Be patient, to treat all sensational and unverified claims with skepticism. President elect joe biden continuing to keep his focus on the coronavirus, speaking after today with front line workers, fighting the pandemic throughout the country. This hour, ill be speaking with former National Security adviser susan rice about chris krebs out offer and with admiral brett giroir, leading of the coronavirus testing effort, but the new home rapid test, the nationwide spike in coronavirus cases, and of course the latest advances in vaccines. Joining me now, weekend today cohost kristen welker, reporter ashley parker, and reporter january jonathan lemire. Whats the latest, kristen . Reporter andrea, i can tell you theyre reacting to the out offer of chris krebs, this coming from a spokesperson with president elect joe bidens Transition Team. Let me read it to you and we can do some analysis on the other side. He says chris krebs should be commented for his service in protecting elections, not fired for telling the truth. You also heard anger and outrage overnight from congressman Cedric Richmond who is of course going to be joining the Biden Administration, effectively saying that krebs was ousted for doing his job, for keeping the election safe. So there is frustration not only with this ouster but with what is happening more broadly from the perspective of the president elects Transition Team which is this attempt to try to undercut the election results. And of course weve seen that in tweets by trump. And then weve seen it directly impact the transition with the fact that joe biden is not getting critical briefings on National Security, intelligence, and covid19. And so the strategy right now, andrea, seems to be to try to turn up the pressure on President Trump to reverse course, to at the very least if not concede, give him these critical briefings. Yesterday he met with a team of National Security officials, although not government officials, to really try to highlight the disconnect here. And youre going to see that again today, hes going to be meeting with Front Line Health Care workers all aimed at making the point that yes, he is continuing to move forward with his transition, but at the same time not getting the information that he needs to really be able to address some of these critical issues. On that point of covid, you are hearing pressure mount from within the medical community, medical organizations saying, echoing what we heard from president elect joe biden that lives could be lost if they dont get the information they need about the vaccine and about fighting this virus, andrea. Absolutely essential. Jonathan, this morning you mentioned that the president is abandoning his job, almost on a selfimposed lockdown in the white house, out of sight. We havent seen anything like this from the president of the United States since Richard Nixon in the final days as recounted by bob woodward and carl bernstein. Reporter thats right, andrea, im at the white house now in a rather humble booth here for the associated press. It is a ghost town. There is very few in the way of senior staff here, in part because of the coronavirus outbreak that took place, seeming stemming from the Election Night party. Chief of staff mark meadows has returned to work, hes been on capitol hill today but not yet been spotted in the west wing. Press secretary Kayleigh Mcenany was briefly outside but rebuffed reporters attempts to ask her questions. The president himself remains indeed out of sight, where he has been almost entirely since the election day, with a few brief exceptions. We havent laid eyes on him at all since last week when he appeared at Arlington National cemetery and then had an event to tout some progress on vaccines. But he has yet to field a question from reporters since indeed the Election Night itself. And it has created a real leadership vacuum here, andrea. As you well know, the coronavirus pandemic is surging out of control in most of this country. While president elect joe biden is certainly attempting to step into that void, having these meetings and talking to Front Line Health Care workers today, with the transition not being authorized just yet and the Trump Administration being unwilling to help, right now it is a dangerous situation. And the longer this plays out, the more it endangers americans during a time of real crisis. And ashley, youve been writing recently about the president , what hes been doing on twitter, his persistent false statements, the lies, really, for four years. Thats been continuing on his twitter feed since the election. And now weve confirmed that the Trump Campaign has decided to ask for a partial recount in wisconsin, where theyre asking for this recount in basically the milwaukee and madison areas, a heavily diverse, heavily democratic areas. Its going to cost 7. 9 million that theyre supposedly going to pay for, i guess they have election funds to use to pay for it. What does this tell us about him doubling down on wisconsin and trying to falsely to contest michigan last night . Reporter it shows what he is saying in his tweets is what he actually legitimately believes. Even though donald trump seems to understand at his core that he will not be the president come inauguration day, that he will vacate the white house and president elect joe biden will enter, he does not believe that he lost the election fairly. He does believe that it was rigged or it was stolen from him. And here is where i pause to say what you always say, which is that there is no evidence that any of that happened. It looks like voters chose joe biden over donald trump. But donald trump truly cannot wrap his head around the idea that he lost fairly and squarely to joe biden. There