Turmoil on the outgoing president s watch as the coronavirus is raging like never before. Tonight, more than 334,000 americans are dead, more than 19. 2 million have been infected. Dr. Anthony fauci warns of a surge upon a surge of new cases after holiday gatherings and travel. Lets go to cnn Congressional Correspondent phil mattingly. Reporter thats right. 275134. That means in the democratic led house, the bill passed to expand direct payments. This is in response to President Trump himself, what he initially pretty much stopped the process of signing the large covid relief and spending bill into law. One of his demands, increasing direct payments, stimulus checks in that measure from 600 to 2,000. Democratic leaders said okay, lets do it. Tried by unanimous consent, republicans blocked that. This time did it under suspension of rules, without getting too deep into the procedure and weeds, they needed twothirds of those present to vote for it to pass. And just barely, just barely crossed that threshold. About 130 republicans voted against the measure. To put it blintuntly, it was a difficult vote for republicans. Generally dont want part of giving general payments out. However, they were facing pressure from the president himself, something over the course of the last four years as you know better than anybody they have been unceasingly loyal to. 40 republicans voted with democrats for the measure, more than 130 against, this means it will head to the senate. As it stands, President Trump says he has commitment to at least start procedural votes on the 2,000 direct payments bill. Mitch mcconnell up to this point hasnt said anything what the process would be. Jim, we expect him to lay it out tomorrow when the senate comes into session. Phil, there are two critical votes this evening. The other one being the Defense Authorization act, and republicans are in a pickle on this as well, phil, because some of the republicans that voted for the Defense Authorization bill may not be able to muster up courage to defy the president and vote to override his veto. How is that breaking down at this hour . Reporter reluctance to put too much into a single voter, couple votes on the house floor. Given everything since november 3rd, where the president has been, given where the Republican Party has been the course of the last four years, the two votes are fascinating. National Defense Authorization is a bill that passed congressional, bipartisan manner, usually with big votes for 60 years. 59 of those years signed into law. This is the first time vetoed by President Trump. Some republicans who are supportive of the measure, consider themselves National Security republicans, like Kevin Mccarthy said he would vote against it because he wants to sustain the president ee veto. How republicans come down on the issue, whether or not theyll override the president who theyre loyal to but wont be in office in weeks will be interesting how it breaks down. Jim, i will tell you one thing, matt thornberry, Top Republican on Armed Services committee, well respected by both parties made clear without mentioning the president s name in a floor speech before the vote was to take place, it was a matter of this is the same exact bill, the vast majority of republicans voted for last time around. Not a single comma has been changed. How do they vote given where the president sits . It goes a long way to telling you the Republican Party, House Republican conference is going to be doing the weeks and months ahead and where trump and the party continue to sit. There used to be a problem when you were for something before you were against it. Well talk about that in a bit. Lets go to kaitlan collins. The president got what he wanted, but the fate in the senate is not clear when it comes to stimulus checks. Reporter no, it is not. Phyllis right, mcconnell made no mention of this in a statement yesterday. We have to wait for tomorrow to see what he says. When the president agreed to sign the Coronavirus Relief bill yesterday after sitting on it for several days, one of the statements included when he signed it, he wanted the senate to consider the 2,000 stimulus check proposal that he and democrats agree on. It is not clear where the republican majority leader will go with this. What youve seen in all this effort could have been unnecessary. The president s own aides view it that way, jim. He was completely uninvolved in the negotiations, they didnt know the president would threaten to not sign the bill over the stimulus payments, wanting them to be 2,000 instead of 600. It was his own team that negotiated it. He signed it yesterday, only delaying it while ultimately not changing anything. It really is a disgrace. Reporter after blasting it for days, President Trump gave in and signed the pandemic relief bill overnight ending a drama he created while getting nothing in return for his theatrics i am asking congress to amend the bill, increase the ridiculously low 600 to 2,000. Reporter he threatened to derail the 900 billion bill in part over the size of stimulus checks, surprising his own staff that spent weeks negotiating it. He finally signed it at his Maralago Club in florida sunday night, without getting what he demanded, despite promising on the campaign trail to be a deal maker. Great deals. We only make great deals. America first. Reporter the signing gdelay caused a lapse in benefits for millions of americans. Because of trumps s shenanigans, there is a one week delay. Reporter