The first vaccine doses rolling out americans must continue to take this pandemic seriously. Tens of thousands of americans can either live or die, depending on what we do to protect them until the vaccine gets widespread. New emails reported by politico today show a Trump Administration official back in july pushing the widely discredited theory of herd immunity, the idea of purposefully in fact,ing people and wrote the then science adviser, quote, infants, kids, teens, young people, young adults and have zero to little risk so we use them to develop herd. We want them infected. And recovered. With antibodies. We want them infected. Experts say that would be a disastrous course, though it might explain the refusal of the white house to do more to stop the spread. Cnn sara murray reports for us now. More hospitals across the u. S. Are once again warning they are running out of space. Reporter as the pandemic refuses to relent across the country, optimistic is growing a second Coronavirus Vaccine could be on the way soon. The food and Drug Administration independent Advisory Committee meeting tomorrow to assess modernas vaccine. We are looking at about 95 efficacy on this vaccine. 100 at preventing severe illness. Reporter if the fda authorizes modernas vaccine, nearly 6 million doses could begin to ship out soon after. Because the vaccine doesnt require the same ultra cold storage as pfizers it will bring 3,000 sites to see it. It will still be months before the vaccine is available to most of the public. Right now, we are really immunizing most impact. What i mean only immunizing a few Million People to start, our most vulnerable. Reporter Officials Say they dont yet know how many people have been vaccinated nationwide. I cant tell you at this precise moment how many have gotten it. We are just two days into the vaccination program. Reporter the first Nursing Homes are receiving the pfizer vaccine. Let it rip. Reporter the outbreak worsens and the u. S. Reported more than 3,000 deaths tuesday, the third highest death toll since the pandemic began. In another grim record, the u. S. Notched nearly 113,000 hospitalizations. In new york, hospitals are going into Crisis Management mode as officials warn shutdowns could be ahead. Is it closed down . Possible in january. I didn yes. Reporter california activated a mass plan and buying additional body bags and Storage Units to serve as makeshift morgues. This is a deadly disease. We are not at the finish line yet. Reporter as officials continue to plead with americans to lay low. Avoid crowded spaces whether that is a bar or a house party of a hundred people, you cant do it. This is a setup for spread. Reporter they are also warning a vaccine will only bring life back to normal if roughly 70 of the population takes it. Today, health and Human Services is unveiling its first radio ads touting the vaccines. Vaccines wont make covid go away overnight. But they give us a real chance to finally overcome it. Reporter but Many Americans are still hesitant. The challenge is the acceptance on the part of various elements in our society. Minority populations understandably have somewhat of a skepticism. Reporter now, obviously, the Trump Administration wants to get as much of the vaccine out there as possible. They are currently in negotiations still with pfizer to buy an additional 100 million doses and we are learning from officials on both sides one of the sticking points is supplies, access to Raw Materials for pfizer. Both sides are Still Holding out the possibility that the could be used to ramp this up. Pfizer is saying we can deliver this in the third quarter. The trump ghinadministration is saying we only want it if you can get it to us the Second Quarter of the year. So strange they dont invoke the dpa. Joining me now, is chief medical correspondent dr. Sanjay gupta. Alaska Health Officials one suffered a severe adverse reaction. Two in the uk and one in the United States had that adverse reaction and all alive and well. What do you make of this . We heard from the uk there the people who had the reactions had it in the past but apparently the one in alaska did not. This person needed a couple of shots of epinephrine is my understanding. I think what is surprising in the trials they didnt see allergic reactions but that is tens of thousands of people and excluded people with a history of laegsallergic reactions. As its given more and more we will see allergic reactions but we dont know what people are allergic to. Eggs is something people say they have an allergy to and shouldnt take the flu virus. They are zeroing in on this one compound but i think they need to know what is causing the allergy and might go to preventing future ones. Only 3 out of thousands had allergic reactions. The allergic reactions happened quickly and still at the hospital and they get shots of epinephrine and then they are okay . Yeah. Then they are okay. This isnt something that its basically a temporary response of, you know, the body to this, in this case, the vaccine. But after you recover from it, there is no longer lasting sort of implications. All right. Good to know. Its also when you get a shot when everybody stands up and goes in line to get a shot, you need to allot some time and you sit and make sure youre fine and then you leave. We are on the third day of pfizer vaccinations in the u. S. Its possible we could see moderna vaccinations as soon as monday. How soon could we see the effects of both of