Transcripts For MSNBCW MSNBC Live With Hallie Jackson 20201112

As we come on the air this morning, where Democratic Leaders Chuck Schumer and nancy pelosi are set to hold a News Conference this hour, and just a couple of minutes, talking transition, or maybe more accurately the lack thereof, expected to blast the blockades the Trump Administrations putting up, with one key republican senator breaking with the president , threatening to step in, if things dont get moving by tomorrow. President elect biden forging ahead on his own, making his first big staffing pick, while President Trump huddles with his top advisers, theyre thinking on his path forward at this point, according to sources close to him. Plus new covid crackdowns, as this country starts to relive the nightmare that was the spring surge and getting worse with the u. S. Seeing 148,000 new cases in a single day, another record, forcing cities and states to bring back tough restrictions. How concerned are you that your state, this region is at a Tipping Point right now . I would say very concerned, savannah. Everything is going in the wrong direction. Im Hallie Jackson in washington with Kristen Welker and mike memoli with the biden transition and Kelly Odonnell at the white house. Mike, talk about the staffing moves from president elect biden. Hes expected to have more meetings about staffing in a tran transition today after naming ron klain, somebody you know for many years as his chief of staff. Reporter hallie, whats important is that joe biden knows ron klain for decades. He worked on his 1988 campaign. A year later brought him on as the chief counsel of the Senate Judiciary committee. To get an understanding of the relationship, after biden introduced klain, one said to biden, that new chief counsel, he seems awfully young to be given a lot of this responsibility. How old is he . Biden told him 28. He said by the way, i was 29, so a good sense of just how much breadth of experience they have going back over the years. Klain was not just a top staffer on the senate. He worked as a clerk on the Supreme Court. He worked in the Justice Department and he worked of course as the chief of staff to both al gore and to joe biden as Vice President of the united states. A lot of folks are focused on the fact of course his experience as the ebola czar in the biden camp transition having to confront one of their top challenges day bun but remember in his early years chief of staff to biden in the Vice President s office, they were implementing the recovery act that massive economic stimulus bill that helped bring the country out of the great recession. So a really important hire here, a signal from biden about the kind of government he wants to run, and its so interesting, hallie, also to see not just bipartisan but across the democratic party, the ideological praise for this choice, an important signal, given how difficult it will be for bide on it navigate the divides in his party and divide with republicans. But before he even gets there, mike, and kristen, you know this well, the former Vice President , the current president elect has to get through this transition period. That has been slow going, given President Trumps refusal to acknowledge and accept the results of this election. Republicans, kristen, were starting to see some small cracks in that wall, im thinking of one top senator who said yes, joe biden needs to get the president ial daily briefing. Its got to happen by the end of this week. Talk about what the biden team is doing to try to move forward even in this transition, that has been stymied in some ways. Reporter right, well i think small cracks is exactly the right way to describe it, hallie, that senator youre talking about, Oklahoma Republican James Langford, who said bluntly, look, the president elect should be getting his intelligence briefings, and if that doesnt happen by friday, hes ready to intervene. Take a listen to what he had to say. Theres nothing wrong with Vice President biden getting the briefings to be able to prepare himself and if thats not occurring by friday, i will step in as well and to be able to push them and say this needs to occur. Reporter so to your point, hallie, biden is moving forward with his transition, despite the fact that you have these road blocks. He is trying to strike a note of calm, trying to strike a note of leadership and reaching out to republicans, having calls where they are willing to have them. So far, hes heard from four republicans, and congratulatory phone calls. Mitt romney, susan collins, Lisa Murkowski and ben sass, to name those four republicans with whom hes had congratulatory phone calls. Hallie t underscores hes had fewer conversations with republicans than he has with World Leaders. So far hes had eight conversations with World Leaders, including three overnight. And so what is the biden team doing to try to move forward . They are doing what they can, where they can. Having these conversations with World Leaders despite the fact we reported overnight the state department is actually withholding some of the message from foreign officials from the president elect. Right. So this is really a think creating some road blocks but theyre trying to move forward despite that and as you said, hell have meeting wells his advisers today as he continues to fill out his white house