are some people in his orbit who sort of understand the reality. There are other people who enable his worst instincts. But him doubling down is him, again, being enabled by people around him to pursue this world view that if only things were counted accurately and there was no, quote unquote, fraud, which we know there is no evidence of widespread fraud, that he would win the election. And people feel like he has to run each of these avenues down to their most extreme point before he will be able to finally move on. Again, that doesnt mean he will concede or be gracious, but just sort of accept the results and begin that transfer of power. And kristen, among the transition issues, youve certainly covered the issues that they are not getting access to in terms of covid, but the National Security issues as well. I know youre covering that, this withdrawal from afghanistan, something that joe biden might have agreed with, but at a time when the taliban have not met any of the conditions theyre supposed to meet, also new sanction against iran today, again, making it harder for the president incoming to unwind the ran nuclear deal because theres a lot more hell have to figure out with iran to even get back to square one if he wants to reset relations with europeans and with iran in the middle easeas east. Mike pompeo is in india today doubling down on their antipalestinian posture. What do they do with all of this . Reporter i think youre absolutely right, thats why you see so much frustration among democrats on capitol hill and among those close to president elect biden. Publicly biden has said theres only one president at a time, so hes not speaking directly to President Trumps decision yesterday to draw down troops in an iraq and in afghanistan. But i can tell you within the inner circle this is frustration and concern that such a monumental decision would have been made with just 64, now 63 days until the inauguration, and reason concerns about whether that might hamstring president elect biden when he gets into office, and his Foreign Policy as it relates to those critical issues. And youre absolutely right, andrea, it doesnt necessarily run counter to his Foreign Policy. Weve heard candidate biden talk about the fact that he wants to draw down troops in those same areas but he had a different scenario for doing that, a different backdrop and different conditions that he felt needed to be met. And so i think that its safe to say there is some concern, albeit president elect biden not speaking out directly about this yet. But well have to see what he has to say today, andrea. Kristen welker, ashley parker, jonathan lemire, thank you so much. Jonathan, stay safe there in that cubicle in that hot zone. We dont really have a great deal of confidence in the way the white house is handling covid and the spread there in the white house. Thanks for being there for us today. And joining me now, john brennan, former director of the cia in the obama administration, a man who knows a lot about transitions and about briefing the incoming president elect, as you did at trump tower. John, lets talk about how concerning, first of all, the firing of chris krebs. He was the top cyber official in homeland. We know that the nsc, since tom bossert left, has not really built up its cyber capability as well. How concerning is this . I think its very troubling, andrea. First of all, i think chris krebs carried out his responsibilities quite capably. Also i think he showed great leadership in terms of trying to debunk and refute all the specious allegations out there about fraudulent activity during this election, at least from the computer and technical side. But this is also very disruptive of the u. S. Governments cybersecurity activities, because our cybersecurity vigilance should not end with the election. Theres an ongoing battle that the u. S. Government faces in terms of trying to stop and deter and to undermine those attempts to undermine our cybersecurity. And so chris krebs and his organization was working very well with the nsa and other elements of the Intelligence Community to try to keep our technical infrastructure safe from these types of foreign intrusions that could do great damage to us, not just politically but also economically. And lets talk about the troop withdrawal from afghanistan and iraq, announced without consulting the allies. It was certainly telegraphed, and we ourselves reported in october, our colleagues Courtney Kube and carol lee reported that this was imminent. The military apparently talked him out of the christmas scenario, but its 2,500 by midjanuary. Hes doing it without briefing joe biden and without consulting key allies who have troops on the grounds there. This is consistent with what his behavior has been in the past, which has been rash and impulsive. Im sure that general milley and other u. S. Military officers will try to conduct this retrograde, which is the drawing down of deployed u. S. Forces, in a secure and safe manner. However, the fact that we werent consulting with allies, because its the interNational Security force, isaf, that the United States leads in afghanistan and a lot of other countries have contributed troops and effort to this. Also, i dont know as a result of this drawdown, when we get to 2,500 troops, how many of those will be conducting worthwhile missions, whether it be Counterterrorism Missions or trade and assist missions, because all of those troops will be involved in logistics, protection, supplies, medical. How many out of that remaining force will really be making a difference as far as afghanistans future is concerned . So i dont know, i think theres been a lot of Unanswered Questions that unfortunately the way this white house