Transcripts For MSNBCW Deadline White House 20201215

Done, on the pandemic, on climate change. There is so much work we can get done and make the country so much better. And we need senators who are willing to do it, for gods sake. So let me hear you. Are you ready to vote the two senators that will not make roll roadblocks . Are you ready to vote for two senators who fight for progress, not just in the way of progress . Are you ready to vote so two senators know how to say yes, not just the word no . Let me talk about john and rafael for just a minute. Jon was raised in indiana, cut his teeth in politics in justice and equality. Jon was someone who traveled the state, looking to help all georgians, rebuilding our economy, health care and education, jobs in justice. His husband is a doctor, seeing the pandemic on the front lines, who will only do the work of the people, who will always put the interests first. The only persons interests, in fact, are the people of georgia. Thats what he does. Thats his heart. Jon will always be there for you, and i promise you, and hell be there for the rest of the country as well. Jon, im looking forward to working with you, man. I really am. And reverend warnock. For how hard youre working, i dont know how you are in such great shape, man. You get up and do it, man. I reached for his arm and it was as big as my thigh. Youre a good man, 11 group up in Public Housing in savannah. First in his family to go to college. Got there on pell grants, work study, another morehouseman. I tell you what, i man of god of e ebenezer, standing in the righteous footsteps of dr. King as he seem Public Service didnt stop at the church door after preaching on sunday sermons, its add voe indicavocating for health care, fair more equal Justice System and fighting chance for all georgians. Hell bring his soul to his work because thats who he is. He is you. Ooel always be your voice of washington. Have no doubt about that. I can hardly wait to work with you as well, senator. I said when i announced, one of the three reasons i was running is electing people of character. They know Public Service isnt about them. Its about you. They know public isnt service about enriching themselves, this about making peoples lives better. You know, this is a tough moment for the country. We just passed 300,000 deaths due to covid. Like many of you, i know what it feels like to lose someone thats part of your heart. I know what that black hole that seems to open up in your chest. It seems like youre being sucked into it. I know how hard it is this time of year and look across the table and see that empty chair at christmas or new years. My heart really goes out to all of you who have lost a loved one, gotten sick or suffering from the disease. Yet in this darkness, finally got some good news with the vaccine approval. Still, its going to take time and money to scale up the manufacturing distribution and the element of injection, the element of injection of the vaccine. Meanwhile, the economic crisis have millions of americans out of work through no fault of their own. They need to get immediate help to families struggling right now. Need to get moving on arrebuildg our economy, Building Back better than before. As tough as this moment is in this country, as dark of these day of winter seem, im still more optimistic about the future of this country than ive been my whole career. I know what we can do. I know what this country is capable of. I know the future we can build together. I hope youll send john and rafael to washington to help me get that done. It really is time to leave the anger and bitter politics of division behind us. Its time for us to come together as a country and start delivering on what we have to get done for the people of america. This is the United States of america. Its ready to act. Send john and rafael to washington. Thats what will happen. You know, i ran on the commitment to be president for all americans. John and rafael are running on the commitment to be senators for all georgians. Im asking you to support them because if you do, the doors of promise and progress will open in washington. Were going to start to get done what we have to do. More than anything well make the lives of every georgianen every american better. Thats not hyperbole. Thats fact. Starting today, you can vote early. Go to iwillvote. Com ga to find your polling location. Tell your friends, your family just like you did in november. Turn out the vote so its not even close. Dont give them an excuse. Dont let them take away your power. Vote for both john and rafael and remember the final words left to us by congress, my dear friend and american hero, john lewis. Remember what john said. He said the vote is most powerful nonviolent change you have in a democratic society. You must use it because its not guaranteed you can lose it. Use it. You have the power to win this election again. Let your voices be heard so the voice of georgia can be heard. Theres nothing beyond our capacity. Theres no limit to americas future. Nobody can tear america apart. Lets choose hope over fear. Unity over division, science over fiction and yes, truth over lies. Its time to stand up. Take back our democracy. Send me these two men and we will control the senate and we will change the lives of people in georgia. God bless you and make god protect our troops. Go out and vote. Vote, vote. Hi, every one. We have been listening to president elect joe biden on the campaign trail in georgia where he is rallying the vote in a fiery speech there. President elect biden detailed the agenda there that a democratically run senate could help him usher in, including desperately needed measures like covid relief. President elect biden also has his sights set far beyond that january 5th contest. Today he addressed the task he will soon face as president. Thes thing of united a deputies lie deeply divided america todays event comes on the heels of president elect bidens address to nation last night where he stepped into the yawning Leadership Void with a speech marking his Electoral College wins that was equal parts rebuke of a rogue gop, renewal of the american democracy and reboot of americas toxic political climate. President elect biden sought to single out election workers and every day americans as quote, enfue infused with character as he praised the integrity of the Judicial Branch which this election cycle stood out in the democratic experiment as the only branch of government not corrupted by trumps false claims of fraud. Here is president elect biden in those blistering remarks last night. The Trump Campaign brought dozen and dozens and dozens of legal challenges to test the result. They were heard again and again. Each of the times they were heard, they were found to be without merit. None of this has stopped base let claims about the legitimacy of the results. Even more stunning, 17 republican attorneys general and 126 republican members of the Congress Actually signed onto a lawsuit filed by the state of texas. That lawsuit asked the United States Supreme Court to reject the certified vote counts in georgia, michigan, pennsylvania and wisconsin. Its a position so extreme weve never seen it before. A position that refuses to respect the will of the people, refuse to respect the rule of law and refuse to honor or constitution. The Washington Post describes binds address to the nation this way. Quote, in sweeping and sometimes agitated comments, 37 days after he have projebted winner, biden attempted the unify a polarized and skiddish country with direct appeals to the more than 74 million americans who voted for trump. One such american, Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell today, for the very first time, offered his former Senate Colleague a belated acknowledgement of his win saying the Electoral College had spoken. Today i want to congratulate president elect joe biden, the president elect is no stranger to the senate. Hes devoted himself to Public Service for many years. I also want to congratulate the Vice President elect, our cleg from california, senator harris. All americans can take pride our nation has a female Vice President elect for the very first time. President elect joe bidens president ial in a moment is where we start today with some of our favorite reporter and friends. Former congresswoman donna evers is back. I want to start on that note. Im a devoted fan of your twitter feed and the reporting that you push out through it. I wonder what you make of even this moment. It still feels recare yoprecari the republicans are ready to drop their bs and get on board with joe biden is still committed to doing which is try to unite this polarized and some places best of your knowledging on violent country. Yeah. Its extremely precarious. I dont expect it to necessarily change any time soon. The reason being that listen, the golden rule of politics is, at least my golden rule, is to understand first and foremost that elected officials tend to be reactionaries than they tend to be leaders. When you take that and apply it to this situation, when you understand that according to a lot of public polling and research that we have at our disposal, upwards of seven out of ten Republican Voters believe this election was fraudulent. They believe joe biden is illegitimate that donald trump won this election. When you have a overwhelming majority of your partys voters feeling that way, most of their elected representatives at the local state and federal level are not willing to confront those people. They are not willing to be leaders in this position. They would rather be reaction y reactionari reactionaries. They would rather sign onto this joke of a lawsuit coming from texas. They would rather stay silent on the president s twitter feed choosing to empower him or justify some of these sweeping and baseless allegations hes made. All across the party theres