Covering the biden campaign, shannon pettypiece, and kat aie glick on the biden beat as well. I want to start with the comments from michelle obama. Today, were hearing from michelle obama. She wrote a lengthy post on instagram about the transition. Tell us what she had to say. Right, and the former first lady is not extraordinarily outspoken, so when she does speak, it does warrant some attention. She talked about the difficulty she had setting aside some of the personal feelings from the 2016 campaign and welcoming Melania Trump into the white house in 2016, answering her questions, you know, telling her everything she needed to know to be able to assume the responsibilities of first lady. She then wrote in her post, she said, our love of country requires us to respect the results of an election, even when we dont like them or wish it had gone differently. The presidency does not belong to any one individual or any one party. To pretend it does or play along with these groundless conspiracy theories whether for personal or political gain is to put our countrys health and security in danger. This isnt a game. So adding to this chorus of people urging the president to get this transition under way, you mentioned National Security adviser robert obrien. Seeming to acknowledge that biden will be the incoming president. The First Administration official we have heard make comments like that. And as well, a growing number of republicans, of course, taking baby steps, though, in trying to urge the president to acknowledge that biden will be the incoming president and to get this transition process under way. Yeah, i was going to say, you bring up a good point. The chorus is getting louder. It seems so far its falling on deaf ears with the person in the oval office at this hour. Mike, let me come to you real quick. What do we expect to hear from biden today after the meetings that he had with labor leaders . Well, first, i can report that biden standard time is alive and well even as the president elect, we have had a twominute warning for a 1 45 speech. This is a little bit par for the course with the president elect, but what we expect to hear from joe biden today is obviously, they have advised these as focused on the economy, but for joe biden, the economy and the pandemic are so closely linked. Even as we have more good news on the vaccine front this afternoon, biden has been being realistic in terms of setting expectations for the country. And part of what hes also going to say is the importance of coming together at this point. Youll remember that biden laid out a fourpoint economic plan over the course of the summer. It ranked in the trillions of dollars. Hes not going to necessarily focus on the details of the plan today, but the need for business and labor to come together. Earlier today, he did a roundtable discussion with some top ceos as well as labor leaders. This is part of the tone biden is trying to set for what a Biden Administration is going to look like. Trying to bring two sides that are often at odds with one another together, as hes trying to make headway in even just getting access to the transition funding and resources he should. Its a sort of message to republicans on capitol hill that yes im going to extend an olive branch to you directly sknr hope to work with you, but theres also the opportunity to bring pressure from the outside in. Hes counting on Business Leaders to lean on republicans, if they wont listen to joe biden, perhaps theyll listen to some of their allies in the Business Community in terms of doing what needs to be done. Bidens economic plan is not necessarily something Mitch Mcconnell is going to sign on for, but he will make the case for it, as you heard senator harris last week, the Vice President elect say, every vote for joe biden was a vote for his vision for the economy as well as for handling the pandemic. Katie, lets look ahead because there are about 50 days left until Georgias Senate runoff elections which will decide who controls the chamber and whether any of this agenda joe biden would like to get done in the senate legislatively gets done. How does the Senate Factor into president elect bidens plans overall . Do we expect to see him campaigning in georgia . So joe biden, of course, served in the u. S. Senate for 36 years as a senator from delaware, and in fact, a big part of his Campaign Message throughout was that he is someone who, as mike was noting, hes someone who can bring both sides together. He wants to look for ways to find common ground, but he declared victory, he talked about it as a mandate from the American People to try to look for areas of compromise, including and especially in congress. All right, i fear that we may have lost katie there. Let me cross back over to shannon. Shannon, to pick up on the point that we were hearing there, this chorus that is getting louder around the president. The biggest news today was that the National Security adviser hinted it would most likely be a biden transition. Give us some thinking into, if you have it, the calculus into what the president is perhaps waiting for. Is it to strengthen his position among his base to try to launch something personally . You know, financially, media wise. What is it that we know is factoring into his decision to not yet concede and move on . Well, our reporting indicates that a big part of this is about preserving his brand. His brand of winning. And not being essentially a loser. So that the expectation is that the president may never admit that he lost the election. He may say, well, the Electoral College has voted the way they voted. I disagree with that, but that seems to be the final vote. But continue to insist that the election was stolen from him. Of course, theres been a lot of speculation in the last few days about the president potentially wanting to run again, and so that is something that could also be in the back of his mind as he makes these considerations. Hey, katie, im glad we got you back because i wanted to ask your latest piece. You said joe biden has a mandate to be joe biden. Explain to our viewers what you mean by that. A lot of people might be reading that depending on where you are on the political spectrum and you may see a joe biden no one else sees. Hes someone who has been in american politics for a long time and its known to