Complicit in a coup attempt. Im more troubled youre seeing a lot of republican officials go along with it. Why the white house is finally coming clean on americas covid catastrophe but still blocking the biden team from helping. If youre fighting a battle and the calvarys on the way, you dont stop shooting, you keep going into the calvary gets here. All in starts right now. Good evening from new york, im chris hayes. We have breaking news tonight from the state of georgia, where the republican secretary of state there has announced that the hand recount of the president ial results have concluded and joe biden is, again, confirmed as the winner of the state of georgia. From the press release in georgias recount, 9 highest error rate in any county was. 73 . Most counties found no change in their final tally. The majority of the rest had changers fewer than ten ballots. So joe biden won georgia. That will be certified tomorrow. He won the president ial election. And despite that clear electoral victory, american democracy is under assault. By donald trump and his collaborators in the Republican Party. Let me take a step back for a second. Remember from the beginning, as weve been reporting here on the program for months, that donald trump and his campaign with the rest of the Republican Party, he always knew they were going to lose the popular vote, and always knew a victory was only possible with a narrow win in a number of hotly contested swing states. And he actively laid the groundwork to be able to try to contest and steal those states, even if trump actually lost them by narrow margins. But then what happened is trump lost by a lot. And the results all came in and they still arent completely counted. Its the definitive rebuke. He lost the popular vote by almost 6 million votes, four points percentage wise. Lost the Electoral College by the same margin he won by in 2016, which he repeatedly called a blowout. All of that instead, they just still went along with the plan they had on the shelf. They still filed all of these lawsuits, all but one of which has failed in court. And donald trump and Rudy Giuliani are doing precisely what you would expect, spreading dangerous and conspiracy theories and drifters. All of that was always bound to happen. Mitch mcconnell and josh hawley and marco rubio and ted cruz and tom cotton and the rest of these republican politicians who are no strangers to sank moanous and aggrieved public oratory, theyve all been going on with it, cowardly hiding behind the apparent excuse that skourdous sheb played out and you can always go to court and make your claim and thats always the path of least resistance they want to take. But lets get serious here. Trump is 132 in court. They lost 32 cases in the 16 days since election day and tonight a federal judge ruled against the Trump Campaign saying it would be ridiculous not to certify georgias win one day before the states deadline. The Trump Campaign is admitting over and over in court theyre not actually alleging fraud. Even Rudy Giuliani told the judge, this is not a fraudcation. Their legal strategy has been reduced to the spectacle today at the Republican National committees headquarters in washington, a darkly comedic and humiliating experience for all involved as the president s last legal hope, Rudy Giuliani sweating in front of the National Media with some kind of undetermined dye running down his face while Trump Campaign lawyer Sidney Powell made truly wild statements that mr. Biden was elected with hugo chavezs money, who has been dead for seven years. This is where we are. Now this is not about coup attempts. This is not about a barrage of ballots or signature matches. No, its an attempt to lose loyalty to donald trump, to subvert and frankly overturn the results of a democratic election. They are just attempting straight up to subvert the will of the people and overturn a democratically elected government. We saw the first indications of this when the republicans on the wayne county michigan board of canvassers refused to certify the election before backing down. Then today the republican chair of the fourperson committee, monica palmer, said the president called her himself after the meeting ended. And last night both she and her fellow republican board member William Hartman signed ac affidavits they want to rescind their vote, they want to take it back, after monica talked to the president. Although i dont think that is a real thing. I think that ship has sailed. Trump also i invited the Republican Leadership of the house and senate to meet with him at the white house tomorrow, ien though they have no plangz for long shot maneuvers naming an alternate set of protrump electorates from michigan. Theyre trying to just overturn the election and install the president in power. Now, i dont want to freak people out. This should not be giving you a knot in your stomach about the outcome. It will not work. It is not a game. It is doom to failure for a bunch of reasons we will not get into. But that should not diminish what theyre trying to do, theyre trying to do the thing, theyre trying to overturn the election. Tonight in an exclusive interview with jonathan capehart, exclusively on msnbc, barack obama pointed out jbds will be the next president. Joe biden