and cabinet, hallie. Kelly, what are you hearing from folks around the white house what they see as the president s path now, getting him to come to a sense of realization and acceptance hes going to beo out of the office come end of january . Reporter the realization is taking its time to set in. There are those around the president much more clear about this now, and while they say it is appropriate to go forward with some of the litigation and to try to contest things where they can find pathways in the courts as narrow as that has been, were also seeing a sense of trying to reach a point where the president can find a new definition for how he exits the office, not the concession that we would have expected, not the concession that history has held as part of the transfer. But an acceptance of the result without saying that the president accepts the result in terms of the number, so allowing for this transfer to take place, but at the same time, trying to stand up for the more than 70 million americans who voted for President Trump. So again, its a new definition, and as the president has been so unconventional throughout his Early Campaign and his time in office, even the exit is going to have a trump look to it, and that would be acknowledging that he will leave the office but not conceding defeat. Now there might not be a lot of clarity in that but that would get the job done for joe biden and his team coming in and allow the president to preserve some of his own political options going forward, creating a pack, talk of running again in 2024, which would be allowed under the constitution, and keeping his own relevance with his voters, and hes also saying he wants ronna mcdaniel, a trump loyalist to remain as chairwoman of the rnc. Its finding the way to acknowledge its time to move on without really giving up his own sense that he is somehow in his own mind and based on his own sense of the electorate that hes asomehow won. Its a new way of doing things and the trump team is trying to find their path to do this, to accept the results without accepting and conceding that biden won the election. Hallie . DKelly Odonnell. The Biden Administration looking forward to pushing ahead. We are keeping an eye on Chuck Schumer and nancy pelosi set to speak on capitol hill a couple of minutes from now. You can see the podium where theyll speak from and the transition issue is expected to be top of the agenda. Thanks to our road warriors covering the Transition Teams from wilmington to washington. We turn back to the coronavirus pandemic, spreading out of control in nearly every state and it is the backdrop to everything, everything political that were talking about this morning. The covid situation is getting worse, not just in terms of new cases, but hospitalizations as well. Youve got some states struggling to find enough beds, struggling to find enough Staff Members to care for those patients, look at massachusetts, and michigan, where some hospitals are canceling elective surgeries, a big way they make money and north dakota hospitals are so strained Even Health Care workers, doctors and nurses who test positive for the virus but asymptomatic are told they can and should keep coming to work. Antonia hilton is in fargo, north dakota, and with us dr. Ka vspree kavita patell. Antonia, to have nurses show up even if they tested positive not showing symptoms that highlights how critical the situation is in north dakota. What are they telling you about this directive, how strained they are at the moment . Reporter absolutely. It is extremely strained here, hallie. Hospitals are at 100 capacity and just yesterday, i spoke to the north dakota longterm care association, and they told me that 800 Staff Members are out sick right now. Health care workers are feeling conflicted about this new policy. Some in rural areas have told me that they dont see any other option at this point. Their nurses and doctors are getting sick and arent enough hands to take care of the patients there and then there are others who say that while this policy might sound good in practice, having covid positive nurses working with covid positive patients, they think that if you try to implement it, it might turn out to be dangerous and thats just the conversation that i had with sarah losspike, an er nurse in far fargo, just last night. If you were to find out that you were covid positive but asymptomatic, would you raise your hand if things got bad enough and offer to keep coming to work . Personally, no. I think it is too big of a risk to infect other people, and i think its irresponsible at most. Reporter sarah is here in fargo and over the past several months feeling exhausted and anxious and shes pretty shocked that this many months into the pandemic, were at a point where she and her colleagues are being asked to potentially do Something Like this. But there are other nurses that i spoke to yesterday as well who told me that they are in these rural areas and their patients are so acutely sick and there are so few people available to take care of them, if they got an asymptomatic case of covid theyll raise their hand and say yes, ill come in. That says so much about, it just speaks volumes about the commitment so many of our Health Care Workers have, right. Sure does. Theyre willing to sacrifice all this and keep coming to work when