the package provided billions for vaccine distribution, funding for schools, money for small businesses. Republicans are practically begging trump to sign it. I understand he wants to be remembered for advocating for big checks but the danger is he will be remembered for chaos and misery and erratic behavior if he allows this to expire. Reporter not all of the president s allies were relieved he gave in, referencing efforts to contest the election, a senior white house official asked cnn why should any of his supporters fight for him when he quit trying to get them more than a midd 600. Others were fearful hits efforts could hurt the party before a critical runoff in georgia where republican candidates are already touting the bill. I am proud to bring that relief to georgia. Reporter he announced to hold a rally for them next week. Some republicans are bracing for it to be more about his election loss than their race. Were all victims. Everybody, all of the thousands of people here tonight. Reporter as he vacations in palm beach, the white house insisted trump is holding many meetings and calms, though he was spotted by cnn cameras on the golf course again today. Given all his other efforts to overturn the election have failed, sources say trump is laser focused on causing disruption january 6th when congress meets to ratify joe bidens win. The process is only procedural, but because it is overseen by mike pence, trump is looking for loyalty from his top deputy. Hinting at a possible spectacle, the president tweeted see you in washington, d. C. January 6th. Dont miss it. Information to follow. Even the president s allies are growing tired of his efforts. New york post Editorial Board which has been friendly to trump his entire presidency is now urging him to, quote, stop the insanity, writing you had every right to investigate the election, but lets be clear, those efforts have found nothing. Now, jim, on top of all that, a republican congressman has filed a lawsuit against the Vice President , mike pence, trying once again in another far fetched effort to overturn results of the election, basically arguing pence will have the ability january 6th when congress does meet. The Vice President will not have that ability to do that, basically his role in that procedure is a ceremonial one, but it is an effort again by the president and his allies to try to change the results of an election they failed to do so far in weeks since november. While the lawsuit isnt going to go anywhere, it is incredibly far fetched, what it does do is put the Vice President in an awkward position. He wants to prove his loyalty to the president , but he has political ambitions of his own. What hes actually going to do january 6th remains to be seen. Kaitlan, now to president elect joe biden and new condemnation of transition road blocks that he is blaming on trump political appointees. Mj lee has more on that. Biden says the team is not getting the National Security information it needs at this point. Reporter thats right, jim. We heard joe biden expressing real alarm after meeting with members of his Foreign Policy and National SecurityAgency Review teams. Remember, the official transition process was already delayed because gsa was slow in ascertainment process, and now we hear the president elect saying that he is seeing obstruction from some parts of the trump government. Nothing short in my view of irresponsibility. Reporter tonight, president elect joe biden slamming the Trump Administration for what he says has been far short of full cooperation during the transition process. We encountered road blocks from the Political Leadership, at the department of defense and office of management and budget. Reporter after getting briefed by members of the National Security and Foreign PolicyAgency Review teams, biden accusing Trump Officials of political obstruction. Some agencies received exemplary cooperation from career staff in those agencies. From others, most notably, department of defense, we encountered objection from Political Leadership of the department. Reporter biden laying out some of the most urgent Foreign Policy challenges his administration will confront come january, seeing major federal agencies have been handicapped under President Trump. Many of them hollowed out in personnel, capacity, and in morale. In the policy process is at trophied or side lined, in despair of alliances and disrespect of those alliances. Reporter this as the country braces for post christmas spikes in covid19 cases across the country. Dr. Anthony fauci saying he agrees with bidens earlier prediction. Our darkest days in the battle against covid are ahead of us, not behind us. Reporter that the worst of the pandemic is still to come. We very well might see a post seasonal in the sense of christmas, new years surge. I share the concern of president elect biden that as we get into the next few weeks, it might actually get worse. Reporter a little over three weeks out from inauguration day, biden building out the rest of his administration. The most prominent cabinet position still outstanding, attorney general. The top two contenders for the role remain judge Merrick Garland and senator doug jones. Other major appointments still to come, cia director, secretary of commerce, secretary of labor, and sba administrator. Now, as biden was leading that speech earlier today, he was asked whether he supports 2,000 in direct payments for covid19 relief. He did say yes, he does support those