many as of course, Barack ObamasVice President and many who followed him on the campaign trail as well, but hes really a vivid figure in american politics. Hes someone who all right, our apologies. We may have lost katie glueck once again. Well see if we can reestablish that. Mike memoli, shannon pettypiece, thank you for sticking around. We appreciate your time this afternoon. And president elect joe bidens incoming chief of staff is urging the Trump Administration to begin cooperating with the transition so nothing jeopardizes the distribution of coronavirus vaccines. Watch. We now have the possibility, we need to see if it gets approved, of a vaccine starting perhaps in december. January. There are people at hhs making plans to implement that vaccine. Our experts need to talk to those people as soon as possible so Nothing Drops in this change of power. All right, joining us now is duthese turner roth, former administrator for the General Services administration from 2015 to 2017. Were lucky to have her because she was involved in the transition between the obama and Trump Administration. She has that firsthand experience. Great to have you with us. The current General Services administration, as you very well know, has still not formally determined that biden won the election. There are 65 days left in this transition period. What happened in 2016, and what should be happening right now in this timeframe . In 2016, it took place the next morning after the election. And this is a significant time in the government overall. And in our history. But in terms of the transition itself, its a moment where if you think about the fact theres about 4 Million People, theres a lot under way. This is an opportunity for the transition leadership, the Biden Transition Team to work with the leadership in the administration to see whats currently happening, the context behind the existing policy, and at that stage, none of that activity will take place until the ascertainment is finalized. And certainly, this is important moment in our history in that we are facing a pandemic. And theres a lot of transition that needs to take place. And we dont want that to happen just on january 20th. To utilize these days as best as we can. Im really curious, did you have to wait for president obama back in 2016 to give his okay to the election to ascertain that Donald Trumps victory, you know, or his transition could move forward . Was it even a significant thing on anyones radar back then . The concession is not necessary in order for the administrator to move forward. Its certainly in the leadup to the election, we thought about all of the possibilities of scenarios that could come to play. When youre looking at the case that most of the states have actually reported and have been clear about the elections, there are no pending lawsuits that are even in question or items that question the number of electoral votes that biden team has received at this point, the news reporting that is also the election as well, all of those factors go into play and can allow for it to go forward. Is it possible to play catchup in the sense that once this does get approved or gets sent over to the gsa administrator for ascertainment, how much work can biden get done in these short amount of time that he has left . You know, you dont know what you dont know. And for each administration, they have about 4,000 people that they need to have that is through security and confirmed and put into place. At the end of the darx each of those days count, and the clock is ticking each day. And you lose that, and especially at this moment, you dont want to be at risk of what people didnt finish, what policy reviews had time to discuss, which context they did not understand coming in. We dont want that to be the risk. Former gsa administrator, thank you so much for your time and expertise this afternoon. There is another look at the stock market. Driven higher by the big vaccine news from moderna. Later in this hour, im going to be speaking to modernas chief medical officer to discuss some of the Science Behind the development and what it means for the country. But first, the pandemic challenges facing the biden team. A member of the biden president transitionelects Coronavirus Panel joins me next. Youre watching msnbc. Watching. Or more effective against pain than salonpas patch large theres surprising power in this patch salonpas dependable, powerful relief. Hisamitsu. 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. To high quality Computer Science and stem education. I joined amazon because i wanted to change education and i am impatient. Amazon gives me the resources to change the world at a pace that i want to change it. We provide students stem scholarships and teachers with support. Im a fighter and im fighting for all students. Its fooand minitronsat subway got some new news contactless Curbside Pickup is here just tap for tasty in the app. And pickup contactless. Cause its safety first. Right, tiny car . You wearing your seatbelt little man . Subway. Eat fresh. Were breaking out of the commercial break to go straight to wilmington, delaware, to listen to Kamala Harris speak to reporters. An important conversation about the impact this pandemic has had on workers. Especially essential workers, frontline workers. Who have risked their own health and the health of their families and many whom have given their own lives to keep us safe and keep our economy running. And we all know that this pandemic and this recession have hit communities of color particularly hard. Black americans and latinos are three times as likely to contract covid as others and more likely to die. Native americans are more than four times as likely to be hospitalized as others. And last month, the Unemployment Rate for black americans was almost twice the rate of others. And we have also had a conversation about the impact this pandemic has had on our economy as a whole, from the fortune 500 to the Small Businesses that so many communities rely on. Over the past few months, on the campaign trail, the president elect and i saw that impact firsthand. In state after state, we met with workers who shared their struggles and told us about their pain. Essential workers who have had to stay on the job even as they worry about their families wellbeing and their own. Small