these vaccines going out there . I think in terms from a Public Health standpoint, it just takes a while. You got to get enough vaccine out there to start, you know, creating sort of broader immunity. People always talk about herd immunity and that is 60 , 70 . If you look at the models, like these intervals in time even when you get to 30 where you probably will start to see some impact from this. The impact wont be as quick or powerful as Wearing Masks something we talk about all the time. Also in some ways, its the impact to be almost reverse of what we are used to hearing. What i mean is that hopefully because Vulnerable People are being vaccinated first youll see death rates come down or death numbers hopefully, and hospitalizations then. After that, cases. Spring, you know, early spring, mid spring, i think we will start to see some of those trends changing because of the vaccine. There is a big difference between herd immunity because of vaccinations in which so many people have vaccinations a society is generally safe, and herd immunity by saying let the disease run rampant because that will result in a lot of people getting sick and dying. Politico is reporting this afternoon a top trump appointee pushed the idea of herd immunity purposely letting people get infect to Administration Officials writing in an email we want them, about the population, we want them infected. Let the kids and young folk get infected. Obviously, this theory of letting the disease run rampant has been widely discredited by Health Experts who say it would cause millions of lives to be lost. Dr. Reiner, a few minutes ago, says he thinks this is what the Trump White House was strategizing and why the reaction to the pandemic has been so wanting, that, ultimately, President Trump wanted the virus to spread, knowing people would die because it would not shutting down businesses would keep the economy going. What do you think of it all . I think youre absolutely right. I think dr. Reiner is right and i think we saw plenty of evidence that that was sort of the tacit strategy. Things are downplayed and even back to testing. We werent testing enough. They didnt want to show the numbers, just let the infection run free and people will become immune was the thinking and we will sort of get through it that way without having to close things down. Its a terrible idea, obviously, and there were people in the Public Health community that were screaming the opposite. Frankly, i think its exactly why scott atlas sort of had the role that he had because he was reflecting something that the president wanted him to reflect. Jake you see the numbers on the right side of the screen. 16 Million People confirmed to have been infected. They say it may be closer to 50 million, a seventh of the country. How many people died . 300,000. You can start to do the math here but youre talking, you know, close to 2 Million People, 1. 5 to 2 million peel would dop die if you strextrapolate. You cant bubble off Vulnerable People. This is explains why the u. S. With 4 of the population has, at least according to official numbers, 20 of all the worlds cases and 20 of the worlds death. It was, as you note, a tacit strategy. Even though people like dr. Fauci and admiral giroir were resistant to it, the president is the president. He sat back and let it happen. Yeah. You know, inaction is endorsing that strategy in this case because that is exactly what you do if you endorse naturally in fact,ing herd immunity is a tres treshl strate terrible strategy which i feel i have to say that every time. The numbers on the screen would have been seven, eight times that is where that story would go. Its incredible. Its one of the reasons he was not reelected. Dr. Sanjay gupta, thank you so much. What hundreds of President Trumps allies are now asking for during his last days in office that has one source saying, quote, its turned crazy. Turned . That is next. A former Police Captain, meanwhile, points a gun at an airconditioning repairman he says was Holding Thousands of fake ballots in his truck. A look at what happens when conspiracy theories turn violent in real life. Stay with us. Students of color typically do not have access to high quality Computer Science and stem education. I joined amazon because i wanted to change education and i am impatient. Amazon gives me the resources to change the world at a pace that i want to change it. We provide students stem scholarships and teachers with support. Im a fighter and im fighting for all students. New projects means you need to hire. Gers. I need indeed. Indeed you do. The moment you sponsor a job on indeed you get a short list of quality candidates from our resume database. Claim your seventy five dollar credit, when you post your first job at indeed. Com home. In our politics lead. President trump is wanting one of the special counsels to investigate hunter biden who is already being investigated by the u. S. Attorney in delaware for potential tax law and Money Laundering violations. And the outgoing president wants a different special counsel to be appointed to investigate his baseless allegations of voter fraud that have been rejected by the court after court after court. As Kaitlan Collins reports, the president is lashing out who anyone dares to say joe biden won the election. Reporter it didnt take long for President Trump to bash Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell for recognizing joe bidens victory even though he