House task force and dr. Atul gawande now advising the biden team. Plus, former National Security john bolton. And former Homeland Security jeh johnson on the lack of white house conversation. With all eyes on georgia the Senate Majority hanging in the balance. We talk to Democratic Senate candidate jon ossoff. Announcer from abc news its this week. Here now coanchor martha raddatz. Good morning and welcome to this week. 306 to 232. That is where the Electoral College stands with projections now in from all 50 states and d. C. Joe biden with the same number of electoral votes donald trump claimed victory with four years ago. At the time trump called it a landslide. As we come on the air this morning, after refusing to accept the results, the president seems closer to admitting he lost. Trump tweeting his opponent won because, quote, the election was rigged. He did use the word won. Although he has not conceded and the president continues to spread falsehoods without evidence. It comes as his administration stalls the transition process. A growing number of republicans have come out in support of biden receiving the Intelligence Briefings traditionally afforded to president select. Trumps actions have the potential to affect the country long after he leaves office, whether he admits defeat or not, likely to make it harder to bring together a nation joe biden has promised to unite. While the president elect has been calling for unity this election is over. Time to put aside the partisanship and the rhetoric that designs to demonize one another. Its not going to be easy as the president refuses to concede and continues to inflame his 70 million plus voters with the false message that the election is rigged. Ill never accept joe biden as president. If thats your question, thats my answer. I dont believe hes right for our country. You think donald trump has won . Absolutely i do. For me to believe that joe biden got 78 million votes, got the most votes of any president ever in the history of voting i find that very hard to believe. Its never going to be accepted. Never going to be accepted. On a late fall afternoon in a middle class neighborhood in youngstown, ohio i talked to geno, tony and laird. Geno and tony were democrats until 2016. We said if we ever had a person that talked like us, that ran for president or ran for office we were voting for that person. Thats what trump is. As trump continues to baselessly declare he won the election, thats all they need to hear. Theres a recipe for disaster when they decided to have these mailin votes. I dont think theres any way of proving the person that mailed that in is the person that actually did it. You look at what secretaries of state have said. Theyve seen no evidence of massive fraud. From my Vantage Point theres too many smoke and mirrors of ballots appearing here and there. Where theres smoke and fire. Where we deal with liberalism, i put nothing past them. Theres no way. Huhuh. Doesnt smell right. Too many irregularities. Even though trumps own Homeland Security department is calling this the most secure election in history, mother of four carrie pascal. Believes the election was rigged. He was winning. It goes into nighttime. The next day you wake up and the state that was red was blue. So many people voted absentee. You dont trust those votes . They kept finding them. How come youre finding them here and there . You werent finding them in big republican districts. How is it 100 biden . She gets along with her neighbor mike hall, a navy veteran and biden supporter when they dont talk politics. He worries carrie will never be swayed by biden. Can he bring the country together . I think he can do a heck of a lot better than the current president is doing. One man is not going to heal this country. Theres too much divide. Here to talk about the divide former National Security advisor to President Trump ambassador john bolton. Good morning, ambassador. You heard what those voters said about the election. More than 72 million are not seeing the outcome they wanted. The nation really is deeply divided. There were thousands of Trump Supporters marching in d. C. Yesterday. How does your party, the Republican Party, address that . Well, i think its very important for leaders of the Republican Party to explain to our voters, who are not as stupid as the democrats think, that, in fact, trump has lost the election and his claims of Election Fraud are baseless. The fact is weve seen litigation in all the key Battle Ground states and it has failed consistently. The Trump Campaign is doing the legal equivalent of pitching pennies. Where are the silver dollars . Wheres the evidence . As every day goes by, its clearer there isnt any evidence. If the Republican Voters are only hearing Donald Trumps misrepresentations, its not surprising they believe it. Its critical for other Republican Leaders to stand up and explain what actually happened. Donald trump lost by any evidence we have so far by a free and fair election. You havent seen that by Republican Leaders. Very few of them are accepting the results. So what happens . You can talk about that all you want, but theyre not doing it. Well, i think theyre getting ready to do it. I said i think this is a character test for the Republican Party. I dont buy the argument that donald trump has hypnotized Republican Voters or theyre not capable of accepting the truth. This is a myth thats being perpetrated thats not true. It requires people to explain what happened. The Trump Campaign simply has no evidence. Their basic argument is this was a conspiracy so vast and so successful that theres no evidence of it. If thats true, i really want to know who the people are who pulled this off. We need to