been this dark choice con fronting republicans over the last four to five weeks which is do we choose to sort of throw our it in one final time with donald trump understanding full well its not going change the out come but insulate us from his anger and from the wrath of our constituents back home and by doing so, prolong our career and protect the influence and power that we have amassed in washington or do we choose to speak this very uncomfortable truth and take our careers and put them on the line knowing were going to incur the anger and the wrath and the retribution of those constituents and the decisions made by many of these republicans speak for themselves in that regard. They have not been willing to take that. Well, donna, i guess i would say if the truth becomes uncomfortable, you should find a new job. They made a terrible calculation. If you listen to what joe biden waited, he waited 37 days to say what he said last night. What he said last night was essentially, you should be ashamed of yourselves. Yeah. I have to tell you last night that was the speak iech ive b waiting for for toofive weeks. For five weeks hes been largely silent in challenging these republicans who are going to court, one court after another and last night he spoke a truth that many of us have been waiting to hear and that is that a majority of republicans in the house of representatives have di based the institution of the United States and they have been following the president of the United States to want to over turn a free and fair election. Joe biden spoke that truth and while he talked about unity, i thought it was important for him to call out these republicans because they will go down in history as republicans who wanted to undermine the very foundation on which this country was founded in our constitution and a free and fair election. Last night, joe biden finally put to words what i know he must have been feeling for the last five weeks. He is is not reactionary. He can sustain five weeks of news cycles filled with basically smears and disinformation. He can hold his powder and then really drop, lower the boom. I thought that both holding up the patriots, holding up the people who chose country over party makes men and women that tim alberta talk about look even smaller, even more craven. I want to play for you and i think you single this out as well in realtime, his defense of the poll workers and the election workers, the real heroes in this. Many of them republicans. Let me play that. Well talk about this on the other side. Its truly remarkable because so many of these patriotic americans are subject to so nuch, enormous political pressure, verbal abuse and threats of physical violence. What all wish our fellow americans in these positions will always show such courage and commitment to free and fair elections, its my sincere hope we never again see anyone subjected to the kind of threats and abuse we saw in this election. Its simply unconsciousable. We owe these Public Servants a debt of gratitude. They didnt seek the spotlight. In our democracy survived because of them, which is proof, once more, its every day america americans infused with honor, character and decency that is the heart of this nation. You can tell hes emotional of talking about what these men and women of both Political Parties have been subjected to. You saw that throughout his campaign of him lifting up average americans and he did that last night in talking about poll workers, judges, people who he believes upheld democracy and i think throughout the speech, it was really the most forceful defense that i think hes had of the election and really of his own legitimacy as president. Convincing and speaking to Trump Supporters and i think taking a step back for looking at this remarkable period over the last 24 hours for biden where you had that speech that he gave which was pretty forceful. You have him today talking to Mitch Mcconnell and by binds account six or seven other senate republicans. You have him in georgia as listeners heard at the start of this, really campaigning and seeing for the first time whether he has coattails and he has a political wind he can help other candidates. Really the country, theres a big swing right now thats happening toward biden where most of us have accepted this for the past five weeks but biden really is taking over in many respects right now and were seeing that swing to him in a pretty dramatic way. Its become clear over the last 24 hours or so. Its a swing tim alberta that defies your reporting. 7 in 10 republicans are individuals who votes for trump Still Believes the lies that trump told. Thats the sustain, thats the injury that trump has done to our country. Thats his lasting kick in the jaw to america on the way out. You have some haunting reporting about things that bring us together. I detected one common feeling that binds together this deeply faktured nation. Fear fear of violence, fear for lively hoods, fear of far left socialism or far right authoritarianism. Fear that america is no longer capable of conquering its great challenges. Above all fear that we are too alienating, too angry with each other, too fundamentally misunderstand stood by the other laugh of society to ever truly heal. Thats the most haunting and im going to guess accurate description of the country at this moment as much as it pains me to say that. Enter joe biden. Whats your prediction . Its painful to write. Its painful for you to read back. I wish more than anything that i could give a sunnier outlook on where we are but its not possible. You have a person like joe biden, a politician like joe biden. Just a person like joe biden who on paper is sort of tailor made for this moment. I remember having a conversation with him in early 2017. He was telling the story about how he would spend his afternoons in the senate and senator dominating the area small room, no staff, no family, no lobbyists allowed. It was senators only. They sut down and talk to each other. These gals and girls would develop a real bond. Biden was telling how that room was demolished and people stopped using it. He tried to have lunch with old friends and it wasnt there anymore. How that was symbolic of america unraveling. He was very emotional talking to me about that. At his core, this is who joe biden is. He really does believe as an institutionalist in bringing these parties together and trying throer the temperature and trying to turn down the volume in washington and across the country. You do have somebody who is fit to meet this moment. I dont know that the country going to be receptive to those efforts how ever earnest and sincere they may be. I think you have a country so at war with itself right now and to the last line that i wrote there, the really striking thing when you talk with people, republicans or democrats, conservatives, liberal, whatever. They will tell you in one breathe how frustrated and how angry they are to feel like they are not being listened to. They are being judged. In the next breath they will deliver these sweeping judgments of the other side in treating them with the charactering them in the exactly the same way they would have just spoken about a moment ago. It captures this chicken and the egg dynamic where we really e cant get to the root causes of what has divided us. Donna, president elect biden seemed to be speaking to the you are gener urgency how importa would be if governing is the priority of the party to win the two seats in georgia. I thought he made the most forceful case that i heard him make. What do you think the sort of winning messages are in those Georgia Senate races. I think that was compelling message. As much as joe biden wants to unite the country, he also realizes the challenging moment were in. He understands that it may take that one party rule just for this period of time so that we can put things back on the right track and joe biden is the one to take us in that direction. I think a message going in and a strong one for democrats in turning out the vote is that joe biden needs those two senators so he can get things done for the American People. You want covid relief. You have infrastructure. You want a solution to climate change. You want jobs. You can get this by getting these two senators elected in georgia. I want to pick at this injury, this wound that is described in such vivid terms. I remember when i worked on john mccains president ial campaign that one of the most frequent callers was joe biden. Not because he wanted to win. He didnt. This was probably earlier in the race but because they were friends and because his friendship and his idea of a bond is nothing to do with ideology. I wonder what this white house is sort of girding itself for in terms of defending that point of view. I think a lot of progressives dont want to see president elect biden waste his time with a party that wont even acknowledge the free from fraud and seismic nature of his electoral win. That will be the most fascinating thing about biden is he was able to keep the Democratic Party fairly united with trump there. Trump was the uniting factor for a will the of democrats and seeing him out of office. You have seen throughout his cab met choices some of the cross currents within the party and the pressure on him the name different nominees and thats something that he has to continue to pay a lot of attention to while still trying to figure out how to deal with the Republican Party many of whom are now coming to the realization and acceptance to say that joe biden won the election. I think that those kind of competing aspects of the senate and of congress right now are going to be a big challenge for biden. It is interesting as he takes calls and Lindsey Graham has said he talked to joe biden and that, as you mentioned, mccain, another person who biden has had a friendship in the past, one that is deeply frayed over the