Transcripts For CNNW The Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer 20201208

Denied a request, the lastminute request from Pennsylvania Republicans, to block certification of the states electoral votes, the Election Results, as the president has been aggressively pushing for, including today. The president and all of his lawyers have completely now failed in their effort to discredit the results of the election five weeks ago today. Lets go to the white house first. Our chief White House Correspondent is joining us right now, jim acosta. The Supreme Court dealt the president a huge setback. It looks again and again like its completely over for the president. He has no choice but to accept reality. Reporter its been over for weeks, wolf. Its over again. If that is a good way to describe it. Yes, youre right. The Supreme Court has rejected the Pennsylvania Republican attempt to block certification of joe bidens victory in the commonwealth of pennsylvania. That is, obviously, yet another fatal blow to the president s attempt to overturn the Election Results. This is something the president was talking about earlier today at the summit, this vaccine summit he held at the white house. The president was asked why he did not invite members of the Incoming Biden Administration to the event. He said, well, perhaps hell be staying on as president of the United States and he went on to make an appeal to the Supreme Court saying he was hoping that they would show some courage on the Supreme Court to somehow overturn the Election Results and hand the president another four years in office. None of that is taking place. Wolf, this comes on the heels of the president making some phone calls to the pennsylvania speaker of the house in an attempt to try to strongarm legislative officials there in pennsylvania to see if he can somehow upend these Election Results. All of these overtures and all of those attempts either through state legislators or at the courthouse have not been working out for the president and his legal team. This is yet another serious loss and another major blow to this attempt to overturn the election. I will tell you, wolf, talking to trump advisers, white house advisers, they have been saying for weeks that the president understands that he has lost this election. The advisers understand he has lost this election. Members of his legal team are now coming to the realization he has lost the election. If they thought there was a way to manufacture a win in pennsylvania, that perhaps there would be some sort of domino effect. Really, wolf, it all hinged, in many of the theories ive heard, you know, bandied about by white house advisers and trump advisers, all of it hinged really on getting some kind of victory in pennsylvania in the courts and pennsylvania and with the Supreme Court rejecting this attempt by Pennsylvania Republicans to overturn these results for joe biden, this is it. Its over. But we have said this so many times. It has been over for the president for many weeks now. It has been. Stand by. I want to go to our justice correspondent Jessica Snyder right now. Lets talk a little bit about this Supreme Court action, making it clear they are not going to take up with the republicans, some republicans i should point out, in pennsylvania. Pennsylvania had officially certified that biden carried that state, will get its electoral votes and now the Supreme Court says what pennsylvania says is true. Reporter exactly right and they are saying it succinctly tonight. They are saying that these efforts by republicans in pennsylvania to block the certification, all of those efforts are denied. This was a simple order from the Supreme Court. It came out moments before 5 00. It was one line. It said, quite simply, denied. This was an unsigned order so we dont know if there were any dissent in this but no noted dissent so unclear how this came down but notable the First Time Since the election that Supreme Court has weighed in on any electionrelated disputes. They have stayed out of the fray. Tonight on the safe harbor deadline, december 8th, the Supreme Court decide to do weigh in here and saying simply this is denied. Its notable that earlier today, we got the response from the pennsylvania government. They were saying that this is a ridiculous lawsuit, that all of the efforts here should be denied and that is exactly what they got. I want to read you one line from what the government in pennsylvania put forward earlier today. They said, petitioners asked this court to undertake one of the most dramatic disruptive invocations of judicial power in the history of the republic. Quite a strong statement that these justices took to heart by denying all of this relief that was sought by republicans. This effort was led by a republican congressman in pennsylvania. This has been ongoing for several weeks now. They were rejected at the pennsylvania Supreme Court. And then in recent days, they have taken their effort all the way to the United States Supreme Court. The Supreme Court, so far, has been staying out of these electionrelated disputes. Making their mark tonight and sending a message to republicans they are taking this, obviously, very seriously and they will deny a lawsuit like this that is looking to blanketedably block the certification in pennsylvania. Supreme court saying tonight very simply this effort is denied and potentially it sends a warning shot to any other republicans who are trying to get to the Supreme Court. We saw the Texas Attorney general ken paxton make an effort to go to