operates, decides to move forward with decisions and actions before thoroughly discussing and reviewing those implications of such actions. Theres also a drawdown, a smaller drawdown in iraq. And we understand, you know, the iraqis didnt want us there because of the way we incite revenge from iranianbacked militias, among other things. Is that also concerning . There was already firing in the green zone last night and five civilians were wounded, a child was killed. Well, absolutely. I think the same concerns apply to iraq, because what is the number of troops that give you confidence that youre going to keep our troops safe and secure, and at the same time make a contribution to, again, whether it be the counterterrorism mission, the intelligence collection mission, helping to train and assist those iraqi forces that are required in order to stave off a lot of these efforts to try to kill iraqis and americans . And also, as you point out, iranians are very active in terms of their working with the local militias in iraq. So again, i think there needs to be a lot more explanation given and im hoping the congressional committees will be asking for those explanations, because on the face of it, it looks like this is just, again, another rash decision by donald trump to try to wield the authorities of the president , however he may deem fit. And finally, iran. Mike pompeo is in israel today, doubling down on the antiiran, you know, posture, the proisraeli, antipalestinian posture. And the treasury is announcing new sanctions today, making it a lot harder for joe biden to try to resume the iran nuclear deal. It also makes it a lot harder for him to do anything in the middle east with israel. Well, yes, and recent reports that donald trump was actively considering a Major Military strike against iranian targets really is quite disturbing, because what we dont want to do is to trigger some type of conflict right now during this transition period when joe biden has to pick up the pieces on january 20. So mike pompeo has demonstrated time and again hes willing to do Donald Trumps bidding irrespective of what the implications are for u. S. National security interests. So im hoping there will be no activity that really is going to make it more difficult for us to try to repair the damage done over the last four years in terms of Donald Trumps actions on middle east policies. It really needs to be addressed very carefully. And thats why i think it is outrageous that joe biden and his team have not been allowed to have insight into what is currently under way in the middle east and around the world. This transition period is so critically important to ensure that u. S. National security interests are going to be protected. John brennan, as always, thank you so much. Thanks for being with us today. Thanks, andrea. Well have a lot more on the firing fallout ahead with former National Security adviser susan rice. First, more promising news on Pfizers Covid vaccine. And an internal white house memo with a sobering prediction of the dark days before a vaccine is distributed widely. Here . Nah. Introducing the all new chevy trailblazer. Here . Nope. Here. 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Youll also get this free beneficiary planner. Use this valuable guide to record your Important Information and give helpful direction about your final wishes to your loved ones. And its yours free. Its our way of saying thank you just for calling. So call now. We have reached a grim milestone. More than a quarter million americans have now died from coronavirus. As the cases continue to surge in all 50 states. Pfizer announcing today results from its phase iii trial are even better than what the Company First reported this week. Its ready to seek fda authorization for emergency use, saying it could have 50 million doses by the end of the year. As states struggle to manage the skyrocketing number of positive cases, though, nbc news has obtained the White House Coronavirus task forces latest weekly report, which warns that there is now, quote, aggressive, unrelenting, expanding Broad Community spread without evidence of improvement but rather further deterioration. This as the nations top Infectious Disease expert is expressing regret for not pressing harder for mass testing earlier. I thought we should be flooding the system with testing and not just testing people. There werent enough tests then. But deep down, you know, perhaps i should have been much more vocal about saying we really absolutely have got to do that. You know, i said it, it went nowhere, and maybe i should have just kept pushing the envelope on that. Joining me now, admiral brett giroir, assistant secretary for health at the department of health and Human Services and Testing Coordinator for the White House Coronavirus task force. Admiral, thank you very much. You just heard dr. Fauci expressing regret for not pushing harder for more testing earlier. Youve been touting the number of tests the country has done, but how do you respond to those regrets from dr. Fauci . Well, thank you for having me on, and i hope we get back to the first two points that you made which are really the most critical. Absolutely. We have surged as many tests as we could possibly do. Since i took over on march 12, we have put every effort, weve used the dpa, we have over 3,000 retail sites, over 10,000 federally qualified health centers. Weve distributed 162 million swabs. Weve ton done 162 million tests. We have distributed these cards, 154 million of them in the last weeks. Whether dr. Fauci would have pushed more or less, hes never been faint of heart to tell what he really feels. We have done the maximum that we could do, invested everything we can do. I