Good news for the American People as well. This afternoon, health and Human Service secretary alex azar said the approve across the pond should give more americans confidence about the vaccine. U. S. Approval by the fda is expected as early as next week as well. A ceo of biontech said he thinks this is the start of the end of the pandemic but that end is not yet here. A White House CoronavirusTask Force Report obtained by cnn says the covid risk to all americans right now is, quote, at historic high. Yesterday, the United States recorded its second highest one day death toll since the pandemic began, almost 2600 deaths in one day just in the United States, that is the worse since april. Nick watt reports for us now, the head of the cdc warned the next three months will be the most difficult time in history for Public Health. Reporter a global first. The brits just authorized the pfiz Pfizer Biontech vaccine and might vaccinate people next week. We believe it is the start of the end of the pandemic. Reporter december 10th an fda panel meets u. S. Authorization could come within days and then . Distribution to the American People becomes immediately within 24 hours. We expect, if all safety and efficacy approvals are granted those doses will arrive on december 17th. Modernas vaccine is about a week behind. The plan . Vaccinate 20 million americans in december and 30 million in january and 50 million in february and march 1st . We will have potentially immunized a hundred Million People which is more or less the size of the significant atrisk population. Reporter refrigerators are ready at airports and hospitals across the country. Pfizers vaccine must be stored at minus 103 degrees fahrenheit. First in line medical personnel and residents of longterm care facilities. A cdc Advisory Panel just made that call. We can do those mass immunization events but cant use that for every person in the United States. Reporter its two doses. Not easy. Take time. Yes, this could be the start of the end. But it is not the end. Tuesday, 2,597 lives reported lost in this country, the second highest total since all of this began. December and january and february are going to be rough times. I actually believe they are going to be the most difficult time in the Public Health history of this nation. Reporter nearly 100,000 americans are now hospitalized, alltime high. We might know show it if we are interacting with you but its so hard reporter some hospitals are now maxed out. We truly are out of beds and its not just the intensive care unit but the medical bed as well. Reporter in friday a curfew in tucson, arizona and San Francisco is thinking about a end to outdoor dining. One in alaska celebrated early. A restaurant dinner before restaurant restrictions kicked back in. Now, the cdc has just reupd the guidance it gave us all for thanksgiving, reupd it for christmas. They say stay home, dont travel. Lets see if more people listen this time. They have also rejuiced the recommended quarantine time after close contact. It was 14 days. Its now down to ten or just seven if you get a negative test result. The hope . That more people might imply. Nick watt, thank you very much. Cnns chief medical correspondent dr. Sanjay gupta joins me now. Lets start with the good news amidst the bad news as well. The Pfizer Vaccine gets delivered on december 15th in the United States. The Moderna Vaccine arrives december 22nd and the heads of operation warp speed say 100 million americans could be vaccinated by february. So walk us through what happens once these vaccines arrive, sanjay. Well, what is going on right now is that these plans are being formulated at the state level. They are putting together an essential task list the governors are basically saying how many doses of the vaccine they are requesting. Obviously, higher demands than they are supplies right now. But they are sort of getting prepared to sort of figure out what their needs are going to be. They are also going through work flow programs at institutions such as longterm care facilities and hospitals. That is where a lot of the vaccines are going to go initially. Figuring out how will they take it in and store it and distribute it at the institutional level. After that, the calendar you mentioned. Obviously, the december 15th and december 22nd dates are critical. They are predated by hopefully, authorizations december 10th for the pfizer one and december 17th for the moderna one. This is all happening very quickly. I can tell you one thing. I was on the phone earlier this morning with some folks out in the uk. I think there is i think we are going to be watching what is happening in the uk as well. They have already authorized this vaccine. They are going to be a week or so ahead of us. Kind of watch how that distribution goes, you know, and see what happens there, if there is any lessons to be learned. I guess do you feel confident distribution is going to go smoothly or anticipate there will be some hiccups . I think we have to anticipate, we have to prepare for some hiccups. What we are describing here, most people never paid attention to a Distribution Plan like this, period. But trust the military folks when they say that they have really never done anything quite like this. They have a lot of plans in place so i think it will go as smoothly as it can but simple things are there enough syringes in some of these places and do they have enough vials . The cold storage we talk about and something we are typically to used to in the United States abundance of things and having plenty of whatever