Business Owners who are dipping into their own savings to make payroll and keep their doors open. And many others who have had to close their doors and fear never reopening at all. Their stories have stayed with us. And the president elect and i are focused on building our country back better, for them and all americans. And as i said the night we won this election, now is when the real work begins. The necessary work, the good work. Of getting this virus under control, saving lives, and beating this pandemic. And opening our economy responsibly while rebuilding it so that it works for working people. And we will do it by protecting the health and safety of our workers. And creating millions of good paying union jobs from auto and construction jobs to Domestic Workers and caregiving jobs, to service and hospitality jobs. The road ahead, it will not be easy. But the president elect and i are hitting the ground running. Because we all know the challenges facing America Today are great. The American People deserve no less. And we dont have a moment to waste. And now, it is my incredible and great honor to introduce our president elect joe biden. Thank you very much. Good afternoon. Vice president harris and i just met with a group of americas top Business Leaders and labor leaders. And i must tell you, it reenforced what i thought from the beginning. Were ready to come together. Unity was astounding. I want to go back and talk about the people who actually participated in that. Im going to list all of the people just so you know who we spoke with. Number one, there was mary barra, ceo of general motors, brian cornell, kree eof target, mr. Nudell, ceo of microsoft, rory gamble, president of the uaw, mary kay henry, president of sciu, mark perone, lee saunders, and sonya single, president of gap, the president of the aflcio. It was really encouraging, quite frankly too, get people, business and labor, together agreeing on the way forward. Which im convinced the American People will rally to do when they hear what we have in mind. Im very pleased it all came together around the same table to advance areas of common ground, and we agreed were going to continue these conversations. They represent very different perspectives, but im convinced we can all come together around the same table to advance areas of common ground, which are really i wish you could have all heard the conversation. It was really encouraging. And thats what we were ready to discuss today. We all agreed that we want to get the economy back on track. We need our workers to be back on the job by getting the virus under control. Were going in a very dark winter. Things are going to get much tougher before they get easier. And that requires sparing no effort to fight covid so we can open our businesses safely, resume our lives and put this pandemic behind us. Its going to be difficult, but it can be done. And they all agreed that means rallying the country behind a National Strategy with Robust Public Health measures like mandatory masking, widely available testing with rapid results, scaled up production of life saving treatments and therapeutics and safe, equitable, and free distribution of the vaccine. Its great news that moderna and pfizer have each come up with vaccines that are in excess of 90 effectiveness, and getting a vaccine and a vaccination, though, are two different things. Everyone on our call today in our zoom today agreed that the sooner we have access to the administrations Distribution Plan, the sooner this transition would be smoothly moved forward. And you know, as we battle covid, we also make sure that the businesses and workers have the tools, the resources, the National Guidance and health and Safety Standards to operate safely. And we can do that. We can bring democrats and republicans together, work with business and labor to deliver those necessary resources. And for millions of americans who have lost hours and wages or have lost their jobs, we all agreed on our call that we can deliver immediate relief and it needs to be done quickly. Affordable health care for millions of people who have lost it or are in danger of losing it. Child care, sick leave, family leave. So workers dont have to choose between work and family. Corporate america agreed on this today. The folks on the call. We need support of small to support Small Businesses and entrepreneurs tlalt the backbone of our communities but are teetering on the edge. And we all agreed on the urgent need for funding for states and localities to keep frontline workers and essential workers on the job. Vital Public Services running Law Enforcement offices, educators, First Responders like we did in the recovery act of 2009, saving literally millions of jobs. Theres a reason why the federal government is able to run a deficit. Because the states must, must balance their budgets. And theyre in real trouble. Youre going to see hundreds of thousands of police officers, firefighters, First Responders, Mental Health clinics. Youre going to see him going out of business. Right now, congress should come together and pass a covid relief package like the h. E. R. O. E. S. Act that the house passed six months ago. Once we shut down the virus and deliver Economic Relief to workers and businesses. Then we can start to build back better than before. We talked about how we have an opportunity to come out of this stronger, more resilient than we were when we went in. And i wish you could have heard Corporate Leaders and the major labor leaders singing from the same hymnal here. Throughout the campaign, i laid out my build back better plan. We laid out our plan. That an independent analysis put out by moodys, a well respected law wall street firm, projected would create 18. 