Outcome of this election. What these lawmakers do next week will be etched into history, and the only thing theyll accomplish is causing a spectacle. Cnns Boris Sanchez joins us from the white house. Boris, President Trump and some of his most fervent supporters still seem to leave the election can be overturned but anyone with political sense knows this is over. Whats in it for josh hawley and ted cruz and these other senators . Reporter well, specifically for josh hawley, hes a rising star in the republican ranks. It is widely believed that he is anticipating a run for president himself in 2024, and this elevates his profile with Trump Supporters who still remain the bulk of the republican base. You could say the same about ted cruz. He has made a number of moves in a recent year in anticipation of a potential 2024 run, but for many of these other lawmakers, its simply about survival, ana. President trump has gone after republicans who have said they will not object to the Election Results, including john thune, the number two republican senator, calling for him to be primaried in south dakota. For many of these lawmakers looking to protect their seats, they do not want to be primaried by a trumpbacked candidate. It puts them in a very precarious situation and its obvious where the power lies in the republican party. It begins and ends with President Trump. I do want to point out, there are some republicans that have come out and essentially said that they are going to support the certification of the Electoral College results, including Lisa Murkowski of alaska and of course pat toomey, the senator from pennsylvania, a state that many of these lawmakers have frequently cited as one where the Election Results are, for some reason, dubious without real, substantial evidence of widespread election fraud. I want to read to you a portion now from a statement put out by senator toomey. He writes, quote, the evidence is overwhelming that joe biden won this election. His narrow victory in pennsylvania is easily explained by the decline in suburban support for President Trump and the president s slightly smaller victory margins in most rural counties. I voted for President Trump and endorsed him for reelection. But on wednesday, i intend to vigorously defend our form of government by opposing this effort to disenfranchise millions of voters in my state and others. This move by these 12 republican senators and more than 130 lawmakers in the house of representatives who are anticipated to object to these results done out of political expediency, ana. Boris sanchez, thank you. Joining us now to discuss all this is cnn legal analyst eleli elie honig and susan page. We have a dozen republican senators completely dismissing reality, supporting an opposition that even the president s own justice and Homeland Security departments wont put their name on. Whats your reaction . Well, and of course four of these senators are senatorselect. They won their seats in the election that theyre now suggesting was fraudulent. I think it does show that President Trump has done something no losing president ial candidate has done in modern times, and that is kept control of his party even after losing the president ial race. This is a sign of the sway hes going to have for the next couple years, whether he ultimately decides to run for another term in 2024 or not, and thats going to create a series of conflicts for republicans. You know, this is democrats are decrying this across the board. Republicans are quite divided on the issue about whether this is the appropriate thing to do. That is not good news for the gop Going Forward. David, these senators are attempting to undermine the vote of millions of americans. This week, republican senator ben sasse said this. When we talk in private, i havent heard a single Congressional Republican allege that the Election Results were fraudulent. Not one. Instead, i hear them talk about their worries about how they will look to trumps most ardent supporters. Do these senators truly believe what theyre saying publicly today . Yeah, hi, ana. I dont know if they believe it but it looks like theater. You have a situation where this has been through election day, the certification, the safe harbor deadline, the Electoral College voting, and dozens of legal challenges. No one has brought evidence forward that suggests that there was widespread voter fraud or there is any way for this election to be legally constitutionally overturned so its either a case of senators being afraid to get on the bad side of President Trump and his supporters, or, as boris said at the top, you can look at this as the start of the 2024 republican primary. Senators proving, especially those like hawley and cruz, who are likely to run, posturing for their voters to say, look, even if President Trump lost, im on the side of President Trumps 74 million voters. Elie, heres an excerpt from the Senate Republicans statement today. The election of 2020, like the election of 2016, was hard fought and in many swing states narrowly decided. The 2020 election, however, featured unprecedented allegations of voter fraud, violations and lax enforcement of election law, and other voting irregularities. Allegations are not evidence, no matter how many times the president repeats them. The, you know, trump team of lawyers has presented dozens of claims that have been tossed out of court because they failed to provide actual evidence of any of this. So, what legal ground do they have to