last year or so and now biden and graham are talking. Hes talking with Mitch Mcconnell. Im sort of skeptical of, what progress can be made on that front. I think biden will try. Hes talked about being able to convince a will the of these republicans and the fever will break in a way that maybe it will, maybe it wont. Hes hopeful in that regard. Listen to you talk about it, it is like jenga. You pull one thing out and the whole thing can fall. It is going to be dicy, riveting. You are the three people im going to continue to call on as we watch it all. Thank you so much for starting us off today and for watching the president elect speech in georgia with us today. I want to turn to the inauguration. Team biden is moving ahead with the planning in midst of pandemic just 36 days from now. They had to rethink and reinvent the inauguration and many of the same ways they had to reinvent to convention. They will be sworn in on the steps of the capitol just like previous president s and Vice President s. A lot of the other festivities and ceremonies will be virtual this year. Joining our conversation is the president in charge of it all. Stephanie cutter is in charge of inaugural activities for biden activities. She brought you the celebrated and really off without a hitch first ever, because the democrats went first, covid era virtual convention. Stephanie, first of all, congratulations. You seem to get all of the hey, you want to be the first person to plan a virtual fill in the blank. Whats your approach to inauguration . Luckily, we have the same Team Together that worked on the convention. My coexecutive producer who is a master at this, we are looking at it in same way we looked at the convention. What ke with reimagine. What can we reconfigure to reach the same goals and bring people in without putting anybodys health at risk. Our goals for this inauguration is to celebrate a new day in this country, a new president. Also new hope of whats to come. Little by little we can get ourselves out of this pandemic. These are all things that can be celebrated after four divisive years and this past year thats been devastating to the American People. We will look to lift up the strength of the American People to get through this unprecedented time. Just like the convention, were looking at ways to bring people across the country, bring more americans in to an inauguration than ever before. Typically, you travel. You come to washington, d. C. , not every one gets to participate. This is one of those events like the convention that everybody will have a chance to participate. This is for everybody. No matter who you voted for can be part of. It was clear one of the strategic objectives was to show a contrast that as Vice President and in the senate, joe biden had relationships on both sides of the aisle. Donald trump has indicated he dup doesnt plan on being anywhere near the inauguration, the peaceful transfer of power. Im curious how you will address what seems to be the president elects goal of making sure he will be a president for all americans, even the ones who didnt vote for him with donald trump awol . I think youll see bipartisan participation in the inauguration festivities over the course of several days. Its still too early to talk about the details. Were still very much at the planning process. Youll see bipartisan participation just like at the convention. Thats who the Vice President , sorry, president elect is. That will be lifted up and very much part of sending message its not based on who you voted for. We are now about to inaugurate a president for all the American People, not just one particularly party or one segment of political party. Its a sense of whats to come to lift ourselves out of this unprecedented pandemic and start to build our economy. It will be a new energy and purpose. Pete buttigieg was tapped to join as cabinet secretary. You and i had roles in communication. Along with his other challenges is the most effective commu communicators walking planet earth. What do you think of including him in the cabinet. I can already imagine him not just at his agency running anning a si but in the room, in the roosevelt room. Hes such a fascinating political figure. Seems he relishes the opportunity to engage the other side. That seems to be very important to the president elect. Absolutely. Im very excited about this pick. He has clarity to him in terms of who he is, what he believes in and what he wants to do. As transportation secretary, that would be a very important cabinet role as we rebuild this country and rebuilding this country not just in democratic cities or republican cities but all over the place. Pete, at the helm of that agency and driving that rebuilding will be incredibly effective. Im very excited about this pick. Great to talk to you about all things politics. When we come bablg, by the end of this week, the United States could actually already have two, two approved Coronavirus Vaccines. How do they continue to build trust in these so important life saving vaccines for public and Front Line Health Care workers. As bill barr exits the stage, questions remain about what the remaining few weeks a ft the department of justice will look like. All those stories still coming up. Ook like all those stories still coming up good morning, mr. Sun. Good morning, blair. [ chuckles ] whoo. Im gonna grow big and strong. Yes, you are. Im gonna get this place all clean. Ill give you a hand. And im gonna put lisa on crutches wait, what . Said shes gonna need crutches. She fell pretty hard. You might want to clean that up, girl. Excuse us. When owning a Small Business gets real, progressive helps protect what you built with customizable coverage. And im gonna eh, eh, eh. Donny, no. Oh. And im gonna eh, eh, eh. Honey honey . New nyquil severe honey is maximum strength cold and flu medicine with soothing honeylicious taste. Nyquil honey. The nighttime, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy head, fever best sleep with a cold medicine. I and nothing has really worked mifor me. Until now. Nd years. With nurtec odt, i have felt such relief. I am able to go about my day as if nothing happened. Nurtec is the only quick dissolve treatment for migraine attacks that can get many people back to normal activities and last up to 48 hours with just one dose. Dont take if allergic to nurtec. The most common side effect was nausea. For more information, go to nurtec. Com with sweet potato fries. Eating a falafel wrap doorbell rings thanks splitsies . Oooh. You meant the food, didnt you . Comen, lets go. Dr. Fauci recommend i get the vaccine sooner than litter. I wanted to make sure we do it by the numbers. We do it, when i do it, youll have notice and ill do it publicly. President elect joe biden promising to take the Coronavirus Vaccine on camera after dr. Fauci advised both president elect biden a donald trump to get the shots immediately for health and National Security reasons as well as building up Public Interest in doing the same. Still no update from the white house on when trump will have his vaccine. Sources tell nbc news that mike pence will get his by the end of this week as biden and Public Health leaders try to reassure americans that the shots are safe and effective. There are more front line workers getting their doses on camera. Joining our conversation is dr. Patel. She served as White House Health policy director under president obama and is a msnbc medical contributor. Also the person we turn to for facts and reassurance. It seems like getting the facts out and reashiring people its safe is the central mission. Can you address both, the news theres another one and maybe more in the first part of the next year and then the Reassurance Campaign thats very much under way by tony fauci and joe biden and others. Its a great point. Im honored to be a part of, i think, millions of health care, front line workers, nursing home residents, workers who are also going to be in this next couple of weeks vak cincinnaccinated we is proof we feel like the data is compelling. To your point about safety, i know a lot of people have come to me, patients and other friends who say this is so new and how can i trust it . It was done so quickly. How can we trust anything done by the trump administration. The Technology Used in pfizer and moderna both vaccines use messenger rna, its a type of technique to get the body primed to fight a Covid Infection if you get one. These are not new technologies. They have been used h1n1, sars, mers. Theres been attempts to try to develop over a deck daade of technology as well as messenger rna to treat cancer. We know from studies done in animals and humans in other places about the safety. The second is the efficacy. Moderna is showing greater even in older patient, greater than 85 to 90 Risk Reduction if you get mild, moderate or severe covid. Let me say it again, those are statistics that we never would have expected and now we have got two companies with more coming down the road. I think what is critical is having an hon conversation with people and getting their questions address ed i dont hae any plroblems of people saying want to wait. I was a chronic condition but i want them to have a conversation. If they wait or even if they choods to get the vaccine, we have to remember that we still dont have enough data know whether we can get the virus and give it to someone if were immunized so we have to kind of wear the masks and take socme o the precaution. I cried when i saw those trucks pulling out of that pfizer plant in michigan. Every time ipse people carrying boxes in suitcase, im just so emotionally overwhelmed because science is amazing and incredible discovery that were watching in real life that can bring, hopefully, soon to nursing home residents, hopefully we can see a decline in cases and deaths. Theres been some reporting the last couple of days and my colleague made this