the Supreme Court today, asking the Supreme Court to block certification in several other states. Its unclear if and when the Supreme Court will act on that but this really does send out that warning to these republicans that the Supreme Court is not taking these claims seriously and will likely act to deny any efforts to block the certification as we are seeing tonight out of pennsylvania. Wolf . A huge, huge blow to the trump legal efforts. The president of the United States will be very depressed seeing the Supreme Court with three of his own justices that he nominated for the Supreme Court refusing apparently. We dont know what the exact outcome was, but the Supreme Court as a whole decided not to even take up this request from these republicans in pennsylvania. Abby phillip is watching this for us as well. It comes on this day, the socalled safe harbor day where all of the states are supposed to have officially certified the results of the election. I think 49 out of the 50 states, plus the District Of Columbia already have. Its clear that biden has 306 electoral votes, trump has 232. The president keeps talking about these six battleground states that he claimed, including only a few hours ago, that he won. He didnt win. All six of those states, including pennsylvania, arizona, georgia, michigan, nevada, and wisconsin, and pennsylvania all have certified that biden carried those states. Biden will get those electoral votes. All of this happening five weeks after election day. The timing of the Supreme Court decision i think is significant. It is. It really signals, i think, two things. One, which is that the Supreme Court is not eager to step in to a electoral result that is outside of the wild claims being made by the president and his lawyers. Its already settled. It seems to be a recognition of that. Though, the ruling doesnt really have much to read into it, except the fact that they could have weighed in. They chose not to. I also think that because it is coming on the safe harbor deadline and also less than a week before the Electoral College is expected to meet, it is yet another signal that this process is moving forward in actually a very normal fashion. Every effort that the Trump Legal Team has made to stop the process, to hold it up, to even delay the process, has not worked and we are reaching these benchmarks, as expected, and joe biden will be inaugurated on january 20th as the next president because he has won far more electoral votes than donald trump did. He certainly did. He has won more than 7 million votes in the National Popular vote, he has a 7 million vote plus advantage. Stand by, abby. Laura coates is watching this and watching the Supreme Court over the years as well. We know next monday, the Electoral College will meet and officially declare that biden will be the next president of the United States, based on the all of the electoral votes that the states are bringing to the Electoral College. What the Supreme Court has done today is really significant. In other words, the jig is up. The president has no more viable paths to even anticipate some legal basis for why he thinks that president elect joe biden should not be sworn in this coming january. You see what he tried to do a lot of different efforts here. First, remember . He began trying to use an assertion he hoped he could work backwards and somehow the evidence would appear. He was unable at the lower courts for a variety of reasons across this country to ever have any evidence to support his claim. Then he tried to work his way to the Supreme Court to say, hey, can you please be the lastditch effort in this hail mary . The court is refusing to do so primarily because, one, no evidence to support any substantive reason whatsoever to overturn the election. Also, wolf, there has not been anything at the lower court level that would even allow it to be prudently before the court today. I think the writing was really on the wall when you saw that as abby articulated as he will quantitily as ever that the states harbor deadline being today and this being the day the court decided to make the ruling when they had initially announced even a court filing deadline after the deadline. Then they moved it up tells you that they were very, very aware of the importance of this date and the Supreme Court does not want to weigh in to political questions where they have no absolutely vehicle or avenue in which to change anything. You said it right, wolf. It is extraordinarily telling that even in the Supreme Court where the president of the United States has been able to nominate and confirm three justices, that was certainly not enough for them to be at the strings of the president and they decided instead to go by what they did not have, which is a course of action, any evidence, and any substantive legal claim for which they should rule otherwise. Laura, i want you to stand by. Jeff zeleny is covering the biden transition for us. Jeff, i dont know if there has been any official or unofficial reaction from the biden team but, clearly, they are are going to be very happy. They have known for weeks that biden will be the next president of the United States. Kamala harris will be the next Vice President of the United States. Supreme court has for all practical purposes underscored that. Reporter sure. No question the biden Legal Advisers have been watching all of these lawsuits very carefully. They have had teams of lawyers who have stayed on over more than a month watching everything happen, in pennsylvania, in michigan, in