stand on here . Theyve got nothing. They have no legal ground here, ana, youre exactly right. Look, theres a difference between allegations based on proof and allegations that are just this wild fantasy that this whole idea is built on. The law theyre using here is called the electoral count act of 1887. Its an obscure law. What it says is, if you get one member of the entire house of representatives, one member of the senate to agree, you can go into debate, and from that point, it takes a majority vote in the house and the majority vote in the senate to discard any of the electoral votes. It seems very likely theyre going to get neither. Theres enough republicans who are not on board with this in the senate. Theres no possible way they get this in the house. So even though it is a completely doomed legal effort, it is still so injurious, so damaging to our basic democracy. And susan, senators ron johnson and mike braun, a couple of names on this list today, they said on the record, publicly, a couple weeks ago, that they would not challenge the results. In a recent interview, senator johnson said he would not object to the vote certification unless new evidence surfaced, quote, that would call into question the legitimacy of the election. Senator braun saying, we must set aside politics and respect the process. No new evidence has come to light, so what possibly could have changed for them to flip their position in just two weeks . Well, they must have felt, i think, the heat from President Trumps continued criticism. Heres one thing thats the most sobering aspect of this. We know this is doomed because democrats control the house, but they dont control the house by much. What if republicans had won control of the house in the election, which was not an impossible prospect . Would they be prepared, at this point, to seriously consider overturning the votes of the electorate to keep President Trump in office . Because a majority of republicans in the house are say theyre ready to do that, are ready to protest, to participate in these challenges to the Electoral College count on wednesday. That is something that i think raises some serious questions about how the Electoral College works and what the prospects might be if we got into that situation down the road. David, senator mcconnell is telling members to vote their conscience. He did acknowledge bidens victory, but hes not necessarily slapping down this latest political stunt, at least not yet. How much of this circus lies at his feet, in your opinion . Well, there was a point in time, going back closer to election day, when Republican Leadership could have come out more forcefully, Congressional Republican leadership, in both houses, and put a stop to all of these sort of stop the steal rhetoric coming out of the white house and from some of the president s other prominent supporters and said, look, this election was run fair and square. There have been legal challenges. The president has a right to pursue legal challenges, but once they were over and once the Electoral College has had its say, there would be enough. But the but senator mcconnell and others did not do that vocally and now were seeing, at least in part, the price of that. Ana, can i just step back and say one thing that has been underdiscussed here. This case has gone to the Supreme Court in that case from the Texas Attorney general. The Supreme Court is twothirds republican appointed and onethird trump appointed. If there was validity to these legal challenges, its inconceivable that these justices would not have at least given it a look. But case after case after case showed that those bringing those legal challenges just didnt have the goods. This is a situation where the republicans challenging this say they have raised questions or theyve heard questions raised but they just havent brought the goods to the table. And thats so interesting because, yeah, thats what i read in their statement today, this twopage statement that they put out is that there are all these allegations, people are, you know, uncertain about what to believe, and thats why we need to investigate this further, but yet theyre not presenting any new evidence and they even mentioned the Supreme Court cases that you mentioned, david, to this point, twice. They write, the Supreme Court had the opportunity to do so. Twice, the court declined, talking about hearing evidence and resolving these claims of serious election fraud. Elie, they bring up the Supreme Court slapping down or dismissing these cases. Should the Supreme Court have done more to settle this . No, i think the Supreme Court was very decisive. They were unanimous in rejecting these cases and i think if i could sound a positive note here, we have seen our courts, the independent judiciary, step up here, and our constitution has with stood attacks. It will withstand this attack but weve seen judges from the Supreme Court, as david noted, on down to the federal courts of appeals, the state courts, regardless of who put them on the bench, Standing Firm and saying, you get nowhere if you have no facts. Our constitution is resilient. It is strong. This is a major test, but it will withstand this. Elie honig, david, susan, good to have you with us. Thank you for your perspectives and expertise. Meanwhile, california just set a new daily record for deaths from the coronavirus. And the surge is pushing hospitals to what one official calls the brink of disaster. Stay with us. The first weekend of the new