point yesterday that for Health Care Workers to be the first to get the vaccine is almost bittersweet because they have been the ones to hold the hands of people who have lost their lives and lost the fight. Can you talk about that a little more . Yeah. Shes been reading our minds. Theres my girlfriend who is are physicians had a text circulating and we said i feel guilty when we get this vaccine soon. Id rather my parents who are sitting in texas, hopefully watching and are over the age of 70 and 75, they deserve the vaccine. One of the points that one of my friends made. She said we need to be able to take care of people because this vaccine does not make covid go away. I think thats important. The vaccine is incredibly important but we are watching 3,000 deaths a day, almost and counting. That is a tidal wave of grief. We have to be able to keep our Health Care Work force healthy to be able to take care of people. I felt better about that. I really was trying to get to my mom and dad so they can have some peace of mind. The truth is they need all of us to be a i believe to have conversations like this one with you and hopefully be able to talk to you about what do you do about your children. What do you do about your loved ones. When should they get vaccinated. How do they get one . We will keep having this conversation because youre right. That is exactly what people want know if they havent tested. We will keep calling you back every single day till all of our questions are answered. Thank you so much for spending time with us. Still ahead, william barr jumping ship 36 days before new administration comes in. Question is, why exactly and what could an even more free willing Justice Department have planned in this short amount of time . Thats next. D in this short amo me thats next. Managing type 2 diabetes . Youre on it. Staying fit and snacking light . Yup, on it there too. You may think youre doing all you can to manage type 2 diabetes and heart disease. But could your medication do more to lower your heart risk . Jardiance can reduce the risk of cardiovascular death for adults who also have known heart disease. So, it could help save your life from a heart attack or stroke. And it lowers a1c. Jardiance can cause serious side effects including dehydration,. Genital yeast or urinary tract infections, and sudden kidney problems. Ketoacidosis is a serious side effect that may be fatal. A rare but lifethreatening bacterial infection in the skin of the perineum could occur. Stop taking jardiance and call your doctor right away if you have symptoms of this bacterial infection, ketoacidosis, or an allergic reaction. And dont take it if youre on dialysis or have severe kidney problems. Taking jardiance with a sulfonylurea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. Lower a1c and lower risk of a fatal heart attack . On it with jardiance. Ask your doctor about jardiance. Value of attorney general bill barrs early departure and bizarre dear leader letter, were left to wonder what is happens next at the Justice Department. We know that Jeffrey Rosen will succeed his old boss when barr leaves the Justice Department on the 23rd of december. But aside from that, what happens over the next few weeks is anyones guess. In the near term there is concerns about what trump has planned for the Justice Department now that he doesnt have to worry about reelection. There is also a longterm issue. After four years of the trump administration, changing the Justice Department into something almost unrecognizable. How do we go about rebuilding and rebooting that agency . Joining our conversation is former fbi General Council and legal analyst andrew weissmann. I wabbed to talk to you and this broke while i was on the air and i wanted to talk to you for 24 hours now. Im so glad youre here. First, was this a firing or a resignation . No one knows. No one knows whether this is barr being semessentially getti ahead of being fired or whether it is barr basically doing stage one of a Rehabilitation Campaign where he now is sort of distancing himself from the person who brought him to the dance in a sort of last act of, you know, disloyalty to the president. So, you know, i dont know the answer to that. And you know what, i dont actually care that much because i really think that the big picture is what is the attorney generals legacy. But that is so horrific in terms of what hes done to the department of justice. Whether he has betrayed President Trump now or whether President Trump was, you know, axing him is really, i think, well it is interesting, i think it is secondary to what exactly is happening to the department of justice under this attorney general. Well, i do want to talk to you about what happens next but lets not skip over the legacy. Because first of all, his audation for the job that he happened to pen a 19page memo about how a president , donald trump, couldnt commit the crime of obstruction of justice and just happened to get hired as the next attorney general. But his First Official act as the attorney general was to lie about the investigation you were part of, the mueller investigation. Take us through what in your view is the barr legacy . Absolutely. So i think that barr legacy starts with a socalled fourpage summary letter that is the issued on march 24th, 2019, obviously it is a day etched in my brain because that letter was completely misleading, if not worse, about what it is that our report found. Just to give you the viewers an example of that, the attorney general said that President Trump had fully cooperated with our investigation. Nothing could be further from the truth. He never came in and sat down for an interview. He wouldnt e he wouldnt even answer all of the questions that we had. So that was sort of stage one. But if you look at other things, he filed a motion to dismiss the case, the criminal case against Michael Flynn and made arguments that the department of justice has rejected in every other case. That led to people resigning. Career people resigning. In the stone case, again, he sought a lower sentence, making arguments that are not made for any other defendant. What happened . Career people resigned. Ine in the john durham investigation, where you had the attorney general investigating the investigators, the number two resigned and presumably that is because of undue pressure being brought by main justice. And then finally just in the last couple of months, you had the attorney general changing the election policies of the department of justice so that the department could act quickly in interfering with elections. And you had career officials, again, resigning. And nicolle, as you and i know, whether it is a Republican Administration or a democratic administration, this is not normal. This is nothing to do with normal party politics. I have served under republicans and democrats and that is just not how people in the department are trained. And so this is this is the attorney generals legacy of really politicizing the department of justice. I mean, i would add two things that the record now holds. I mean, he also denigrated career prosecutors, attending them to montessori preschools and his goodbye letter had a lot of night things to say about donald trump, not one word, not one threeletter word about the Public Servants, the men and women who work in the department of justice. I want to get on the record about some reporting bob casta had said that his reporting is watch what happens next. And donald trump want to prosecute political adversaries and maybe need someone even more trumpy than bill barr. Well see what the Deputy Attorney general now going to be at the end of the month, the acting attorney general, whether he has any convictions. I do think that, you know, it is tricky in that short amount of time to actually bring a criminal case. Grand jurys need proof and facts to support an indictment. So im not sure that that will happen. I could see the new attorney general appointing a special council to for instance investigate hunter biden. What a thought. Andrew weissmann, we will continue to watch this with you. Thank you for spending some time with us today. The next hour of deadline white house starts after a very short break. Dont go anywhere. Were just getting started. [ beeping ] [ engine revs ] uh, you know theres a 30minute limit, right . Tell that to the rain. [ beeping ] for those who were born to ride, theres progressive. 100 online car buying. Carvanas had a lot of firsts. Car vending machines. And now, putting you in control of your financing. At carvana, get personalized terms, browse for cars that fit your budget, then customize your down payment and monthly payment. And these arent madeup numbers. Its what youll really pay, right down to the penny. Whether youre shopping or just looking. It only takes a few seconds, and it wont affect your credit score. Finally a totally different way to finance your ride. Only from carvana. The new way to buy a car. 