georgia. So, clearly, this is something they have been waiting for and they had this day marked on their calendar as well, of course, as they do next monday when the electors are finally resolved and maybe republican senators who said they may come forward, will. At this moment talking to a biden adviser a few moments ago saying that they are reviewing this. If they have an official comment on this, we will pass that along. What they have also been doing is closely monitoring this but not engaging. Because the reality here is this has been over for a long time. President elect joe biden introduced his Health Care Team today. He talked about coronavirus food. The contrast has been stark really ever single day. It grows starker by every day talking about vaccines. That is what the Biden Transition Team wants to keep their focus on. At the same time, even though they havent been talking about it a lot, these lawyers have been watching every single minute of this. If Supreme Court had accepted this, boy, that would have thrown into a whole array of things. Look. This is something that does not surprise them. We will see if they formally diggive this with a comment. Its just one more thing on the way to him being president. Wolf, 43 days from today, he takes office and inherits a world of trouble on coronavirus, the economy, other matters. That is what joe biden and Kamala Harris and their teams are focused on. That is an important point as well. Gloria borger is with us as well. The past couple of days the republican senator from texas ted cruz who went to Harvard Law School is making a big point im ready to make the case and argue before the u. S. Supreme court and ready to go to the Supreme Court. I guess he can stand down and doesnt have to worry about coming up with an argument. Thats right. Its completely over. This is a crushing defeat for the president of the United States. Ted cruz is not able to argue his great case. There were no noted dissent in this. Let me remind you what the president said earlier today at his vaccine summit. He said now lets see whether or not somebody has the courage, whether its the legislature or a justice of the Supreme Court or a number of justices of Supreme Court, lets see if they have the courage to do what everybody in the country knows is right. Guess what. First of all, everybody in the country doesnt know what is right. Secondly, the Supreme Court just gave the president of the United States the back of his hand and said, sorry, we dont decide elections this way. Your case is not valid and we are not even considering it. So i think that this puts to rest any kind of thought that the president might have had that the Supreme Court he just put Amy Coney Barrett on the court, for example, and he said that outloud at one point. You know . Maybe they will help me out here. Well, they are not going to help him out. I think the next question is what do those republicans do in the senate whom we have not heard from and those republicans in the house whom we are not heard from, now that the president s avenue seems to be exhausted. Its absurd at this point for anyone to deny that joe biden is the president elect and im waiting to hear what the white house says about this. I want to go to the white house once again. Jim acosta is standing by. Every time a republican, whether a governor, like a governor of georgia or a republican governor of arizona, a republican or any of the state secretaries of state others involved saying no evidence of widespread fraud, a free and fair election. The president has attacked them. When the attorney general of the United States bill barr said the Justice Department investigated and the Homeland Security department investigated it and fbi vegetables and bill barr said no evidence of widespread fraud, the president could barely control himself and refused to say whether or not he had confidence in the attorney general of the United States. Here is the question i wonder what the president is saying now to the u. S. Supreme court which basically told him, its over. Reporter early today the president was tweeting out pictures of Amy Coney Barrett, his latest justice placed on the court with lasers coming out of her eyes. I think he was hoping perhaps she would burn a hole through bidens status as president elect and that hasnt come to pass. I will tell you, wolf, the Trump Legal Team composed of Rudy Giuliani and jenna ellis who are both dealing with the coronavirus, they put on a statement earlier today saying they are going to keep fighting these legal challenges and to see the safe hasher today as being the end all, be all. The statement they put out earlier today suggested they may keep fighting this out until january. Speaking of january, wolf. We also have coming up in the house of representatives in january an official presiding over the counting of electoral votes for joe biden to become the 46th president and republican members of congress saying that perhaps there should be a floor fight in the house then. So the president has these enablers around him. Youre mentioning republican governors like in georgia and arizona, the attorney general who essentially were telling the president the jig is up, but he also has enablers up on capitol hill. He has enablers like Rudy Giuliani. I think the one thing that the president runs the risk of and already done it, he is going on down now in history potentially as somebody who is trying to play a spoiler, someone who is trying to cheat his way into a second term of the presidency more than just about anything