will be the next president of the United States. Kamala harris will be the next Vice President. I have been troubled like i think everybody american, whether youre republican or democrat or independent should be troubled, when you start having attempts to block, negate, overturn, the peoples vote when theres no actual evidence that there was anything illegal or fraudulent taking place. These are just bald assertions. They have been repeatedly rejected by the courts. And i think the court im less surprised by donald trump doing this. He has shown only a flimsy relationship to the truth. Im more troubled that youre seeing a lot of republican officials go along with it, not because they actually believe it, but because they feel intimidated by it. And the degree to which youve seen some news outlets that cater to the right and the conservative viewpoint somehow try to prop up these bogus claims. Again, that full hourlong interview coming up at 10 00 p. M. After the triumphant return of Rachel Maddow, which im looking forward to. But president obama is right, republican officials are on board with the plan. And if they are not, they have to speak up to let us know they are not. Trump and giuliani are spouting horribly toxic conspiracy theories. They running around, pouring gasoline and lighting a bunch of matches and all of those excuses about letting the process play out are gone now. So republican politicians, josh hawley, marco rubio, ted cruz, are you okay with this . Are you okay with holding an American Election and overturning and ignoring the results . Yahoo Political Correspondent jon ward, great reporter, tweeted, i have emailed specspersons for all republican senators about trumps Pressure Campaign in michigan, and have not heard back from any yet. This is classic. Weve seen this 100 times during the trump years. Its the classic republican, i didnt see the tweet, but for the end of the american experiment. A lot of people, myself included, said imagine if it were closer . Imagine what happens the next time around . The fact of the matter is that 40 to 45 of the country, maybe 30, 35 of the country is getting information from sources telling them the election was stolen and fraudulent and some of them are going to do things about it. Republican National Committee actually tweeted out this clip from their official handle today, a Sidney Powell at the press conference earlier today. American patriots are fed up with the krep from the corruption from the local level to the highest levels of our government and were going to take this country back. Were not going to be intimidated. Were not going to back dounk. That was during her perform aerns talking about hugo chavez and communist money and donald trump won in a landed slide and theyre going to prove it. This is the rnc, the official head of a major party tweeting this out. And weve seen over and over since the election what it looks like when people take this seriously. The as secretary of state of has gotten death threats. Republican secretary of state has gotten death threats. New Court Filings claim the National Terrorists who plotted to kidnap michigan governor gresham whitmer had another plan, plan b that involved a takeover. Michigan Capital Building by 200 combatants to stage televised officials and that was plan c, burning down the white house and leaving no survivors. Thats the danger when the president poisons peoples minds with lies and conspiracies. Im sure Governor Whitmer knows about these firsthand and she joins me now. Thank you for being here. Lets start on your reaction to the new Court Filings about the except of the plot that was being put together against you. I think it just tells you that words matter and the words of our leaders matter. The incredible vitriol thats being waged against dr. Fauci or a governor thats just trying to simply save peoples lives, its undermining our democracy and these latest attempts around this election are just an extension of that. It is dangerous. We really do need people of goodwill on both sides of the aisle who care more about our democracy than our parties to stand up and say this is unsuccessful. We had a fair election. We need to respect the will of the people and certify these results and we need to get the Biden Administration to get started on this transition so they can get their arms around covid. So this Current Administration has never been able to do. Let me ask you about Michigan State law here. Youve got the speaker of the michigan house, a republican, and the state Senate President , a republican as well, invited to the white house. Its very clear what the president wants them to do is to just say to the michiganders who voted for biden about 143,000vote margin, too bad, tough, were taking that away and giving it to donald trump. Aside from how offensive that is, theres no provision in your state law that allows them to do that, is there . No, and im glad you opened the show by telling people this isnt going to happen. The vote margin actually in michigan is now actually 157,000 votes. That is 14 times the vote margin that trump won michigan in 2016, 14 times. The state board of canvassers are coming on tuesday. They have one legal duty, and that is to certify this election so we can send our electors in. They