year bringing with it new hope that the Coronavirus Vaccine will bring an end to the devastating pandemic, but its been slow going so far. The federal government aimed to have 20 million americans vaccinated by new years day. The actual number is just above 4 million today. As states struggle to administer this vaccine without much federal guidance, the grim covid numbers keep soaring across the country. In december, the u. S. Suffered its highest onemonth death toll yet. And hospitalizations have risen to new highs for four straight days. Perhaps the starkest illustration of these Alarming Trends is seen in california. Once again, a dangerous hot spot in all the world that Officials Say is on the brink of catastrophe. Cnns Paul Vercammen joins us from los angeles. Paul, theyre witnessing one covid death every ten minutes there. Reporter thats right. In los angeles county, specifically, its just been overwhelming. In the state of california, 21,000 people in the hospital with covidrelated symptoms. Behind me, white memorial hospital, not huge, 350bed hospital, 180 of the patients are covid patients. But a moment a joyous moment here. The army corps of engineers has arrived and this is one of seven hospitalizations now in the Los Angeles Area thats being looked over by the corps of engineers for improvements. Particularly for the oxygen supply. How do they get that vital oxygen to these covid patients, more of it who are gasping for breath . Theyve been to four hospitals so far. A colonel telling us that theyve seen some issues with the possibility of freezing and theyre going to make recommendations to improve all of this. Were going to make recommendations, the best that we can, through our Technical Expertise that we have on the ground, to make recommendations on ways that that could be useful for these facilities to lessen the impact on their mechanical staples, yes. Reporter so, theyre also looking at such things as surge tents and how the oxygen supply is being administered there. Going through hospital and hospital and hospital, and i should note that colonel belten told me off camera that she was astounded by the great job many hospitals have already done, the proactive job, is adjustments made, the expansion of e. R. S and icu units. She said one hospital in Panorama City had gone so far as to convert all the Administrative Offices into a covid unit. Just amazing, ana, when you see these daily acts of valor here in california. Absolutely. Paul vercammen, thanks for that reporting. Our next guest was forced to cancel his own inauguration ceremony after armed demonstrators gathered outside of his home to protest his statewide mask mandate. New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu says it culminated monday night. Police caught a man in his backyard armed with more than two dozen rounds of ammunition. The republican governor of new hampshire, chris sununu, joins us now. Governor, that sounds terrifying, and im sorry for what you and your family have been going through. What has your life been like since these protests started and how do you explain it to your children . Its hard. Theres no doubt. Look, here in new hampshire, we take kind of take pride in our accessibility of our leadership. We live in a small residential neighborhood. I dont live in a Governors Mansion behind a lot of walls, nothing like that. Been living in the same neighborhood for 15 years. Its a t way all governors do it but with the accessibility comes the understanding that there has to be understanding of privacy for my wife, i have Young Children in school and if folks want to protest, thats fine. We have protests all the time. Come to the state house, nice public sphere, its actually more appropriate if youre talking about policy to come there. But to come into the residential neighborhood, to come on to my property in a threatening way, obviously that just its really, honestly, an accumulation of what were seeing across the whole country. Theres this whole new boundary, this whole new goal post of what people deem as acceptable when they are not happy with a policy or they want to protest something. We saw it with what happened over the summer. We saw cities burning. We saw all of this real chaos, things that we never imagined seeing and i think that overall, our society has just taken it to another level of how far can we push the boundaries . Unfortunately, we do have to make some changes. My first responsibility is to the safety of my family, the safety of my citizens, and while we were moving the inaugural ceremony outside to be socially distanced and safe because of covid, to be able to secure is that entire plaza in an appropriate way and guarantee everyones safety just became too problematic so well do a smaller private ceremony and its just unfortunately, these are covid times, and we all have to make changes and make adjustments based on whats happening out there. Even making this adjustment, though, doesnt change the mindset of some people. Are you concerned about your own safety and that of your family . Look, since the day i became governor, im always concerned about that. I know it just takes one individual that wants to be on tv or whatever it is, and make a point, and so it doesnt take much to put yourselves in a dangerous situation and one thing i try to do, i try to stay very optimistic. I try to stay very positive. And what i try to tell people is, with all the emergency orders, many of the emergency orders i put forth that even i dont