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Call now i must admit that in this intervening period, im more concerned about the actions that the president is taking that related to, for instance, the firing of chris krebs, who is responsible for overseeing the cybersecurity of our government systems. This is a guy who came from microsoft, you know, to attract someone like this for a fraction of the pay he was getting before, thats quite an accomplishment. So he has been guarding our system, to fire him in the in the end of term is really a very dangerous thing. Hi, again, everyone. It is 5 00 in the east. That is just a few days after donald trump fired the top u. S. Cybersecurity official, chris krebs. Leaving that agency that one tasked with protecting our country from Cyber Threats disrupted at a critical time and it seems that senator romneys concerns were justified. News of a widespread hack of Government Agencies by one of russians top intelligence agencies reveals that Donald Trumps baseless election fight has culminated in a threat to our National Security. From the Washington Post, quote, the department of Homeland Security, the state department, and the National Institutes of health on monday joined the list of known victims aven of a spying operation, by russia whose damage remains uncertain but it presumed to be extensive. Experts say the fact that the department charged with safeguarding the country from physical and Cyber Attacks was victimized under scores the campaigns significance and called into question the adequacy of federal cybersecurity efforts. One told politico, this is probably one of the most consequential Cyber Attacks in u. S. History. That is the view from inside of government that were dealing with something of a scale i dont think weve had to deal with before. This hack putting immense pressure on krebs former agency cisa and while he assured that he has the utmost confidence in his team and that they know how to do this, his firing add totz concerns now. Senator angus king of maine said this, quote, the firing of the extremely capable director of cisa in the middle of this moment of vulnerability, it undermined National Security. King cochaired a chartered commission that recommended sweeping changes to the governments cyber activities. So rather than protecting our nation from a very real threat, donald trump has possibly exposed us to even more. And instead has continued his unfounded fight against imagined election fraud. The fact that donald trump has yet to publicly rebuke russia for this deep breach into our government is just the latest example in a long, long line of his administration letting russia off the hook and letting aggression slide. Trump has still said nothing about russias attack on our 2016 election. Cluzing to take putins word over the word of his own intelligence community. He said nothing about the reported russian bounties placed on the head of american soldiers. He told World Leaders that crimea is part of russia. He withdrew u. S. Troops from syria creating a vacuum for russia to step in. And the list goes on. Top Government Agencies compromised cements the legacy. He entered the white house inform a hack into our election systems and leaving with the russians hacking into at least several of the agencies he oversees. A massive cyber breach in the u. S. Government and a president more occupied with overturning an election he lost fair and square, is where we start this hour with some of our favorite reporters and friends. Ben rhodes is back, security adviser to president obama and Elizabeth Neumann from Threat Prevention and Security Policy at the department of Homeland Security, one of the agencies that was hacked. And now an adviser to the group defending democracy together. And politico reporter eric geller is here. This is a fast moving story and one that was overshadowed by yesterdays breaking news. I wonder if you could just take me through the facts as they stand at this hour. Right now the facts as they stand are that the government are in crisis. It thinks it has a handle on which agencies were affected by this pretty sophisticated attack. But what doesnt know is what files were taken. They believe no classified systems have been affected. So the u. S. Most important secrets they believe have not been accessed but there is a lot of stuff on the unclassified systems, especially the microsoft hosted email accounts that could still be useful to a foreign power that wants to know what the u. S. Government is doing right now. Eric, for people that dont understand how the russian cyber warfare takes place, when could this have been launched . So, one of the reasons that people are really concerned about this inside of the government is because this got underway between march and june of this year, according to experts best understanding. So it essentially laid dormant in some of the federal agencies for months, for a very long time. Because what they did was they compromised the Software Update process for a program that is widely use add cross the government. And i should also also across the private industry throughout the fortune 500. The Software Updates are applied manually and without much scrutiny and the hackers compromises the code and the Software Updates went through and the hackers have access to the networks and could jump around getting into email systems. That is what experts are concerned about right now. This is not your standard spear phishing attack like with john podesta during 2016, this is the upper end the what hackers could do. You could explain that. I mean, i think anyone that a computer that sees update required will happen automatically, next time you reboot, is that the kind of technology, the kind of embedding they had in government Computer Systems . That is right. So you probably see those alerts and you click the update because you trust that the company, whether it is microsoft or adobe or whatever, knows what theyre doing, wrote good code, it sending it to you in a safe way. Well in, this case, the hackers took advantage of the fact that this i. T. Vendor called solar winds was not doing the kind of Due Diligence that you want a vendor to be doing before they send you a Software Update, a lot of Government Agencies clicked the update button just like you or i would and they have essentially planted malware on their networks. Ben rhodes, the russian aggression of the cyber variety seems to have a lagging kind of alarm that it creates among the public. But just speak a little bit about the tools and the weapons that Vladimir Putin is most enamored with. It seems these are the assaults that often end up going straight to the top. Yeah, well, nicolle, unfortunately we were attacked by russian Cyber Attacks frequently in the obama administration. And had to fight some of those back, some of thome became publicly known. But the reality is it is an asemitic weapon for russia. If you think about the United States spends 700 or 800 billion on our military, far more than russia but for a much lower cost russia could disrupt u. S. Operations or in this case if they could get into the federal agencies they could gain valuable information about what the u. S. Government is doing and thinking, what different personalities are in the u. S. Governments are considering and what the dynamics are inside of the agencies. And also just sending a message that they could penetrate our defenses and put people on the defensive. So for russia to cost effectively way to get inside of the heads of the u. S. Government and it is not surprising, i dont know the details of this attack, but in a transition theyre particularly going to want to understand if will is say change of power and change of officials, what is going on in these agencies, how might the direction of u. S. Policy change under a new administration. So this is the best possible time from a russian perspective to try to understand what is going on inside of the u. S. Government. I mean, i was thinking as eric was talking about how the sort of foundation may have been laid, they may have entered these Computer Systems as early as the spring. But that were just learning about it now, do you think there is a possibility that they were waiting to see the results of the election . Honestly, nicolle, i dont know. They would have good reason to want to know what is going on in u. S. Agencies like the ones that were hacked in any context. But, again, i think that the best possible time for an adversary to want to understand what is happening in the u. S. Government is during a transition. So that they know what the state of play is for the Outgoing Administration and so that from their perspective they want to know what new direction could we expect from an incoming team. We have talked on the show many times about how transitions are vulnerable periods that foreign adversaries try to exploit and one of the things we try to do is understand what is happening, trying to get ahead of the Incoming Administration and trump has left us defenseless against that by firing krebs because you couldnt deal with these hacks without effective and empowered leadership. You know, elizabeth, i just want to use the timeline that eric is reporting and if this attack was initiated in the string, obviously chris krebs was on the job, were still at the department of Homeland Security in the spring. I was. I left in april. So take me through what sort of the degree of alert and alarm was, and it seems that some of the condemnation of the firing of chris krebs obviously was a political firing and it is wrong for all of those reasons. But now it seems like what were lacking in having him there was someone who could have helped us respond but it would appear that erics reporting suggests that he may have been on the job when at least the initial phases of the hack took place. From all of the descriptions and the press this looks extremely sophisticated. It is i dont think we know the full except extent yet. I think were going to hear more about agencies compromised and right now there is a massive effort under way to assess the damage. So while, yes, it occurred while director krebs was on the job, so to speak, but being able to detect this level of sophisticated attack, it sounds like it is extremely difficult. And i do think that the timing is really interesting. I cannot overstate the amount of exhaustion our federal Civil Service has to be feeling at this. 4 yeapoint, after four ye into Money Administration and the chaos in terms of the schedule and leadership and changes and policy changes, things shift every day and every day you wake up thinking youre going to work on one thing and having to shift and it is extremely difficult when youre dealing with foreign partners or partners having to constantly explain that shift. So you add on top of this