theyre technically sick. They deserve as theyve been getting for months and months our thanks as this gets worse and putting themselves on the line for this. Dr. Patell, im curious about your reaction to antonias reporting and as we head into the winter here, were already through the fall, you might see more and more cities and states putting place lockdowns. New york city, in fact tomorrow is putting some new restrictions in place, a 10 00 curfew on bars and restaurants and gyms, a limit of indoor gatherings to ten people or fewer. Is that enough . Hi, hallie, good morning to both of you, and the reporting has been spoton and doing a curfew, honestly, is better than nothing, but lets put it this way. The virus doesnt know any time bound dears. Were making the highrisk behavior is happening in the late hours. Were talking about bars, restaurants, as it gets colder, people are making options to go indoors all day and we should be think being restricting capacity indoors of any type of facility that people could gather and then i hate to keep bringing it back to masks, hallie, but north dakota, you heard this reporting, wouldnt it have made a huge difference if everybody was asked to wear a mask and third the nurses are heroes. They need ppe. I know of nurses and doctors in north dakota asked to reuse their n95 masks. Ugh. That should not be happening nine months into the pandemic, not acceptable. You talk about the response of the pandemic, specifically from the government perspective. Dr. Anthony fauci has been a public face of that, as we all know. He was actually out this morning talking about what i wonder from your medical perspective is not one of the big issues moving forward, the idea of covid and pandemic fatigue, people really feeling it i think even as we get into the holidays more so than before. Listen to what he had to say. Help is really on the way. If you think of it, metaphorically, the calf i have coming here. Vaccines are going to have a major positive impact, so if we could just hang in there, do the Public Health measures that were talking about, were going to get this under control, i promise you. Vaccine of course not necessarily the Silver Bullet here. I wonder what your advice is, seeing a light at the end of the tunnel but feels so far away after the eight, nine months weve had so far. It does, but the numbers today are very concerning. Dr. Fauci as usual of course is right. We have to keep our mindset there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Practically speaking, hallie, everybody, including myself and my own family, we have to think through what were going to do in the next two months to be safe. Rethinking travel plans and making substitutions to deal with the covid fatigue, everybodys talking about virtual thanksgiving. If youre going to have people in the home, open the windows, wear masks indoors, make sure theyre high quality facial coverings and do everything you can to help the nurses and doctors on the front lines who are trying to go out there and do their jobs by you staying at home, if possible. Dr. Kavita patel, antonia hillman, thank you for being the show with us. We appreciate it. We have a lot more ahead on the Coronavirus Response as the outbreak shatters records across the country, talking to a member of president elect bidens covid Advisory Board later in the show on what needs to happen on day one of the new administration. You wont want to miss this conversation. Plus on capitol hill, House Speaker pelosi and Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer answering questions any moment. The reporters are ready on capitol hill expected to focus on the biden transition and covid relief. Were live as newly elected members begin their orientation during a year unlike any other. Businesses run. And most important is the ability to transform the smallest of businesses right in our neighborhoods. We created the 5g Business Impact challenge to give them the tools for them to come back stronger. The things that folks are doing today to survive during the pandemic will help them become more resilient into the future and Technology Like 5g is whats really going to enable that. Hey, son no dad, its a video call. You got to move the phone in front of you like. Like its a mirror, dad. You know . Alright, okay. Hows that . Is that how you hold a mirror . 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Be fast. Be flexible. Bounce forward with comcast business. Get started with a powerful internet and voice solution for just 64. 90 a month. Plus, for a limited time, ask how to get a 300 prepaid card. Call or go online today. Lets take you live to capitol hill where House Speaker nancy pelosi and Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer are talking about the transition. Lets listen in. These numbers that should be so compelling that are an imperative for us to act upon this. Every kind of avoidance of taking responsibility has been witnessed. Every chance that we have for testing, tracing, treatment, mask wearing, separation, sanitation, that science tells us to do, they have ignored. Their contempt for science and disdain for government, science says wear a mask. Government says lets enforce that. Science, governance, thats not what theyre about. Thats not what theyre about, and what that is, is theyre engaged in an absurd circus