else that was achieved during his four years in office because of this long dragged out ridiculous spectacle we are seeing being orchestrated out of the white house. The president will not give it up. Im told he is never going to concede. Until he leaves the white house, much of the rest of the Republican Party is ride or die with President Trump off the cliff into the history books. The president for. 5five wee since the day of the election now, exactly five weeks since the day of the election he and his political backers have raised a lot more money that he could be using in the years to come. Once its over, will he still be able to go out there and raise all of that kind of cash . Reporter by that point, i think hell have hundreds of millions of dollars potentially at his disposal and i think, yes, wolf, i think he will continue. Ive talked to advisers who have said if this doesnt work out, obviously, its not going to work out, he will go into this next period of his postpresidency suggesting he may run in 2024 and play the victim once again. It will be the ultimate betrayal of the victim in the case of donald trump because hell say he was cheated out of a second term and hell have millions of people believing him. That is the sad tragedy in all of this. At the end of the day yes, he is caring out this disinformation for dollar scheme, no question about that. At the end of the day, much of the Republican Party is still in his grip and ive talked to a number of advisers in recent weeks, one in particular who say he has never seen anything like it. The grip that the president has over the Republican Party and until the party tells the president to get lost, he is not going to give this up, no matter what the Supreme Court says. The president and his legal team have lost 30 or 40 legal efforts before various courts all over the country but now the Supreme Court of the United States has weighed in and the Supreme Court denied a request from Pennsylvania Republicans to block certification of pennsylvanias electoral votes which will now go, obviously, to joe biden. I want you to stand by. We are getting back to you. There is other breaking news. We will stay on this major decision by the Supreme Court. President elect joe biden introducing the team he has assembled to combat the Coronavirus Crisis saying they will be ready on day one. The u. S. Surpassed 15 million confirmed coronavirus cases adding almost 1. 5 million cases in the first week of this month alone. But there is promising news. Fda review has confirmed that pfizers vaccine is, in fact, safe and effective and emergency use authorization is expected later this week. Lets get more on all of this. Admiral brett giroir is joining us right now. I want to get to this crisis involving the coronavirus. You know, admiral, a yale immunologist reacted to the faeds fda pfizer review this is what an a plus report card looks like for a vaccine. Do you agree . Thank you, wolf. I absolutely agree. I read both the companys report and the fdas complete report today. The efficacy in the 90 percentile. The side effects are consistent with the vaccine that works. In the arm soreness and fatigue and those symptoms. But this is an incredible breakthrough day. The end of the pandemic is in sight but as you pointed out, we have a lot of work to do because we are going to have those vaccines out at warp speed but we have got to do the kinds of things we know how to do to flatten the curve right now because vaccines wont provide relief immediately. Its going to take months and months to get most of the country vaccinated april assuming a lot of those people are willing to get the shot. We saw the first vaccinations of the pfizer convenient in the United Kingdom today. How soon will the United States, from your perspective, follow suit . We know the fda is going to meet on thursday. I never want to presuppose what the fda is going to do but i cannot imagine that with the data as presented and summarized by the fda it wont be authorized incredibly quickly, whether that is a day or two days, im not sure. But we heard today and ive heard many times and i believe it because we reviewed it, that we will have vaccines in peoples arms within 96 hours if not a shorter time than that. General perna has the logistics ready to go and we had an incredible vaccine summit. I interviewed the executive level people from u. P. S. And fedex and others and we are ready to go and put it in peoples arms. We think they we will be able to vaccinate 20 Million People by the end of this month and up to 100 million total people by the end of february. So quite exciting for the country. Its really amazing. I know youre working with various drugstores and pharmacies out there, walgreens, v cvs that team can go there to get their shots. Scott gottlieb on the board of pfizer confirmed that the Trump Administration he says actually turned down multiple offers to buy more doses of the Pfizer Vaccine in 2021. An Administration Official admits they shouldnt have closed the door to securing more doses. Te explain what you know about this because there is some controversy. Ive been told by very senior people in my department that that story is not true. I was not involved in that transaction but it was not true, that there is 100 million doses purchased, there is an option of 500 million doses from pfizer, and that there is an absolutely commitment with the highest degree of certainty we can by may or june that everybody who wants a vaccine will be able to get a vaccine. That is using moderna and pfizer and