can tell you from march 12 on, there is not a stone unturned that we didnt that we didnt, uh, that we didnt do to provide more testing. And were continuing to do that, uh, on a daily basis. Let me talk about the lines at testing sites. And weve seen in san francisco, we have a correspondent who has been reporting there, the lines are just extraordinary. People seem to be trying to get tested, it could be college kids wanting to go home, others who want to travel on thanksgiving, and having the false assurance of a test, that if you take a test, you can then immediately get on a plane and youre safe and you can visit with your elderly grandparents. Let us have a reality check from you, i think it would be very helpful right now, that testing is not a cureall for people who want to travel and have thanksgiving. Thank you so much for pointing that out. We absolutely want people who are symptomatic to be tested. People who have been in close contact with anyone who is positive to be tested. In many areas, we are routinely testing all College Students within universities because they can be a source of community spread. But that negative test today does not mean youre going to be negative tomorrow or the next day, and certainly not by thanksgiving. And it is not a free pass to go without all the important measures that we want, particularly mask wearing, physical distancing, and following all the recommendations that the cdc has for the holidays. If you google cdc holiday gatherings, there are number of really good graphics to help people understand how to be safer over thanksgiving if they choose to have family gatherings. But youre so right, andrea, a test, all tests are imperfect. Even assuming its right, a negative test today doesnt guarantee youll be negative tomorrow or the day following. If youre in a group that should be tested, please be tested. If youre just doing it to say, oh, im okay to go for thanksgiving, it doesnt give you assurance. You still need to do masking, physical distancing, washing your hands, avoiding crowds. When were talking about testing, i want to ask you about the fda emergency authorization of a new athome rapid test. That would seem to be a very positive sign. When could that begin distribution, how quickly . Its very positive, but its still a very limited capacity. Its a prescription test. Its not over the counter. Its only authorized for those who are symptomatic. And there will only be 50 or 100,000 a month of those available shortly. Theyre relatively going to be at high cost. This is an important advance, i dont want to minimize it. Its the first step to home testing. But its not going to make a big dent in what were doing, like right now, distributing 35, 40, 50 million binax cards a month to our states. But it is an important step. I do want to get back to the vaccines and where we are in the outbreak, if youre going to go there, i would love to do that. No, lets talk about that, but i do want to ask about the white house memo, but lets talk about the vaccines. Its obviously positive news from pfizer. We also have modernas positive news as well on their stage 3 trial. Yes, this is very positive news. Both Companies Reporting in the mid90s of efficacy, which is tremendous. No safety issues that were identified. And very importantly, its sort of in the second paragraph, but to me as an intensive care physician it should be at the very top, is it prevents severe illnesses and it works in the elderly. Pfizer showed it works on the elderly. Modern swa has not pointed to t in their trial but the new england journal of medicine says it will work in the elderly. So we have two vaccines coming with a clean safety profile that prevents serious illnesses and that work in the elderly. So we can target these very early to those most vulnerable, the elderly, and those with comorbidities. Thats extraordinarily positive. Whats not positive is we have to understand where we are right now, and that gets back to the white house memo. Well have 50 million doses of pfizer in an undisclosed amount, many millions of doses from moderna this year. But right now were in the steepest number of rise of cases, hospitalizations are going up 25 week over week. Our deaths are going up 25 week over week. And this is not going in the right direction. We are at an absolutely critical, dangerous point. And i want to urge everyone that the only way that we get out of this until we have a vaccine is to absolutely wear a mask when youre in public. We know that local or state mask mandates tend to work and many places have instituted that. In most places were going to have to limit Indoor Dining and indoor bars. That doesnt mean takeout needs to be limited. Many people want their thanksgiving dinner by takeout, thats fantastic. Well have to limit those kind of things like theyre during in europe. In you were thats correeyre k2 open and flattened the curve. We can do that in texas, arizona, across the deep south. But right now were in an absolutely dangerous situation that we have to take with the utmost seriousness. This is not crying wolf. This is the worst rate of rise in cases that weve seen in the pandemic in the United States and right now theres no sign of flattening, we all have to be incredible concerny concerned, have to be diligent, we have to make clear choices, to wear our masks, physically distance, and try to make a better choice every day about how youll gather, where youll gather, and how to protect the vulnerable. I really appreciate, i know our viewers do, your honesty and direct messaging here. If it is this critical, which it seems to be by all the metrics, why not share this information in real time with the incoming Joe Biden Team so that there can be a seamless delivery