payments. He also is going to be giving a speech in wilmington tomorrow on covid19, this of course as there are real concerns about spikes in covid19 cases across the country after the holidays. Jarring to see biden predicting before the Christmas Holidays he thinks the darkest days may be ahead of us when it comes to the virus, jim . Mj, thank you very much for that. Bring back kaitlan collins, phil mattingly, along with david gergen. David, President Trump threw a wrench into critical pieces of legislation, now some republicans are on the record voting against bigger stimulus checks. And i suppose some of the republicans will be on the record voting against a defense bill that phil mentioned earlier typically passes every year without controversy or much controversy at all. What do you make of the chaos . Amidst the chaos, we face an interesting task of Donald Trumps continuing strength among republicans, especially in the house and senate. We all thought coming into this weekend that the Defense Authorization, he would win his veto, and his signature on the bill, 80 votes in the senate, 335 in the house, nobody thought that the house or senate might override the veto, that he would lose this. So right now were in the situation of trying to figure out can donald trump sustain himself on the defense bill, on the stimulus bill, and on the 600 versus 2,000. Can he win those votes or not. If he wins them, were all going to say wow, he has more strength than we thought. If he loses them, which is still more likely, still more likely on all three that he is not going to come out well, then hes going to be seen as having suffered stinging defeats and the argument will be he checked out of the presidency way too early, let these things get past him. We have to wait and see. Minor drama as we go forward. Won have it any other way. Phil mattingly, doesnt look good for republicans to vote against the stimulus checks, this is the position the president put them in and against the defense spending bill. What is Mitch Mcconnell going to do about this . Now hes in a position where he may have to stand against the bigger checks. It is going to be fascinating to see how he plays this. I think most people work under the assumption that mcconnell will have some strategic way to thread the needle, do what he tries to do more than anything else, protect his conference and protect the members of the republican conference as it stands, 52 now that mark kelly has been sworn in in arizona. David gets a key point. Were trying to figure out what it means for the Republican Party. Are the votes serving as prosecuti prosecution sees for the republican theory when you have josh hawley on marco rubio lining up. The most important is the Georgia Senate race. Theres no other way to look at it. You have david perdue in the last several days crucial to getting donald trump to sign onto the stimulus. He and Kelly Loeffler said they would support the 2,000 stimulus checks to this point, some caveats in there. Where they stand, this is a bad vote for two members of the United States senate up for reelection in a matter of days, given the fact that giving people money, given the Economic Times were in polls pretty darn well. How Mitch Mcconnell navigates this, how procedurally he puts it on the senate floor will be very interesting to see. Jim as you know and david and kaitlan noted earlier, the president put his party in a difficult spot on this very specific issue. Frankly, it polls quite well. It is a very important set of runoff elections in a couple days. Who wants 600 checks when you can have 2,000 checks. I talked to an adviser that said what the president wanted throughout all this was just coverage. He just wanted attention. Where are things headed after the votes . What kind of sway will he have over the process in the senate, will Mitch Mcconnell listen to him . Thats the big question. Well wait to find out. The president has been lashing out against Mitch Mcconnell. One of the reasons is not the size of the stimulus checks and the proposal, it is over the fact that mcconnell did something the president doesnt want people doing, acknowledging reality, acknowledging biden won the election. You saw him lash out at mcconnell and john thune, number two. Thats what youre seeing, the president is more unpredictable than ever. People at the white house dont know his strategy if there is one. They were as surprised as the rest of us were, including people on capitol hill when the president threatened to derail the coronavirus bill that he finally signed last night. Basically where the president is is more unpredictable than theyve seen, which is unpredictable if you know this president and how the last four years have gone. Theyre not sure what he will do between now and january 20th. Thanks so much to all of you. Following breaking news on capitol hill. The house voting to increase stimulus checks, and overriding the veto of the defense bill is under way now. Reaction from a key house member, representative garamendi joins us next. ringing hey kaleb, whats up . How you doing . Hey, im good, guess what, i just had my 13th surgery. Really . I just had my 17th surgery. Well, you beat me. Well, i am a little bit older than you. Yeah its true. How are you doing . Im doing good. Im encouraged by seeing how people are coming together to help each other during times like these. Kind of like how shriners hospitals for children is there for us. Imagine if i couldnt get my surgery. Who