hire them at the cia. The fact is this is all blue smoke and mirrors. I think people will accept that if they see leaders they respect explain it to them. Probably not the voters i talked to. You worked for President Trump. You know his demeanor and temperament. What do you make of his refusal to concede this race . Well, if he had any character, i would say its perfectly in character. It displeases him when reality doesnt conform to the image that he has of it. I dont expect him to go graciously. I do expect him to go. I think pretty soon well get the stab in the back theories. Well get the dark conspiracy theories continued. He will make life as difficult as he can for the incoming biden administration. I think that harms the country. Ive been through five separate transitions. I know how difficult it is coming in and going out. Every day he delays under the pretense that hes asking for his legal remedies ultimately is to the countrys disadvantage. Certainly in the National Security space. I think given the coronavirus pandemic and the effective distribution of the vaccine and a range of other things as well. This is something he needs to get over. I think we need republicans to explain in the nature of things we need a transition and we should proceed with it as soon as we can. Lets talk about National Security. You say its a danger. Biden has not received the daily president ial briefing. Do you believe its a real National Security concern . Well, i think it goes beyond that. Trump doesnt pay any attention to the daily briefings either. It will be a plus for the country when we have a president who cares to know whats going on in the rest of the world. Its much more complicated than the president. The National SecurityDecision Making process is cumbersome. Everybody agrees with that. Theres a lot of different perspectives and different information that has to be considered. The transition process itself at the state department, at the defense department, in Homeland Security, in the intelligence community, really across the whole government, not just for the Transition Team to be sure they understand the issues the new administration will face, but to move forward with the Selection Process for cabinet secretaries, white house advisers, teams at various departments, this nomination and confirmation process is already beyond description in how lengthy and time consuming it is to do. Ambassador, i want to talk about what the president did this week, that purging at the pentagon, at the nsa, at Homeland Security. What do you think hes up to . Is this trying to get troops out of afghanistan rapidly . Is it a planned strike on iran . What do you think hes up to and how dangerous or not is that . The primary motivation is personal peak. I hope thats right. There are rumors about other things, perhaps creating facts on the ground for the Obama Administration sorry, freudian slip for the biden administration, releasing documents relating to the russia collusion charge. Its hard to say. Its destructive. When you decapitate the top leadership in the office of the secretary of defense with less than ten weeks to go in the administration, really its very damaging, not just for the current minutes, but the Incoming Administration as well. Thank you so much for joining us this morning, ambassador bolton. Always great to see you. Thanks for having me. Joining me now is jeh johnson, the Homeland Security secretary under president obama. Secretary johnson, i know you just heard what ambassador bolton said. What concerns do you have about the purge at the pentagon, department of Homeland Security, nsa . How does the biden team need to address that . Im greatly concerned, martha. Thanks for having me on. The pentagon is typically an island of stability in our u. S. Government. To see the secretary of defense fired just weeks before he would have left office anyway is greatly concerning. Im quite sure its concerning to our military leadership. We can all speculate about the reasons for it. If its got something to do with afghanistan, the president needs to recognize battle field reality doesnt comport with a political calendar. If he wants troops out of afghanistan, as i know most americans do, we have to do it in a way that makes sense, in an orderly manner and that comports with battlefield reality. Donald trump the deal maker should also appreciate in trying to strike a deal you dont unilaterally surrender your greatest point of leverage by withdrawing troops before the Afghanistan Government and the taliban have struck a deal. This is very concerning. If i were in the biden Transition Team right now, i would be very focussed as priority a on restoring stability in our National Security. How crucial is this period of president ial transition . Biden has said, for example, its not critical for him to have classified intelligence right now because theres nothing he can act on. Whats your opinion on that . Martha, a new government cannot start on january 20th from a standing still position. This is what transitions are for. Intelligence briefings, pdbs, when your in office, are your eyes and ears. Respectfully the media, what we read in newspapers and the like, is simply so we understand how the medias covering what we know to be reality. Intelligence briefings are your eyes and ears. President trump himself should appreciate that. During the transition four years ago i personally visited trump tower to tell him things before he became president i thought he ought to hear directly from the director of Homeland Security. I know he appreciated it. Its a disservice to the american public. Its a disservice to our National Security to make the incoming government wait until january 20th to get