refusing to accept reality. Republicans are shamefully pretending, proceeding without recognizing what our responsibility is, and making it even harder to address the massive health, health and economic crisis that were facing. A delay e eed ascertainment of major harm caused to the president ial transition is something on another subject. Right now, we are talking about addressing the crisis, the pandemic. If we do so, scientifically, we will be able, we will be able to open our economy. Well be able to open our schools safely. Well be able to do so in a way that recognizes the tragedy that has befallen us in our country, because of the republican denial of science and disdain for governance. So stop this circus, and get to work on what really matters to the American People, their health and their economic security. With that, im pleased to yield to the distinguished democratic leader of the senate, mr. Schumer. Thank you, madam speaker. Its good to be back now, good morning. This is a great moment, a moment of Great National challenge. Covid19 is surging, Small Businesses are shuttering, families are struggling, people continue to lose jobs and not gain new ones. We just had a divisive and hardfought president ial election but instead of working, but instead of working to pull the country back together, so that we can fight our common enemy, covid19, republicans in congress are spreading conspiracy theories, denying reality, and poisoning the well of our democracy. The republicans should stop their shenanigans about an election that President Trump has already lost, and focused their attention on the immediate issue at hand, providing relief to a Country Living through the covid health and economic crisis. When it comes to the election, republicans, Congressional Republicans dont have the evidence, they dont have the proof, they dont have anything, neither does the president. Congressional republicans are deliberately casting doubt on our elections for so another reason by fear of donald trump. These republicans are all auditioning for profiles in cowardice. So this morning, i have a very simple message for Senate Republicans. The election is over. It wasnt close. President trump lost. Joe biden will be the next president to the united states. Kamala harris will be the next Vice President to the united states. Senate republicans, stop denying reality. Stop deliberately and recklessly sowing doubt about our democratic process, and start focusing on covid. The republican refusal to deal with reality is hurting our country in many ways, fighting the Health Crisis of covid, improving our economy, and not compromising on national security. Its time to move on, and get to work for the American People, and i want to be very clear with the American People, the election is not in doubt. This is nothing more than a temper tantrum by republicans, nothing more than a pathetic political performance for an audience of one, president donald john trump. There is nothing, this is nothing republicans like the 2000 election when the president ial election came down to one state, and the difference between candidates was only 537 votes. Joe bidens victory in the Electoral College had been secured by several states, where tens of thousands of votes separate the candidates. Joe biden leads in wisconsin by 25 20,0 20,000, pennsylvania 50,000, michigan 146,000. Thats the facts. Bidens won. Nothing republicans or trump can do will change that. All over the country, legal claims by the president and his republican allies are being laughed out of court. The New York Times called Election Officials from both parties in every state in the country. Not one, not one reported any evidence of fraud or irregul irregularities. These frivolous lawsuits have less than a snowballs chance in hell of succeeding. So let me speak directly to my republican colleagues in the senate. Once again, joe biden has won. Now move on, and work with us to solve the covid crisis. Let us bring the country together and get things done. Every day, as the speaker mentioned, hundreds of thousands are getting sick. Thousands are dying. We dont have time for these kinds of games. The American People are waiting for relief from the covid virus, but republicans refuse to take comprehensive action that meets the needs of the country. The heroes act passed in the house does meet this moment. It doesnt pick and choose who were going to help during the greatest health and Economic Crises in decades. Its laser focused on Health Care Issues that are at the heart of this pandemic. The h. E. R. O. E. S. Act does something vital, strengthens medicaid and improves access to health care coverage, support for hospitals, at a time when covid is raging, health care money, Medicaid Expansion should be at the top of the list. These are the issues we should be discussing, and debating, and the h. E. R. O. E. S. Act should be the starting point, not an emaciated bill that prioritizes protections for corporations and considers the needs of American Families as an afterthought. Every day that goes by, without the Republican Party acknowledging and accepting the results of this election is another day americans faith in their wonderful democracy declines. The longer Senate Republicans play the sad game is the longer they are denying working families much needed relief from the covid