knows what would have happened. Same for me. I know my shriners hospitals family will continue to take care kids like us who need them most all because of caring people like you. Like me . No, the people watching us right now at home. Oh, those people. Hi people. Kaleb and i know not everyone can help right now, but for those of you who can, we hope youll this special number on your screen right now. Youll be making sure our amazing doctors and nurses can keep helping kids like us, who need them now and in the days to come. Your gift will make a huge difference for kids like us. Ooh, ooh, show them them the thank you gift. Okay, okay, hold on a second. With your gift of 19 a month well send you this adorable, love to the rescue blanket as a thank you and a reminder of the kids youre helping with your monthly support. So what are you waiting for . You can use your phone and call, or go to loveshriners. Org to give and join with thousands of other generous people who change lives with their gifts every day. I think thats about it buddy, good job. My pleasure captain. Please call now. If operators are busy with all the other caring people, please wait patiently, or you can go to loveshriners. Org to give right away. [alec] big or small, your gift helps us all. [both] thank you. giggling the house voting to increase stimulus checks from 600 to 2,000. Now a vote is under way whether to override President Trumps veto of a key defense bill. Lets get more with representative John Garamendi. Democrats want the 2,000 checks. Dozen President Trump have republicans to go along . Whats your expectation on your end . I think the people of america not only want it but absolutely need it. This is what they need to survive the next three, four months until biden comes into office and we go to the second step of solving the covid pandemic crisis. But they need it. You cant get by on 600 for three months, four months. So they do need it. What will the senate do . I hope they put aside the bully boy, otherwise known as donald trump who bullied them for the better part of four and a half years, come to their senses, and vote for their constituents, vote for americas families. What do you make of some of the republican colleagues voting for the defense bill and whether theyre going to now backtrack and vote to uphold the president s veto. Phil mattingly was talking earlier about this, typically the bill is not very controversial. Everybody wants to get on board to support the troops and so on. What do you make of whats happening with your republican colleagues here . Well, once again they must do whats right. This is a National Security issue. If the veto is not overcome, we do not have a national Defense Authorization act, authority of the military to do almost everything it must do to protect this nation, from Cyber Security to ships and planes and guns and gasoline and fuel and all of the other tasks that the u. S. Military has around the world will not be able to go forward. This is a fundamental stop sign if the republicans refuse to override the veto. Why did the president do the veto in the first place . Apparently because he didnt get his way. He didnt get his way, putting something that had nothing to do with National Defense into the bill called section 230, which would have given him had he been his way, would have given him the opportunity to sue facebook and google and other folks that he believes have not been nice to him. What message does all of this send to americans on the brink of eviction, families going hungry, military families making sacrifices, when they see all this going on . Theyve got to shake their head, say my god, whats come of america, whats come of the greatest nation in the world. What kind of leadership do we have with the president. It is plain, painfully plain to see the way which confusion, chaos, and corruption has overtaken the administration. And it is led by the president. Hes created chaos for the last four years, whether it has to do with iran or north korea or china, you name it, european union, climate change, chaos, confusion, god knows theres enough corruption to go around to cover the whole thing with one crime after another. Okay. Congressman John Garamendi with strong words there. Happy holidays, see you in the new year. Thank you. Be safe. You as well. More breaking news on the race to vaccinate americans and growing threat of coronavirus surge upon a surge as dr. Fauci is calling it. Were monitoring that as well. Priceline works with top hotels, to save you up to 60 . These are all great. And when you get a big deal. You feel like a big deal. Priceline. Every trip is a big deal. Nwhat it feels like to get ang of hheros welcomeeran. On your own front lawn. At newday usa, our aim is to help every veteran family celebrate home by helping them leverage their va benefits to purchase a home with no down payment to enjoy the life they so rightly deserve. 04 e 1dhq;c9p6 its moving day. And are doing the heavy lifting, jess is busy moving her xfinity internet and tv services. It only takes about a minute. Wait, a minute . But what have you been doing for the last two hours . Delegating . Oh, good one. Move your Xfinity Services without breaking a sweat. Now thats simple, easy, awesome. Xfinity makes moving easy. Go online to transfer your services in about a minute. Get started today. Health experts are ramping up warnings about a post holiday surge of covid19, soaring death toll and case count, failing to discourage Many Americans from traveling and partying. Cnn National Correspondent athena jones is following all of the breaking news. I think were going to see a spike. Reporter as america braces for a post holiday surge in new coronavirus infections, december marks the deadliest month of a pandemic thats seen a staggering death toll. One of every thousand americans losing their life with no end in sight. 