waited six weeks to do so. The Electoral College has spoken. Reporter without noting his opponent received 80 million votes, trump tweeted the following. Trumps press secretary said he was including himself in that category. This president , you know, he has made clear his thoughts about leader mcconnell on twitter. Reporter trump also blamed his loss not on the way he handled the pandemic but on fox news claiming their coverage was, quote, perhaps the biggest difference between 2016 and 2020. The president made no mention of how mcconnell has also pleaded with Senate Republicans not to join efforts by their colleagues in the house to challenge bidens win when congress ratifies it on january 6th. An effort being led by alabama congressman mo brooks that is all but certain to fame. The law is very clear. The house of representatives in combination with the United States senate has the Lawful Authority to accept or reject electoral coach from states that have such flawed election systems that they are not worthy of our trust. Reporter with only five weeks left in office, President Trump held a Cabinet Meeting for the first time in seven months today. Todays meeting was closed to the press which is rare but could have been because trumps attorney general is stepping down next week. His secretary of state is quarantining. And trump is considering firing his cia and fbi directors. No one from the cia, pentagon, or state or Justice Departments attended todays meeting. Cnn has learned trump has pushed extensively for special counsel be to go appointed to investigate his baseless allegations of voter fraud and for the investigation into hunter biden. Sources say trump considers it payback for the investigation into his possible ties to russia led by special counsel robert mueller. First, it was the russia hoax. Then it was the mueller witch hunt. Reporter we are told the president is intent on getting those special counsels but his desire to be complicated by the fact that the leadership change is happening at the Justice Department next week when attorney general bill barr is stepping down. It remains to be seen if the who is replacing him jeff rosen will do what the president wants and if he will be fired if he doesnt. Thank you. Also in the politics lead five weeks in office remaining a question among is who will President Trump pardon . What is the latest, pamela brown . Reporter sources are telling us that hundreds of people have been reaching out to the white house since election day. These include allies of President Trump and this frenzy push for pardons. People asking for pardons for themselves, friends, family on behalf of a client. In fact, the white house has been so inundated that a spreadsheet has been created to keep track of all of these requests thhas been pouring in. People have been going to the white house officials if they cant reach trump himself and reaching you to jared kushner, mark meadows, and Pat Cipollone to try to get a request in front of President Trump. They know the president likes to flex his pardon power and he only has a few weeks left in office. They know this president is transactional. He likes to cut a deal. So some of these people reaching out to the white house in this effort are hoping to essentially cash in on the loyalty that they have shown to the president over the last four years. One person i spoke to said they hope their loyalty would pay off and the president pardoning this persons client. That is what we are seeing playing out. The president is interested this and has been throughout his administration and reviewing cases in recent weeks of potential pardons that the White House Counsels Office has put together. He is asking people he is talking to who he should pardon. What makes this so interesting this is happening as the president is still in denial that he has lost the election even though this frenzied push for pardons is that he did lose the election. I put money on kushners dad who is a jail bird. Another great book was written called final days about nixons last days in the white house, lashing out, yelling. Tell us about Donald Trumps final days. Its not very different. The president , one source told us, is throwing a temper tant m tantrum. He will not accept the results of this election and thrown out he doesnt want to leave the white house on election day. Aides and allies have gently tried to steer him thinking about postwhite house, what he is going to do. Perhaps running in 2024. One source said he is starting to believe this disinformation himself and he is not willing to accept at this point. He remains defiant and essentially delusional about the election results. Lets discuss with my panel nia malikhenderson. Pamela is reporting on the flood of president ial pardon requests and this is normal for any administration, they get pardon requests. We will see who he pardons. This is a guy who likes to pardon allies and not use the pardon power as much as to, you know, write injustices. Thats right. This is sort of the friends and family plan we see this president employee when it comes to the pardoning and clemency process. There isnt the usually channels going through the doj, vetting folks, as well as vetting their records and using as you said pardons as a simple of justice gone wrong and then justice done through the pardoning process. He isnt really interested in that. We have seen him pardon people, commute sentences like Bernard Kerik or joe arpaio. I think many