like. Right . I mean, i wish i hope no governor has to make some of the decisions that we have had to make. But they are temporary. They are hard, but they are necessary. And they are necessary to get us through this while maintaining a lot of flexibility with our economy but also a balance im very proud were still below average with our covid cases, been able to manage the vaccines coming out. We have a lot of things to be hopeful for in 2021 and i think thats the step the entire country wants to see us take, not just as Public Officials but we got to put the election behind us. We got to put the tough times of covid behind us, understand that we still have to be disciplined but with the vaccine here, with, i think, a lot of new hope on that horizon, i think 2021 stands to be a great year, but you know, it just takes one individual that wants to spoil the party for everyone. Right, and what is your message to protesters who refuse to acknowledge the science, who are instead focused on this idea that this is, you know, the live free or die state. And what if it happens that theyre also, you know, not only not wanting to wear a mask but refusing to get a vaccine, i mean, theres this is a much bigger snowball. Well, yeah. Look, i cant convince people of the science. If youre not buying into the science of whats happening now, theres not a lot of hope there, frankly. What i do try to implore people to understand is its not the restrictions arent about you. Its about your neighbors and your community. We wear masks for others. We maintain social distance for others. We do it for those who might have a child who has an illness that could get compounded with covid or a parent, maybe, that if they get covid would be put in a highrisk situation so we try to remind folks that its not just about protecting yourself. Its about the Community Around you and these, again, are temporary orders that were putting into place, and to think a little bigger. And understand that there is, you know, something on the horizon here. We dont mandate vaccines. Were not going to be mandating the vaccine here. People choose not to get it. Thats fine. When your numbers called, if its your choice not to get it, thats okay. Were making sure all the individuals in the highrisk populations do have access to it today and over the next few weeks were going to get our entire highrisk population vaccinated and then well go to phase two and phase three and so on. We just feel very confident that we are definitely moving forward. Theres a lot of opportunity here. But we just want to keep it positive and, again, we just want folks to be safe. Its just that simple. The president on more than one occasion has retweeted antimask claims to his, you know, 80 million followers. As a governor whos been working hard to combat the spread of coronavirus and is now facing threats, does that frustrate you . Sure. I mean, its not just the president. Theres a lot of folks out there that make claims that masks arent that covid is a hoax. But the president has the biggest platform of all, right . And the opportunity to influence people in a way no other american does. Sure. Look, i support i voted for President Trump. I support the president. But i also call the balls and strikes like i see them. Hes said a lot of things that frustrate us, that we have to push back on. At the end of the day, you know, we have a new administration coming in. I think, you know, i think when it comes to the messaging thats out there in terms of what we should be doing to keep ourselves and our families safe, it isnt just the president , right . Or the governor. Its our community. Its our nurses. Its the doctors. Its, you know, here in new hampshire, dr. Chan and our commissioner of health and human services, laurie, theyre out there with me talking about this. The good news is this. 90 plus of individuals unsportsmanlike the science. They understand the threats that this has posed to our communities. Theyre doing the right thing, the vast majority of folks really are doing the right thing. This is a very small minority. It can be frustrating because it can be very loud. But you do have to respond to it. But at the same time, only speaking for new hampshire, were in a very good place here. We found that balance with the strong economy, most people are wearing their masks, maintaining social distancing, theyre taking those steps they have to because its hard to not know anybody that hasnt had covid right now. Its hard. In fact, most of us know people who have passed away. We lost our incoming speaker of the house was going to be dick hench and we lost dick. He was a longtime friend of mine. We lost dick to covid and that was an alarm bell that rang true across this state and said, whoa, this can happen to anyone. It can happen very suddenly and we all have to take it very seriously. Well, im sorry youre getting threats, and i hope that situation resolves itself. I hope you stay safe and your whole family and everybody in your state. Thank you for joining us. New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu. Even as the nations vaccination effort remains behind schedule, there are some who are trying to get to the front of the line ahead of frontline medical workers and vulnerable seniors. Details ahead. Just more than 4 million americans have now received the covid19 vaccine so far according to the cdc while more than 13 million vaccines have been distributed. And two and a half weeks after the first shot went into an arm, the