will be joe biden electors and he will be sworn in as the 46th president of the United States on january 20th. There was reporting tonight that one of the people on that state board, which again like the wayne county canvassing board, is a bipartisan board split evenly, is saying that hes leaning towards not certifying. How big of an issue is it if you get republican officials at these various levels essentially buying into these completely insane conspiracy theories . I think its really dangerous, to be honest, the fact that our two highestranking republicans on the leg ur are going to the white house. Theyre being summoned there by a president who lost the state and who i wasnt invited to the meeting. I have not been briefed on what theyre going to cover, but were all assuming he will try to implore them the way he did these county canvassers to do whatever he can to not certify the will of the people of michigan. I think its incredibly dangerous theyre even entertaining the conversation. Because we all know what the law is in michigan. This is an embarrassment to the state and its an effort to disenfranchise the most populous county in our state, which by the way is the county that is home to the most largest africanamerican part of our population. This has so ramifications, many legal, many ethical. I would advise anyone to tread very carefully because there could be much longerterm problems for anyone who participates in an effort to undermicroscope the election by a candidate who was on that ballot. One of the things that we are seeing is theres a kind of breakdown in america about where people get their information. Theres polling out today from the economists that say 84 say biden didnt legitimately win the election. Whether thats an expression of anger or they really believe it. But i guess you are the governor of a state thats a divided state. You represent tons of conservatives and republicans. To what extent do you feel like youre able to cut through all of that when having conversations about the basic facts of the matter, whether thats covid or like joe biden did win michigan . Well, i think weve got our work cut out for us as a nation in individual states like michigan. We are deeply divided. The last four years only made that divide harder to mend. However, i really think that joe biden as our president will be a big step in the right direction. The first speech he gave after it was clear that he had won in this historic vote was about doing just that. It was about humanity in one another and being a president for every american. I really believe we have a lot of healing to do as a nation and we have to seek to understand one another. That is our challenge and its also every american leader, it should be the core of the work that they do. We are americans before we are partisans. Here in my state, i say we are michiganders first. We have a duty, an oath to one another, and weve got to do everything we can to heal this divide. But its not going to be easy, and its going to take a concerted effort by many. Michigan governor gretchen whitmer, thank you, governor, for making time with us tonight. Thank you. For more on the deafening silence from republican officials, im joined by brendan buck, who served as press secretary for Speaker John Boehner and chief Communications Adviser for speaker paul ryan. I had henry olsen last night, who is sort of a conservative legal thinker and writer. I started being henry, youre not a nevertrumper or lincoln project. You turned on the whole gop. Youre a conservative in good standing. What do you think of this . He said this is nuts. S this is ridiculous. So i want to start with you on that. What do you brendan buck make of the claims being made here . Its one of the greatest things i have ever seen. I alternate between finding this hilarious and being absolutely furious about it because its so damaging to democracy as you discussed. As a republican, im still a republican, i think its incredibly damaging to the party, the party that is being told that elections are rigged and that their vote doesnt matter isnt democrats, its republicans. So the consequences of this are far and wide but theyre actually going to be felt mostly by the party that is leading this. So im frustrated by it. I think its, as you said, doomed to fail. Its quite pathetic the folks theyre trotting out here, its really the bottom of the barrel. So im not worried, but im just really concerned about what it says to voters and when 77 of republicans think the election was rigged, there are real consequences to that. What do you think about the role of Republican Leaders right now . I can understand mine, i obviously dont agree. I think thats pretty clear with the strategy of let him pursue his claims in court, but its not going to stop. We know this about donald trump. It wont stop. He will try to yank electors and then they will do some contestation of the Electoral College once the electors are named and theres a joint session that ratifies the election in january and they will fight on that. The question is what responsibility do republicans leaders stand up and say enough, this is crazy, stop . If i think the point you hit is perhaps one of the reasons why they dont, is because i dont think any of them think they can get