up to speed on a myriad of issues. Lets talk about the division in the country. You heard those voters as well. You were Homeland Security secretary. How should bidens Homeland Security team address these kinds of Bitter Division . I want to give you one more fact. In the first year of Barack Obamas term the number of antigovernment patriot groups more than tripled according to the southern poverty law center. What do you do about these divisions . What do you do about these groups . Martha, this is going to be a top priority for a biden administration. Our nation is divided right now. There are over 70 Million People bitterly disappointed in the election result. This is going to be a time for healing. When i was in office as secretary of Homeland Security i made a point of talking to all groups. I made a point of visiting, for example, arizona ranchers on our southern border who were upset about Border Security so they would understand all the things that the department of Homeland Security was doing on their behalf. Its the instinct of joe biden, i know from a number of years in public office, to try to bridge the divide, to try to heal the rift that exists in our nation right now. Im quite sure hell make that a priority. I hope he puts in place people in the department of Homeland Security who will do the same thing and follow that lead. Lets talk about putting people in place. Its been widely reported youre a candidate on the short list for the biden administration, possibly secretary of defense. I know you dont want to lobby for the job. What would you bring to the job and would you accept it if offered . Martha, ive been in Public Service four separate times now. Im in private life. Im enjoying private life. If asked to take on certain positions in government, i would seriously consider it. Ive been appointed to senateconfirmed positions three times in National Security. As a patriotic american, i would have to seriously consider anything. But ive had a range of experience in National Security and, if i dont serve in a biden administration, i would of course be pleased to advise whoever is serving. Okay. Thank you very much for your comments this morning, secretary johnson. Good luck to you. Up next two key members of the teams fighting the coronavirus Admiral Brett Giroir and dr. Atul gawande of the president elects covid advisory team. Well ask them both what it will take to get a surging coronavirus back under control. Shh i took mucinex dm for mye phlegmy cough. What about robs dry cough . Works on that too, and lasts 12 hours. 12 hours . who studies that long . Mucinex dm relieves wet and dry coughs. Find a stock basedtech. On your interests or whats trending. 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Airborne. Your daily dose of confidence. Were still facing a very dark winter. The projections indicate we could lose 200,000 more lives in the coming months before a vaccine can be made widely available. We cant forego the important work that needs done between now and then to get our country through the worst wave of this pandemic. President elect biden warning of the dark winter ahead as the u. S. Sets records every day for new coronavirus. This past week nearly 1 Million People in this country diagnosed with the virus and just yesterday the nation surpassed 245,000 covid19 deaths. As i spoke with americans in the aftermath of the election, i found many who continue to downplay the pandemic. Do you not wear a mask because donald trump absolutely not. Thats i just dont believe in them. Same thing with me. Can the masks defend a microbe coming through the weaving of the fiber . I doubt it. I really doubt it. Do you guys not believe the scientists . Covid is real. Covid is absolutely real. I just lost my cousin. I never thought the disease was worth all the precautions and everything that went down as far as shutting down the country. Even though youre worried about the virus how do you feed your family . Im more worried about that with something that has a 97. 95 survival weight. Watch your hands. Eat well. Take your pro buy yot i cans and your vitamins. Do what we do during cold and flu season and pray for the best. We turn now to two experts on the pandemic. Admiral brett giroir and dr. Atul gawande who was named to president elect joe bidens covid19 advisory board. I want to begin with you, admiral giroir. The news on a vaccine is so encouraging. Right now were hitting those grim numbers. Some experts calling it in the United States a humanitarian disaster. The president has been downplaying the seriousness of it. You heard those Trump Supporters. You can have the constant reminders, you can tell them to wear a mask, but things are getting worse. What in the world do you do . Thank you for having me on, martha. As you did point out, we had some remarkably positive news about the vaccine thats over 90 effective. Thats a gamechanger and will bring an end game to the pandemic. However, were in a critical situation today with over 180,000 cases yesterday. Hospitalizations up. Mortality up. I want to tell the American People we know what to do. Weve done it many times before in the sunbelt in the south. The United Kingdom is doing that. You must physically distance. When you cant physically distance, Everybody Needs to wear a mask in public spaces. Thats critically important. They do work. We have to do things like limit attendance, close bars and indoor restaurants. If we do these things, combined with the testing, we can flatten the curve. If we dont do these things, the cases will continue to go up. The United Kingdom did these things. They kept the schools open and major businesses open. We can do that, but we have to do the other things. If we do that