people are wondering will he pardon himself . Is that even possible . Will he pardon his children, even though they have not necessarily done anything wrong. It would ab prepardon process. As everything with this president , breaking up a precedent in terms of this pardoning process with people calling and kind of seeming to engage in a quid pro quo with this president. Phillip, you heard my prediction. Charles kushner. Who else do you think might get a pardon this time . Certainly it seems as though, i mean, the line we are seeing here which i think is important to keep in mind is the only thing which established as a baseline for President Trump is President Trumps world view. I think contrary to your presentation of this as his not using it to write injustices, i think he honestly believes that these conservative media figures who had faced prosecution like arpaio were the subject of injustice and he is righting those wrongs. I think he views what the Justice Department does as necessarily being political. Why he thinks he should have these special counsels to investigate his opponents. He think that is how its supposed to be used. He thinks biden is doing the same thing and wants to protect his family because he think s this is what the Justice Department does. I think we will likely do these things because he sees biden in an actor the same way he is an actor and try to protect anyone and everything he can from potential prosecution. There is the undercurrent which there may be things that are prosecutable. We certainly saw the manhattan d. A. Had been taking a look at the trump family before President Trump came into office. We know the a. G. In new york is looking at state charges potentially related to the trump organization. There may be issue to issue those pardons regardless whether or not biden look use the Justice Department as a political tool. Phillip, youre feeling very charitable getting towards christmas. Ill take that response. Nia, Kaitlan Collins word that trump is thinking about appointing a special counsel to go after hunter biden. Might it make sense, might it be a favor to biden if assuming he doesnt, you know, pick somebody from fox to lead the investigation, but like might it do biden a favor by removing this very thorny decision for him for his future attorney general . Yeah. Because you can imagine what kind of questions that the attorney general nominee is going to get from that panel. The republicans, in particular, about hunter biden. Will he appoint a special counsel himself . That would be a very dicey issue i think for biden as president and his attorney general as well. This, indeed, could be donald trump doing him a favor even though we know it does not come from a charitable place from this president , it comes from a vengeful place and comes from a place he wants to wound this incoming president. He thinks that his presidency was hampered by that special counsel and he wants to do the same quite frankly to joe biden. Its a dangerous precedent i think for this to start happening where an outgoing president is going after an incoming president in this way. But listen. This is something that the president has been high on, going after hunter biden as a way at getting at joe biden and why he was impeached. It seems like ultimately this might be where its going where you see a special counsel that looks into hunter biden even though there is already an investigation into hunter biden as well as the senate has looked into some of his affairs as well with phillip, let me ask you this. She says in the primary people would mock him like you think you can work with republicans . Im not saying they are not a bunch of fers. Mitch mcconnell is terrible. You couldnt wish for this bipartisan idea, he rejected that. Kind of an interesting quote from the soon to be biden compute white house chief of staff given how much biden has talked about healing the soul of the nation and access asis reporting that jenna mally dillon is under fire for that remark. What do you think . I think its understandable why she should be. I was struck when he had the call yesterday or monday after the Electoral College had voted, he had a call with some donors he told them heard from some republicans who dont want to be public acknowledging his win but called to congratulate him and said they might be able to work with him in six to eight months. That was sort of the bestcase scenario that a bunch of republicans afraid to call him president elect might by august be willing to work with him was the standard that was set. Yes, what Omalley Dillon said was certainly not political, if you will, it wasnt very right thing to say but not much worse what donald trump is saying about Mitchell Mcconnell either. I want to go back. I wasnt trying to be charitable in saying that donald trump saw the Justice Department as a tool of his only political party. I apologize for that if it came the wrong way. No. When you said he thought deep souza was a part of that. Im sure he sees that and not warranted but i think its accurate. Thank you both so much. Good to see both of you. A former Police Captain took conspiracy theories about voter fraud, false conspiracy theories so seriously he is accused of pointing a gun in the face of an airconditioning repair man that he claimed and was wrong about was hiding thousands of fake ballots. Stay with us. Fighting cancer doesnt start here. Fighting cancer starts with you. Covid has devastated our funding for