him to stop. I have a lot of experience with this my time on the hill. You can tell the president what the right thing to do is but it does not necessarily mean its going to sink in. They all know running out and saying that hes wrong or that the election is over is not going to get him to stop. Its just not. But what it will do, obviously, is turn his ire towards them. You have to remember politicians are going to ask in their own political selfinterests. In the short term, its in the political selfinterest for republicans to stand by the president , something i think people forget, while im sure their office phone lines are getting hammered by people criticizing them for their position, but i promise you theyre also getting hammered by their constituents saying why are you not out defending the president . He said theres enough votes to overturn the election. What are you doing to overturn the election . Thats the pressure they feel. So when they know they cant actually overturn it, they cant make it stop and they know hes actually powerless to overturn the election, the easiest thing to do is just sort of wait him out. I think thats what youre seeing. I totally agree with that as like descriptive analysis. I think youre right, its important to remember theres pressure on both sides. But i mean maybe im just an incorrigible moralist but that normallip does the cut the mustard. John boehner should speak up. The people in Public Office and people not in Public Office should speak up. This really seem hes wrong. That seems more than to me. I dont think theres any question its wrong. Youre seeing more republicans every day. You had fred upton this evening, the former chairman of the committee, speaking up. What republicans need to understand is while it is in their selfinterest in the short term to stand by him, it is not in their selfinterest in the long term. If you tell enough of your voters that voting doesnt matter, that elections are rigged, that democracy doesnt work, that is going to come back and bite you. I think thats what they need to understand in the long term, there are consequences for the party, for your selfinterests. Of course, for the entire country as well. I think as these states continue to certify their elections, i think georgia will do tomorrow and have a couple more monday. Everybody will sort of understand it and they will move on. But they really have no incentive, elected officials have no incentive right now in the short term to hit him. They just dont. It strikes me that you say that, its not the first time in your career you have taken a moral argument and translated it into the lange of interest to get a hearing. I appreciate you doing thatp to the. Hopefully that will land. Brendan buck, thank you very much. The president ask actively engaged in a multi date coup attempt, what else to call it, to throw out bidens victory in the words of the presidency. Theres one reporter who saw all of this coming long before anyone else and he joins me next. E next doctor about biktarvy. Biktarvy is a complete, onepill, onceaday treatment used for hiv in certain adults. 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Your rules. Only with xfinity mobile. To just a few weeks before the election, the journalist Barton Gellman wrote a cover story at the atlantic about the election that could break america. Its all about the ways in which the trump folks were planning for some incredibly shady and well antidemocratic maneuvers if the election were close. We had barton on the show, and this is what he had to say. Some trump people are discussing, im not saying they have a plan to do it, but i know its coming up and they discussed it also with the Republican Party in pennsylvania, crucial swing state, is that they would ask republican legislators who control both chambers in pennsylvania and, in fact, in all six of the most closely contested battleground states, to name trump friendly electors, notwithstanding the popular vote, regardless of the popular vote, that will will be a claim that the count isnt finish or it was corrupt or it was rigged or that there are still legal disputes. And so just appoint some trump people. Nailed it, huh . Barton gellman called this two months ago and joins me now. Its striking watching you talk about that, bart, a, youre completely right and b, back in time in september, you were saying the pretext for this would be claims of fraud or claims of irregularities before the election had happened. Like all of that had been already plotted out before the actual event happened. Well, it didnt take nostradamus to tell you trump was going to claim fraud in the election. The important thing was that there has always been a plan to overturn the election if need be. I mean, trump may or may not have believed its possible that hes going to make it happen but he has laid out the groundwork in add advantage and sadly, a lot of whats happened since the election has followed the script i wrote about in the cover story. Today theres sort of a difference in time between these frivolous lawsuits and allegations they keep losing in court because they dont have any evidence and just this sort of like, well, you know what, screw you, were going to take those electors. Today you had sydney powell, an attorney