentioned as a potential candidate himself rather he runs for senate in the state where the family has a home or the mayor for new york city. He seems most interested in running the Republican National committee. He will have some competition because that is not something his father can install him in. The Republican National committee has many members who will make that decision. Many love the trump family and love trump so it would not be shocking if he takes over. Incumbent president s have sway over a partys committee. Once theyre gone, that falls away and hitting and it can go to different people to jockey for power. Maybe donald trump will end up on the committee himself. It seems more to be an aspiration and ambition on Donald Trumps part that something that has actually played out. If the current Republican NationalCommittee Chair tries to usher donald trump, jr. In, it could happen. Many gop lawmakers on the Republican National committee for funding, strategy, and they will have a say if they want donald trump, jr. Who beyond his work for his father has not been a political strategist. Most lawmakers i talk to love to see professionals who have been there for decades at the top of that committee. We have calls waiting for host we have calls waiting for robert costa. Joanna on our biden line. Good morning. Caller trump would have you believe that all the states he fraud the selection were free. He had no question about that. But then the states that biden one won had fraud and that is why he won. Think about the logic of that. I think people need to look at that and Trump Supporters need to look at how preposterous that is that no fraud was involved in the states he won, there was only fraud in all the states that biden won that put him over the top. I think that is an important thing to remember. As joe bidenelieve believes that this election is about who we are. Are we going to continue in this fragile democracy . Or are we going to give it up in favor of the strongmen . Host robert costa . Guest that seems to be more the comments in question. Westchester, ohio. This is deborah, a donald trump supporter . I am a retired scientist in quality control. I dont in chemistry and microbiology. I that process validation. I did process validation. My concern is we are all talking about generalities and i need to know more specifics. I will accept whatever we find is valid based on evidence. When i look into this, for instance in las vegas, 11 of the citizens of the individuals there are noncitizens. Place ofns have a residency, they have a drivers license, and they have a signature that matches. What i am trying to find out maybe you know. How do we keep noncitizens records in such a way with valid data . Allow me to give them information and say disbelieve me they would never allow me to give them information and say just believe me. We didnt allow our senses to separate citizens versus noncitizens. I support the 11 million noncitizens we have in the u. S. I am for legal immigration. E i said, i will accept but from my point of view as a scientist for 30 years, i dont think we have the ability to process validate a mass mail ballot. The states that mass mail have already been doing it, the due process validate. They have lists they check against. I think that is what missing is evidence on both sides. Show me your process that you can verify that not since its that noncitizens didnt vote. Host do you think mailin voting will be deemed in the 2020 election as having been a success . Guest states that have done mail in balloting for years feel like in 2020 they were successful. What you are seeing with mailing balloting is a reaction to a Global Pandemic that is kept millions of americans, especially high propensity senior voters from going to polling places. There turning to mailin ballots. There is an erosion of trust in the Postal Service. Trump has attacked it repeatedly along with other republicans. We have this situation where mailin ballot ting was required by many people due to health concerns. Tingpursued mailin ballot balloting. Many were told by the president that the Postal Service cannot be trusted. Many republicans did vote on election day but we have seen the counts change in states because mailin ballots take times take time to be counted. This is not constitute fraud. , you havethese states rules and laws that are set in place about how male in ballot balloting will be processed. Just because something is complicated and takes time does not mean to rush to the conclusion that it takes time. If there is evidence that people who are not citizens voting and breaking a law, of course that deserves investigation. It deserves reporting. Speculation about it is just that. Host there is a piece this week with your colleagues about the bidenonship between joe and Mitch Mcconnell, longstanding ties between biden and mcconnell could shape early agenda. In this interim. Where Mitch Mcconnell is aligned with the president in this interim time where Mitch Mcconnell is aligned with the president , is it potentially harming that relationship or putting a damper on it ahead of the biden presidency . Guest relationships for Mitch Mcconnell are not a driving force in his own political operation. They are important but they are important but theyre not the animus, the animating force. What you see for Mitch Mcconnell is a longstanding report with biden. I used to see ayden when he was Vice President go i used to see biden when he was Vice President go to the capital. When there was a budget standoff, biden and mcconnell seemed to cut a deal at the 11th hour. That was always revealing because washington has become broken in terms of congress functioning and getting legislation done. Mcconnelland mitch have been able at different times to cut budgets deals together. Beyond budgets deals, it is hard to see how a bidenmcconnell relationship plays out in any huge way in 2021. The appetite in the republican conference is limited to do some sweeping bill on fiscal policy, on immigration, on health care. Keeping the government open and running becomes a priority. Priority forone bipartisanship. You can do that through reconciliation where you dont need a super majority to get things done, you just need a simple majority. In 2021,tion is that biden and mcconnell will do their best to keep the