Something Like a pandemic, and it is interesting that this happened that they started to do their exploitation right as we were all focused on the pandemic. And you might remember, they started working from home, there were calls for we need to make sure that people are logging in from home that theyre secure, that things are beingled appropriately. So there was a heightened sense of a need for cybersecurity. But i do find it interesting that it appears our adversaries used our focus on appropriately focusing on this challenge of the pandemic to infiltrate and then exploit on their own timing. Our enemies will take advantage of our all of our weaknesses and the donald trump administration, the chaos that is sowed and the unwillingness to focus on the hard problems, like russia and theyre Cyber Capabilities, has brought us to this point. Were now facing probably incalculable amount of damage and will set us back for years to come. Elizabeth, how much do you think its not just the chaos that has been sown, but also never responding to anything that russia does, how has trump emboldened and perhaps contributed to the audacity of the attack . That is the thats the critical part of the story, right. There have been no consequences for russia. There have been a few statements from the white house podium, attributing an attack and maybe saying were going to come after you. There have been a few prosecutions or indictments, rather not to the prosecution stage, but it is slaps on the hand and i recall in 2017 a group of us at dhs getting together and starting to piece through what the fbi and others were telling us had happened in 2016 and talking about this idea of consequences, what are all of the tools in our toolkit to bring to bear to be able to ensure that foreign adversaries knew that it was costly if you went after us. And we had those conversations, there was passion, chris krebs was in the room, hes extremely passionate about that and of course as everybody knows, nothing came of that because the president wouldnt allow it to happen. And im so excited that with the biden administration, that National Security officials in his administration will be listened to. The cybersecurity experts, their advice will be heeded and well be safer for that because well send a clear signal to russia, china and iran, there will be consequences request you mess with us. I want to read something that something Frank Figliuzzi wrote. He said the real question is no whether our agencies could handle this but whether we have any confidence that trump will do or say anything by way of sanctions, retaliatory actions or warnings that might cause pause putins trashing of our cyber defenses. Based on his track record with russia there is no reason to trump will do anything of the kind. There is still about 40 days left in the trump administration. That means putins free license to loot will skier soon and in these waning days we should expect more attacks of key Computer Systems. Congress should do all it can to demand answers and insist on a response. Eric, i know there is a hearing called for tomorrow. But what can be done . I mean, is this now just assessing the damage or is there an offensive step that could be taken suns a cyber attack is this far in process . Well, at this point, as far as stopping the damage, stemming the bleeding, it is really about looking through every single Computer System to try to find something that doesnt seem like it fits, to try to find anomaly behavior and even though the software has been taken offline at all of the agencies, the hackers could be in some of the n networks so they have to stamp them out individually. And the president has a menu of options. He could do Cyber Attacks and sanctions and so on but were much more vulnerable to retaliation in kind than a lot of other countries because were so much more dependent on the internet and that constrained what president s were willing to do for Something Like that, that as experts say is sort of below the level of war. The president even any president is going to be reluctant to take a massive extraordinary step against Something Like this. But this just underscores how hard it is to prevent this because our options are very limited. Ben rhodes, the Obama Presidency and obama sanctions were invoked so ill give you the last word and i want to add this question. President obama did enact sanctions on russia in his i think at the end of december, even later in his term than at this point in trumps term. So no one should be under the miscomprehension that trump cant retaliate against russia if he wants to. But we end where we began. Trump never wants to when the bad actor is russia. Yes. And the thing is, nicolle, it is like any weapon, right. Part of it is defense and how do you protect your networks and part of it is deterrence and does russia know there is a cost in terms of offensive Cyber Capabilities against them that might make them think twice about doing this and i think Vladimir Putin did not take that donald trump will undertake that cost. And there is a question of allies. Theyre subject to russian Cyber Attacks often. This is the kind of thing we should work on with nato allies and the countries that trump has turned his back on so there is a ru there is a unified front. So well have a sea change in 40 days when the professionals who work for joe biden take the helm. But for the time being were in a vulnerable period with poor leadership, very chaotic management at a time that we know weve had a massive compromising of our networks and National Security. Unbelievable. Ben rhodes, Elizabeth Neumann, eric geller, thank you sore spending some time with us. When we come back, with his victory in the electorate college, joe biden wants to turn the page but Donald Trumps assault on democracy has left the Republican Party somewhat split on whether to accept reality or stick with trumps delusions. That is ahead. Plus bidens Campaign Rally in georgia today comes as democrats are optimistic that they could rebuild the coalition that powered biden to victory last month. While republicans are increasingly turning on one another. And with the coronavirus vaccinations continuing for a second day here in the United States, more help is on the way. We have new details about the next vaccines in the pipeline. Deadline white house continues after a quick break. Dont go anywhere. Two hospitas every minute. Understanding how to talk to your doctor about Treatment Options is key. Today, we are redefining how we do things. We find new ways of speaking, so youre never out of touch. Its seeing someones face that comforts us, no matter where. When those around us know us, they can show us just how much they care. The first steps of checking in, the smallest moments can end up being everything. Theres resources that can inform us, and that spark can make a difference. When we use it to improve things, then that change can last within us. When we understand whats possible, we wont settle for less. The best thing we can be is striving to be at our best. Managing Heart Failure starts now with understanding. Call today or go online to understandheartfailure. Com for a free Heart Failure handbook. Heart monitors that let your doctor watch over you, just like you watch over your best friend. Another lifechanging technology from abbott, so you dont wait for life. You live it. I have a good conversation with Mitch Mcconnell today. I called him to thank him for the congratulations. Told him while we disagree on a lost things, there are things we could work together. Weve always been with one another and we agreed wed get together sooner than later and im looking forward to working with him. I just want you to know i spoke with him. Ive been calling other members. I spoke with some other members as well. There is a dozen calling and as i tick them off ill tell you who ive spoken to. Thank you. That is joe biden say that saying that a dozen republican senators have called upon him considering that biden was projected to be the president elect more than five weeks ago. Even Mitch Mcconnell belatedly finally acknowledging bidens victory. What will the rest of the party do when asked to choose between trump and the real world . As rick wilson warns in the daily beast, all authoritarian movement seek to purify their ranks to weed out the unbelievable and the posers, trumpism is no different. Youll see more and more gop members tested in the dark and difficult day as head. Joining our conversation, nbc news and msnbc National Affairs analyst and executive editor of the recounts and host of the hell and high water podcast, John Heilemann is back. Hi. Hi. How is it going . Weve missed you around here around these parts. Eddie and i have had to make due without you. And were joined by eddie glaude. And let me start with you. Weve been talking today about joe biden is hard wired for this idea of diplomatship of bipartisanship and if that is not possible. Theyre not going to fight about taxes and obamacare, which was brutal at the time. Theyre going to fight about what the definition, what is true and what is fiction. Right. It is go g to be back and it is great to if not be with you, to see you, sort of here on the tv. And you guys have been talking about this since november 3rd. We all have been. What is nature of this fight were in right now. And i think the nature of this fight is, as you guys on you and yourself and others and steve and others have laid out, were not talking about policy disagreements, were talking about adherence to and fealty to democracy and i think the line has been brawn brightly and has profound implications for joe biden because he is someone that we have both known for a long time. Ive known him since 1986 and hes wired to trying to get things done. Not just because hes an institutionalist but hes a unifying and someone who understands that hes had profound differences with