we are trying to distribute and works well if you try to ease over sudden surges in demand. Thats not happening here. Basically, as soon as things are being manufactured things will be distributed. When dr. Moncef slaoui talks about 100,000 could be vaccinated it does not take into account the hiccups and Quality Control things have to go right and a lot has to work perfectly to go as smoothly as we are describing. The uk is beginning vaccinating tens of thousands of people next week. What are you going to be looking for in their early days of vaccinations, obviously, as a preview of what could or should or should not happen in the u. S. . I think anything we didnt anticipate. You talk about the cold storage. How is that monitored . How are you certain when you open up a container there wasnt a temperature change . Do those monitors work well . How do people who get the first dose of the vaccine, how are they then communicated with so they come back for their second dose . Is that going to be paper or an app . How are you controlling for that and being able to monitor that . Obviously, if there is any problems at all with the vaccine, you know, we have a pretty good idea of what the side effect profile is and things like that. But is there anything unusual . There is 30,000 or so people who are in these trials, 30,000 to 40,000 and now hundreds of thousands and millions and ultimately billions of people. Do you see things that you didnt see in the trial but start to manifest in larger populations . Cdc advisers voted for Health Care Workers to be the one who get the vaccine first. Who falls under that category . Well, its actually a pretty long list. We can show you the list of people who you might suspect. People who are working in hospitals and clinics, pharmacies and longterm care facilities. Health care workers i would say, when you look at it, its people who are primarily taking care of covid patients. It may sound obvious but Health Care Workers as a group is over 20 Million People in this country. That would be the entire first month supply of vaccine. But for example im a Health Care Worker but im a neurosurgeon. I dont primarily take care of covid patients. I think most institutions, hospitals or maybe at the state level, are going to triage even more deeply within these lists of people in the first phase of vaccinations. That is ongoing. It may be different statetostate or even institutiontoinstitution. The cdc just reduced their remedy quarantine guidelines. Used to be two weeks. Now they are saying seven to ten days for people who are potentially exposed to covid. Why reduce that . I think this was a long time coming. We have been reporting on this for sometime. In the beginning the question was between the time of exposure and the time someone would be diagnosed what is the length of time . 14 days was sort of the outer stretch. Lets not miss anybody. But what we are finding is that, in fact, the average time between exposure and someone either testing positive or developing symptoms is closer to five days. So i think for sometime people have been asking should we shorten it . What youre looking it at on the screen now is the end product of that saying if you got a negative test it could be as short as seven days. If you dont have a test at all, ten days. It makes sense. I think frankly, jake, subjectively, i think its easier for people to follow. This whole covid fatigue thing being out 14 days and your kid has an exposure for a kid at school and out 14 case is that necessary . You want to be safe but you want to follow the science. You talk to a participant in one of the vaccine trials and i want to ask you after the break about that persons experience with the vaccine and potential side effects so everybody stick around for that. Also ahead the possibility of President Trumps preemptive pardons and why he may be thinking about putting himself and his family tops on that list. Sofi made it so easy to pay off my student loan debt. chime they were able to give me a personal loan so i could pay off all of my credit cards. chime i got my mortgage through sofi and the whole process was so easy. Choosing sofi was literally one of the best decisions i could have ever made because it gave me peace of mind. Wake up in a winter slumberland. Soft percale sheets, all things cozy for your best nights sleep. Give the gift of a better bedroom with 10 off at casper. Com pizza. Tacos. Pizza what about subway . Its a good call and everyone loves it. We raised our kids on it. So it stopped the bickering . mocking tone mom, jjs copying me grow up. Mom knock it off try the new subway buffalo chicken or bbq chicken. This ones for you. You inspired us to make your humira experience even better. With humira citratefree. 