for the president , just saying this out loud. She called in lou dobbs show. Take a listen to what she had to say. The entire election, frankly, in all of the swing states should be overturned and the legislatures should make sure that the electors are selected for trump and its going to have to follow the constitutional provisions that it go be decided according to the amendment. I dont even think she really knows what shes citing there. But they cant actually theres no legal predicate here. My understanding is that the sort of sophisticated version of this was to kind of gum up the works in the accou works in the count so there was no certification or you could stop it to use the provision of the Electoral College act that the state failed to make a determination and write in but theres no state law provision to just substitute your electors for what the people voted for. Well, yes and no. The smart money, the sophisticated legal argument is they cant do this. But im not actually completely convinced at all. Article 2 of the constitution says that electors are to be appointed in each state in such manner as the Legislature Thereof May direct. It is the power of the legislature to appoint the electors. The lecture may have passed laws and said in this coming election, were going to appoint electors according to the popular vote in our state. And indeed, that is the case in all of these states. Had right, that is the case. Nevertheless the Supreme Court said in bush against gore, reiterating from a 19th century case, the legislatures have the power, that they can take back their power at any time. They dont define at any time but its a fairly broadly worded statement, and if you get into court or into congress disputing over the electoral count act, there are scenarios in which trump can pull this off. Now, first every bad scenario here, every scenario in which trump is actually able to overthrow the constitutional orders, is actually able to tear up the election results, depends on state legislatures simply asserting the power claiming that they have the power to appoint trump electors not with standing the vote in their state. So michigan and pennsylvania are the ones that have been talked about first. If both of them happened, had trump up to 268 and he would need another state, but it is it is the strategy here to get those electors chosen. Now theres disputed electors and there are multiple forums available to solve the dispute. One is in the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court is lately demonstrating that is it very sympathetic to the power of state legislatures to decide on the manner of elections and to decide on the manner of appointment of electors. Another is in congress. There are two different ways that trump can get his way if dueling slates of electors arrive in congress. So if Governor Whitmer certifies the actual vote in michigan and passes a law, certificate of ascertainment to washington saying here are our biden electors and if the state legislature does the reverse, here are our trump electors, it falls to congress to decide what to do with those. That meeting is presided over as Vice President pence has president of the senate. The Magazine Article that i wrote walked through the scenarios in which this the key here, and this is where it departs from what your article was is, if it had come down to one state, i think they would have gone for it. They now have a coronation problem, which is to pull off essentially a democratic coup across three states and three state legislatures all telling voters in their states who voted for the other guy, get out of here, were wrefrmginching the back. That is a tall hill to climb. It is a tall hill to climb. I think youre probably right hes not going to get away with it. Its not going to happen. That joe biden will be sworn in. But i wish i could believe its impossible. I wish i could believe its completely out of the question, and i dont. What are these two guys doing flying to washington to sit down, the speaker of the house of representatives in michigan and the majority leader of the senate, why do you take that meeting . Can you imagine what its like to be a state legislator led into the oval office maybe for the first time in your life and this very powerful president with all of the awesome accoutrement of his office tells you, you have to do your constitutional duty. You cant be the one that allows democrats to get away with this fraud, making up votes. Trump is a very powerful personality. If you say no to the president , you really should have said no to the meeting. They really should have stayed home. If michigan does it, does that Start Building up momentum for another state to do it . I cant rule it out as being impossible and i think everyone should take it seriously. Barton gellman, thank you for making time tonight. I appreciate it. Thank you. Ahead the Coronavirus Task force made its first appearance in months today. I will talk to olivia troye about what we heard and what was noticeably missing. Missing odors get trapped in your homes fabrics and resurface over time. 