health and economic kroo crises. Speaker . Thank you. Thank you, mr. Leader. Yes indeed, the h. E. R. O. E. S. Act has now for nearly six months been a formula for crushing the virus, for honoring our heroes, our Health Care Workers, our police and fire, our first responders, our teach irs, our teachers, our teachers, our sanitation, transportation, food workers, people who make our economy and our society work. As i said earlier, over 1 million teachers have already lost their jobs since last year. We need to help our state and local government. They say from time to time that they want to do that, but they, we havent seen that evidence. Secondly, secondly, and this is almost sinful, crushing the virus is essential. The time of a pandemic, instead of crushing the vir us they want to crush at fordable care act as was demonstrated in the Supreme Court the other day, and a very important point among many others the leader made about the expansion of medicaid. Many seniors this is a middle income benefit, middle income family benefit. Many, many seniors who are in longterm care, 70 of that longterm care is covered by medicaid. So yes, it is for poor children and poor families, but overwhelming amount of it goes to help middle class family its have longterm care for their seniors. Again, again part of the affo Affordable Care act not fully implemented by some states, but again, under siege in the court, a long un the central issue of it, access to Affordable Health care preventative care, and protecting the preexisting condition benefit, which will go right down the drain with the president s case in the court. So theres, its hard to what are they thinking or am i using the word thinking loosely . People are suffering, even before the coronavirus, the Affordable Care act was essential not to the 20 million more people, thats a blessing but the 150 million families who have private health care, Health Insurance through their employment and who have increased benefits in the bill, as well as Medicaid Expansion, so important, and the list goes on and on. I wont go through all of the benefits except to say that over 75 Million People voted their health, protect the Affordable Care act, crush the virus, so that we can open up our economy and n a healthy way, and its all doable. Let me just end on a helpful note. The news of the virus at least one virus and perhaps another right on the heels coming out that are very promising, and with high levels of protection should give people motivation to do what is necessary, to selfquarantine, to wear a mask, et cetera, the question is, it will only take a short period of time with many more people doing that you have been watching House Speaker nancy pelosi talk about, along with Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer the transition delays that have been happening due to the Trump Administration, as well as the coronavirus pandemic. I want to bring in Nbcs Leigh Ann Caldwell from capitol hill, Kelly Odonnell and mike memoli. Well dip back in as soon as Speaker Pelosi takes questions from reporters, but this is a focus now for congressional democrats, the delayed transition and increasingly from a small handful of republicans as well. Reporter thats right, hallie. What was interesting about this press conference is Speaker Pelosi and democratic leader schumer completely ignored the president. They acknowledged ads if they werent talking to him. This was a message for Senate Republican its, telling them they need to get on board, accept reality, that Vice President joe biden is the new president elect and their message is that their delay in accepting this is hurting the transition and hurting the countrys response to covid, saying that this is a real life situation, that they need to accept, so that they can get the country back on track. Theyre saying theyre throwing a temper tantrum with an audience of one who is the president. I take exception with that. I hear from republican sources, he said that they have an audience of millions. They are hearing from constituents demanding that they fight and defend the president and enable him to move forward with these legal challenges, but on capitol hill, there are a few cracks among some republicans, saying that while they, the president should continue with these legal challenges, the transition does need to start. The latest from senator James Langford from oklahoma, told local radio hes giving the president until friday and then going to step in, in some unknown way, and Say Something the transition process need to get going. Another thing i want to mention is covid relief, something that speaker ploetsie a ie Speaker Pelosi and schumer spoke about, the h. E. R. O. E. S. Act, the 3 trillion bill. Most people on capitol hill say that is not a reality. I spoeke to senator manchin offcam camera, he said they need to compromise and get something that will help the country until the end of january, when president elect joe biden is finally in office. Hallie . What is your reporting from the president elects team here. Are they concerned about the delays at this moment . If this is dragged out longer theyll worry about it . What is your sense talking to folks . Reporter its clear in terms of the different tones set by the two Party Leaders from the democrats in congress. What we heard from the president elect himself