well flatten the curve and get to the time when we have the vaccine. Its not far off. We could have 20 million doses by the end of the november and another 20 million at the end of december. Ive been across the country. Its remarkable how in certain places, i will say in red states, theyre not wearing masks. What do you do about that . How does that affect the curve everybody else might want to flatten . We all have to communicate very clearly that the science is clear. The evidence is overwhelming. Whether you want to look at biological data or epidemiology, city by city, state by state, masks do work. Theyre critical from spreading it to everybody else. We know it provides you protection from getting it from someone else. Its not just the little microbe. Its the droplets. Across the board whether these are local mandates, whether voluntary, whether Public Service messages, we have to have the American People wear masks when you cant physically distance. We have to limit the indoor spread by limiting bars and restaurants which are places where youre indoors, not masked. We know that there can be significant transmission. We dont have to close schools. We dont have to close major industries. We have to be careful around the holiday time because even a large gathering within your household can be a way that it can spread. If you just google cdc holiday gatherings, theres some very easy tips to keep your family safe. Admiral, we know who is not shouting that message to the american public. Thats donald trump. The Washington Post is reporting that the president has not attended a Coronavirus Task force meeting in at least five months. Is that accurate . Thats true. The Vice President does chair the Coronavirus Task force. The Vice President we often have several cabinet members there. The Vice President briefs the president every day or nearly every day on coronavirus. Im not concerned that the president doesnt attend. The Vice President is there, secretary azar, the leadership thats there, dr. Birx, dr. Fauci, myself, dr. Hahn, dr. Redfield. Were all working and the docs work every day together. We put out over 50 million of the cardbased tests. Admiral, i want to sorry to interrupt. Were just short on time here. The head of operation warp speed who stood by the president is calling on the white house to allow his team to make contact with the biden covid transmission team, which is being held up by the president who is not accepting the election results. Do you agree they should be given access and talk to the bide covid team . So, you know, im not the doctor. I can say from my point of view the gsa controls the transition process. My team, all the docs that work for us, we want to be extremely transparent. We are extremely transparent with the media, with outside experts is it important to talk to the biden team at this point . Yes or no . Look, i want to be as transparent as possible with everybody. This is not a political issue. Its an issue of Public Health and saving american lives. Theres nothing more important than that. Thank you very much, admiral. We want to bring in dr. Atul gawande. Dr. Gawande, good to see you. You heard what he just said. How important is that transition . Its important. Look, working with the Transition Team, they are im advising them. Theyre ready to go and are getting all the information they can. But youre talking about the biden Transition Team obviously . It is in the nations interest that the Transition Team get the threat assessment that the team knows about, understand the Vaccine Distribution plan. We need to know where the stockpiles are, what the status is of masks and gloves. Theres a lot of information that needs transmitted. It cant wait til the last minute. You can hear in admiral giroirs voice the doctors and scientists want to give us that information. It is vital. What do you believe needs to be done to stop this surge . You, i believe, heard those voters saying i dont believe it. What needs to be done that has not been done in this administration . Well, number one is a clear voice from the top backing a National Comprehensive plan. Weve lacked that. Its led to disarray for the public and confusing messages. That will change. Number two is mask wearing as admiral giroir says, this is the the evidence is overwhelming this can stop and reverse the spread. What i would say to those citizens is simply that when a person goes into a store and does not wear a mask, when they go to a public gathering and are not wearing a mask, theyre hurting everyones freedom. Theyre putting people in danger. More over, theyre turning people away from shops and stores. Thats hurting jobs. Thats the critical mix of things. Opposing masks is like opposing washing hands. Its not political. We can pull together. We can do this. Dr. Gawande, i want to clear this up since another member of the task force suggested there could be a four to sixweek shutdown nationwide. Is there a scenario where that could happen . We are not in support of a nationwide lockdown and believe theres not a scenario unless there simply isnt a scenario because we can get this under control. The critical parts are understanding what weve learned since we did a nationwide lockdown in early april. You can have targeted measures building on mask wearing to include widespread testing, can include dialing up and down capacity restrictions and those measures need to happen in a more localized basis. You can look at new york city for example where on a zip code by zip code basis you can deploy different restrictions in order to get the virus under control. Its quite effective. We do not need to go into a nationwide shelter in place shutdown. Thank you so much for joining us this morning, dr. Gawande. All good to see you. Well be right back. Morning, dr. Gawande. Well be right back. Its only human to see what makes us different. Can also make us better. At chevron were working together with women and minorityowned businessesspending 4 billion since 2014. Because valuable ideas only come. When you value everyone. Shh i took mucinex dm for mye phlegmy cough. When you value everyone. What about robs dry cough . Works on that too, and lasts 12 hours. 