1. 3 million passed through Airport Security check points sunday alone. Number of passengers more than a million six of the past ten days. Described it as a surge upon a surge because if you look at the slope, the incline of cases weve experienced as weve gone into the late fall and soon to be early winter, it is quite troubling that might get worse. Reporter concerns mount as hospitals report more than 100,000 Covid Patients for the 26th day in a row. Six states setting record hospitalizations sunday, as the country approaches 20 million covid infections, influential model from university of washington now projecting more than 567,000 deaths by april. Meanwhile, vaccinations continue to be rolled out nationwide. So far 2. 1 million doses of vaccine have been administered out of nearly 11. 5 million delivered. Far cry from the 20 Million People operation warp speed estimated would be inoculated this month. What we need at this point is not justification of how well were doing, rather an understanding of what went wrong. It is expected there are hiccups, bumps in the road, but what were they. Without that, we woo wont have course correction needed. Wont have 20 million by the end of the year, thats probably unrealistic at this point. Reporter they began phase three trails for novavax. Residents in new jersey began to be inoculated today. Like a woman that survived the 1918 flu pandemic. Today she represents the resiliency and fighting spirit of new jersey. Reporter residents and staff at the kirkland, Washington Home that was early epicenter of the pandemic. I think healing will take a long time. To know it wont happen again is amazing. Reporter to put it all in perspective. More than 5. 5 million new covid cases reported this month. Mo more than france and United Kingdom combined, and likely undercount since half the states didnt report new case or death numbers Christmas Day. Jim . Athena jones, thank you very much. Joining me, dr. Ashish jah. The tsa says more than 1. 2 million traveled through airports sunday, highest number since march 15th. How bad could the coronavirus christmas surge get . Jim, thanks for having me on. Those numbers are concerning. Again, i understand why it is happening. People are tired, they want to see family and friends but the problem is that we have so much infection in the community, more than 200,000 getting infected every day, and hospitals are really full. I am very worried with the travel numbers well see another surge in days and weeks ahead. Dr. Fauci agrees with president elect biden that the worst is still yet to come. How do americans grapple with that, so many months into the crisis . Do people just become numb . Have they become numb . Most americans are still paying attention to how bad things are. When they say the worst is yet to come, i think what we mean is january. January will probably end up being the worst month of the pandemic. It will be close between december and january. December was so bad. What i am saying to folks is you cant become numb now. Were so close to the finish line. We have to get through january and february, start getting better. By march and april, theyll be meaningfully better. January and february will be hard for this country. The admiral, member of the White House Task force, explains the gap between vaccines delivered and vaccines administered in arms by saying this is a reporting delay, is that part of it or are there deeper issues. When you look at the numbers, it looks like theres a problem. Yeah, you know, even early december folks from the white house said 20 million vaccinated by end of december. Thats three days away, were at 2 million. So were not going to get that number. Now, maybe well get 20 million delivered sometime in january. I do think we have a problem. I think one part of the problem is that the federal government thought their responsibility ends when the vaccine is delivered to the states. Theres a lot of work getting the vaccine from the state into peoples arms and we needed a clear set of plans than we had on that. It doesnt make sense to me. When you talk to people, they say i want the vaccine right away and yet here we are with what appears to be some lag time between the vaccines being delivered and vaccinating people out there who want to get the vaccine. How do we speed this up . Yeah. I mean, youre hearing from the manufacturers like pfizer saying they have millions of doses, sitting around waiting for vaccine doses to be allocated. I appreciate that the folks in the operation warp speed are working pretty hard here, but we have to ramp this up. Things are in crisis and we cannot get into big delays. Were seeing other countries like israel and canada and other places moving much, much faster. We can do much better than were doing. Operation warp speed should include more than getting us to a vaccine. It has to be speedy in terms of vaccinating people. And novavax announced phase three trials and is testing against the uk variant of the virus, which is obviously very concerning. How big a step is this . It is really helpful. There are two other vaccines