government open, appropriations flowing, and the budget together. Beyond that, mcconnell has his eye on 2022 about keeping his majority and possibly expanding his majority. Biden is dealing with a changing Democratic Party that does not have a huge appetite for working with republicans after four years of donald trump. President sition of reminds me of the position john boehner was in in 2011 and 2012. He was a longterm washington veteran who liked bipartisanship, wanted to work with joe biden and obama but was constrained by the Tea Party Movement and by the right wing who urged not to cut any deals. Similar face a from the left. The Democratic Party might say hold off and we get everything we want. Host do you know if Mitch Mcconnell has spoken to trump since the election . Do not have direct reporting that he has spoken to trump but i know they speak regularly. I have not heard about Mitch Mcconnell calling joe biden. Host we go to robert, riverdale, georgia. A biden supporter. Caller good morning. , thatre are illegal votes means on split tickets where republicans win and the democrats they dont count either. My opinion is the only thing we can do is revote. Is get fiveill do ofmy registered legal voters my friends who did not vote, i will take them with me. Believe s, i dont i believe donald duck stole the election when he won. I have a degree in engineering and mathematically, they are he gotg fraud even if those votes he wouldnt with. Host we go to richard in montreal. Go ahead. So many people coming forward with affidavits about voter fraud that my sevenyearold could prosecute this case and went. Id know why they because they want to cheat. The Washington Post reporter doesnt want to interview these witnesses, he doesnt want to talk about voter id. He thinks the American People are so stupid that we dont see this voter fraud and that is coming from one site. How come i dont see democrats accusing republicans of voter fraud. Lets audit all the states to see who committed the fraud. This reporter doesnt want people to know that because he knows who is going to win. Trumpocrat 9 million more votes. Host i will give robert cost a chance to respond. Guest where to begin. According to the current popular vote count, president elect biden is ahead. Unfoundednt you made that the Washington Post isnt interested in pursuing these stories, the Washington Post is constantly in touch with Election Officials of both parties to investigate the election and to make sure we are getting a great tally at our own website and our paper about where the cap stance in various intes count stands various states. We are keeping up with the legal challenges from President Trump, you can go to washingtonpost. Com and read the coverage. Host our guest hosts a number of live events, another one coming up today, 1 00 p. M. Eastern you will be interviewing bob casey of pennsylvania. The keystone on the election itself. What are you hoping to focus the conversation on today . Guest it should be interesting to have senator cooney senator toomey and bob casey from northeastern pennsylvania. He is a moderate democrat. Pennsylvania was a key battleground in 2020, it is a state both campaigns competed for. It is representative of where this country is moving. You see the new Democratic Coalition emerging in pittsburgh, the thought of the area. The Trump Coalition is very strong in the central and western parts of the state. The northeastern part of the state as well. This is a states that had long gone democratic back to the reagan years in the president ial cycles. It went to trump neroli in 2016 nerolitunned to trump in 2016 which stunned democrats rowly in 2016 which stunned democrats. Voterslphia turned out numbers which was necessary to win the state. To senatoralking toomey and senator casey about their careers. Where this to miko . Where does senator toomey go . What is the future hold for these two men as they navigate all these currents . Lets hear from michigan, a biden supporter. Caller i had a question for mr. Costa. Validatede votes are onc thee Electoral College votes are validated, what does to look for to the transition in a smooth manner . It is going to be a good outcome for us if that transition doesnt happen for us smoothly. Guest there are two pieces on theWashington Post about alarm in the National Security community about the lack of a formal transition so far. There is a story by shane harris whot concerns that trump fired mark esper could start to overhaul the Intelligence Community and military complex, the military leadership in the country in the final weeks of his presidency in a way that might be unhelpful to say the least to american stability. Those pieces are president elect biden is moving forward with the transition even though he does not have the support of the Government Service or the administration which works rate, gives federal funding for personnel, for planning. From see him taking calls u. S. Allies and world leaders, trying to project many of the president elect. Because the election has been called, he is president elect. Out,is litigation plays the Trump Campaign continues to challenges, its unlikely that his own administration will change their position perhaps until january, maybe even december. That is a real challenge provided. He is moving forward first biden. He is moving forward and organizing its own way. Legal challenges continue, the clock continues taking for several of the key states that have election certification days coming up, november 13. That instructor, of course. Arizonas certification date, november 30. Michigan, november 23. Counties in pennsylvania will certified by the 23rd. Wisconsin on december 1. If you had to guess, do you think we will have a finality on this by the first of december . Guest i mean, the race has been called, the Washington Post, the associated press, we are looking for a formal certification and the one thing to Pay Attention dois the Electoral College, state legislators try to change the electorate in any way out of frustration . Is something to Pay Attention to. Seehis point, it is hard to how it plays out in different ways. In pennsylvania, republicans have been frustrated. Court, justicee alito ordered to keep the account going. Because they dont like mailin ballots being part of the final count in pennsylvania. That