of vaccines and there can be seamless messaging from the Current Administration to the next . So i want to im going to answer what youre implying first. The gsa controls when transition occurs. As soon as thats turned on, well do this professionally, transparently. No, i know you will. But shouldnt there be pressure from but this is a Public Health emergency. This gsa official is violating the law because the law says the apparent winner, not the certified winner, not the Electoral College designee. I know its not up to you. But is there anything you can do with your influence and others within the administration to try to get past this political deadlock in the interests of Public Health . So i want to tell you that my role is to transmit the information as clearly as possible and im going to be as transparent with anyone in the Biden Administration or in their task force as i am with you. We all know what the data show. The data are absolutely concerning. I lose sleep at night over where we are in the pandemic right now. But we all also know how to beat this, right . Theres a playbook that weve done here. The Public Health professionals on the biden team know that playbook. Its being done in the uk, in france, to flatten their curves and we absolutely have to do it now. We are all going to be on the same page in the Public Health measures because theres a clear playbook. And again, we dont have to do this for six months, nine months a year. The vaccines are around the corner. But if we dont institute these measures and be very rigorous at the state and local levels about limiting certain businesses, not all businesses, most businesses can stay open, k12 can stay open, but we have to have masks, we have to limit indoor crowded spaces. If we do not do that, we will lose tens of thousands of americans by the time the vaccine is out and widely distributed. So i am urging everyone, and you will hear every doc on the task force saying the same thing, that this is really crunch time, this is not crying wolf, this is a time that we need to really double down, because we are at the most serious and dangerous part of the pandemic that we have been in the United States until this time. Well, i appreciate what youre saying. We have to hear it from the Vice President and from the president of the United States, because there are some 73 million americans who will not listen to you or to me or to anyone else unless they hear it from the man on twitter. Thank you very much, admiral. Thanks for coming on, i appreciate it. Thank you, maam. Joining me now, susan rice, National Security adviser and former ambassador to the United Nations during the obama administration, the author of tough love. Speaking of tough love, somebodys got to give some tough love to the oval office right now. You just heard what admiral giroir said, were at a critical stage, the worst stabge yet of the pandemic, and the same goes for National Security. We have the secretary of state in israel today cementing or trying to cement antipalestinian policy. This transition needs to proceed. And yet the president fired chris krebs on twitter just for saying that the election was the most honest and safest in american history. Andrea, this is the most irresponsible leadership during a transition that i think any of us have seen in our lifetimes if not in the history of the republic. Donald trump has lost the election. Its clear. His legal challenges are failing. And hes running out of rope. And instead of doing the responsible thing, which is to execute an effective transition to president elect biden and Kamala Harris, to share intelligence, to share classified information with the incoming team, to do a very professional, seamless handoff between those in the Current Administration and those in the Incoming Administration who have to deal with this coronavirus crisis, as admiral giroir said, we are at the worst point yet and its only going to get worse unless we get a grip on it. This is precisely not the moment to be playing games with National Security and with the health and the safety of americans, given the coronavirus. And yet from, you know, afghanistan to back here in washington, d. C. And everywhere in between, they are proceeding in a fashion that is reckless, dangerous, and irresponsible. What are the broader National Security concerns that you and other professionals have about the stalled transition . Well, andrea, there are many, but let me boil it down to this, and ive participated myself in three prior transitions, both as a member of the incoming team and as a member of the outgoing team. And what you want to do is share information and intelligence transparently. Its virtually impossible for any incoming team to prepare for threats or contingencies if they have no basis to understand they may be coming. And so whether you know, the Current Administration, and these are hypotheticals, but lets say they had information on a terrorist plot affecting one of our embassies overseas or lets say, as we learned in the past, they had information that suggested that a foreign adversary like russia was trying to pay for bounties on American Military personnels heads or attack American Forces in the field or maybe theyve learned about a mutated new virus, whatever it is, and again, all of these are hypotheticals, these are potential, real threats that an incoming team needs to be briefed on, needs to be aware on so they can plan accordingly and put the health and the National Security of the American People front and center. And so there are many different ways in which a transition that doesnt happen appropriately does harm not only to our democracy but to the wellbeing and the safety and the National Security of the American