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Call now a white house Coronavirus Task force appeared before the American People today for the First Time Since july, over four months ago. In that time, we have lost nearly 120,000 people. Today was also the First Time Since june that we saw dr. Fauci behind the podium with the task force as he briefed the nation about what he called extraordinarily impressive results from the Frank Figliuzzi and Moderna Vaccine trials. Vice president mike pence, head of the task force, painted a fairly rosy picture, saying he thinks we will soon be putting the coronavirus in the past, right before dr. Deborah birx showed this slide, that blue arrow demonstrating the dramatic spike in cases we are seeing across the country right now. The death toll in the United States is now quarter of a million, 250,000 lives lost. Today states recorded records, in cases, 180,000 new cases today, 81,000 people just tonight, a record. And there were 1,971 deaths, almost 2,000 deaths today, the highest since may 7th. Look at where those lines are all going. Where do you think thats going to end up . With thanksgiving one week away, the centers for Disease Control recommended today americans not travel for the holiday. Strangely, the word thanksgiving did not come up even once in the nearly hourlong task force briefing, although members of the task force did seem unrestrained, like they were finally able to speak about the dire and horrific reality in this country as we head into the worst winter of our lives. Well talk to the head of the former task force about what she saw today and what if means next. Today and what if means next just one jar of microsculpting cream next. Next ls and visibly smooth wrinkles. While new olay retinol24. Provides visibly smoother, brighter skin. For dramatic skincare results, try olay. And now receive 25 off your purchase at olay. Com brand power. Helping you buy better. 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Give up, the couch is calling. I say, its me, the couch, im calling. Pain says you cant. Advil says you can. 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. Working, parenting, problem solving. At new chapter vitamins weve been busy too. Innovating, sourcing organic ingredients, testing them and fermenting. Fermenting . Yeah like kombucha or yogurt. And we formulate everything so your body can really truly absorb the natural goodness. Thats what we do, so you can do you. New chapter wellness, well done. Today is white house Coronavirus Task force meeting was mercifully free of the nonsense of donald trump and dangerous herd immunity fantasy of scott atlas. Instead for once there was a unified mask message from the white house. Lets start with masks. Lets start with physical distancing. But also include decreasing those friends and family gatherings, where people come together and unknowingly spread the virus. Were talking about intensifying the simple Public Health measures that we all talk about, mask wearing, saving distance, avoiding congregate settings. Masks work. Social distancing works. Handwashing works. Wash your hands, practice social distancing, wear a mask when social distancing isnt possible. Olivia troye is a former member of the white house Coronavirus Task force, former adviser to the head of the Task Force Mike pence. She quit that job in disgust on what had transpired on that task force. Today, olivia, it was striking two things to me was the time warp aspect, we havent seen these people since july even know 120,000 more americans are bed. And two if you minimize the role of mike pence and take out the president in scott atlas, you get the basis Public Health consensus. Right. What i saw today was the mike pence that i knew in february and early march, the mike pence that actually cared about the facts and data and what happened. He cared about human life, even the compassionate, christianlike pence i worked for as a career Civil Servant and got to know. You know, it was hard to watch this because i have the utmost respect for dr. Fauci and dr. Birx birx, and watching dr. Birxs body language during this meeting, she looked so defeated but i know shes been counting the states, going to 42 states, doing everything she can given the circumstances. As i watched this i thought to myself, the good news is theres positive news in the announcement about Frank Figliuzzi and moderna happening with vaccines. So the white house knew it was a moment they could capitalize on. It was a positive message. And thank goodness they knew better and knew to put mike pence out there to give a more serious tone and that the vp was willing to do it to tell people were in a critical, dangerous moment right now and that this matters and we have to work on this together. Its also striking to me just how dangerous scott atlas and donald trump are. Scott atlas and donald trump are the reason the Coronavirus Task force has not been appearing in public. Its the reason the Public Health expertise has been jettisoned in front of flag rant superspreader events and talking points. From atlas, hes on the outs but still pushing his trump pandemic claims. He hasnt attended a White House Task meeting in person since september. How much is his presence part of what has led us to the point we are in . I think its fair to say its significant. Theres been a Great Division between the task force, experts on the task force and any medical practitioner out