a couple of days ago when he spoke with reporters. The Party Leaders in the house are speaking critically of republicans, questioning if theyre thinking at all. The president elect who seems to be taking more of a cautious wait and see approach, downplaying the impacts of these delays in terms of his transition, saying hes confident republicans will come around and looks forward to speaking with President Trump. If joe biden is successful in the next congress in terms of getting his legislation through, he needs help from republican. The situation is not to make it harder for republicans to do more what have weve seen from jim langford and marco rubio, try to press the president to do what they think is right. The more that biden is raising the temperature on this, the hardest to get to a good outcome. Speaker pelosi is taking questions from reporters but asked to have questions addressed to her on covid, the pandemic and the response. Kelly odonnell, to you for a check on the bhowhite house. Chuck schumer demanded the republicans stop denying reality as he put it, accusing republicans of throwing a temper tantrum. The president met with aides as recently as yesterday. There was a meeting as far as we understand it at the white house in which the president talked with aided, campaigning white house aides about how to move forward at this point. We understand there is an acknowledgment, they recognize the math, know the data and how unusual and what a long shot it would be to have any success on the litigation side. How do they define an exit for the president acceptable to him without acknowledging that he lost the race . Not contesting but moving on. The republican hesitance to move forward, thats georgia, georgia, georgia. It is rare to have two senate races in one state that was because of the retirement of Johnny Isakson and both of them go to a runoff, when we have a new president. Really unusual constellation of events. Republicans dont want to dampen the enthusiasm of their own voters or draw the fire of the president , when those two seats could determine the kind of Senate Joe Biden will be working with and the extent that joe biden is mindful of that as well with momentum on democrats side, he would love to see two Democratic Senators take over in georgia. So thats a big part of this, that they were not speaking of directly. Its raw politics. There are obviously much bigger issues when youre talking about trying to make the tools of the government available to the president elect and dealing with covid. But dont forget the importance of georgia for republicans, and part of why they are standing behind the president for at least a while to come. Kelly odonnell, mike memoli, leigh ann caldwell, thank you for being with us. As we monitor development from capitol hill we expect to hear from Top Republicans later on this morning. Well bring that to you when it happens as well. Next on the show, the race to a Coronavirus Vaccine opinion inside Johnson Johnsons phase three Covid Vaccine trials. Details on what makes this one more appealing than others. Plus talking about vaccines with the member of president elect bidens covid Advisory Board. Thats next opinion t bidens covid Advisory Board thats next opinio he same . 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This morning, a bit of a bright spot at least in a difficult moment in the pandemic when it comes to news of a Coronavirus Vaccine, because of this. Johnson johnson is picking back up its phase three trial. Last month j j put a pause on that. This month pfizer announced its vaccine was 90 effective. Gabe gutierrez is in main yap police where the trial is happening. Youve been inside to get a closer look. Reporter good morning, one of many vaccine trial sites around the world. The volunteers are surging, a large group, unlike pfizers trial, which reported encouraging data earlier this week, that trial, that vaccine would require possibly two doses. Johnson johnsons version might require only one. With many icus in the midwest stretched to their limits i think its only going to get worse. Reporter this morning, renewed hope that help may finally be on the way. Alina health in minute yap place is the only Clinical Trial site for Johnson Johnsons Covid Vaccine, phase three. Nearly 20 patients. Reporter this is the room where participants are briefed. Normally a Vaccine Development takes five if not ten years. Were trying to put it all together in a very rapid manner. Reporter this week, more than two dozen volunteers have been vaccinated here, more than 2,700 others have registered online. Worldwide, the goal is to enroll 60,000 volunteers like daryl martin, doing it in part because his 98yearold mother, catherine, died of covid a month ago. She was a loving and giving person and i appreciated the opportunity to do something. Reporter using a disabled common cold virus, proven safe in a work on previous vaccines for zika, hiv and ebola, scientists insert one of the coronavirus spikes and then inject it. The spike protein is then synthesized and the body creates an immune response to it. Essentially the vaccine fakes out the coronavirus. For us, this is probably one of the most important trials we have conducted at alina health and as far as research goes, and vaccines go, probably one of the most important trials of the century. Reporter