People. The Trump Campaign now is going to ask for a partial recount in wisconsin, not coincidentally the areas that are democratic and largely diverse, milwaukee, madison county, or the area around madison, i should say. Its another indication hes fighting the reality of joe bidens victory. How damaging is that to the body politic and the way our allies see us overseas . I think its very concerning, when you have a president of the United States who is supposed to be in normal times the bulwark of our democracy, refusing to acknowledge the obvious, which is that not only he lost, he lost by a substantial margin, both in the Electoral College and with respect to the popular vote. Its one thing to, you know, have legitimate challenges in court, to call for recounts, thats part of the legitimate process. What is not legitimate is to try to do it to disenfranchise the votes of some people, particularly people of color or people of one party, and not count or disenfranchise others. That is absolutely wrong. Thats what we saw them try to do in wayne county, michigan yesterday. Thankfully it failed, ultimately. But when you have the president of the United States daily, constantly discrediting the election, pouring doubt on the results, false doubt, false doubt, that not only misinforms a huge segment of our population and corrodes trust in our democracy and our institutions themselves, but makes us a laughingstock around the world and does great damage to the democratic model which is why im quite sure that Vladimir Putin is doing a happy dance in moscow as we speak. But this is extraordinarily irresponsible. Ambassador rice, have you been approached by the biden team, would you be willing to serve . Andrea, you know better than to try to get me into that. Im not going to get into any kind of personnel issues. Ive said many times and in different contexts that im very glad that we have joe biden and Kamala Harris coming to the white house. Theyre going to bring compassionate, responsible, effective leadership. And if they think i can be helpful to them in any particular capacity, im very open to serving. But for me, the most important thing is that we are going to have Leadership Back in the white house that understands that we need allies. We need to act responsibly in the world. We dont make precipitous decisions without consulting them. We dont fire officials like chris krebs who is a patriot, who did his job and did it very well, under very difficult circumstances, and has more work to do, not just to worry about foreign interference but weve had attacks, Cyber Attacks on our hospitals and health care infrastructure, in the height of a pandemic. We need responsible leadership in the department of homeland security, in that role. And we wont you know, thankfully, after january 20, have leadership that fires people out of spite simply for doing what the American People expect them to do and doing it well. Ambassador susan rice, author of tough love, thanks very much, thanks for being with us today. Thank you, andrea. Congressman Hakeem Jeffries is speaking at the democratic leadership conference. Nancy pelosi is up next. Theyve just had their virtual vote for leaders of the new Democratic Caucus that will be sworn in in january. Jim clyburn is our majority whip for the 117th congress. And Catherine Clark is our assistant speaker for the 117th congress. Additional leadership elections will take place tomorrow. It is now my distinct honor and privilege to introduce speaker nancy pelosi, a voice for the voiceless, a defender of the disenfranchised, a legendary legislator, a notorious negotiator, and a powerful, principled public servant, nancy pelosi. Thank you so much, mr. Chairman, for your kind words. I always accept any compliment on behalf of the house Democratic Caucus, because they enable any of what we do to be possible by their courage, their integrity, and their just beautiful vision for a better america. I want to congratulate you, mr. Chairman, on your election, reelection as chair. I want to congratulate steny hoyer on his reelection. And mr. Clyburn as House Democratic leader, House Democratic whip, mr. Clyburn, and a new member of the leadership, the newest member, shes been a member of the leadership as vice chair of the caucus, now she is assistant speaker, Catherine Clark of massachusetts. It was a beautifully contested race, a good i think members were pleased. Thats what i want to talk about. I wish that you could have seen the nominations and the acceptance speeches, because then you could have seen the common thread, the unity of our caucus, the values and vision, the knowledge of our subjects, the strategic thinking, you hear me talk about that all the time, but all of it connected to the hopes and aspirations of americas working families. That is what unifies us. Im emotional because of some things said in nomination but also listening to the other nominations as well, as to not only the vision but the depth of comm commitment, the values of our caucus. So im thrilled, im excited, and i cant wait to be working with the new president of the United States, joe biden and Kamala Harris. Im sure we all share that view. And now im pleased to yield to the distinguished House Democratic leader, mr. Hoyer. Thank you so much, madam speaker, and congratulations to you. Joining me now is former congressman from new york, joe crowley, who was the house Democratic Caucus chair, and donna edwards, former democratic congresswoman from maryland and contributing columnist to the washington post. Youre joining us with these elections and all the selfpraise for the election, this is the smallest majority that the House Democrats have had in quite some time. They lost seats, they failed