6 million jobs. We can also we talked about the need to own the electric vehicle market. We talked about climate a lot. Building 550,000 charging stations. Creating over a million good paying union jobs here at home. The need for the federal government to invest more in clean energy research. You know, its based on a simple premise. Its time to reward work, not just wealth in america. Were going to have a fair tax structure that makes sure the wealthiest among us and corporations pay their fair share. Our plan would create millions of good paying union jobs in manufacturing, building the vehicles, products, technologies that were going to need for the future, to compete with the rest of the world. From autos to our stockpiles, were going to buy american. No government contract will be given to companies that dont make their products here in america. To secure our position as a Global Leader in research and development, were going to invest 300 billion in the most critical competitive new industries in technologies creating 3 million good paying jobs. And the Corporate AmericaTechnology Firms like microsoft on the call, they all agreed. We can make sure our future is made here in america. And thats good for business, and its good for American Workers. We can also modernize infrastructure. Roads, bridges, ports. 1. 5 million new Affordable Housing units. Highspeed broadband we talked about. For every american household, which is more important than ever for remote learning, remote working, telemedicine in the 21st century. Building a Digital Infrastructure to help businesses, health care workers, First Responders and students. 100 billion to rebuild our crumbling schools. They talked about the need, the Business Community talked about the need to invest in hbcus and community colleges. Retrofitting 4 million New Buildings or old buildings. Ret retrofitting them, making them new, weatherizing 2 million homes, building more climate resilient cities and towns. These investments will specifically target communities of color so we can break the cycle where in good times they lag, and in bad times, they get hit first and the hardest, and the recovery is the toughest to bounce back. These are the kinds of investments that are going to strengthen our economy and our competitiveness, create millions of jobs, union jobs, and in doing so, our respect and dignity of work and empower the voice of workers. You heard me say it before, my dad, when he lost his job in scranton, eventually moved to wilmington and got a good job. He would say, joey, a job is about a lot more than a paycheck. Its about your dignity, respect, your place in the community. Its about being able to look your kid in the eye and say, honey, everything is going to be okay. When we build back better, well do so with higher wages, including a 15 minimum wage nationwide, better benefits, stronger collective bargaining rights that you can raise a family on. Thats how we build back the middle class better than ever. Thats how we make sure workers are treated with the dignity and respect they deserve. I can go on. You can tell, i was very encouraged by our conversation. But the point is this. Theres so much we can do. The only way we do any of this is if we work together. I know we can do this. For example, on the call, i made it clear to the Corporate Leaders, i said i want you to know im a union guy. Unions are going to have increased power. They nodded. They understand. Its not antibusiness. Its about economic growth, creating good paying jobs. 11 years ago, when barack and i took office during the great recession, and implemented the recovery act that saved us from another great depression, we didnt see a map in red and blue states. It was the United States of america. We didnt care whether the city had voted for us or against us. The state voted for us or against us. We worked with everyone. And we recovered and rebuilt together as one nation. We can do this again. A refusal of democrats and republicans to cooperate with one another is not due to some Mysterious Force beyond our control. Its a conscious decision. Its a choice that we make. If we can decide not to cooperate, then we can decide to cooperate. I believe this is in part the mandate from the American People, part of the mandate they gave us. They want us to cooperate. They want us to deliver results. And the choice that kamala and i will make is were going to do that. Thats why im so pleased today we were able to bring together business and labor leaders to make the choice jointly with us. Were all americans. Lets get to work. As i have said many times, thank you. May god bless you and my god protect our troops. I understand now im going to take questions. Megan, fire away. Thank you, president elect biden, Vice President elect looking the wrong direction. Sorry. I want to start with a question about your pandemic planning and then a question about your economic plan. You spoke about the need to access the outgoing administrations Covid VaccineDistribution Plans. What do you see is the biggest threat to your transition right now given president elects unprecedented attempt to obstruct and delay a smooth transfer of power . More people may die. If we dont coordinate. Look, as my chief of staff, ron klain, would say, who handled ebola, a vaccine is important. Its of little use until youre vaccinated. Sow how do we get the vaccine, how do we get over 300 million americans vaccinated . Whats the game plan . Its a huge, huge, huge undertaking. To get it done, prioritize those greatest in need, and working our way through it, and also cooperate with the World Health Organization and the rest of the world in dealing with this. And so they say they have this Warp Speed Program that not only dealt with getting vaccines but also how to distribute this. If we have to wait until january 20th to start that planning, it puts us behind over a month, month and a half. And so its important that it be done, that there be coordination now. Now or as rapidly as we can get that done. On the economy, the Vice President elect talked about having an economy that works for working people. One thing i didnt hear you talk specifically about is canceling student loan debt. Does student loan forgiveness figure in your plan, would you take executive action to achieve it . It does figure in my plan. I laid out in detail, for example, the legislation passed by the Democratic House calls for immediate 10,000 forgiveness of Student Loans. Its Holding People up. Theyre in real trouble. Theyre having to make choices between paying their student loan and paying their rent. It should be done immediately. In addition to that, as you know, i think everything from community college, straight through to pell grants to making sure we have access to Free Education for anyone making under 125,000 for four years of college, and there is a program that exists now under the law that forgives Student Loans for being able