back in late march, j j announced on today that its vaccine was in the works. Weve got a candidate that has a high degree of probability of being successful. Reporter last month, the trial was paused, briefly, after a participant got sick. We were not alarmed by that at all. Thats exactly how it was supposed to work and when they analyzed the data, they found that particular side effect was not related to the vaccine at all and we got the news to go ahead. Reporter just days ago, pfizer announced early data showed its vaccine candidate was 90 effective. J js version not that far along but researchers say its possible if all goes well and approved it could start rolling out to the public by early next year. Is this a competition . So it is a competition between the companies. For me, the competition is with the virus, which i think is a mortal enemy. Reporter now in addition to potentially requiring only one dose, another key difference between this j j vaccine and pfizers, is that the j j vaccine can be stored at a much higher temperature than pfizer and thats a key distinction that could make a huge difference as the vaccines are distributed to millions of people around the world, especially in remote areas, hallie. Gabe gutierrez live in min e minneapol minneapolis. Dr. Gounder is an Infectious Disease epidemiologist, thank you for being with us this morning. My pleasure. Big week for vaccine headlines when it comes to the news from pfizer, earlier this week, and Johnson Johnson today. As it relates to distribution, pfizers vaccine has to be stored in subzero temperatures, freezers creating questions how to get this to people who need it, specifically more rural areas. What is the plan for when president elect Biden Takes Office . Its important to remember there are multiple vaccines in the pipelines. We have the Pfizer Vaccine we got great news about this week, you have the j j vaccine, the astrazeneca, the Moderna Vaccine and others in the pipeline farther behind. Well have a number of different vaccines that we can deploy. Some may be more suitable for rural areas, those that dont require this deep freeze, some might be more suitable to certain patient populations. I think youre going to see the use of a number of different vaccine products really targeted based on what makes the most sense for those patients and that area. I want to ask you about something that axios was writing about this morning, pointing out that the administration, the Biden Administration coming in at the end of january might have some hurdles when it comes to the issue of vaccines existing antivaccine misinformation, coupleed with goodfaith questions about such an incredibly fast process, mixed with partisan attitudes toward the virus and tools to fight it could make it harder to move past this pandemic. How do you get over these hurdles . Big picture unfortunately the Public Health response to the pandemic has been politicized. I think a lot of the work that needs to be done over the coming weeks is really about marketing and psychology, and how do you convince people that this is safe, that this is something that they want to be doing. So i think a lot of our focus in the coming weeks is going to be around that kind of communication. When you look at a Trump Administration and the way they have addressing the transition, my day job for nbc news is the chief White House Correspondent so ive been covering the president for a long time and our reporting is based on the idea hes reluctant to accept the result and acknowledge that in a concession. Because of that, there are some questions about the impact this could happen in the pandemic moving forward. Dr. Fauci addressed that this morning. Ill play for you what he had to say. The medical part of it just keeps going forward. I know this is what i and my colleagues do every day, one, getting the message to the American People like were trying to do this morning, but also pushing ahead on the development of vaccines and counter measures. Do you agree, is the lack of cooperation from the Trump Administration now having an impact, negatively on the pandemic, or not . Well, look, it would certainlien wonderful if the administration would cooperate with the Transition Team, and help us plan for the takeover, but i do think its important to understand that its not as if the Transition Team is sitting and waiting. People have been very deep bench of scientists and policy experts and others have been spending months planning for what were going to do, once were in charge of running this response. And so there are detailed protocols in development at this time. I think its also key to understand that its not just about the federal government. Its also about state and local health departments, as well as the private sector, and we very much are able to communicate with all of those parties at this time and start to plan. Dr. Celine gounder, member of the bidenharris covid Advisory Board, thank you for your time this morning. We appreciate it, especially given all the headlines out this morning on the pandemic. Now, u. S. National Security Strategy a glaring question mark with Senate Armed Service Committee Member ang us king predicting this might be what happens next. Watch. What im hearing is the possibility of a unilateral 100 pullout from afghanistan. If we pull out our troops