slow rollout and a limited supply mean its a scramble to get in line for this shot. Heres cnns brian todd. Reporter new information on whos moving to the front of the line for the Coronavirus Vaccine. A letter obtained by cnn from the attending physician of the u. S. Capitol to all the house and Senate Offices this week says each of those offices can have at least two staffers receive the vaccine now. The letter specifies that those staffers should be people whose jobs are necessary for continuity of operations of the government. Staffers who come into the office and interact with people facetoface. This comes as less than 10 of the frontline healthcare workers and residents of longterm care homes in america who have priority to get the vaccine have actually received it so far. But one prominent doctor says its appropriate for congressional staffers to get it. Certainly keeping our government operating and serving us as the citizens is an important feature. So, i think it is important that government does have for essential workers to keep the government running, vaccines supplied to them. Reporter in the sports arena, according to espn, the nba warned its teams last week that they should not try to get the vaccine for their players and staff ahead of everyone else, except people who have high risk for complications from the virus. Nba commissioner adam silver spoke about that to espn. Theres no way we would ever jump the line in any form whatsoever. And for the most part, because our players are young and healthy without some sort of comorbidity, they will not be a high priority. Reporter this comes as we hear stories of wealthy, wellconnected people trying to pay top dollar to jump to the front of the vaccine line. Dr. David with the concierge medical practice in Beverly Hills has among his patients alist celebrities and entertainment execs. He says hes getting a lot of calls from those clients, pressuring him to give them the vaccine now. I have patients call and want to make donations to charities, to hospitals, to the practice, to be able to pay 5,000 or 10,000 to get their families vaccinated. Reporter but dr. Nazarian says hes determined to follow the governments vaccine guidelines and has turned all those requests down. People that are wealthy and usually have access to things, this is one of those things thats its difficult. Its difficult for them to understand that they have to wait. Reporter there are also reports of hospitals taking unprecedented steps to boost security to protect their vaccines from being stolen. And theres concern that crime syndicates may target vaccine supply chains to steal doses or run vaccine scams. You always have the concern about it being stolen or siphoned off to a black market type of situation. This is something we need to be on the lookout for. Reporter and as for doctors in private practices who are coming under enormous pressure to give the vaccine to their patients early, some states have already begun investigating doctors who are suspected of going against the governments guidelines on who should get it first. And those states could take away the licenses of doctors who break those rules. Brian todd, cnn, washington. It could be months before the general population can get the vaccine. Cnn medical analyst dr. Jonathan reiner joins us now. Hes a professor of medicine at George Washington university. Dr. Reiner, more than 13 million doses distributed now but just more than 4 Million People have actually received shots. Whats going wrong . You know, weve had all these months, ana, to prepare for this, and we keep fumbling the ball. The federal government, basically, has outsourced Vaccine Administration to the states. This has been really par for the course for management of the pandemic. They outsourced testing with really disastrous consequences. They outsourced mask mandates and decisions on when states should open. And now theyre outsourcing Vaccine Administration. We need a massive coordinated campaign to vaccinate large numbers of americans quickly, not telling people eventually theyll be able to go to walgreens or cvs. We need a campaign organized probably with National Guard assets, building not field hospitals but field Vaccine Administration centers, using, you know, racetracks and football Stadium Parking lots and Convention Centers and using the resources that the u. S. Government can allocate to the states to vaccinate millions of people a day. I think we need to vaccinate 2 Million People a day in order to get herd immunity by next fall. Were not on track to do that. Our biggest problem is getting shots in the arm right now. We have 9 million dose of vaccine on the shelf ready to go. So, both pfizer and moderna vaccines need two doses, of course, so were only talking about the first dose of these vaccines, but the uk announced some plans to delay the second dose of the Pfizer Vaccine for up to 12 weeks after the first dose. Now i guess the thinking is this should offer some protection to more people while alleviating some of the supplydemand issues. But pfizer says they only tested, you know, that threeweek interval between doses during the Clinical Trials and dr. Fauci says the u. S. Will not follow the uks decision. Whats the right answer here . Dr. Faucis answer is the right answer. We know that we have at least two vaccines that have 95 efficacy, and almost 100 efficacy against severe disease as tested as a twovaccine strategy, either given three or four weeks after the first dose. We