expect other vaccines to be authorized, if not approved by that time but all i know. Do you think Johnson Johnson, Oxford Astrazeneca their vaccine supposedly ready for fda approval in january sometime. What do you think about that . Two vaccines are good. Four vaccines are even better. Yes. Again, that is why operation warp speed invested in really six vaccines, they invested in different ways. Three different platform technologies. What we are seeing right now is the mrna. By how many people are enrolled in their trials we expect astrazeneca and Johnson Johnson ready by january. Cant rush things. Has to be done right. We dont know what the results are but if they are good results, we would expect in that time frame euas to be submitted to the fda and they will go through the safe careful process they are doing with pfizer and moderna. At the white house President Trump signed an executive order claiming that americans will get vaccine doses first. But Vaccine Companies like pfizer, for example, already have a lot of deals in place not just for the United States but other countries as well. So will this executive order change anything as far as you can tell . As i understand the executive order, again, it was just signed today and i ran over here to get on with you its making sure that the vaccines that are procured by the United States are given to americans with priorities and not necessarily solely but certainly with priority as we need to protect our citizens and everyone in america who happen to be here in one way or another because we are all in this together. You know . We are at a critical time in the pandemic. I think that is all it really said. We know other countries will get vaccine and other contracts, that is very appropriate. But the american purchased vaccines, his order was to prioritize americans first. The executive order says americans will get United States government vaccines first. The president cant get these Companies Like pfizer, for example, moderna to nullify existing contracts that they may have with other countries, can he . Im a Public Health guy. Youre starting to ask legal questions about what the president can or cannot do. If i could answer those, i would, but i dont know the answer to, that wolf. What is your sense now . Because all of us are so worried about these numbers, hospitalizations, cases, deaths, they are exploding right now. We havent according to dr. Fauci we dont have the real impact yet of thanksgiving and christmas and hanukkah and kwanzaa and new years. It could get worse. What is your assessment what will happen the rest of this month, january, february . All of us, we are incredibly concerned, right . Because the rate of rise is the highest we have seen its really spread all across the country. Our hospitalizations are well over a hundred thousand. Youre right, wolf, we could just be starting to see the impact of thanksgiving travel. But i want to implore the American People and thank you for letting me do this, that we can flatten the curve but youve got to do those simple things that we have been telling everyone for months. Wear a mask. Please wear a mask when youre in public and cant physically distance. Youve got to avoid the indoor crowded spaces because that is a prime area for transmission. Wash your hands. Look. We dont want to ruin christmas or thanksgiving but if you can avoid travel, please avoid travel so you dont mix potentially people who may have the virus that youve never been exposed to with other people. Remember, for young people, at least half or maybe 90 of individuals are asymptomatic. They show no symptoms. Even for the people who are symptomatic they have the highest virus before their symptoms start. So youve got to protect yourself and others by wearing a mask, avoiding crowds. If we do that, and we do that really religiously, we can flatten the curve. If not, as dr. Fauci says, you know, the country is going to be in for a whole lot of hurt before the vaccine can make the impact. The end of the pandemic is in sight. The vaccine will work. It will ends the pandemic and return us to as near normal or normal as possible but we have to do our part right now which is those mitigation tkes. Youre absolutely right. I totally agree with you, dr. Giroir, for what youre saying. Unfortunately, this is so sad and i know you dont want to react to what the president is saying and doing, you work for the president of the United States. But he is having all of these christmas parties, a lot of folks just showing up, not much social distancing and they dont have to wear a mask. Saturday night he went to georgia and we saw thousands of people gathered, no social distancing, no masks for all practical purposes and he is encouraging this. He spoke for some 90 minutes at that political rally in georgia. Now yet another person in the president s orbit has become infected with the virus, the Trump Campaign lawyer jenna ellis after Rudy Giuliani who is still in Georgetown Hospital Medical Center suffering from covid and getting all sorts of experimental treatments. Ellis was at a Holiday Party at the white house on friday and she regularly goes out there. We dont see her wearing a mask at the white house. Shouldnt these people be setting an example for the American Public right now, given the danger, the deaths, the hospitalizations, the cases that are erupting . The virus doesnt care what Political Party you belong to. It doesnt care about your station in life, whether youre male or female, what your race, what your ethnicity is. It unites us as