to defeat republicans they thought they could. Joe, is this the return of the old guard, pelosi, hoyer, clyburn, and are democrats really as united as they claim . I think these elections always provide an opportunity to show the unity of the party, coming together. There was some disgruntlement after the election. Now this is an opportunity to come together and to really demonstrate in the election of their leaders. Looking at Catherine Clark, for instance, as someone who is now the assistant speaker, shes a dynamic person. People like i think the caucus respects seeing Hakeem Jeffries reelected, and all the leadership, in terms of the faith and confidence that the caucus has in their leadership. Shes been incredibly adept in terms of dealing with the president right now but certainly as shes expressed, looking forward to working with the new president , joe biden, in upcoming years. How long will the unity last, donna, with the democrats having a slimmer majority . Shes going to need some republicans to help her on key issues. Well, i mean, i think that she has a governing majority. If you know anything about nancy pelosi, what you know is that she goes to great pains to make sure, one, that she can keep her caucus unified, and then she can bring over the handfuls she will need from the Republican Party in order to pursue an agenda on behalf of the American People. Who i see is a caucus where you do have a big tent. And there are differences of opinion and approach. But i think, as pelosi described, and this was certainly my experience and joes experience in the caucus, that we share values as democrats. And i think that thats what comes through. And its going to be, you know, quite a challenge, making sure to, you know, keep that slim majority unified, but also to make sure youre carrying forward on an agenda that really is the president s agenda. When you have the white house, your job in the majority is to pursue the president s agenda. And democrats have to be unified around that. Joe, the democrats are backing down from investigating joe biden, at least installing he does signaling he does not want to investigate donald trump, saying it would be divisive. Does that contradict what theyve been doing for the last four years . I think what the president elect is saying is, he does not want to weaponize any further the justice department, which we have seen under the present president. President trump has weaponized the department of justice, going after his socalled political enemies including president elect biden. And so, look, i think in due time, all things will come to those who deserve it. And this is not a way to push aside the issues of concern about donald trump and his involvements, you know, that needed further investigation. But i think what joe biden is saying is, as he said, he wants to heal the wounds of our country. And i think more importantly than anything else, andrea, hes saying he is not going to further weaponize the department of justice. And donna, what about no deal yet on covid relief . Steny hoyer said theyre hoping to have some kind of package in early december, december 11, theyve also got to do something about keeping the government going, continuing resolution. Mitch mcconnell met for the first time with chief of staff mark meadows, presumably on that. Do you see any breaking ground on this, oafter all these month . I dont know, andrea, this is so disappointing on behalf of the Republican Party and particularly Mitch Mcconnell not coming to the table with nancy pelosi. That is really what should happen. The house passed a measure, as we know, months ago. The h. E. R. O. E. S. Act. And then act 2, that have been sitting in the senate. And people are suffering. Not only are people, you know, increasingly getting sick. Weve seen these numbers. But more unemployed people, people facing eviction, people in long lines, because they dont have the money to go to the grocery store, so theyre going to food pantries. America is hurting right now. And republicans have a responsibility, even in an outgoing administration, to just get this one piece of work done. I think thats what the election was in part about, wanting to get moving. And, you know, give joe biden at least an opportunity as a new president to start off on the right footing in terms of dealing with this virus and taking care of the needs of the American People in the short term, and then beginning to rebuild this economy. That would be the responsible thing to do. The question is whether mark meadows, donald trump, and Mitch Mcconnell really have the gumption to do whats important for the American People. Thank you so much, donna edwards, thank you, joe crowley, good to see you both. Inconsistent approaches across the country to the exploding covid crisis. Why isnt there a National Strategy for combating the virus . Stay with us, well be back in a moment with a quick break. If nancy pelosi starts taking questions, well break back in. Stay with us right here. We look at how much youve saved, how much youll need, and build a straightforward plan to generate income, even when youre not working. A plan that gives you the chance to grow your savings and create cash flow that lasts. Along the way, well give you ways to be tax efficient. And you can start, stop or adjust your plan at any time without the unnecessary fees. Talk to us today, so we can help you go from saving. To living. Talk to us today, you can crush ice, make nismoothies, and do even more. Chop salsas, spoon thick smoothie bowls, even power through dough, and never stall. The ninja foodi power pitcher. Rethink what a blender can do. When panhe doesnt justs mmake a pizza. He uses fresh, clean ingredients to make a masterpiece. Taste our