12 hours . who studies that long . Mucinex dm relieves wet and dry coughs. This was the theater i came to quite often. The support weve had over the last few months has been amazing. Its not just a work environment. 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And a steady stream of protected income can help you secure the life youve planned. For more than 150 years, generations have trusted the strength and stability of pacific life with their tomorrows. Because life isnt about what tomorrow brings. Its what you do with it. Ask a financial professional about pacific life kisave it slimeball. Ting her congestion. Its what you do with it. Ive upgraded to mucinex. We still have 12 hours to australia. Mucinex lasts 12 hours, so im good. Now move kim, no mucinex lasts 3x longer for 12 hours. Make no mistake we are the firewall, not just for the u. S. Senate, but the future of our country. We proved to the rest of the country that georgia is not turning blue. Georgia is well on its way to solidifying its status as a blue state. Joe biden will need help in the senate. We are invigorated in georgia. We need to be able to govern. That comes down to the two races in georgia. All eyes are on georgia where two runoff races will determine the balance of power in the u. S. Senate. Lets talk to one of the four contenders for those seats, jon osso ossoff. Hes hoping to unseat david purdue who we invited on the program and hope to have on this week soon. I want to start with the president. Hes up tweeting about georgia. He said doing a great job in georgia. Their recount is a scam. Means nothing. Must see fraudulent signatures which is prohibited by stupidly signed unconstitutional consent decree. Want to give me a reaction to that . Well, martha, good morning. Thank you for having me. I suppose they say the first stage is denial. Trump is leaving whether he knows it or not. The question is now how were going to contain the pandemic which is raging out of control. Its spreading at an accelerated rate. There are hundreds of thousands of lives hanging in the balance. There are millions of jobs and homes and livelihoods hanging in the balance. Thats why its so important to win these two senate races so the incoming president ial administration can govern and lead, can enact the solutions necessary to contain the virus and invest in economic recovery. Joe biden got nearly 100,000 more votes than you in georgia. What do you think that was about . How do you make up that gap between now and january . We saw a little dropoff on the top of the ticket. We saw a few votes go to the libertarian candidate race in the senate race. This was the closest race in the country, martha. That reflects the determination of black voters in georgia to make a change in this country. Georgias black community has been hit the hardest by covid19. Georgias black community is demanding access to health care, demanding civil rights legislation, to secure criminal justice reform. Georgians are about to celebrate thanksgiving without family. Georgians are looking at a future that is continuing to be threatened by the spread of this virus and an uncertain economic scenario. After four years of division thats been corrosive to our national soul, were seeing recordbreaking turnout in georgia from voters demanding change, who are demanding competent, honest leadership out of this crisis. Yet, your opponent david purdue outran you by 90,000 votes, nearly matching President Trumps vote total. It doesnt worry me at all, martha. First of all, were currently organizing and running the largest Voter Registration and turnout effort in american history. There are 23,000 young people in georgia that will become eligible to vote between the november election and the january 5th runoff. A decade of organizing, much of this work by Stacie Abrams has put the wind in our sails in georgia. Were feeling hope, recognition with trump departing we have the opportunity to define the next chapter in american history, to lead out of this crisis, but only by winning these senate seats. The gop at the National Level has no leader, has no message and has no vision other than stopping joe biden. Were in a crisis. We need leadership. We need to make sure joe biden can govern and this minut administration is successful. I want to go back to joe biden. Hes been projected the winner in georgia. We know theres an audit under way. It appears the margin of victory will remain quite slim, about 14,000 votes. Given that narrow margin is this about an aversion to donald trump or enthusiasm for joe biden . Theres massive enthusiasm for joe biden here. Look, joe biden just unseated an incumbent president by the most significant popular vote margin for a challenger since hoover was defeated by roosevelt in 1932. That hope that i was just talking about, that feeling that we have the opportunity now to heal our nations soul after four years of hatred and fear mongering and division, to empower medical experts to lead us out of the pandemic and to enact a broader program, a new civil rights act, establishing health care as a human right for all people in this country, this is where were headed as a country. Georgians are excited to be part of it. We recognize these races in georgia have national