know that is spectacularly effective. If we ever got to the point where we were able to vaccinate people so quickly that we just did not have enough supply, we should look at that. But were nowhere near that. Thats not our problem now. We have the vaccine to give. We just dont have the infrastructure to give it, so we do not need to consider that now. If we were to do that, if we were to hold back second shots now, we would just have millions more doses on the shelf looking for arms. We need to concentrate on getting vaccine in as it was studied, and if three, four months down the line, were running short, maybe well have data on one dose by then. But right now, stick with the twodose sequence. We just saw that there in brians piece a concierge doctor getting calls from patients trying to get this vaccine, you know, for a moment, just lets look past these patients who are offering to pay to jump the line, when will private practices have access to this vaccine, if ever . Not for a while. Not for the foreseeable future, i would say. I think there will be a point when we have vaccinated large numbers of people where the vaccine will be widely available in all the venues that influenza vaccine is currently administered. But thats going to take a while. And i think what were going to see Going Forward is vaccine administered by hospitals, by the National Retail chains and why hope is through via large vaccination events in cities all around the country. Eventually it will get to doctors offices but thats going to take a little time. Dr. Jonathan reiner, we really appreciate your expertise and thank you so much for your time. My pleasure. Tensions between the u. S. And iran are rising this weekends ahead of the First Anniversary of the u. S. Assassination of irans top military commander. We have the weekend president ial brief next. I give to shriners hospitals for children because i want to be a part of something amazing. I know my gift to shriners hospitals for children makes a difference in the lives of children. Our support gives kids a bright future. I give because when i see a child smile, i smile. When you support shriners hospitals for children, youre joining thousands of other caring people like you who have helped kids like me and over 1. 4 million other kids do Amazing Things. Will you call the number on your screen right now and give 19 a month, just 63 cents a day . Youll be making a lifechanging difference for a kid just like me. Your support helps us do Amazing Things we never thought would be possible, and this is how we say thank you. 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Org [child] your gift, no matter how small, shows you care. Please hold patiently, or go to loveshriners. Org robinwithout the commission fees. So, you can start investing today wherever you are even hanging with your dog. So, what are you waiting for . Download now and get your first stock on us. Robinhood. Back to our breaking news, despite no evidence, absolutely none of widespread voter fraud in the election, the stage is set for a gop political charade that undermines the most sacred part of american democracy, a free and fair election. At least 11 republican senators announced they will join missouri senator josh hawley in objecting to president elect joe bidens victory when congress meets wednesday to certify his win. I want to discuss with Cnn National Security analyst samantha vinograd. To be candid, this is embarrassing for america, but are there also analysis security implications involved, and especially when our allies and adversaries are watching this . Ana, this amounts to a home grown attack on our democracy, and it has National Security implications. Russias probably having a field day. For years, russia has tried to undermine the credibility of u. S. Institutions and the fact that republican lawmakers are prioritizing personal politics over upholding our constitution certainly helps advance that russian narrative. Separately, the United States has for years tried to promote democracy overseas. Weve spent time and money trying to promote, for example, the orderly transfer of power. This Development Today is just the latest example of republican lawmakers trashing democracy here at home while our team works to advance it overseas. These lawmakers are making our Home Team Look like hypocrites, which makes them a lot less effective. Lets turn to the rising tensions right now between the u. S. And iran. Tomorrow marks exactly one year since the u. S. Assassinated irans ctop commander, soleiman, and iranian officials are warning retaliation could happen on u. S. Soil. Sam, how big of a threat is this . It would be National Security malpractice not to increase monitoring for some kind of iranian attack right now. This is a particularly highrisk period. Tensions with iran have skyrocketed under President Trump. Just last month, iranian proxies attacked the u. S. Embassy in baghdad again and the anniversary of soleimanis assassination could spark another similar attack by iranian proxies in the region or could lead the Iranian Regime to try to inspire assets around the world to attack u. S. Interests or our allies. But ana, we cant ignore the elephant in the room. Trump is a risk factor here too. Its no secret that trump has been keen on striking iran for sometime and he has no problem inventing intelligence to validate his military operations. After he assassinated soleimani, he inaccurately claimed that soleimani was planning to blow up three