people like Mitch Mcconnell, a guy he doesnt like that much personally but figured out ways to work with over times because he thinks that is what politics is. If you ask what joe biden what politics is, he would say it is about the art of the deal and trying to get things done. What happens when the person on the other side of the table doesnt believe in compromise and didnt believe in democracy. And what you heard yesterday, when biden did, and i agree with you in the 4 00 hour, how much he was willing to call out things you never expected to hear joe biden to, do call out of the attorneys general and the republicans who came down on the other side of the democracy. That is way moment where he was saying to people, who worry, that he is going to be a patsy for the republicans that he doesnt understand the fundamental nature of this fight, he was saying to us, hey, i understand that im dealing with anilist and im still trying to get work done for the American People and im not a patsy or diluted about what it is like to try to get things done in this environment with this party that no longer believes in large measure with the basic construct of house american democracy is supposed to work. You know, eddie, it seems double edged, it seems that on the one hand, how do you governor with a party that cant acknowledge truth and fact and is everything that John Heilemann just said they are. On the other hand, if, as president , you could say in my tent i have united the Democratic Party, largely, and i have all of the republicans who live in the real world on my side. You can present yourself to the country as truly governing in the way that joe biden keeps saying over and over again, the way he wants to govern, for all americans. Do you think that is a winning way to start or are you skeptical that there is any room to try to work with republicans at any level . Well, it all depends on the size of that number of republicans who are in the real world. Because not only are theyre anilist, the way john just laid out, there are those that dont understand were in the midst of culture wars and the wars are hot. What has been driving or what dre drove the trumpism to trumpism is this underlying grief angst that the country is no longer what we thought it was. That white fear and resentment at the heart of it and you combine that with the sense of economic precarity and how that is been the basis of a kind of a scapegoating of the other. So what i think john is right, theyre anilist who threaten our democracy and then selfinterested politicians who have their fingers in the air and understand where the wind is blowing. Culture wars are still hot and we cant put that jeanne bottle. So i dont know how joe biden could turn the page, whether hes turning the page backwards or forward. It seems we have to close the book and open up a new one. But i dont know. Im just a academic. Youre not just an academic. I have a followup question. Joe biden is going to have a chance to solve a problem for every american, even those that were fine with Donald Trumps lies and autocratic impulses and vaccinate them and their parents and any relatives and in Nursing Homes and their kids and teachers and their e. R. Docs and nurses and an opportunity to do something for everyone if everyone is willing to see that this is something that the country needs to get back to where everyone could agree they want to be, not in any sort of covid required social distance, not teaching at home for kids, not learning at home for universities, not working at home for any of us. What do you think could sort of be the event that shakes that loose, eddie . Well, i think perhaps the large scale vaccinations, right, kind the sense that were getting into this postcovid moment. That the light at the end of the tunnel suggests that we could step into a sense of normalcy, whatever that will be. So i think that might be the moment. Or it might be the moment prior to that when we hit 400,000, or 500,000 dead. When the reality of what were experiencing now hits home and it cuts across these differences. Perhaps, but the honest answer, nicolle, is im just not sure. I hear both of you something that i feel, too. Like im not sure that hes going to reach out and anyone is going to reach back. Because im not sure that he if reaches out a hand theyll say that is not a hand, that is a leg. I mean the republicans have lost their minds, john. And i think we covered this because joe biden, this is what joe biden is talking about, wanting to do. But i wonder, having covered him since the late 80s, you havent been doing this since 1984, have you . I met him when i was in college in 1986, 1987. So not quite that long but first time i ran across him was in the fall of 1986. But ive been writing about him since 1990 so that is 30 years. So take me through how long you think well be having this conversation, because i hear in both of you a lot of skepticism that hell have anyone reach their hand back out to him. Well, look, i think, nicolle, there is a reasonable no doubt joe biden is a different guy that barack obama. Lets just start with that, right. And part of the reason why a lot of democrats thought that joe biden might be able to win this election and why he was able to win it was that he had a cultural affinity with some number of these voters who had been with donald trump in the midwest, primarily in those states we focus on michigan, wisconsin, pennsylvania, that it was a cultural comfort with joe biden who was not seen as a progressive or someone from the left. So an older white guy. He was culturally inconvenient for donald trump. And you think about how hes distinct from obama in that way. You talk about what is going to change it . Barack obama passed something close to the Affordable Care act. There are millions of trump voters covered by obamacare who are in the faexchanges who stil this that barack obama was born in kenya and an illegitimate president and driven about things that wont give barack obama credit for the health care they now take for granted in their lives. So i think biden demonstrated that he would win a convincing victory in this election and there are political advantages that he has that barack obama did not have. It is harder for voters who are animated by white grievance to be angry in a racist way at joe biden and yet were seeing something right now in the way that republicans have been driven by this nileism and this antidemocratic fascist impulse that even barack obama did not encounter. So i think it is very hard for joe biden and i want to be an optimistic person but there is a deep concern and pessimism and fear that i have about whether bidens instincts will be rewarded in any way politically by republicans given the way the part is currently constituted. Now, look, i appreciate you both giving voice to that. I think a lot of our viewers share this distrust and it is justified. But well keep covering joe bidens optimism because that is what he continues to convey. John heilemann, eddie, thank you both. Wonderful to see both of you. When we return, joe biden campaigns in georgia while republicans there continue to wage war on one another. Deadline white house will return after a quick break. Well be right back. Be right ba. Thank you for standing strong, to make sure your voices were heard, your votes were counted, and counted and counted again. Im starting to feel like i won georgia three times. There is no doubt in my mind, none none, that if texas or trump or anyone else in the United States senate tried to do anything except respect the will of the people of the georgia, theyll move hefrn and earth stop them. Joe biden driving up enthusiasm around the Senate Runoffs in georgia in an effort to grow the coalition to enabled him to win the state last month. He made the first road trip in six weeks to campaign for the two Democratic Candidates, jon ossoff and raphael warnock. Biden continued the forceful tone from his address condemning donald trump and the states two republican senators as well as all of those attorney generals that backed the texas lawsuit roundly rejected by the United States Supreme Court. Meanwhile President Trump continues to wage war within his own party in georgia. In two separate late night tweets trump attacked once again brian kemp and secretary of state Brad Raffensperger and demanded that republicans Kelly Loeffler and david perdue side with him and again push the republican governor there to overturn the results of an election trump lost. Joining us now, reporter for the Atlanta Journal constitution Greg Bluestein and editor of the 19th and contributor greg haines. What is the state of republican angst that donald trump keeps tweeting if i win loefler and period due win but if i dont, theyre in trouble. The angst is high because the president has continued those attacks on Governor Kemp and Brad Raffensperger and any high ranking public official that hasnt sided with his demands and it is a distraction at every event, at every time a high profile figure comes to georgia, Vice President pence is coming here on thursday, there will be a continue to be a top offic of conversation and when reporters go to interview voters theyll continue to ask what do you make of the mixed messages, vote in a rigged election. Aaron, joe bidens speech there in georgia today was forcefully and it was detailed in terms of how important a democratic controlled senate would be to enacting his agenda, to freeing up relief, covid relief which has been stuck in congress due to republicans, doing something on climb, to doing something on racial injustice. How important and how much does that message resonate in this state in the final days . Well, nicolle, i think that what you heard from joe biden down in georgia today was more of a onetwo punch. The first was squarely focused on voter suppression, which we know could be spg that keeps people away from the polls but