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Dont touch container tip to your eye or any surface. After using xiidra, wait 15 minutes before reinserting contacts. Got any room in your eye . Talk to an eye doctor about twicedaily xiidra. I prefer you didnt xiidra. Not today, dry eye. You work hard for your money. Stretched days for it. Juggled life for it. Took charge for it. So care for it. Look after it. Invest with the expertise of j. P. Morgan, either with an advisor or online, through chase. After all, its yours. Chase. Make more of whats yours. Sticking with our health lead. Operation warp speed announced 100 million americans could be vaccinated by february and many are wondering about the potential side effects of any vaccines. Cnns chief medical correspondent dr. Sanjay gupta spoke to one moderna trial participant who reported chill and fever and chills. Thats is what you should. That evening was rough. I developed a lowgrade fever and fatigue and chills. Reporter he is describing the side effects he experienced during Modernas Covid trial. I had stiffness and muscle soreness in my left arm and like youre punched in the arm basically. Reporter whether youre going through this whole process, yasir, 22page consent form and hearing about the potential side effects and knowing youre trialing something we dont have data on beforehand, did you have second thoughts . Honest, sanjay, yes. Reporter every decision we make is risk versus reward and when the Company Announced early data showing over 93 4e4 effic yasir was happy. In fact,ing people with covid, those effects last a lot longer and can be life or death. Reporter these are early days. The two vaccine frontrunners in this country, pfizer and moderna, use a type of genetic sequence called mrma, a Technology Never before been used in humans outside of a clinical trial. Mrna stands for messenger rna and it carries the instruction for making whatever protein you want. In this case, the spiked protein the virus uses to enter our cells. These vaccines require two doses, one to prime, one to boost. A few weeks apart so the body mounts what we hope will be a lasting immune response. One of the biggest concerns now is that the side effects that a yasir is describing muscle pain and fever and fatigue. Every of the subject side effects that usually last most more than 24 to 36 hours. Reporter do you worry about the vaccine on you long term . I gave it a lot of thought and what gave me calm was trying to research the vaccine and how the mrna vaccines work. Reporter we know you cant get infected from the vaccine because the vaccine doesnt contain the virus and these are geneticbased vaccines, they dont alter our dna. As far as those side effects go, that may even be a good sign. That means your immune response is working for you and you should feel good about it and shouldnt be any difficulty coming back to the second shot knowing youre in a much better position to fight off this awful virus. Reporter for now, yasir is looking forward to his next appointment on december 20th the exact day the fda might authorize the vaccine for covid19. I put my name down because i felt so helpless. Its public service. I have to do it because i think this is the only realistic way out of the pandemic that we are in. Reporter jake, i got to say again how fascinating this technology is. The type of vaccine this is, the type of therapeutic it uses has never been done before. So, you know, we are seeing, obviously, an important tool for this pandemic. But i think an important tool for medicine. Its changing medical innovation and we should not conflate, the point of this piece, side effects and safety. People can have side effects and it can still be a very safe vaccine. The initial two vaccines need to be taken in two dozeses. Do you have any concerns if people experience side effects after the first dose, feel fatigue or feverish, they might not go back to for the crucial second dose . Its possible. It was interesting talking to yasir. He had the most side effects after the second dose. I asked him had you had the side effects after the first dose, would it have changed your mind . He is a young guy. He is healthy. He said, yeah, it was pretty significant. He still would have gone back. We went back and looked at the trial results and found 98 , at least within the clinical trial, of people did come back for their second dose. Its part of a trial and, obviously, a lot of followup so im worried a bit but, so far, the data is suggested that people will be pretty diligent about this. Its not about flu shots people feel sick but fender off the worst flu. This is one persons experience. Might there be other side effects we dont know about yet . Fascinating, jake. We do these trials on tens of thousands of people and ultimately billions of people are going to take this. There is going to be very he heterogeneous mix of people taking this. What we know is most significant adverse effects currently within two months and two months of safety data was tested. Longterm side effects . The only way you can know that is with the passage of time. We talk a year from now, you say what the year worth of side effects profile . I may have a different answer for you. Its very encouraging the side effect profile has been so low and that time period where they usually mostly occur. Sanjay, thank you. You can join him and anderson along with a brandnew coronavirus town hall, all about the vaccines. That will be friday night at 9 00 eastern only here on cnn. The president is discussing preemptive pardons for his adult children. Now why might they need that . Stay with us. soft chimes [announcer] forget about vacuuming for up to a month. 