human beings and no matter who you are, you have to take these precautions because the virus will do what the virus does. It will in facfect other people kill the elderly and not stop until we make measures to stop is it and finally until the pandemic ends by the vaccines that we have just around the corner. So i implore everyone going into the holiday season, everyone, make better choices, avoid crowds, wear a mask. You can safely physically distance and wear a mask. If not, we are going to see tens of thousands or even more deaths in this country before the vaccine can rescue us. I know you got to run. One final question. Have you had any conversations with the incoming biden team . Will you be staying on in the Biden Administration . So ive had a number of informal calls and i had just really what i would characterize as an outstanding nearly twohour briefing on testing last week that was organized according to the transition process. Again, its up to the Biden Administration to disclose who is on their side but there are very senior people, people in Public Health that i work with intermittently no matter what. We had a great briefing, the transition is going to be professional. All of us just want one thing, to save lives, reduce suffering, and to get the pandemic behind us. I certainly have not been asked to stay on, nor would i expect to be asked to stay on. My job is to make the transition as smooth as possible, to ab professional as possible and pray for everyone coming in because it is a challenge of our lifetime. The stakes are so enormous. These are life and death issues. If you were asked to stay on, would you . Hypothetical question. You know . It hasnt even crossed my mind about being asked. Im a political person in this administration and i certainly will do everything i can to support the next administration because we are all in this together. Its about american lives, americans surfing and save suff the world. Do you think the biden folks are putting together a good team . You know, i dont know all of the people on their team. The people in Public Health are certainly, you know, respected. Dr. Kessler. I dont know doctor walenski very well. I cant comment because i dont know them and i dont work in the political circles, et cetera. Tony fauci saying on. We have worked together every day and had a long relationship. He is the leading Infectious Disease expert in our country. Dr. Brett giroir, thank you for joining us and work in these areas. I know these are critical moments. Thank you very much. We are following more breaking news. More on the u. S. Supreme courts decision that dealt a near fatal blow to President Trumps efforts to try to overturn the will of the American People, the election. We go live to the United Kingdom for the latest on day one of the coronavirus vaccinations there. 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Try new Vicks Vapocool drops in honey lemon chill for a fastacting rush of relief like youve never tasted in. Honey lemon ahh woo Vicks Vapocool drops now in honey lemon chill breaking news here in the the situation room. Including right now up on capitol hill, lawmakers are voting on a defense spending bill that President Trump that actually threatened to veto despite what he says is his love for the u. S. Military and the defense secretary. Manu, what is the latest . Reporter we expect this bill to pass pretty easily. The question is going to be whether or not there will be enough to override an expected president ial veto. This will be the first test whether or not the republicans and democrats have enough support to defy the president. The president has battled this on completely unrelated matters, specifically, the president wants this bill to attack social media companies. He is asking congress to include language in there that would roll back protections for social media Companies Like twitter and facebook, and he tends National Security when a lot of people, republicans and democrats, say it has nothing to do with the Defense Department. This is 740 billion dollar bill and something very popular in congress and passed virtually every cybill year more than half a sent write. Its going to be pass today they need twothirds majority ultimately to overcome a president ial veto. Republicans in the house and in particular some of the most conservative members plan to side with the president. The Republican Leadership is split on this issue. Liz cheney told me they should override the president s veto. Kevin mccarthy, the House Republican leader, said today he would not support a veto override. The expectation on the hill is that it will be very close. This vote happening right now on the house floor. The vote to pass this bill. After it passes the house, then to the senate and we expect a veto proof majority pretty comfortably on the senate side. A republican jim [ inaudible ] told me he spoke to the president last night and urged the president to back off this. He said the president he talked about how significant this bill is and he said he is disappointed in the president s posture but he did not listen to what the president wanted which is include that effort to go after social media companies, as well as to remove a provision would require the Defense Department to rename military properties and bases named after confederate leaders. That is in the bill despite the president s opposition. Republicans in the Senate Planning to defy the president but will they have enough to override a veto in the house. The president is digging in here and a lot