could be something that galvanizes people to the polls when they realize that someone is trying to in fact steal their vote or make sure that their ballot doesnt count. Joe biden told those at the rally today that that was what donald trump and people who support the idea of a rigged election were trying to do in georgia and tieing that to Kelly Loeffler and david perdue saying they were trying to discount the 5 million voters in georgia that donald trump was trying to suggest were voting illegally. And then he said, you know, these are the stakes of the future of the senate, that david perdue and Kelly Loeffler in his estimation have not worked on behalf of georgia voters, particularly in this pandemic which has disproportionately affected so many of the black and brown folks not just from a Public Health perspective but also from an economic perspective. So trying to make the connection between that policy and their participation between now and january 5th, early voted started in georgia yesterday and already more than more mailin ballots have been requested so the enthusiasm for democrats going is a big part of what he was doing and what got him on the road for the first time in weeks today. And to that point, greg, president elect biden single out Stacey Abrams, i believe donald trump tweeted about her, too. She is in Donald Trumps head. Im not sure that is anywhere she wants to be but shes getting the credit that a lot of people deserves. How is she involved in these runoffs. Well shes raised tens of Million Dollars for the two Democratic Candidates promoting their message. She helped recruit reverend warnock to run for the seat way back in november of last year. He didnt announce until january but the wheels were set into motion long before then. So shes played a direct role in promoting their campaigns and in the get out of the vote efforts that will help generate enthusiasm for the two candidates. Because 440 million plus has been spent on tv ads in the races but what will matter even more is the get out of the vote efforts that are much more quietly happening on the streets and in the neighborhoods and in the cities of georgia. Aaron, he said that if the world i think if the line was Something Like if we had ten Stacey Abrams, we would rule the world. Is she getting long due credit or is she still just the only one on the ground in the state that really has the power to move things and to Bring National democrats and National Democratic donors and all after tensi all of the attention into this day. Go ahead, greg. And then ill give aaron the last word. Go ahead. There is other prominent figures in georgia, mayor keisha lance bottoms, representative elect and King Williams has been there right there hand in hand working with her. Aaron, talk about the role of these powerful and influential leaders in the party bringing the nations attention to these two runoffs in georgia . Yes. Well, black women have been the ones that have been working to expand the electorate in georgia long before there was cameras or making headlines on this and getting the countys attention obviously after stacy abrams gubernatorial run even though she was unsuccessful in the next governor, she did expand the electorate and create the blue print that got georgia the result that the state had in turning blue in 2020. And listen, Stacey Abrams does take on, across the goal line on concert with so many of the black Women Organizers that greg alluded to who have also been doing this work for years in georgia. But also with the passage of congressman john lewis who joe biden mentioned several times in his speech today. Yeah. Perhaps previously the most powerful surrogate and prominent surrogate in georgia who had been at the front lines in this time of the year at the runoff telling people to vote for a jon ossoff and reverend warnock. And the stakes of Voting Rights in this country, without him Stacey Abrams is one of the people that steps that in a legacy and that carry on that baton and continues to keep that message going for voters and continues to use that as a way to motivate them in the face of those who would seek to keep them from the ballot box. It is so interesting. And they have, as you have both said, brought the nations attention to these two runoff races. Well keep watching it with both of you. Thank you so much for spending some time with us today. When we return, with cases of coronavirus hitting staggering new highs, the rollout of pfizers vaccine this week is one of several vaccines that we could now expect in the coming months. That story is next. Is next for members like martin. An air force veteran made of doing whats right, not whats easy. So when a hailstorm hit, usaa reached out before he could even inspect the damage. Thats how you do it right. 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Amid this loss, these numbers that people cant really, i dont think, wrap their brains around any more, we have our first reason to hope and to Start Talking about our post pandemic lives again and that is the rollout, second day of rolling out the Pfizer Vaccine and news that the Moderna Vaccine may be approved for emergency use in the near future. What is the reality of scaling that and vaccinating the whole country . How long will that take . Yeah, hi, nicole, always good to see you. That really is good news. I have to remind myself this is a tremendous Scientific Achievement to have not just one but multiple vaccine candidates quite effective against a coronavirus thats never been done before. So i think thats tremendous. This Moderna Vaccine, which uses the same mrna technology as the pfizer one is showing to be very effective, about 94 effective against covid19 but as you pointed out, nicole, its going to be a challenge still to make sure it reaches first and foremost the most vulnerable people, communities of color, making sure we gain their trust and educate people, show this vaccine works to protect them, protect all of us to get this vaccine distributed efficiently to the necessary people, its going to be a logistical challenge, nicole, and remember, in order to vaccinate the general public, were looking at mid 2021, nicole. And then how important is it for americans to see their leaders get vaccinated . What is the history of the most effective ways to inspire confidence and is there any moment to take a mission like that in such a divided political time . You know, im so glad you brought up the word leader and leadership. Thats really the crux of what is going on right now. You know, when you show that cathedral and bells and 300,000 men, women and children that lost their lives, it ghastly is preventable. When you think of the fact that our federal socalled leaders have really advocated their sense of responsibility for the American People, the responsibility of our local and state governors to really step up and that really means mandating these measures, a simple mask, which is really life saving. As a licensed physician, if i conducted myself the way some of these governors are in terms of not only not mandating masks but mocking it, not really barely encouraging it, if i deliberately with held life saving measures from my patients, not only would i lose my job, id lose my medical silence and id be charged with murder. Where is the same sense of accountability for our elected leaders . We can still work on this, nicole. We can still save lives. We really can. The projections are 450,000 deaths by what, january or february. We cant have that happen, nicole. We all need to collectively make sure people wear the masks and practice the distancing and with the vaccines on board, im confident that we can contain this pandemic. Do you feel that the vaccine news makes it easier or harder to get people to do those things because ive heard both. Some people agree with the idea, i think bill gates said this, who wants to be the last person to die of the coronavirus, which will be preventable. Well all be vaccinated and protected from it as you said by the middle of next year. On the other hand, people think its almost over, im going to go ahead with my holiday. Thats the Million Dollar question. Half a dozen of the other. My short answer to that is time will tell but i am confident more and more people will get the vaccine. Its going to require an aggressive Public Health campaign, education, coordination, collaboration between or among Public Health experts trusted members of the communities and really elected officials who all working together to get and educate people and make sure people that are sell ebb lcelebrities and p you and me getting vaccinated on television, all of this needs to happen. Im confident well get more and more people vaccinated. Dr. Roy, thank you so much for spending time with us. Were always grateful. When we return, as we do every day, remembering lives well lived. E do every day, remembering lives well lived the hand models to show off the ease of comparing rates with progressives home quote explorer. International hand model jonjon gets personal. Your wayward pinky is grotesque. Then a high stakes pattycake Battle Royale ends in triumph. You have the upper hands its a race to the lowest rate, and so much more. Only on the upper hands. 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Thank you so, so much for letting us into your homes during these truly extraordinary times with ari melbur. With this fact some republicans are with Donald Trumps hit a brick wall, were seeing more and more of the supporters of the president in the Republican Party start to come to grips, at least slowly with reality. Take Mitch Mcconnell who you know hasnt broken with donald trump on most anything throughout the four years. This is news hes gone down the senate floor to reference the truth. The Electoral College has spoken. So today i want to congratulate president elect joe biden, the president elect is no stranger