there who understands the virus and what is happening here, who actually cares good human life, will tell you scott atlas is on his own planet in terms of how hes advising the president and what he is stating in his rhetoric. It is dangerous, and unfortunately, the president watched his audition repeatedly on fox news. And i say that completely, 100 assertively because this is how the president who identifies people who stay on his message for new jobs and this is a man who has control. He advises the president with these dangerous messages and unfortunately the president s followers and his supporters and his voters follow this rhetoric and it is killing americans today. Nearly 2,000 deaths today, which i just cant quite process. I want to play something president elect biden said today about the real problem now with the transition. They have a huge logistical problem they need handed over. Take a listen what he had to say. Unfortunately, because of the lack of acertainment, as they say, which thats a fancy word these days but until the head of the gsa says that we in fact, our team, this transition team, our team, the senator and i, have in fact are the likely winners, until she does that, we dont have access to all of the information that we need to get for all of the various agencies. Having worked on that task force, how crucial is that . Its critical and hes absolutely correct in the fact that theres so much data and information out there in terms of all of the research that has taken place by a group of people who actually care and do the work behind the scenes. They need access to that if they move forward and we want to support them and they want to hit the ground running come january. Theres no reason for the behavior right now. Were in a critical transition during the countrys biggest pandemic, biggest pandemic of our generation. And what is happening right now is petty politics and childish behavior by a white house who knows better. They know exactly what theyre doing. Their playing games. But the problem this, this isnt taxes. This isnt just some minor issue. S this peoples lives. Olivia troye, who i want do put this tweet up recently drove six days, 400 miles to el paso to bring your mom back home. El paso one of the worsthit spots in the country. Youre from el paso. Im psyched youre able to do that and i hope shes doing well and thank you for making some time tonight. Thank you for having me. Next, in order for republicans to remain in control of the senate, they need to explain two senators who have come under fire for shady deals. Come on, no no nnnnono only discover has no annual fee on any card. To use your vision benefits 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. I sh rakuten ten. All the perfect gifts right from my phone. Rakuten am i the smartest shopper ever known . Rakuten toni doorbell rings ting crab cakes with spicy aioli. Thank you. Can we be besties, simone biles . I guess . Yessss should we dismount now . With acetaminophenction fights pain in two ways. Advil targets pain at the source. While acetaminophen blocks pain signals. The future of pain relief is here. New advil dual action. Try natures bounty sleep 3 a unique tri layer supplement that calms you helps you fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer. Great sleep comes naturally with sleep 3 only from natures bounty not long ago the state of georgia released the results of a hand recount which affirmed that, yes, joe biden narrowly did win georgia. The story there is not over. Control of the u. S. Senate will be decided in the state. There are now two Senate Runoff races under way. Election day is on january 5th though any georgia registered voter can vote early in person or by mail. Polling out this week shows both races effectively tied. Keep in mind georgia polling actually was really quite good the last time around. So if youre rolling your eyes at that, this was a state that hughed to the polling pretty closely. If democrats manage to win in both contests, they will control the senate with 50 seats and a tiebreaker by way of harris. Both Kelly Loeffler and david perdue are amablifying baseless climbs of voter fraud. And both made stock trades after a Coronavirus Briefing in january that prompted concerns they were corruptly profiting from their position as senators. Loeffler and her husband dumped millions in stocks in the days and weeks after that covid briefing even as loeffler publicly played down the severity of the virus. The loefflers are worth an estimated 800 million. They dumped those stocks ahead of the market crash that resulted from the potential impact of the virus becoming known to the general public and not just senators in closeddoor briefings. Loeffler later claimed her Investment Decisions are made without her knowledge. Political reporter Craig Bluestein joins me now. Greg, great to have you. Can you tell us a little bit about both of these i know both of these have come up quite a bit in the campaign, and theyre a little different what perdue and what loeffler did. Just walk us through what we know loeffler did, what the accusations are against her as well as perdue. Yeah. Well, the accusations against loeffler involve more stock transactions. Somewhere she appeared to lose money, somewhere she appeared