are pushing back. I think the president doesnt like the fact that twitter, for example, very often has to say what the president is tweeting is false, is not true. The president doesnt like that so now he is ready to veto 740 billion dollars for the u. S. Military for the Defense Department what he treats take nothing to do with the u. S. Army, the navy, air force, marine corps, et cetera. Lets talk about what is happening with the covid stimulus bill. Millions of people who are in desperate need right now. What is the status of getting this passed . Because so much of that money is going to run out two days after christmas. Reporter its very uncertain. The republican and Democratic Leaders are sparring and Mitchell Mcconnell is pushing to do a narrow bill and drop some of the key sticking points including money for state and local governments and Liability Protections for businesses. Those issues have been essentially two sides at odds over that. But these negotiators on the senate side and with the house are still trying to cut a deal over those issues. Wolf, uncertain if congress can get a deal, despite the expectation and hopes so many people around the country that the white house will do something. They better do something because people are suffering right now. Manu, we will stay in close touch with you. Breaking right now. President elect biden confirmed he has chosen retired u. S. Army general lloyd austin to become the next secretary of defense. Lets discuss with a forr secretary of defense william cohen. Mr. Secretary, thanks so much for joining us. This article explaining his choice, president elect wrote this about general lloyd austin. Here it is on the screen. If confirmed, as you know, mr. Secretary, general austin would be the first africanamerican in history to lead the pentagon. What do you make of this Ground Breaking choice and opposition emerging right now he hasnt been out of the military long enough to become the defense secretary . The first issue is he competent . Is he qualified to be secretary of defense . Looking at his record and going from west point all the way to a fourstar general in this military tells you he didnt get there without having the qualifications to assume this office. Second point is that joe biden campaigned on the issue he wanted to make his cabinet reflective of the diversity in this country and certainly general austin fulfills that box as well. Really whether or not he has been separated from the military long enough is the issue. He has been out four years and it requires seven but an exception and flexibility in the law says it could be waived. The question is will the members of the senate waive that provision . I think they should for the reasons that joe biden really laid out in clear language in his piece in the atlantic magazine, namely, he knows general austin, he trusts him, he has worked with him during the eight years he was Vice President. He understood the man, himself, his command of presence and ability and the ability to run a division, command a division of our military. So he trusts him innately in terms of the challenges that are going to be facing this country. He needs him to help in the distribution of the vaccine that we are going to have hopefully in the near future. He needs him to be able to draw down the forces in the middle east that is going to be required. So he wants him to be at the policy making desk, as well as over at the pentagon. He wants him to share in policy decisions that he brings that warrior experience who had to deal with fighting of wars on the ground, bring that, plus his organizational talent and his ability to lead. He is a Perfect Choice in my opinion. As you know, there are some democrats right now who said they wont support this waiver. But if it is granted, two defense secretaries to get these waivers in four years, general austin following general jim t mattis and marshall and another one that got the waiver by president truman at the time. They are worried about a precedent being set right now to which you say what . I say the senate made the right decision when they waived it for jim mattis. Jim mattis also was centcom commander and he had a history of being a great warrior and when he was appointed secretary of defense he did the right thing by resisting the pressure coming from the president of the United States to pry to politicize the institution of the military. I would say general austin is the same way. He is a civilian but he has Great Respect for the rule of law, for the command structure and the fact he would never use his position as a warrior in any way to try and cultivate with the servicemen, marine, et cetera. So i think that there are times when you need to have waivers. I think this is a time as you pointed out earlier, these are unprecedented times. We have a we have a vaccine coming but we have had a virus which is decimating our country. And we have had a commander in chief who left the wounded on the battlefield. So, yes, we have joe biden who said let me take command and let me put the people in place who i have respect for and who the country can rely upon and feel that they are good for this country, they wll do the job that i give them, and not simply try to cultivate a relationship with a president , nor to accommodate his every need. I think this is an excellent choice by the president and i hope the senate will do what they did with jim mattis say there are times we have to waive it and this is one of them. General austin was head of the u. S. Militarys Central Command which