u. S. Embassies. We could see President Trump again try to invent intelligence as a basis for some kind of strike against iran. The best thing that we have going for us right now is bidens upcoming inauguration. Well soon be able to trust a u. S. President again and if iran does launch an attack, theyll try to calibrate it because they dont want to box themselves in before biden takes office. They want to leave room to negotiate with the Incoming Administration on nuclear negotiations. And while the Trump Administration monitors the situation with iran, its also dealing with a massive cyberattack. What new information are we learning . Well, ana, we do have news, but it isnt good. Initial reports indicated that a few dozen entities were affected in the attack. Were now learning that up to 250 federal agencies and private sector organizations were victims in this attack, and that list could continue to grow. Weve also learned that these hackers used servers on u. S. Soil and it is clear that u. S. Cyber defenses failed to detect this attack as did u. S. Intelligence assets across the board. U. S. Capabilities failed. What we still dont know is equally as troubling. We still dont know russias ultima ultimate intent behind this attack, for example, whether they were solely seeking to conduct an espionage operation or if theyll leverage the information they gained in this attack and their access to launch some kind of future sabotage operation. Thats a question that president elect biden and his team will seek an answer to when they come into office and biden will concurrently have to factor in working with putin on issues like negotiating an extension of our last arms control treaty with russia, so overall, this is going to be a very delicate balancing act for president elect biden. Its a lot. Thats for sure. Samantha, thank you. We have more breaking news right now into cnn. This is about the medical condition of broadcasting legend and former longtime cnn talk show host larry king. Details emerging a short time ago that he is in a los angeles hospital and i want to get right to cnns chief media correspondent, brian stelter. Brian, what can you share with us . Reporter thats right, larry king, more than one of 125,000 americans in the hospital right now battling covid19. Larry king, of course, the cnn legend, an anchor, a host here for more than 25 years. He retired from this network nearly a decade ago, continued producing hosting interview series, in fact, as recently as just a few weeks ago. But he has been in the hospital for at least the past week, ana. Cnns brad parks just confirming that king has been hospitalized, according to a source close to the family, king is 87 years old. Hes been hospitalized at Cedar Sinai Medical Center for more than a week, according to the source. Just reading one more line here from our reporting. Due to protocols at the hospital, weve all heard about the isolation that happens at these hospitals, kings three sons have been unable to visit with him according to the source. This just another example of how covid19 is absolutely tearing through los angeles and through southern california. We have heard about hospitals being overwhelmed in that region, and obviously, we know that highprofile individuals, stars of larry kings caliber, are not immune. King, 87 years old, has had many Health Scares in his life. He underwent heart treatment last year to replace a stent. He also suffered a very serious stroke last year and was able to recover from that. And like i mentioned, ana, hes been working all year long, hosting from his home, just like a lot of us, hosting his web show for tv from his home, still interviewing news makers. One of his recent interviews went viral on social media over the holiday season, so at 87 years old, larry king, he still has it. He still has it. I know a lot of folks watching cnn remember him hosting larry king live for 25 years. Of course, interviewing a wide world of celebrities, politicians, and news makers. Now we know he has been hospitalized with covid19. For more than a week at this point, ana. And are you surprised, given hes such a public figure, that were just learning about this . If hes been in the hospital already for a week. Thats true. It is a little bit of a surprise. This was starting to leak out today. Obviously, everyones entitled to their privacy and these hospitals in l. A. , i got to tell you, they are used to working with celebrities and alisters and they know how to keep peoples privacy front and center. Larry has had a very difficult year. Two of his Adult Children died earlier this year, one due to a heart attack, the other after being diagnosed with lung cancer. And its been a very difficult year. He has opened up about that when he felt it was appropriate and when he was ready to talk about it. But like everybody else, seeking some privacy during the horrid year that was 2020. Certainly, he spent the new year, new years eve, in the hospital. We havent heard from him directly, of course, since heyer in isolation. But obviously, i think i can speak for everybody at cnn, we say our thoughts, our hearts go out to larry and his family at this time. Yep. Yeah. We will keep him in our hearts, our prayers, our thoughts, of course. 