to engage in public service. I am going to institute that fundamental change in that so its able to be available to everyone that in fact is engaged. Its not being very well managed right now so im going to do all of those things. Thank you. Thank you, mr. President elect. You just spoke of some of the dangers of the president s continued stonewalling of this transition. But it doesnt appear that the president is going to come around any time soon and admit defeat. So what are you going to do . What options do you have to try to insure that you are ready to go on day one . Deal with every individual organization in the country from business to labor, republicans and democrats, to try to pull together a serious and consistent plan so were ready on day one. Everything from staffing to all of the naming cabinet members moving along on coordinating with business and labor. The covid attack, how were going to attack covid, and so it would make it a lot easier if the president were to participate. You have a number of republicans suggesting that the good news here is, my colleague is still on the intelligence community, so she gets the Intelligence Briefings. I dont anymore. So that is but theres a number of republicans calling for that. I am hopeful that the president will be mildly more enlightened before we get to january 20th. What is your message to republicans who are backing up the president s refusal to concede . You clearly need to work with them going forward. My message is, i will work with you. I understand a lot of your reluctance because of the way the president operates. But i have been in contact with and will be in contact with more of them as we move along. And if it has to wait until january 20th to get actually become operational, thats a shame, but maybe thats the only way to get it done. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, mr. President elect. I want to kind of piggyback off that. I want to get your thoughts on the president s tweet over the weekend where he first seemed to acknowledge that you won. Then he said he wont concede, then he said i won. How did you interpret that, and at the end of the day, do you want him to conede . I interpret that as trumpism. No change in his modus operandi. And i think the pressure will continue to build. Look, i am having a lot of meetings with World Leaders on the telephone. I cant get into negotiating with them about things that can be done, but theyre calling with some degree of enthusiasm. Everyone from the holy father to prime ministers across the globe. And so were moving along, knowing what the outcome will be. And as i said earlier, and i probably shouldnt repeat it, but i find this more embarrassing for the country than debilitating for my ability to get started. And then secondly, i want to follow up with you on the vaccine. If the fda gives emergency authorization to the pfizer or Moderna Vaccine in the coming weeks, will you get vaccinated . If youre hesitant, why should any american have confidence in the vaccine . First of all, well see if that comes forward. And secondly, its important that people who are in the greatest need get it. I wouldnt hesitate to get the vaccine, but i also want to set an example. But i wouldnt hesitate to get the vaccine if in fact dr. Fauci and the two organizations, whether its moderna or pfizer, who have been extremely responsible, conclude that it is safe and able to be done. Look, the only reason people question the vaccine now is because of donald trump. Thats the reason why people are questioning the vaccine. Because of all the things he says and doesnt say, whether its truthful, is it not truthful, the exaggerations. I think were on a clear path now. Were on a clear path with the International Community and National Leaders and the Scientific Community have focused on these two vaccines. They appear to be ready for primetime, ready to be used. And if that continues on that road, i would take the vaccine. Thank you. Thank you, mr mr. President elect. You have been urging the American Public to continue practicing social distancing and wearing a mask. But with cases skyrocketing across the country, do you think that more governors should be closing nonessential businesses and reinstating stayathome orders . Look, it depends on the state. What i failed to mention earlier is the enormous respect i have for republican, conservative republican governors who have stepped up and issued mandates for wearing a mask. In north dakota, you know, i mean, the idea one of the leaders in this area has been the republican governor, republican governor in ohio. And in addition to the folks who have already been leading like the governor of michigan. I mean, you know, the idea that the president s now existing remaining economic adviser on covid is saying they should resist. What the hell is the matter with these guys . What is the matter with them . Resist . You know, every major individual of any consequence in the health field is saying we can save we can save 100,000 lives just between now and january 21st by wearing these masks. Its going to take a while for the vaccine to be able to be available and distributed and get to people. Were talking about 350,000 to 400,000 people dying. I mean, what are they doing . Its totally irresponsible. Irresponsible. So i compliment the governors who have stepped forward, who have been stepping forward. But also, the republican governors who stepped forward. I left out the governor of utah, very conservative state. Governor of north dakota, and lof the democratic governor whose have been doing it all along. I mean, its i just ask a rhetorical question. Do you guys understand this . Does anybody understand why a governor would turn this into a political statement . Its about patriotism. Its about being patriotic. Its about saving lives. For real. This is not hyperbole. Its about being patriotic. And i think youre seeing more and more, as this god awful virus continues to spread along unabated, that we that governors are stepping up. And just following up on that, especially with many states reporting new highs in terms of the daily number of cases and a lot of Public Health officials sounding the alarm over the holidays, what is your message to people who are considering, for example, getting together with their families and others for thanksgiving . Would