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[whats this . ] oh, are we kicking karly out . We live with at t. It was a lapse in judgment. At t, we called this house meeting because you advertise gigspeed internet, but we cant sign up for that here. Yeah, but im just like warming up to those speeds. Youve lived here two years. The personal attacks arent helping, karly. Dont you have like a hot pilates class to get to or something . [ muffled scream ] stop living with at t. Xfinity can deliver gig to the most homes. In our politics lead now. A source says President Trump is discussing preemptive pardons for people close to him and could involve nis three adult childrens and soninlaw jared push ner and personal attorney rudy gl who this afternoon have not been charged with much less convicted of any crime. Those are conversations privately. President trump making his last legacy perhaps the sorest loser in american political history and not only pushing deranged conspiracy theories on twitter and stepping over basic bounds of human decency. After a top Elections Official in georgia yesterday begged the president and senators to join him in denouncing Death Threats and threats of violence against election workers. This is a backbone of democracy and all of who have not said a damn word are complicit in this. Stop committing acts of violence. Someone will get shot, someone will get killed. President trumps response take . He posted the same lies about the election and the attacks on Georgia Republican elected officials that are feeding these very Death Threats. A represehensible response mark by the cowardness of republicans on capitol hill. Kaitlan collins reported as the president is mulling over his potential future and the legal exposure of those around him. Reporter with his time in Office Coming to a close, President Trump has discussed potentially pardoning three of his children, his soninlaw, and his attorney rudy giuliani. While their potential criminal exposure is unclear sources tell cnn trumped has talked about pardoning those around him preemptively because he is concerned prosecutors will target them once he is out of office. Ive heard no mention of any pardons in any conversations ive had in the white house other than the pardon of Lieutenant General michael flynn. Reporter other allies are encouraging trump to not only pardon his family but himself. My question is why wouldnt he just pardon himself and his family on the way out the door . Because i think he would be right to do so because these people are nuts reporter the president has not commented but he has dismissed a newly revealed Justice Department investigation into a potential bribery for pardon scheme as, quote, fake news. The investigation was confirmed by the Justice Department when a judge unsealed Court Documents last night which are heavily redacted and reveal no names. No one has been publicly charged to date and a Justice Department official said no Government Official was or is the subject of this investigation. Although attorney general bill barr was at the white house for over two hours yesterday, the press secretary couldnt say whether he met with trump after disputing his Election Fraud claims or whether the president has confidence in him. Does he still have confidence in bill barr . The president , if he has any personnel announcements, youll be the first to know it. Reporter another official standing with trump in question is the fda commissioner steven hahn who was summoned to white house today with mark meadows after the chief complained the fda was not moving fast enough a emergency vaccine approval. The president made no mention upon as he greeted his guests at a White House ChristmasParty Last Night where he teased another president ial run. Its been an amazing four years. We are trying to do another four years. Otherwise, ill see you in four years. Reporter jake, we have any seen President Trump today. He had one meeting scheduled with the secretary of state earlier today. He just posted a 46minute video on twitter where he is repeating a lot of the same lies that we have heard over the last several weeks about the election insisting that he won, continuing to spread conspiracy theories that even his own attorney general disputed yesterday. Also admitting something that we have been reporting he is talking about privately which is this fear that hell be prosecuted once he is out of office. Its a 46minute video. It was taped without reporters in the room, jake. This is the only time we have seen the president today but, of course was we are hearing is basically the same thing we have been hearing which is that he plans to continue to at least try to contest the outcome of the election even though they have failed so far. Yep. The sorest loser in american political history. Kaitlan, thank you. Lets discuss. Laura coates can pardon pardon himself or his children or pretempively if they have not been charged with a crime . Lets start with the easiest one. We dont know fully because the courts have not looked into selfpardons because no other president has tried but it seems pretty clear under the guidelines youre not supposed to stand in judgment of yourself. The other issue here we are talking about his children or anyone preemptively. The answer is yes, you can, in fact, engage in preemptive pardons. Now, the amount of pardon power you have is normally absolute, but noted when gerald ford pardoned nixon and president carter, for example, pardoned those who were video gaavoiding draft. A fixed amount of time. Ford said only the conduct that occurred by the time you were the inaugurated president and resigning as president would actually count. There was more specificity when it came to carters general pardon of those who were vietnam war avoiders saying that it had to be related to a specific statute. You got two requirements really playing up the fact that while it can be preempted, it has has to be a closed universe. It cant be a get out of jail free card and youre pardoned today and 24 years from now you commit a crime you have no accountability. Some of the president s allies are keen on the idea. You heard Shawn Hannity there and congressman matt gates talk about it. Why does trump feel he needs to give his