lifesaving research. Help us help patients. Donate today. To use your vision benefitss. Before the years up. This is us making sure you dont. Use em before you lose em, backed by our 100day guarantee visionworks. See the difference. But before we sign i gotta ask. Sure, anything. We searched you online and maybe you can explain this . I cant believe that garbage is still coming in. That is so false frustrated with your Online Search results . Call reputation defender today to join tens of thousands whove improved their online reputation. Get your free reputation report card at reputationdefender. Com or call 18778668555. People are saving hundreds on the most reliable in a land not so far away, network with xfinity mobile. They can choose from the latest phones or bring their own. And choose the data option thats right for them. They even get nationwide 5g at no extra cost. And since they are on the carrier rated 1 in customer satisfation, they live happily ever after. Again, again xfinity mobile. Your wireless. Your rules. Your way to stay closer together. Click, call, or visit an xfinity store today. Former south bend, indiana, mayor, Pete Buttigieg has been chosen to be transportation secretary for bidens cabinet. He would be the first openly gay cabinet confirmed position and he is the first. We need to bring new voices to our capital. From 2020 opponent to cabinet secretary nominee. For secretary of transportation, i nominate mayor Pete Buttigieg. Reporter chosen by president elect joe biden to lead the department of transportation. The former south bend, indiana, mayor, would have a big task ahead playing a key role in building out a major infrastructure package, a top priority of biden. We selected pete for transportation because the department is the intersection of the most ambitious plans to build back letter and modernizing our infrastructure and bridges and roads and ports and critical investments. Reporter if confirmed by the Senate Buttigieg would break a barrier and a historic moment not lost on the 38yearold nominee. I know the eyes are on disappointment. The first time an american president has sent an openly lgbtq to the senate for confirmation. Reporter Biden Administration coming into focus as some republicans in washington finally begin to acknowledge his 2020 victory. The decision by the Electoral College yesterday was determined. Reporter Vice President elect Kamala Harris saying her colleagues in the senate are late to the party but that its time to move on. It would have been better if it were earlier, but it happened and that is what is most important and so lets move forward. Reporter Additional Administration appointments expected to be announced in the coming days. Gina mccarthy, the former head of the epa, poised to be bidens socalled climate czar overseeing a newly created office of domestic climate policy. Combating Climate Change another urgent task for biden. The west is burning. The midwest is being flooded. The east coast is being pummeled by more tornadoes and storms than its ever had. Reporter former michigan governor Jennifer Granholm was also nominated. Biden said when would he get the covid19 vaccine. He said he would do it in a public setting to show the American People it is safe to do so. Mj lee, thank you. In our national lead. A person or group is demonized by, say, an influential politician and incites violence that was probably going to happen but the specifics could not be predicted and perhaps a politician supporter feed and spread the false and insane theory a jewish philanthropist is paying for caravans to come into u. S. And wreak havoc and say its followed by Mass Shootings of jews or synagogues or mexicanamericans. Lies are told over and over and it ends up in violence and how about lies about election fraud. A captain tried to investigate baseless claims on his own has resulted in a charge. They say he chased down a socalled voter fraud mastermind he wasnt one with his gun. Turns out the mastermind was an airconditioning repairman who had nothing to do with the election and ed lavandera reports for us the Police Captain could face two decades in prison. Reporter mark anthony here drove an airconditioning police say repairman off the road and held him at gun point. The former houston Police Captain suspected the repairman was the mastermind of a voter fraud conspiracy. Former Harris County election clerk holland says its a dangerous example when conspiracy theories go too far. An innocent working man, a family man, who was accosted at gun point for no reason whatsoever, its extremely unfortunately. Its dangerous. This man deserves to be prosecuted. Reporter prosecutors allege a team of investigators worked for a group called Liberty Center for god and country, the group tracked the repairman for four days suspecting the man was carrying 750,000 fraudulent ballots in his work truck. Police say there were no ballots in the truck, just airconditioning repair parts and tools. Prosecutors say he crossed the line from dirty politics to commission of a Violent Crime and we are lucky no one was killed. The attorney disagrees. I believe its a political prosecution. He was working in investigative voter fraud. There was an accident. They were they say agi was paid 260,000 by the Liberty Center. The gup roup is run by steve holtsy. He pushed lawsuits against Harris County to throw out nearly 130,000 president ial election ballots cast at drivethru poling locations. After the judge