delicious new flatbread pizzas today. Panera. With no unified National Coronavirus response, states and cities are taking their own measures to try and curb the spread. This leads to disjointed restrictions differing widely across the country. Joining me now, two nbc news correspondents in opposite corners of the u. S. Antonia hilton in portland, oregon. Sam brock in coral gables, florida. And two very different approach approaches. Antonioa, first to you. Whats happening in oregon . Reporter here in oregon the governor has put a two to fourweek freeze on business that goes into effect today. Restaurants are going takeout only. Bars, gyms, and other indoor recreational spaces are going to be completely shut down. Here in portland for at least at minimum four weeks. The governors hope is that by shutting down these public social spaces shell be able to get people to stop socializing and slow the spread of the virus here in the state. The problem is, though, that right now its sending Small Business owners and the hourly employees that work for them into a bit of a tailspin. Just yesterday i spent the day with a bartender applying for unemployment. She attempted all day long, and i watched in four separate instances, the states unemployment sites shut down on her. I then spoke to a Small Business and Restaurant Owner who told me that he is digging into his personal 401 k and paying the penalties associated with that just to survive these next four weeks in oregon. People understand that the governor needed to act to control the spread of the virus here and theyre supportive of that, but without a federal aid package ready for people here they feel like theyre heading into a freefall and being left out a bit in the cold. Thats exactly what weve been talking about, antonia. Thank you. And sam, the State Government response in florida is basically the very opposite of oregons. Tell us the latest. Reporter look, we are andrea, good afternoon. We are geographically and policywise on the exact opposite end of the spectacular frum whats going on in oregon right now. Here in florida as soon as we get the updated numbers today, likely going to crack 900,000 cases of covid19. The positivity rate, andrea, has been between 8 and 10 the last several days, which is certainly elevated. Hospitalizations are up. 17,000plus people have died in this state. And yet we are moving backwards right now when it comes to covid restriction with more things opening up, bars, restaurants, theaters, you name it. Governor desantis issued an order in late september ensuring that youll these businesses could operate at 100 capacity, but he put a minimum threshold of staying open to at least 50 , which means in localities where i am in miamidade where you attempted to see leaders coming in and restricting capacity hes saying that no longer applies. What were also seeing are the mayors in Broward County and Miamidade County getting together today. Theyre holding a zoom conference to urge Governor Desantis to be smarter and more restrictive in how he handles this surge. We do know this. There was a mask mandate in miamidade. Not for the state of florida but in miamidade. Desantiss order prevented governors here from fining people for not wearing their mas masks. And they are pleading with the governor now, reverse that, especially given the surge weve been seeing. 10,000 cases just a couple of days ago in florida. The trend is going up, not down right now, andrea. Back to you. And what about the political response to that, sam . Just in our closing minutes there. Is anyone pushing back against desantis . Reporter thats a very interesting question. Members of his own party in the state legislature met for a special session yesterday to swear in new members and they decided they are not going to be pursuing anything covidrelated until they reconvene in march. They said Governor Desantis is doing a good job with his policies, they are satisfied, they dont want to intervene. So he is buttressed right now by republicans on the state level even as some of the government officials here, mayors who are republicans and democrats here in south florida are pushing back against that. Thanks to you, sam and thanks to Antonia Hilton in oregon as well. That does it for this edition of Andrea Mitchell reports. Stay safe. Wear your masks. Socially distant. Remember all of the guidance. And remember to follow the show online on facebook and on twitter mitchellreports. Chuck todd is up next with mtp daily. Only on msnbc. More to me than hiv. Im a peer educator,. A fitness buff,. And a champion for my own health. I talked with my doctor. And switched to. Fewer medicines with. Dovato. Prescription dovato is for some adults who are starting hiv1 treatment or replacing their current hiv1 regimen. With. Just 2 medicines. In 1 pill, dovato is as effective as a 3drug regimen to help you reach and stay undetectable. Research shows people who take hiv treatment as prescribed. 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Most common side effects are headache, nausea, diarrhea, trouble sleeping,. Tiredness, and anxiety. So much goes into who i am. Hiv medicine is one part of it. Ask your doctor about dovatoi did. If its wednesday, the u. S. Has just surpassed 250,000 covid deaths. A quarter million deaths. Its a grim and alarming Coronavirus Task force report leaks that says this is now an aggressive, unrelenting and expanding crisis which our Health System cannot sustain unless we act now. The task force told us that two weeks ago. Plus the president continues his unrelenting assault on our democracy. Hes now fired a top Election Security official for doing his job well. As the president cheer
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