87 years old, larry king, again, in the hospital right now, battling covid19. Brian stelter, thank you. Well be right back. We made usaa insurance for veterans like martin. When a hailstorm hit, he needed his insurance to get it done right, right away. Usaa. What youre made of, were made for. Usaa that ive started to do on ancestry. Having ancestry to fill in the gaps with documents, with photographs, connecting in real time means that were having conversations that are richer. I have now a closer relationship with my grandfather. I cant think of a better gift to give to my daughter and the generations that come after her. Bring your Family History to life like never before. Get started for free at ancestry. Com bring your Family History to life like never before. Want to sell the best burger add an employee. Ode . Or ten. Then easily and automatically pay your team and file payroll taxes. That means. World domination or just the west side. Run payroll in less than five minutes with intuit quickbooks. Closed captioning brought to you by there was good news and bad news in the new pandemic relief package for the millions of americans working in the gig economy. The measure extrends there on unemployment support for nearly three months. Because the president delayed signing it, most are still waiting for the assistance they desperately need. We spoke to one of those families. Reporter this family are raising a family of six on less than 400 a week in unemployment. Next week, they could go without that money. We are going to hit rock bottom. Right now, we are able to eat. Forget the rent. That money that was supposed to arrive was to feed your family . Just to feed the family. Reporter the pandemic assistance a day before the federal aid package was signed. That delay means most americans will have to wait for next year for states to issue their checks. I was hoping that money would come in. Sometimes it takes so long for the money to actually kick in. Reporter they are both gig workers. She drove a school carpool, he an uber. The loss of income in march put the family on to a growing pile of bills. If i told you all the bills are up to date . No, they cant b. Its nearly impossible. Reporter nearly 1,200 renters will owe 1,500 in pack rent by january. They owe nearly that much and tear 8,000 in credit card debt. You have to take the letters and put it on the flowers. Reporter their small apartment is a virtual classroom and the four kids eat all meals at home. Thats 16 a day. You can do it. Come on, mommy going to make breakfast. I get so emotional, im overwhelmed. I dont know how to live anymore. Sometimes its so hard. Reporter a recent survey shows 27 million americans say they dont have enough to eat this family relies on food stamps and the food pantry at the Brooklyn Service group copo. Its familiar from free i got these special cucumbers. Reporter she used to work here handing out the food. I was there helping people receive benefits and now im on the other end and im asking for benefits. And the need for Many Americans is only getting greater. Theyre running out of their checks. Thats why were coming, were in hardship because theyre not sure how they will make ends meet. Reporter the new stimulus bill adds an extra 300 a week in unemployment in midmarch. A much needed boost to families like this one. You see the money thats gone already. I dont know where i will spend all that money. And its hard to go back to that place where everything will be okay. I made it special just for you. One of the things in here that held america together has been the music that we share. Jimmy carter, news, music and politics. It had never been done quite that well. I want to introduce to you we enjoyed his music. He became a friend. Hes a rare fix of a rare kind. A man you dont meet every day and you are looking to meet if you ever do. He and i basically come from the same spot. When he went to the white house, he was helping you. His love for music made sense to me, because music is the voice of the heart. Lord i was born a ramblin man it was a risk politically and it didnt matter to him. I think music is the best proof that people have one thing in common, no matter where they live or what language they speak. Jimmy carter, rocking and rolling president. Tomorrow at 9 00 on cnn. Cnn is following breaking news out of michigan. Our affiliate is reporting a small plane has crashed into a house in lioy township just outside of detroit. You can see the images. Listen to how one witness describes the crash. I got up and i walked downstairs. I asked my little brother. Did you hear anything . He was like, it was a garbage truck. I was like, no, that was a little loud. Authorities say the pilot is still believed to be in the plane and they are also urging people to be avoiding this area, because its still an active situation. As we know more we, of course, make sure to bring you an update. This is cnn breaking news. You are in the cnn newsroom. Im ana cabrera in new york. Breaking today, routine ritual threatens to blow up into a major spectacle on wednesday, thats when a dozen sitting incoming senators say they will object to the certification of the Electoral College of votes that confirm joe biden as the next president of the United States. To be clear, this will not prevent bidens inauguration on january 20th. There have been no credible allegations of any voting issues that would impact the Election Results. Now, votes have been counted and recounted dozens of state and federal courts have a fund of the election and dismissed lawsuits claiming voter fraud or irregularities because of lack of evidence. Government, state officials and Justice Department have all said the election was secure and the results are accurate