ruled against the republican lawsuit the day before the election, holtsy acknowledged he had a team of investigators hunting what was really a phantom voting menace. Do you think the democrats are stealing the election in texas . Yes. I know that. We have affidavits. We have informants on the other said tell of us voter fraud. Reporter there is no evidence of that. Sir. Reporter that is fact no matter how many times you say it. Youre totally wrong on that. Reporter Houston Police say when the victim got out of his truck, agi pointed a gun to the man and forced him to the ground and put a knee on his back. They say part of the incident was captured on video footage. They say agia demanded they arrest the airconditioning repairman. He told him he could be a part of the problem but i hope youre a patriot. To be clear. Police and investigators and prosecutors in houston say they spent considerable time investigating these claims of voter fraud and found absolutely nothing. Mark agia is out on bond ton. Court after court after court. Election official after election official, it doesnt matter. The lies and conspiracy theories continue and now lives are at risk. Thank you so much, ed lavandera. Congress is closer than ever to making a deal on covid stimulus. A look what millions of americans might be able to get is next. You can get the perfect gift up until the last minute. Lets end the year nailing it. Lets end the year nailing it. Come on over here stop your cough from interrupting, with dq cough and congestion. Its max strength formula coats your throat and provides powerful relief. New dayquil cough and congestion. The maxcoat daytime power through your cough medicine. But with walmarts low prices, you still know how to do it up. And keep costs down. Lets end the year enjoying more. You are all i need baby baby to get by breaking news in the money lead congress appears on the verge of a deal on stimulus relief. So far negotiations over this 900 billion dollar package included a new round of checks and one time payments around 600 dollars for some people. That is not a lot of money if youre behind on rent and bills. Its a point of contention. There are some glimmers of hope. We saw Speaker Pelosi before going into her office they are making progress. We saw Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell saying we are still talking. They were here until midnight talking and they might be here late tonight as well. Youre talking about 900 bill dollar package. What happened early today is they eliminated the most contentious items and talking about the Liability Protections for employers. That is something that republicans desperately wanted. Youre also talking about eliminating aid to state, as well as city governments. That is something that democrats insisted. What was surprising that happened today was now the stimulus checks, these individual checks for those making less than 75,000 were thrown back into the mix but are right. Not near the 1200 released earlier in the year. There is frustration here but progressives on the house side, as well as the senate, they are pleased that at least its been put back in but very frustrated. I had a chance to talk to senator Bernie Sanders about what his next move will be. Do i think 600 is where we should be . No. I think it should be 1,200 in direct payment for every working class adult in this country and 600 bucks for their kid but we are making progress and continue that fight. Some of the things in this covid stimulus package that people will be appreciating will be Small Business loans and money for vaccinations for covid tests and for education, for extending the rent so youre not actually kicked out of your apartment or you have to pay loans. All of these things combined are things that many people here in on the hill can agree to. The sticking point, however, as you know, jake, how will this get through . You might see a Government Shutdown or an extension by the weekend. Jake . Suzanne malveaux, thank you. Calls for trumps v. A. Secretary to be fired by major veterans groups. This comes after a navy veteran said she was sexually assaulted at a v. A. Facility and the agency did nothing. She will join me next. Sofi made it so easy to pay off my student loan debt. chime choosing sofi was literally one of the best decisions i could have ever made because it gave me peace of mind. Time for what we call our buried lead what he call stories that are not getting enough attention. Staggering 1 in 4 women who use Veterans Health care is experiencing sexuality in the military. In 2019 one alleges she was sexually assaulted and when goldstein reported the incident the veteran affairs sought to discredit her claim and a lack of effort to make their facilities more safe for women. Today, this afternoon, six major veteran Services Organization sent a letter to President Trump calling for v. A. Secretary robert wilke to be fired. The v. A. Did not comment but said wilke will remain in his position. Joining us is andrea goldstein. Tell us how the v. A. Handled your report after the incident. I know you dont want to talk about the incident itself, understandably, but how did the v. A. Handle the report . Jake, thank you for having me today and shining a light on this important issue. What is important to highlight is, first, the day that it happened, i had to make a report to multiple employees at v. A. , including some who saw the event happen before police were called which indicated that