relative a essentially a get out of jail free card . I dont know anything they did that was contrary to the law. That is what the president has said they havent done anything wrong this entire time. I think what you heard some of his allies in the media talk about is giving him a justification that everyone is out to get him and that is why they would need these pardons, be it democrats, i dont know republican governors in georgia . Everyone is against him. He is someone who plays the victim card fairly often and this is another extension of that and i imagine if he decides to issue these preemptive pardons it will be cast in way he is protecting his family and their reputations from, you know, exterior forces against him. The Justice Department is actively investigating a potential president ial pardon bribery scheme. So many details. We do not know. All names were redacted. Why release this if we know so little about it . Well, that is the real question here. As is the question of are we really hear in a state of america where when youve got this extraordinary pardoning power that now envelopes into a pay for play sort of scheme . The idea here that we know so little about who the people are involved. We dont know specifically whether the person was actually given a pardon. We dont know what crime was actually alleged or who the real players are but we do know, although there is redacted information and Kaitlan Collins reported it says no current official is involved in. Who would have the ability to issue a president ial pardon . We know at least one person who is the elephant in the room, so you have to wonder how much more we will learn about this. In any event what ought to be legal and problematic is the president of the United States using his pardoning power to a financial advantage as opposed to one that frankly he couldnt exercise without being paid. Jackie, a source tells cnn that President Trump spoke last night about spending four more years in office, whether that is 2021 or starting in 2025. You heard a clip of that in kaitlans piece. Does a hint of another run in 2024 keep all of these republicans looking over their shoulders and acting with continued deference to him or might there be some distancing because they want to run for president . Its been really interesting. You dont see the distancing you see with an outgoing or lame duck president that we have seen in prior administrations. These potential 2024 candidates are really protecting the president , not saying anything against him and saying joe biden didnt win, and that is because 70 Million People voted for President Trump and those are the same people that they will need to support them should trump decide to be king maker. Now i dont know about you guys. Ive never seen trump give a crown away. So its sort its a gamble that these folks are making but if youre trump, why step down from the throne when so many people voted for you and so Many Republican lawmakers are afraid of you . Laura, you heard in kaitlans piece today the White House Press secretary would not say that President Trump still has faith in attorney general bill barr after he said there was no widespread evidence of fraud in the elections that would change the result. We know barr appointed a special counsel to investigate the russia probe people again. What could the durham assignment to be special counsel what impact might that have on joe bidens pick for attorney general . First of all, we already know that he hasnt have to say whether he has confidence in barr because barr has already gone against him in this area and the idea he had so faith to begin was a trumpedup version in the way barr was a loyalist from stone to man a forty to the unveiling. So his confidence was overblown in the first based on sheer logic. In terms of what he has done now maybe he is count acting a balance the october surprise they thought would happen as a sequel to the comey issue regarding the clinton exposure of investigation, they were hoping that durham would be able to provide that information in october and, lo and behold the doj rule said not so close to an election. By the way, we have nothing to show. Now i think he is hoping to have perhaps that same cloud of suspicion that met the Trump Administration back in 2016 to his advantage and maybe as he goes out the door but one more go ahead. If i could say one thing. You asked very pointed. It could have an impact who the incoming a. G. Is, jake, because, of course, who jeever that is i they are related to the 2016 investigation they may have to recuse the way sessions did. Your pro trump antielection rally in georgia. In the piece a protrump attorney said loeffler and perdont you have not earned your vote and dont give it to them. Why vote in another rigged election . You got to fix it they claim left wing has not done enough to pressure Georgia Election officials to overturn the election results. Sidney powell, trumps former attorney, was there as well. Its almost as if empowering lunatics might end up being selfdestructive. Yeah. I think this is what the term they used in politics, unhelpful, because there is a real fear among Georgia Republicans that things like this. We saw it over the weekend with mcdaniel getting questions when she was at the state about the election being stolen by eroding the confidence in the election at the behest of the president , they are potentially endangering this runoff and their candidates winning. Reaping, sowing, et cetera. Thank you both. Some of the same groups who fought so hard to get joe biden elected are now calling him out in a very public way. 