to make money. But there is a significant number of stox transactions she made shortly after a closed door briefing just for senators about the coronavirus pandemic as the pandemic started to worsen. When it comes to senator david perdue, he was not at that closeddoor meeting but he also made or people on his behalf, his advisers made a series of stock transactions as well. Not as many but they also involve some of the companies that gained from the pandemic, including pfizer. After these revelations came out, both the senators moved to make it very clear that their advisers made some of these transactions, made these transactions on their behalf, and it was pointed out that they had been cleared of criminal wrongdoing. But democrats say it handsnt passed the smell test and theyve been using this to basically claim theyre corrupt and theyve been profiteering off of the pandemic. There was also an ethics complaint filed against loeffler today by the Georgia Democratic party if im not mistaken. What was that about . Yeah. Well, senator loeffler, in a tv interview on camera yesterday solicited donations, which is not a problem on its face because candidates always do that. But in this case it happened on the floor of the u. S. Capitol, which is prohibited. You cannot solicit donations from a Federal Building. Her Campaign Says this is a distraction, but she faces actually three separate ethics complaints for making this oncamera appeal from the Federal Building for campaign donations. You know, im curious as someone whos covering the dynamics of this race, i know corruption has been key in much of the attacks. I know particularly from ossoff on perdue and warnock on loeffler. Heres an interesting dynamic, and im curious what you make of it. I think perdue and loeffler think of the electorate as very conservative. They think of georgia as a red state, and loeffler particularly went way to the right in that runoff to fend off doug collins. She ran ads about how basically she was a rightwing nut, more right than attila the hun or Something Like that, right . Mmhmm. But its not that. Biden won the state. I guess my question is like what is their message to the nontrump voters in georgia, some of whom are going to have to win if they want to win election. This is whats fascinating in georgia because its all about base turnout. Theyre not trying to persuade the very few undecided voters or voters in the middle. Theyre trying to turn out the same bases that came out for them just two weeks ago. Now, when it comes to maybe republicans who dont support President Trump, their argument is essentially that United Democratic control over washington is a problem for conservatives. So theyre trying to make the case that you want a checks and balances. You want divided government. But its harder to make that case right now for them if theyre not conceding the fact that President Trump lost the election. So its very interesting watching them try to make that balancing act in georgia because neither senator david perdue or senator loeffler have both acknowledged neither of them have acknowledged that joe biden won the election. Theres also the weirdness here, right, which is that they wrote a letter to the republican secretary of state saying he should resign because he oversaw an election that was shot through with fraud. I forget the phrase they used, without any evidence. But thats the election that got them to the runoff. I mean its like thats the election that elected a lot of republican members of congress who are going to go serve in the United States liegislature. Thats a kind of weird and crazy thing to do as your first step in a runoff. That is widely seen here in georgia as a move to appease President Trump. And that again is part of this whole balancing act these senators are trying to navigate right now because theyre deathly afraid that spurning trump, alienating him in any way will not only get him to not come to georgia and campaign for them, but also turning off his loyal base because they need all those core conservative supporters to come back out for them. And, again, saying the president you know, bucking the trend and not echoing his false narrative, you know, could alienate those core supporters. All right. Greg bluestein, who does great work for the Atlanta Journal constitution in georgia. Thank you so much for that. Thanks for having me. All right. I am ending early tonight because its a very big night here at msnbc. That is all in. The Rachel Maddow show starts now with the one and only Rachel Maddow herself back in the anchor chair. Good evening, rachel. So great to see your face. Thank you very much. Im not actually in the anchor chair. Im just kind of floating here in space in my office, but its close enough. Thanks for being so nice the whole time i was gone. Its been really good like texting with you and keeping in touch, my friend. So glad youre good. All right. Thanks. Thanks to you at home for joining me here this hour in my home. I know that this shot looks a little bit weird, and if you think im looking, you know, unwell or pale or feverish or something, im happy to tell you that im actually physically fine. Its just that im not that pretty, and as Richard Nixon learned the hard way in his first debate against jfk, makeu