i am optimistic about, Johnson Johnson and astrazeneca that well hear about in january at some point, their data should come in. Novavax should be soon thereafter. We need all the vaccines we can get. We have to vaccinate 7 billion people around the world. More than 300 million americans. It will be good to have that in the mix as well. Hoping for the vaccines to get out as quickly as possible. Thank you for joining us. Always appreciate the expertise. Just ahead, a new video of the bombing in nashville as authorities hunt for a motive after identifying the suspect. When it comes to autism, finding the right words can be tough. Finding understanding doesnt have to be. Together, we can create a kinder, more inclusive world for the millions of people on the autism spectrum. Go to autismspeaks. Org [narrator] grubhub on the food you love doorbell ringing the kind of deals that make you boogie upbeat music [man] mmm mm mm. [narrator] get the food you love with perks from [crowd] grubhub [narrator] grub what you love. President elect joe biden thanked emergency workers that responded to the chris explosion that heavily damaged downtown nashville. Aside from a white house statement friday morning thanking first responders, President Trump has yet to comment publicly on the suspected suicide bombing. Martin savidge covering the investigation for us. Whats the latest . Reporter jim, authorities were quick to identify Anthony Warner. Could take awhile to figure out what motivated him. Cnn learned of a conversation they had with warner before christmas. He asked him if santa was bringing him something good for christmas. And warner replied yeah, he is going to make me more famous. So famous the people of nashville will never forget me. Meanwhile, the search for answers goes on tonight. Its a blast that shook an entire city, captured the attention of the entire country. The new cnn video shows federal agents combing through the rubble days after the blast. Authorities trying to figure out what motivated 63yearold Anthony Quinn warner to carry out the Christmas Day bombing. Were still following leads. Right now, theres no indication that any other persons were involved. Reporter those that knew the selfemployed computer guru struggle to understand. In the community he lived, residents said the first sign something was wrong when Law Enforcement showed up at his home friday night. Neighbors describe him as reclusive, a person that ma may wave, but not much else. Neighbors knew about the rv seen at his house, appears to match the one captured by security cameras in downtown nashville 1 22 a. M. , hours before. Accounts of first officers on the scene add to the mystery about the man Police Believe was inside the rv watching them, playing a recording. If you hear this message, you best leave now. Reporter theres a large bomb in this vehicle, your primary objective is to evacuate. Reporter the music, the single downtown, the officer james wells heard the music, heard a voice inside him telling him to turn around. The music stopped. I am walking back, i just see orange, hear a loud boom. Reporter six Metro NationalPolice Officers are considered heroes for going door to door, warning residents to get out before the blast. Some wonder if theres a significance about where the explosion occurred, in front of an at t telephone facility, the blast knocking out, curtailing phone and internet coverage to much of the region. Did warner have par noi aftanoi service . We cant speculate. Reporter they wondered what type of explosive he used that damaged at least 41 buildings. Added he was not previously known to them. He was not on our radar, he was not someone that was identified as a person of interest for the bureau. Reporter somehow Anthony Warner was able to gather components and material to make his powerful bomb without ever triggering warning signs to Law Enforcement. Unfortunately its not that hard in this country to assemble the chemicals and equipment that you need to construct an improvised explosive device. Youre not going to catch every single instance of someone buying fertilizer or peroxide. Reporter we want to show you new video that cnn was able to get this afternoon of the blast site because it is just so striking. The head of the Tennessee Bureau of investigation says it is clear that the bombers intent was more for devastation rather than loss of life, and the devastation is definitely there, jim. That video is extraordinary. Martin savidge, thank you so much. Just ahead, more on the house vote that saw dozens of republicans defy the president s wishes. Ill get reaction from the republican governor of arkansas, asa hutchinson. He is standing by. Who invented car vending machines and buying a car 100 online. Now weve created a brandnew way for you to sell your car. Whether its a year old or a few years old. We wanna buy your car. So go to carvana and enter your license plate answer a few questions. And our techno wizardry calculates your cars value and gives you a real offer in seconds. When youre ready, well come to you, pay you on the spot and pick up your car, thats it. So ditch the old way of selling your car, and say hello to the new way at carvana. And weve got breaking news. It appears the house has enough votes to override President Trumps veto of the national Defense Authorization act, a key defense bill whose fate has been uncertain in recent days after the president vetoed that legislation. Were getting new republican reaction to those house