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It meant so much to nellie, maybe it could mean as much to you. Call now and get your free infokit turning to our politics lead now. A new start for a man who held several u. S. Titles in his life. Husband of u. S. Congresswoman gabby gifford. Mark kelly was sworn in as a democrat senator of arizona today. He is replacing the late senator john mccain. Hey, senatorelect. Reporter a full circle of moment for mark kelly. I do. Reporter standing by his wife former congresswoman Gabby Giffords as her Old Office Building becomes his and sworn in today as the newest senator of arizona. It would not be possible without you reporter this moment of triumph has its roots in tragedies. Number one, a shooting gentlem. Reporter in 2011 giffords was shot in the head and nearly killed at a campaign event. It was then that kelly was th s thursd thrust into the spotlight. Maybe something good can come from all of this. Maybe its our responsibility . Maybe its your responsibility to see that something does. Reporter kelly later turned into a political activist launching americans for responsible solutions alongside his wife fighting for gun control policies like universal background checks and red flag laws. Gabby and i are both gun owners. We are strong supporters of the Second Amendment but we have to do something to keep the guns from getting in the wrong hands. Reporter kellys focus on politics a left turn in an already esteemed career. A former astronaut who flew into space four times, two as commander of the space shuttle. These commissions are very challenging and very rewarding. Reporter he and his identical twin brother scott, also an astronaut, participated in a one of a kind twin study to see what space flight does to the human body. When we agreed to do this, you know, it kind of opened up that avenue of research. Reporter and a former navy captain and pilot who flew 39 combat missions in the first gulf war. Mark has already served our country in so many ways. Now we need him in the senate. Reporter this was his first and only campaign so far defeating incumbent republican senator marriage mcsally. These are things most support and apparently senator mcsally does not. Reporter john mccain a man he paid tribute to before being sworn in today. Senator kelly has spoken to cindy mccain of using john mccains old desk in his new senate office. This will be the first time in nearly 70 years two democrats will now be representing arizona here in the senate. Sunlen, thank you. The growing pressure on president elect joe biden from some of the very groups who helped get him elected. Stay with us. We made a cloud flexible enough to adapt to any size business. No matter what it does, or how it changes. And we kept going. So you only pay for what you use. Because at dell technologies, we stop. At nothing. So wrap up a supportive casper mattress and pillows. 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In our 2020 lead, new pressure today on president elect joe biden as he vows to builds an administration that looks like all of america. The naacp is now requesting a meeting with biden and Vice President elect harris to underscore the need in their view for more black nominees in Top Administration positions. As cnns mj lee reports, they are not the only group lobbying the Incoming Biden Administration with key positions still left to be filled. We do have a lot of concerns, mr. Biden its been rough reporter president elect joe biden staying laser focused on the economy, meeting virtually with Small Business owners struggling amid the recession and the covid19 pandemic. I know youre all experiencing the effect of one great problem. And that is the economic downturn and in large part because of covid and the failure of some of our friends in congress to move forward on the kind of economic package. Reporter this as the former Vice President confronts lobbying from multiple directions. Sive the naacp has asked for a meeting with biden and Vice President elect Kamala Harris to discuss this and other issues important to underrepresented communities. Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus writing to the Transition Team pushing biden to choose new mexico governor Michelle Grisham his his health and Human Services secretary and assure that latinos are more fairly represented in our nations government. Sources telling cnn she is currently a leading kernt for that job. Biden, on tuesday, touting the diversity of his economic team. Janet will be the first woman to hold this office and now wally will be the first africanamerican ever to hold this post. Reporter 49 days out from his inauguration, biden yet to announce other top cabinet positions including cia director and secretary of defense. Just a piece at a time here. Reporter just one more sign of the flurry of lobbying we are seeing. Some members of the hispanic congressional caucus asking he appoint these two as his attorney general. Ill tell you when i spoke to the head of the naacp earlier today, he said its less about these individual appointments and making sure that civil rights issues and issues that are important to these minority communities be adequately represented in the new administration. Jake . Mj lee, thank you. Joining me now, is Tammy Duckworth of illinois, a senator. Thank you for joining us. Are you concerned that president elect biden has not yet met with leaders of the naacp . I think he is in direct contact with many of them but im glad that they are reaching out to