implications. I just finished a sevencity, fourday tour and the enthusiasm is off the charts. Thank you for joining us. Best of luck to you. Good to see you. The round table is up next. Were back in 60 seconds. Ning us. The round table is up next. Were back in 60 seconds. Lets bring in the powerhouse round table. Abc News White House correspondent rachel scott, Ap Washington bureau chief julie pace and Senior National correspondent terry moran. Julie, i want to start with you. We began this program with a tweet by donald trump. It seemed like he was moving towards saying he lost because he said he won, referring to joe biden we assume, because the election was rigged. Well, just a short time ago he tweeted again and this time he said, rigged election, we will win and that was followed by he only won in the eyes of the fake news media. I concede nothing. What do you make of that, julie . Was that an accident where he said he won . Did he not mean to say that or is it just a typical day in tweet world . It seems like a typical day in tweet world with big consequences. This is the second time we saw the president inch up to the line and publicly acknowledging what we all know and what we know the president knows privately is that joe biden has won because he won the most number of states and the most number of Electoral College votes, not because the election is rigged. The president wants to keep pushing that message because he wants his base of loyal supporters who have been there for him on his side largely for whatever comes next. There are real consequences to him not acknowledging bidens victory publicly. One, the transition cant move forward. There are National Security implications to that. Two, those voters you talked to martha, were so powerful, there are millions of americans who are not going to accept joe biden as a legitimate president and that is dangerous. Rachel, is donald trump the only one in the white house who thinks he still might win even if he actually does believe that . Do you think he really believes that . Julie doesnt. No. I think the president himself knows he has lost this election, but still wants to fight it tooth and nail. Advisers close to the president also have contended with the fact that joe biden will be the next president of the United States. I think you have two groups around the president. You have one group that doesnt want him to wave the white flag just yet. They want him to energize the president s base. Then you have the other group who is looking at the projected wins for joe biden in arizona and georgia. Theyre looking at the department of Homeland Security who called it the most secure election in american history. Theyre looking at the four states where judges threw out the president s postelection lawsuits because they didnt have evidence of widespread voter fraud. Theyre seeing the writing on the wall and that joe biden has cemented a president ial victory with 306 electoral votes, the same number that President Trump got in 2016. Back then, martha, he called that a landslide. Terry, give us the reality check on legal challenges, whatever they may be, that trump keeps talking about. Rachel just said it. The president claiming the election is rigged is a lie. Its a lie. We can say that because in our country we test claims like that in court under rules of evidence developed over centuries to distinguish truth from falsehood. Hearsay and authentication of evidence, materiality and relevance and things like that. Theres an adversarial process. At the end of the day you figure out what happened. In almost every single case hes brought more than 20 cases alleging some kind of fraud. Judges, state and federal, republican, democrat, have almost unanimously thrown these cases out instantly with scorn. Whats remarkable in reading some of these judicial opinions, including by trump appointees, they dismiss these cases saying theres no credible evidence. Its stitching a web of conspiracy theory. No eye witness testimony that holds up under the most minimal legal examination. We prove these things in court. He hasnt. Hes lying. Lets bring in the new yorkers evan osnos. We had some technical difficulties earlier. Hes a pulitzer price winning author. Also the author of a biography on joe biden the life, the run, and what matters now. Evan, you describe donald trump as leading these past four years in the register of force. Explain that and what that means going forward. You know, from the very beginning of this administration he has believed if you cant persuade people, well then you can try to bully them. You can try to prevail over them. Thats really where we are in this process. You know, the vote counts are clear. The lawsuits are clear. As you just heard from terry, hes losing in the courts. Now hes going to the public. Im reminded of the words of his late lawyer and mentor roy cohen who used to say dont tell me what the law says, tell me who the judge is. In this case donald trump is saying im going to go to the judge of Public Opinion because he knows the facts are against him. Really, the fact is its clear whats going to happen on january 20th. Joe biden is going to take the presidency. Donald trump right now is bidding for Something Else which is to try to establish a narrative that will give him a life beyond the presidency. The stakes for that are enormous. They represent the credibility of american democracy. Julie, lets talk about the hill. As you know very few republicans have admitted that joe biden won. You heard john bolton say he thinks republicans are getting ready to come forward and say joe biden won the election. Are you seeing any evidence of that . We saw a little bit of Movement Towards the end of last week where we