you consider would you urge people to reconsider their plans . Heres what i would do. Let me tell you what the Health Experts have said to me. And its not because im unique and president elect. Its because my family. They strongly urge that if in fact were going to have thanksgiving with anyone, that we limit it to a maximum of maximum, they suggest five people. Maximum ten people. Socially distanced, wearing masks. And people who have quarantined. So jill and i spent this morning, like many of you, trying to figure out what are we going to do for thanksgiving . How are we going to do it . We have narrowed down which family members, and that they were tested. Recently tested, within 24 hours. And so i would strongly urge for the sake, not just your sake, for the sake of your children, your mother, your father, your sisters, your brothers, whoever you get together with on tha thanksgiving, think about this. There should be no group more than ten people in one room, inside the homes. Thats what theyre telling me. Theyre telling me, you know, making sure that thats the case. And i have the i have the more potent mask behind this one. I took it off when i came out here. I wear it inside this. To be masked saves lives. And so, look, i just want to make sure that were able to be together next thanksgiving. Next christmas. I mean, it is an international crisis. Its an International Health crisis. And the idea, were at war with a virus. And it is were at war, for real. And all kidding aside, i hope all of you, i have watched you all. You all seem to wear masks all the time when youre in the group that follows me that that follows me, that is assigned to delaware with me, seem to do that. I strongly urge you to do it. Theres nothing macho about not wearing a mask. Thank you. Thank you, mr. President elect. Madam Vice President elect. Your plan my mask is stuck on my earring. Hold on a second. Thank god i dont have an earring. Your plan you have outlined just now, about a Million Union jobs, clean energy jobs, investments in hbcus. Those are things that take time. We have a problem with longterm unemployment thats growing fast right now. What would you do right away, specifically, to address jobs that may not return for months, may not return ever, including in communities of color . What i would do y would pass the h. E. R. O. E. S. Act. It has all the money and capacity to take care of each of those things. Now. Now. Not tomorrow. Now. And the idea the president is still playing golf and not doing anything about it is beyond my comprehension. At least think you want to go off on a positive note. But what is he doing . And theres virtually no discussion. And the republicans, were told, i oenlt kndont know if its tr. You may know, senator, that theres 22 republicans who say they wont vote for anything. There ought to be at least, at least a dozen of them who have the courage to stand up and save lives and jobs now. We should be doing it now. Keeping those businesses open, providing the ppe, the protective equipment, as well as the ppp, the money that we allow people to get funding to keep their businesses open, everything from separation to testing to a whole range of things that allow businesses to open and stay open. Thats what the plan was at the beginning. And by the way, if you notice in the very beginning, when they passed the stimulus program, the first two pieces, what happened . Businesses were staying open. Even when they werent open, they were still able people were able to get paid. But look where they are now. People are running out of unemployment insurance. What are they going to do . 20 Million People are on the verge of losing their home because they cant make a mortgage payment. You have a larger number being kicked out, or will be kicked out in the street. Because they cant pay their rent. And by the way, its not just the renter. Its the outfit that owns the building. A lot of them arent multimillionaires. Theyre running small operations. How can they do it . This is about keeping americans afloat. Get them through this pandemic. Get them through where their businesses are able to come back. The money is there. The money is there. And also, on the economic front, as we fight the pandemic, world trade continues, and there is great debate over world trade agreements. International trade agreements. It seems that in the last couple days, 15 countries, Asian Pacific countries, have signed on to a new trade deal, the rcep. Should the United States consider joining that trade agreement . I have talked with a number of these World Leaders. And i told them, under the law, i am not able to begin to discuss with them, theres only one president at a time. As to who can say what our policy will be. So im reluctant to answer that question now, but heres what i can say. We make up 25 of the worlds trading capacity, of the economy in the world. We need to be aligned with the other democracies, the other 25 or more, so that we can set the rules of the road. Instead of having china and others dictate outcomes because they are the only game in town. And so but what im insisting on, and what i have been asked by World Leaders as to what i would do, without getting into detail y have said i want you to know that there are three things that are going to happen if im elected. One, were going to invest in American Workers and make them more competitive. Number two, were going to make sure labor is at the table and environmentalists are at the table, and any trade deals we make. And im not looking for punitive trade. The idea that we are poking our finger in the eyes of our friends and embracing autocrats makes no sense to me. And so but im reluctant to get into more detail at this moment. I promise you i have a thorough plan, and ill be prepared to announce that to you on january 21st. You have indicated changes you want to make in u. S. International policy on other fronts like the paris climate deal. Yes, thats a generic notion of rejoining. But i didnt get into the detail of what well do in that agreement. The same thing with rejoining the World Health Organization. Why not here . Because youre asking me about whether i would join a specific proposal, the detailoffs which now are only now being negotiated among those nations. It requires negotiation. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it. If youre just joining us, we were just listening there to president elect joe biden speaking on the transition and his plans for economic recovery, and handling the pandemic. Biden pointed out that he is no longer receiving Intelligence Briefings and addressed the Trump Administrations delay in the transfer of power. Watch this moment. You spoke about the need to access the outgoing administrations Covid VaccineDistribution Plans. What do you see is the biggest threat to your transition right now given president trumps unprecedented attempt to obstruct and delay a smooth transfer of power . More people may die. Very powerful words there from president elect. Not holding back on the consequences of that. Biden also said workers need National Guidance for covid safety, and emphasized the need for state and local fubding to keep First Responders on the job and said the recovery will focus on buying American Made products and not leaving communities of color behind. We have a lot to break down from those comments. Joining us now to take a closer look at this is president of the Global Health council and member of president elect joe bidens coronavirus Advisory Board. Great to have you with us. First, what did you make of the president elects comments on the consequences of this delay in the cooperation, if you will, certainly when it comes to the pandemic and a covid Distribution Plan that this Current Administration may be working on that is not being shared with the biden team . Well, first off, thank you for having me. I was really heartened by the president elects remarks as well as those from the Vice President elect. And it really shows their commitment to a holistic response. I think thats why some of the delays and their access to information are so tragic, as he said, because we really need to get in front of this as leaders, health care professionals, policymakers and the like, to really understand whats at stake and whats at play. I think we all know and see the trends right in front of us on a daily basis, unfortunately, and yet we are sort of acting with our hands tied behind our back if we dont have access to the information thats required. We as Advisory Board members are keen to continue advising the president elect and vpelect accordingly and are hope fell they and their teams can get more information that they require from additional sources so they can really get in front of this nightmare as soon as possible. Let me ask you about another topic that came up in the briefing there, and that is about vaccines. Im sure youre fully aware of the news today coming out of moderna. You also have the pfizer announcement. Specifically, though, how far should we go in making the vaccines mandatory in this country . Should schools and employers and other institutions require people to get the vaccine in order to fully reopen this country . Well, i think if nothing else, we are encouraged by these developments and its great news to hear backtoback that these vaccines are coming. Coming forward and shown to be effective. We also just have to be sure, as the president elect said, that we are able to ramp up manufacturing and importantly are able to distribute that effectively and equitably across the country, because its useless, as he said, we can have a vaccine, but if no one is vaccinated or few people are vaccinated, then its not going to work as well as we would like. But that includes getting those reach people to line up for the vaccine, ensuring that everyone truly has access to it, truly is vaccinated at the end of the day so we are all protected. Do you think that institutions should be required to in order for the institutions to function, whether it is businesses or schools or certainly hospitals and their front line workers . I think we always want to have a suite of tools we put in front of people and that people are employing. Especially today. I want to bring it back to today, the fact we dont yet have a vaccine. We need to keep in the forefront for businesses, schools and the like that we all need to be wearing masks, we all need to limit social gatherings, and all need to practice public principles that would still be important for the months to come. Thanks so much for your time. Appreciate your patience, sticking with us while the briefing was taking place. Thank you. Of course. My pleasure. The major vaccine announcement from moderna sent stocks soaring. Fueled by hopes for a vaccine. Right now, before the close, the dow, you see it there, 382 points. Moderna says the preliminary trial data shows their vaccine candidate is 94. 5 effective. Now moderna chief medical officer tal zaks. I am sure you had quite the day. 94. 5 is an exceptional response in vaccine efficacy. Explain what is special about your vaccine that allows for this . Well, i think whats unique about our vaccine is that weve shown all along that this vaccine can use high levels of neutralizing antibodies. This is what the body needs to have in order to protect itself, to fight the vaccine. We have been able to show it in the early trials consistently across participants, including those that are older adults, so we were always optimistic that this would translate into a high efficacy and indeed i believe this trial demonstrated that, what it means in simple terms, if you take a look at our data, 95 people unfortunately came down with covid19, but of the 95, 90 were on the placibo group, only five on the group that got the vaccine. And it is important to note, we have been transparent with data, including enrollment of the sub populations, older adults, and the effect is consistent across the sub groups. Weve had unfortunately 11 cases of severe covid19 disease, that is people that require oxygen supplementation or the hospital. None of these cases occurred on the vaccinated group, they all occurred in the placibo. So we see i apologize. Go ahead. What i was going to wrap up in and say is in effect we see a vaccine that has a high estimate for its efficacy and were optimistic we can translate that benefit into prevention of covid19 disease. So to that point, you brought up the issue of transparency, can you share plans to have this Peer Reviewed in any medical literature coming up . Absolutely. So we are going to have the strongest peer review anyone could expect, a panel of experts looking deeply