is frustrated then. But account continues in pennsylvania. Host trump supporter in florida. Caller good morning. Is in the senate race in georgia is that you have both senators on the same where georgia has also provided class one, class two, and class three. Well, she should have served, i dont know what cycle they were on. They should not be on the same ticket regardless. What they are trying to do for the federal government, the State Government has the same terms to keep it in the past. Surprised me when i saw both senators on the ballot. Im wrong,ct me if Kelly Loeffler would serve the term until 2022. The legislature, the laws in georgia called for that race to happen in november. Best week. Last week. Guest thats right, but the color makes a fair point that it is highly unusual to have two senators from the same state appearing on the ballot at the same time. Even more unusual to have a runoff for both u. S. Senators in the same state. Showdownt a historic for the Senate Majority to come down to two seats in the same state in a runoff election. You are right that she would only serve senator isaacsons term. After being elected in 2014, he now faces another sixyear term. Matt race is something to really pay close attention to. Warnock, Martin Luther kings pastor at his church, he has been under the radar politically for months, but is now starting to get International Attention and he is running against Kelly Loeffler, the incumbent republican senator. She is in a possibly weaker position than senator perdue because senator presumed senator perdue has run statewide. She is in a tougher position as an appointed senator to claim that she is the incumbent in a significant way with a lot of political capital. In the reverend is going to have money to be on the air, so it could be highly competitive. The initial race before the runoff. He is kind purdue, of cut from a traditional republican candidate cloth. A businessman from the south, a former ceo. But hes running against karen got a lot ofo has attention from the leftwing of the Democratic Party in recent days, hes in his 30s. But hes close to the late john lewis. He has always touted his friendship with john lewis. He is hoping to win a Broad Coalition in georgia. Youre going to see a lot of big names go down there like Vice President pence announced on tuesday that he would go to georgia on november 20 three campaign event, and youre going to maybe see President Trump, president obama, maybe even president elect biden and senator harris. Senator harris has been an issue, any sense. Senator perdue, who is usually a down the middle conservative, said senator, now Vice President elect harris name in a way that Many Democrats and some republicans thought was mocking her name. I wont say it how he said it. Senator perdue has denied mocking her name, but that issue and the way senator perdue and Vice President electharris to have brought race her announced in that way has really put race in the mix anyway that it was not part of the discussion beyond the racial reckoning in this country maybe six or seven months ago. Is our guest,osta Washington Post reporter. Back to your calls. Florida, hi there. Caller thank you so much for taking my call, Great Respect for cspan, cnn as always. My call is to kind of address the elephant in the room. Im an american. Im not going to go to the left, im not going to go to the right, im not going to go moderate, im not going to go any of that. The big elephant in the room is dealing with a sociopath the last four years, and that is basically a. If anybody wants to google it, there are 12 things, so just do it. I guess im a little frustrated, but arent we all . I pray for the entire country right now. Thank you for taking my call. All the way costa, along, President Trump said from the beginning he was an unconventional candidate, has been an unconventional president. Guest that is true. I am not a medical professional, so what President Trumps mental state is in his psychosis, i will leave that to medical professionals. Your fear for the country is appreciated, that can never hurt. What we are seeing right now in the democratic electorate and republican electorate, deeply frustrated disruptions of the trump years, the shattering of norms to the point where people feel that this american moment has elements of a political apocalypse. In particular, the Republican Party. The Democratic Party is facing its own dynamics and changes internally. So the caller voicing her frustration about president is ans personality approach to governing, she is clearly ready to see him leave the white house and her view, while i cant comment on the details, i would say her frustration is indicative of why, perhaps, president elect biden got 74 million votes in this election. Was historic turnout, record turnout historic turnout, record turnout. Host lafayette, louisiana, trump supporter. Good morning. Caller good morning, thanks for taking my call. Just to hear the term widespread voter fraud. There is a difference between widespread and just voter fraud. Is it a number . I dont understand why they keep using that term. Guest we use the term widespread because we need word. When we say there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud, it is because we know, as you said, that there is anecdotal evidence thatter irregularities and deserves scrutiny by reporters and officials. But these examples of voter irregularities and claims and allegations dont automatically juste frontpage stories because someone said this should be a frontpage story. We are looking at the integrity of the election but we are also talking to Election Officials theexperts to understand at people who monitor elections, what are they seeing . What are they hearing . And what they believe is the truth. Bradley would often it is to get as close to the truth as possible. The pursuit of the truth often means youre hearing about anecdotal evidence of voter issues and then you talk to Election Officials and they tell you that those examples are anecdotal and that the election has integrity. You have to reflect that in the reporting. Host robert costa, President Trump this morning continuing to treat about the Election Results, saying this just moments ago. The fake posters at Washington Post produced a possibly illegal suppression full