votes tonight. But youre looking at live pictures at this very moment of members of the house of representatives voting to override President Trumps veto of that defense bill. The house right now appears to be on track to do that. Were monitoring it. Well have more of that breaking information as it develops. But first were joined now by the republican governor of arkansas, asa hutchinson. Governor hutchinson, thanks for joining us. First of all, what do you make of the fact the house appears to be on track to override this ve veto, the president s veto of the defense bill . As you know, we dont see vetoes overridden very often in this town and were seeing that happen this evening. Well, i think its important that Defense Authorization act go into law. Our military families are dependent upon that. Its a pay increase for them. Well deserved. And so this is critical. That from a National Security standpoint that that be enacted. I hope that will continue down that path. We dont need a delay there. It is obviously, whenever you have president elect biden coming in, you have a shorter amount of time for President Trump, its unusual to see this kind of Political Drama in washington. But in the end im delighted the stimulus package got signed into law. And thats what were focusing on, getting that relief to arkansans and americans that need it so much during this time of year. Well, what about the 2,000 checks . We know that the stimulus package was passed. But that only includes 600 checks. What about 2,000 checks . Would you like to see those passed . Well, lets think through that just for a second. You had and i was very impressed after the election. You had a Bipartisan Group of senators that came together and said lets reach this compromise. It grew in momentum. The house signed on to it. Speaker pelosi signed on to it. Secretary mnuchin signed on to it, speaking for the administration. They said this is a good place to be, lets get the 600s out the door plus the unemployment enhanced benefits plus the assistance to the states in so many different areas thats critical. Small business relief as well. And so that is what they agreed to as what is necessary right now, lets look at the rest of it down the road. Thats all well and good, governor. Why is it that the president threw a Monkey Wrench into that situation and essentially put his house fellow House Republicans in a jam when he was calling for these 2,000 checks . Why is the president putting members of your party in such a difficult position . Some of them are now voting against overriding the president s veto on the defense bill after they voted for that legislation. You were talking about drama at this stage in washington. Isnt the president responsible for that drama . Well, hes certainly responsible for his comments. Im glad he signed it. We urged him to sign it. That is important. The delay was not particularly helpful. Right now we dont need another political theater that we can have for what we need to debate down the road. Lets concentrate on getting the stimulus checks to americans that need them, and its going to take a little while. I think the stimulus checks will go out. Weve got the Unemployment Benefits to work on as well. So i dont believe now is the right time to increase that whenever we just worked out a compromise for the package that we have. Lets concentrate on that. There will be a further debate down the road. But well be better able to judge in march whether it needs to be additional stimulus, whether weve fixed it with what this plan is now. So lets stick with the compromise that was reached in good faith by all parties and dont get sidetracked. Okay, governor hutchinson. Thanks so much for joining us. A lot of breaking news this evening. And we appreciate your reaction to it. And well have more news just ahead. For veteran families, when it comes to finding and buying your dream home, well be there to make it happen. Well be there when you want better rates too. Or to get money for retirement. Well be there because we work only with veteran families like yours to help you get the most life out of a home for the life of your family finally tonight we share more stories of people who died from the coronavirus. Robert bobby mckoskey of indiana was 55 years old. His sister debra says he was born with intellectual disabilities but understood how to be a good person and bring joy to others. Since he was 19 he volunteered for the salvation army, dressing as santa and ringing the bell every holiday season. Rona aaronson was 78. She was a teacher for over 30 years. A loving mother and grandmother. Her daughter julie says she was a huge sports fan and a lover of knowledge with a genuine curiosity about people who left her mark on every person she met. May they rest in peace. Im jim acosta. Thanks very much for watching. Erin Burnett Outfront starts right now. Outfront next, breaking news. The house defies the president. It now has enough votes to override trumps veto of a defense bill. The vote pitting republicans against the president. Plus, president elect joe biden not holding back. Ccusing trump appointees of obstructing the transition of power. And my exclusive interview with alexander vindman, the star witness from trumps impeachment trial. His life turned upside down after testifying. So was it worth it . Hes my guest. Lets go out front. And good evening, everyone. Im Bianna Golodryga in for erin burnett. Outfront tonight, breaking news, a crushing blow to presidum