into the data at an open panel the fda will convene. I anticipate by the time we have that panel, we will have the final analysis that will be based on 151 events and more than two months median followup for safety and efficacy. And level of data, rigor and debate far outweighs what you generally see in a scientific publication. That being said, we will simultaneously endeavor to wrap up the highlights of those data, submit them for peer review publication associate theyre in the stsk literature. Lets not forget, peer review is what fda does when they put us in front of their expert panel and take a deep dive into the data for safety and efficacy. A question more broadly about the issue of trust with vaccines. You probably heard the question to the Vice President or former Vice President and president elect joe biden talking about whether he would take a vaccine, and it brought up the issue of trust. Curious to get your thoughts, how long will it be until we know how long the vaccine lasts for, is it six months, a year, do we have any anticipation of how long it might last . Are there any causes or side effects we know about that may cause the public to have a moment of pause about taking this . So lets Start Talking about trust and then talk about side effects and durability. Trust is a function of for us being transparent with our data. I am proud of the fact were the First Company put ourselves through, showing informed consent, deep dive of data, if you look at our press release, we were clear about the point estimate and having sub groups and how many, and we also disclosed adverse event profile. So far, Data Safety Monitoring Committee has not seen significant reason for concern in this trial as far as safety. We do see react to general isity, flulike symptoms you can get particularly after the second dose. Many people have mild to moderate discomfort, one in ten will feel what they consider to be severe, significant discomfort, effects that may prevent them from their usual activities of daily living as theyre socalled. These are all transient, theyre expected. It is what we call flulike symptoms. For me, they bear strong correlation with having an effective vaccine. So that is i think what people can expect in general in terms of the vaccine. Of course, these are early days. We will continue to monitor the trial, continue to report out the accumulating safety data, both for participants on the study and whats called real world evidence once the vaccine is deployed. To the question about durability, these are early days. What we know today is we should expect the vaccine to have durability for months. We believe thats true based on initial efficacy results we have here, and based on the high and consistent level of neutralizing antibodies that the vaccine is able to elicit, the long term durability is a function of following them longer term. In the months and year ahead, well continue to follow the participants and continue to evaluate their immune response and look carefully for break through covid19 disease. As it stands today, these are early days. This is about as good as one could hope to see. Certainly so. Doctor, can you share how soon will you be applying for emergency use authorization with the fda or have you already . Yes. So we have not already. We are in constant dialogue with the fda and our plan is within the coming few weeks to wrap up these data, complete the final nal analysis when we reach 150 cases, that will occur in coming weeks and be able to come to public debate with all of the data being reviewed by us, by fda, and be able to have that public debate on the potential for the vaccine to receive emergency use authorization. Let me ask about distribution if i can. Thats obviously on a lot of peoples mind. A lot of differentialte ors, it requires cold temperatures. Your new candidate can be stored at standard refrigerator temperatures. How much easier will that make distribution for your vaccine . So look, i think thats a critical point. Mentioned the importance of getting it to everybody thats hard to reach, people that need it most are often people in nursing homes, in areas that dont necessarily have access to large distribution centers. I think the advantage of our vaccine is we can store it and ship it minus 20 degrees, it can be stable up to 30 days in standard refrigerator. These are temperatures we all have in our own home frig. And are widely available in pharmacies and doctor offices in the United States. That makes me confident and optimistic that indeed should we receive the emergency use authorization, we should be able then working together with the government and prearranged distribution to ensure that indeed people that need it most, even if harder to reach, are able to receive our vaccine. Speaking of people that may be harder to reach, we have about 45 seconds, doctor, you talked about it being tested on people 65 and older. Has it been tested on a variety of races . Covid has effected communities of color and minority communities much more so. Thats a question people have about distribution when it is rolled out, will it get to people that need this most at this time. We and partners at the nih and others have worked dill gently to ensure the trial population is fully representative of the United States. We had 10 of participants be africanamerican or black, had 20 hispanic or latin, other minorities represented. Over 8,000 people that live with chronic conditions that put them at risk and full quarter of the study population are older adults, over the age of 65. I believe the effect as the data Monitoring Committee told us is consistent among different sub groups and made these impressive results in my mind, they make them i believe widely applicable to different populations that are going to need a vaccine most. I am no scientist, sounds impressive to me as well. Sir, thank you so much for your time and patience. Good luck to you and everyone on your team as you move forward. That wraps up this hour. Deadline white house with Nicolle Wallace starts now. Hi there, everyone. It is 4 00 in the east. Warning, lame duck President Donald Trump seems determined to burn it all down on his way out. He is now official white house policy endangering of lives of every american by refusing to green light an official transition, he is hindering the countrlr