just before the election showing me down seven points in wisconsin when, in fact, on election day, the race was even. We are now preparing to win the state. Instances,. Lorable wisconsin, one of the states the president was likely to win, but was called for joe biden. Guest it has been called for president elect biden. The president s grievance with the polls is hardly new. But as a reporter, i dont count on polls to give me the guide every single juncture about where the electorate stands. , hopefully snapshot based on the best data at the time, but as any pollster will tell you, whether it is the Washington Post or abc news or cnn or nbc, i dont speak for them, but i know them on both sides, democratic and republican parties. Polling has outliers. There are always going to be polls that have challenges. They are not a perfect snapshot. That does not mean polling should just be abandoned. At the time, it is helpful and understanding. We are electorate drifting on an issue or an incumbent or a candidate. It is informative but is not determinative. Front page of the Washington Post, surge shows no sign of easing. Hospitals are under growing strain and reportedly expanding the coronavirus across the country. How did the covid19 pandemic become such a National Political issue . Since it has been one february and march. It has been the story of the year. The president ial campaign, my view as a reporter, has always been second fiddle to the Global Pandemic. Response toumps it, the response of different governors, that is the defining story of 2020. Hundreds of thousands of americans have been killed. Hundreds of thousands. More than 230,000 at least at the last count, im sure it is higher at the moment. I have been busy covering the campaign, i have not been tracking the death count that it is a grim story. Anything that is this grim should and would be at the front of every newspaper every day. We are now heading into the fall and winter season that could be bleak. You have seen in georgia, for example, more outbreaks, going into the socalled red zone in georgia. That is as many voters are preparing to vote in january. And you see across the country, issues. I speak to governors all the time at Washington Post live, i sat down with larry hogan in maryland, republican. Arkansasepublican from yesterday. A few days ago, it was a democratic governor of michigan. And when you ask the governors what are they concerned about, it is not the election, it is about the pandemic. And they worry that with thanksgiving on the horizon, many people are going to be circulating inside closed doors with the heat blowing and no masks inside, little social distancing. Those could be spreader events. It is hard not to be alarmist because they are facing more death in their state as people have holiday traditions in december. How to deal with that, telling people to wear a mask inside, but it is a difficult thing to wrangle people toward making different choices after years, decades of doing the opposite. Host lets hear from georgia, on the biden line. Caller thank you. I want to tell mr. Costa, i look forward to us having a president who is not so disrespectful to the press, referring to them always as fake news. I appreciate the job that all of you all do. First of all, one thing i would like to say is a little while back, they were talking about some of the things with trump not telling tales and all this other kind of stuff, talking about the post office thing. Going online. Cnn ended up doing a reality check and it was like eight major tells for lies that trump had put out there and that had been verified what was factual and not that you might want to look up. Maybe your callers that look to fox news for all of their information would see something else. I wanted to talk about the vote for a minute. May, ive got the application and i filled it out and i sent it in. And i never did receive my valid. I talked to a couple of my neighbors who i knew would be voting different from myself and they have received theirs. Placealled my election and they lifted up and told me that they had mailed the one out. I told them that i did not get it and they said that they would mail me another one. It was only a few days before the primary was here, so i was going to have to handle it. So i wentdnt did it and voted in the primaries in person. A couple days or so later, i got my ballot in the mail. So i told them i received it and so forth. And i discarded it, did away with it. Host i am going to have to let you go there, we are wrapping up. Your response . Guest i appreciate that story and i hope it ended there and that your vote was counted and i appreciate your comment about the press. I understand some of the callers here have frustrations with republicans, frustrations with democrats, and you have frustrations with the media at times. You have the right wall of those opinions, i encourage you to be part of the debate. Just finish by saying im a reporter, i do my best. Like all of us, we have our flaws. We do our best to pursue the truth, to reveal people in power on both sides, republican, democrat, independent. I remain committed to that and even in this chaotic atmosphere i appreciate everyone calling in and having this dialogue. Host you can see him weekly on washington week, he is the moderator and a reporter on Washington Post. Com. Guest guest thank you so much. Thank you. Bob casey discusses the 2020 Election Results with the Washington Post. Live coverage begins this afternoon at 1 00 p. M. On cspan, online, or you can listen live with the free cspan radio app. Watch American History tv in primetime on veterans day starting at 8 00 p. M. Eastern. Military historian Patrick Odonnell on his book the story of the untold americas unknown soldier in world war is most decorated heroes who brought them home. Then the two real american films. And at 11 20 p. M. Eastern, the 1945 film the army nurse. Watch American History tv veterans day tonight starting at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan three. Cspan podcast looks at the Electoral College with the president ial election still being counted. We look at the challenges facing the Electoral College. Our guests are the manager of election law reform at the Heritage Foundation and Brooklyn Law School assistant professor of law. Wherever ueekly