v. A. Already was not well equipped to handle this issue that they were already aware of. Second, the v. A. Leadership chose to investigate me. Now, this will resonate particularly with survivors of Sexual Violence in the military. The i. G. Report follows on the coattail also of the ft. Hood Investigative Review Committee which found that there was a permissive environment for Sexual Assault on ft. Hood and we can probably guess all of the places in the military where what happens was those in power abused their power, blamed, shamed, and investigated the victim, and abandoned their responsibility to investigate a potentially Violent Crime that was taking place in an environment where people should feel safe and welcomed. So secretary wilke issued a statement in response to the Inspector Generals report. The i. G. Was very tough on him and the i. G. Report said that he went after you and did not do enough to combat this issue. Secretary wilke said your allegations were false. Six major veterans organizations today, including veterans of foreign war and american legion, came out and said that they think wilke should be fired. Do you agree with these veterans groups . I think that the veteran Service Organizations are really those that we should look to to speak on behalf of our nations veterans, in addition to the big six who i have had the Great Fortune of having worked with as a congressional staffer and im a member of several of those organizations. There are also Many Organizations that represent young veterans, Women Veterans, minority veterans, lgbtq veterans who have also been very vocal in this fight. And in the fight for justice for minority and Women Veterans. What is really important to highlight is that it is not about me. This is about creating a safe and welcoming environment for Women Veterans, for survivors of sexual trauma, and other veterans who feel marginalized. Do you think the v. A. Is aware of how prevalent these incidents of assault and harassment are within the military and within the veterans hospitals and such . Are they aware and they are turning a blind eye to it, or are they not away . V. A. Is fullyware aware. In early 2019 v. A. Found at least 1 in 4 Women Veterans experienced Sexual Harassment or genderbased harassment in Health Care Environments at v. A. Facilities and surveyed around the country at multiple facilities and that was the average. The range was 40 to 10 depending on the facility. In addition in 2016 the board found 1 in 4 women are experiencing harassment on the job at the v. A. It should be enough, it should be enough that women are saying that i am experiencing this and that v. A. Responds. But v. A. Has the data and has not adequately responded. Standard intervention training for employees, for contractors, anyone who works in a v. A. Facility is not mandatory. So v. A. Is aware of this and has been aware for many years but has abandoned their responsibility to protect those who they serve. In addition go ahead. Yes. In addition, v. A. Is very aware of this issue in the military. In fact, im going to praise v. A. Here. As a v. A. I donteuser v. A. Has class treatment for victims of military trauma and we should be looking at the v. A. For their impact of military sexual trauma. Let me ask you this. President elect biden has said he wants to nominate dennis mcdonagh, the former Obama White House chief of staff, to be the v. A. Secretary. What does he need to know about this issue and how the v. A. Needs to treat this threat Going Forward . The Incoming Administration, im really pleased that president elect biden has prioritized preventing violence against women throughout most of his public career and so its really critical for the Incoming Administration to prioritize this issue. One of the issues historically is that harassment has been relegated to lower echelons of leadership and not consolidated within the secretariat. What im hopeful for in the incoming Biden Administration is that this will be prioritized at the highest levels of leadership, given the attention and resources that it deserves and that it is highlighted as one of the top issues. I mean, Sexual Violence between in this community is effectively a form of so understanding that means that it is one of the most critical and potentially damaging issues if we dont address it and a real source of healing and reconciliation if it is adequately addressed. Andrea goldstein, thank you so much for your time today for this interview. And, you know, im so sorry you went through that but i hope you do feel vindicated at least to a degree by not only the Inspector General report but by the six major v. A. Organizations, veterans organizations coming and saying we stand with andrea goldstein. Thank you for your courage. Thank you for having me, jake. Our coverage on cnn stns right now. Continues right now. 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. Congress potentially on the brink of a deal on a stimulus package to help millions and millions of americans who are desperately struggling right now through the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic. Talks are happening as we speak up on capitol hill. The Senate Majority leader mitchell Mitch Mcconnell saying, im quoting him now, i think we are going to get there. The Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer says, im quoting, the finish line is in sight. We will talk about in a few moments with senator Bernie Sanders who has very strong