involves all u. S. Troops serving in iraq, afghanistan, throughout the middle east right now. Its a critically important issue. And he was highly, highly respected in that role. Can i say one thing . Make it quick. I got to go. Quick point. He is a symbol also to millions of people in this country who have sacrificed on behalf of this country and never had the recognition they deserve. He is a symbol to those africanamericans in our country who have given so much from the revolutionary war all the way to the wars that are being fought today. Well said. Secretary cohen, thank you for joining us. My pleasure. Up next, coronavirus vaccinations now under way in the uk. We are going there live when we come back. Tonight. Ill be eating Cheesy Cauliflower Pizza with extra broccolini. My tuuuurrrrn tonight. Ill be eating Cheesy Cauliflower Pizza and yummy broccolini doorbell rings thanks. doorbell rings thank you. Is that my leotard . No. Yes. Ehh, you can keep it. See yourself. Welcome back to the mirror. And know youre not alone because this. Come on jessie one more. Is the reflection of an Unstoppable Community in the mirror. So whats going on . Im a talking dog. The other issue. Oh. Im scratching like crazy. Youve got some allergic itch with skin inflammation. Apoquel can work on that itch in as little as 4 hours, whether its a new or chronic problem. And apoquels treated over 8 million dogs. Nice. And. The talking dog thing . Is it bothering you . No. Itching like a dog is bothering me. Until dogs can speak for themselves, you have to. When allergic itch is a problem, ask for apoquel. Apoquel is for the control of itch associated with allergic dermatitis and the control of Atopic Dermatitis in dogs. Do not use apoquel in dogs less than 12 months old or those with serious infections. Apoquel may increase the chance of developing serious infections and may cause existing parasitic skin infestations or preexisting cancers to worsen. Do not use in breeding, pregnant, or lactating dogs. Most common side effects are vomiting and diarrhea. Feeling better . Im speechless. Thanks for the apoquel. Aw. Thats what friends are for. Ask your veterinarian for apoquel next to you, apoquel is a dogs best friend. In britain today, people began receiving the first doses much the pfizer coronavirus vaccine. Max foster joins us live from wales. Max, youve seen the first vaccines administered today. What are the folks in the uk telling you . Reporter well, theyve been very emotional, i have to say. Even saw the Health Secretary matt hancock on television this morning on the verge of tears as we saw the first images of the first person to receive the Pfizer Vaccine not just in the uk but in the world. Her name is margaret keenan, 90 years old. Received the vaccine in coventry this morning. Lets hear from others involved in this remarkable moment in medical history. The best thing thats ever happened. If i can do it, so can you. I hope i am not going to have the bloody bug now, i dont intend to have it because i have granddaughters and i want to live a long time to enjoy their lives. The world is watching. Theyll be learning from your example. Yes, well i hope so. Whats the message then . The message is get everybody vaccinated. Obviously its a choice but we need to look after everyone and everyone to look after each other. Please get vaccinated. Reporter the good news, wolf, the system so far appears to be working, so the vaccine is being offered for free in this country, but according to a strict priority list, at the top of the list are those in care homes, front line, medical workers, and the over 80s, and just to give an example really of how strictly theyre sticking to that in wales at least, theyre keeping locations of Vaccination Centers secret so people cant just turn up. You have to be invited to come in, strictly invitation only. So far it is working. Biggest test is getting it out to hospitals and smaller care homes, doctor offices where challenges with refrigeration and mixing of the vaccine, they dont come ready made. On day one, all seems like good news. Encouraging indeed. Max foster, thank you very much. We have more breaking news coming into the situation room now. The United States Supreme Court just a little while ago officially rejecting the latest republican attempts to overturn the president ial Election Results in pennsylvania. This is really huge. Stand by. We have details and reaction. Tired of overpaying for your prescriptions . Try optum perks. Its a new way to save up to 80 . And everyone can do it. Its from optum, a Health Care Company thats trusted by millions of people. You dont have to sign up for anything. Just go to optumperks. Com. And get a coupon to use at your pharmacy. Thats it. I opted in. I opted in. You can, too. Opt in and save big today. Save for being a new customer, for adding drivewise, and for driving safely. Whatever you drive, start driving down the cost of insurance. S uh um. Its shiori. Shori. Thank you, thats great. Shiori. I really love it. I was always comparing myself nefertitito my sisters. Irl they were always thin and i wasnt. I ate a lot of food. 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The need for leadership more urgent than ever as the United States has just surpassed 15 million confirmed covid19 cases. Nearly 1. 5 million infections were reported in the past week alone as the pandemic explodes. Covid vaccines are now a reality. United kingdom started to vaccinate citizens today, and first vaccines are expected to be authorized here in the United States ler