him and im sure hell sdoint with them soon. Reporter after the talk the last year of need to social justice and criminal Justice Reform, do you think president elect biden should pick an attorney general who is black or of color . I think whoever he picks will be someone to support criminal Justice Reform. I think a person with black or disability or with color would be fantastic to have in that role and i certainly would support that initiative but i will tell you that joe biden himself supports criminal Justice Reform and whoever is in that position will follow his direction to make sure that we make sure that we get rid of the systemic racism that exists in our criminal justice system. As a general principle, you would agree, as somebody of color yourself, its not yet fulfilled, the promises that president elect biden made when it came to having an administration that looks like the rest of america . There have been some notable appointments on his economic team, et cetera. But there still needs to be more representation of people of color, you would agree . Well, i think he is well on his way and i think that by the time its all said and done, that you will see greater representation by people of color in his cabinet and his administration than any other previous presidency, and i think he is on his way to that. Let him finish doing the job of the transition. In an interview released today on snapchat, president obama critiqued fellow democrats on defunding the police. Take a listen. Promoting young people we stick with the same old folks and dont make room for new voices. Im sorry. A different clip than i thought we were throwing it to. This is about new blood. Do you thit presidenk president right on the need for new democratic blood in the Democratic Party . I think we have a lot of blood in the Democratic Party and need to promote different voices so everybody has a seat at the table especially in leadership positions. Youre seeing the new blood make their voices heard. Now that said, i do think that we need to get to work right away and im pleased with the selections that president elect biden have made so far in terms of his nominations. President trump issued a threat to veto the defense policy bill unless it ends the Liability Protections for social media companies. What do you think of that . Do you think its appropriate . What does have have to do with department of defense or pay raises for the troops or men in and women in uniform have what they need to carry out the dangerous jobs we asked them to do for us especially in iraq and afghanistan and around the world right now. This president continues to threaten to veto troops pay raise. First it was over a confederate monuments and now he is doing it over social media platforms. If he truly cared about the troops, he would sign the ndaa, this Defense Budget that, by the way, passed by a great margin in a bipartisan way out of the house and the senate. Cnn is reporting that since the election, President Trump has been meeting with advisers and discussing preemptive pardons for people in his inner circle, include eric and don jr. And ivanka trump and Jared Kushner and rudy giuliani. What do you make of that . I think its corrupt and question whether its constitutional but its keeping in donald trump. He puts himself first in fronts of everybody else, in front of this great nation. Now talking about his cronies and a pay to play president and seems hell be that until the end. Thank you, Tammy Duckworth. Thank you. Join me tomorrow for a cnn special event. We will have the first joint interview since the election with president elect joe biden and Vice President elect Kamala Harris. The full interview airs tomorrow night at 9 00 p. M. Eastern only on cnn. Today with more than 272,000 lives lost in the United States from coronavirus, today we want to remember just two of them. A couple married for 47 years. They died less than a minute apart. Patricia and Leslie Mcwaters were inseparable half a century and raised their children and enjoyed time with their grandchildren and great grandchildren. Their daughter joanna described their deaths as tragic and beautiful, like romeo and juliet. Because one wouldnt want to be without the other. Patricia was a retired nurse. Leslie, a veteran and a retired truckdriver. They are remembered for their genuine kindness and their care for others. May their memories and those of all those we have lost way too early to this pandemic, may they be a blessing. Follow me on facebook, instagram, and twitter. And also tweet the show. Our coverage on cnn continues right now. Ill see you tomorrow. Announcer this is cnn breaking news welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. Im wolf blitzer in the situation room. We are following breaking news. President trump only moments ago releasing a rather rambling 45minute video ranting about Election Fraud and repeating the same lies and the same false claims that have been rejected by lots of courts and state officials, state Election Officials i should say from both parties across the United States. The video comes one day after his attorney general william barr broke with the president publicly saying there is no evidence of widespread fraud in the election. Breaking transition news we are following. President elect joe biden meeting with workers and Small Business owners impacted by the pandemic and urging congress to pass a stimulus package. Meanwhile, cnn has learned a top contender to lead bidens department of health and Human Services is the new mexico governor Michelle Grisham