saw some republican senators, even if they didnt acknowledge bidens victory, saying it was time for him to get Intelligence Briefings. Thats a recognition on their part of the National Security risks of the incoming president not having a full picture of whats going on with our adversaries. You saw some republicans in key states around the country starting to accept the reality of this election. I do think youll start to see some movement this week, a few more republicans coming forward. Notably the leaders of the Republican Party, mitch mcconnell, Kevin Mccarthy are still publicly in lockstep with the president. We want to look at what theyre saying to the president privately. Are they pushing him to accept realities so they can do the same. Terry, lets talk about joe biden. He isnt taking the bait on any of this. Hes just charging ahead. He is. He doesnt want to get in the muck of what we have lived through for four years, which is this trumpian brawl on social media. Throwing out wild claims without evidence, just trying to get the opponent to take the bait and sink into a mud fight where most opponents lose with donald trump. I think what joe biden wants to do is answer what i think is a craving among a crucial middle of america for a kind of normalcy and to repair the torn fabric of our governance. People dont trust the government. They dont trust us. They dont trust the courts. Too many people are locked into partisan world views and dont trust anybody. Thats one of the main jobs joe biden is going to have, repair the fabric of the democracy. One place he might find the opportunity to do that is with local officials. You do see that people trust their mayors, their local Public Health officials, their governors to an extent, more than anyone in washington. Some kind of demonstration that washington can work with those more pragmatic officials who seem to have maintained the trust of voters might help joe biden do what is his main task, which is calm the waters and repair the fabric of the democracy. Rachel, youre covering the Biden Campaign as well as covering the white house. Hes going to make a lot of cabinet choices soon. He has his priorities straight. You heard jeh johnson talking about the possibility of being defense secretary. Joe bidens cabinet will look different than Donald Trumps cabinet. Dramatically different. Joe biden has promised to have one of the most diverse cabinets and one of the most diverse administrations in american history. Hes starting with the Agency Review teams. Half are women. 25 are being led by black men and women. Joe biden is aware it was black voters in South Carolina that helped him get the democratic nomination and black voters propelled him to the white house. Hes going to be looking to make his administration look a lot like america. Youve been on the road, so have i, talking to voters. Minority voters say representation is great. Its a step in the right direction. What they actually want to see is real change and the challenge for joe biden will be working with republicans on that. Theres only so much he can do on his own. Evan, some president s want their cabinet in lockstep with them. I think were in that phase right now. Does joe biden want that or does he want pushback . You talked to him over the years. You know him well. What do you think i think we have evan not there. Evan, can i repeat that . Can evan hear me . All right. Terry, you talk about that. Theres no question that joe biden is a different kind of leader. Hes trying to make that clear every day. A confident leader hears conflicting opinions. Thats one of the ways you make good decisions. Biden with 50 years in public life understands that. One thing you know about joe biden, whatever you think about him, at this point he knows his own mind and himself. He doesnt need it echoed constantly. He understands he needs to reach out. Hes a politician from a different time, a time when constituencies were gathered in a smokefilled room to essentially voice their views. You can hear it still in his language when he talks about different groups. He doesnt talk about he almost talks about it like he wants people in the room to cut a deal, find where their area for compromise is. I do think youre going to see a different kind of cabinet, different kind of president with that. Julie, we have just a minute here. I want to go back to coronavirus. You mentioned it at the top. The fatigue is very real. Trump has really only talked about the vaccine. Can biden really pull people together on this . This is going to be the challenge of his presidency. This is what his first year in office is going to be about. He has some ability as president to set the nation on a new course, but so much of our response is based on governors, local officials and americans getting on board with this different approach he is going to call for, a National Mask mandate, perhaps more restrictions in states. He cant do that alone. I think were going to learn very quickly how persuasive he can be in getting this country to change course in the opening months of his presidency. Thanks, julie. He does have his work cut out for him given what weve seen on the road. Thanks to all of you. Thats all for us today. Thanks for sharing part of your sunday with us. Check out world news tonight and have a great day. Up next, how area stores are making Holiday Shopping safe. One go inside one store that has reservations to shop. And a popular gym is shutting its doors proposally today. A live look outside where temperatures are just about 50 degrees here in san francisco. Very light winds today. Mostly sunny skies in much of the bay area with highs in the 60s and 70s. Not everyone will see full sunshine. beeping sound