unilaterally between now and christmas or whenever the date is, that mission is mission is compromised and were right back where we were in 2001, subject to a terrorist attack being hatched in the wild of afghanistan. Thats the dangerous thing that i think a lot of people are worried about. That said, senator lindsey graham, of course, a close ally of the president , predicting that is not going to happen. Still, the warning from senator king coming as the pentagon seems to be newly remade now, with some of the president s loyalists in charge. Heres nbcs chief Foreign Correspondent richard engel. Reporter days before he was pushed out as defense secretary, mark esper told the military times he expected to be replaced by a real yes man, and then, god help us. Monday, President Trump upped four loyalists to key pentagon positions. The moves give President Trump, still commander in chief, more freedom to act, especially overseas. Esper opposed pulling all u. S. Troops from afghanistan and syria. Both may now be in the cards. I think there are two prongs to this action. One is simple vengeance. And the other is opening Operational Flexibility or International Operations that he feels could benefit him politically. Its not just the pentagon. Former intelligence officials tell nbc news cia director gina haspel may be the next to go. Haspel has resisted releasing classified documents, as former cia officials tell nbc, they worry President Trump and his allies may cherry pick intelligence pushing false claims democrats lied about the russia investigation and are cheating now. And if President Trump were to order all u. S. Troops out of afghanistan, afghan officials tell me, it would be effectively handing the country over to the taliban. Richard engel live for us there. Richard, thank you for that reporting. I appreciate it. We want to bring you now to some developing news. A ruling just coming in now from a federal Appeals Court, upholding a Lower Court Ruling that cleared Harvard University of discrimination against Asian American applicants. Now let me bring in pete williams. This may move the case closer to the Supreme Court, yes or no . Yes, without question. That was the goal of this lawsuit all along. This was filed by a group of Asian Americans and what the District Court found and what the Appeals Court agreed is that harvard was within the narrow guidelines set by the Supreme Court four years ago when it said that colleges can use race as a factor in admissions in order to achieve a more diverse student body, as long as there wered fixed percentages or quotas and thats what the Appeals Court found. The architect behind this law, edward bloom, a Financial Adviser from maine, was behind the lawsuit that resulted in the earlier Supreme Court decision from the university of texas at austin. And hes behind this one, too. Hes already said hes going to take it to the Supreme Court. Heres the important thing, hallie. When the Supreme Court last ruled on this, a, Justice Ginsburg was a member of the court. Shes been replaced by amy coney barrett, whos even more conservative. And he, justice kennedy, who wrote the key opinions on affirmative action retires as well, succeeded by neil gorsuch, i think that the difference here is that succeeded by i cant remember now if its kavanaugh or gorsuch. But the point is, the Supreme Court is more conservative now. And i think its generally correct that affirmative action is now on life support in this more conservative court. I think its only a matter of time now it seems before the Supreme Court puts a stop to this. And thats despite the justice whos been vocal about affirmative action from the other side of the things. Reading the tea leaves, it does seem to you based on your observation of the court that this is something more broader moving forward, that could be problematic for them. No question about it. The Supreme Court over the years has kind of narrowed down the use of affirmative action in government contracting, in school admissions, and this whole notion that you can do it to achieve student body diversitywell really divided the Supreme Court. And i think now with a more conservative court, theres going to be less tolerance for that. So, if this case doesnt prod the Supreme Court to take that step, there will be others that may do so. So i think the defenders of affirmative action are justifiably concerned. Pete williams live for us there in our washington newsroom. Pete, thank you very much. And thanks to all of you for watching this hour of msnbc live. For now, much more with craig melvin after the break. Uc craimeg lvin after the break at dell technologies, we started by making the cloud easier to manage. But we didnt stop there. We made a cloud flexible enough to adapt to any size business. No matter what it does, or how it changes. And we kept going. 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Go grayscale. 5g is going to change everything about the way businesses run. And most important is the ability to transform the smallest of businesses right in our neighborhoods. We created the 5g Business Impact challenge to give them the tools for them to come back stronger. The things that folks are doing today to survive during the pandemic will help them become more resilient into the future and Technology Like 5g is whats really going to enable that. phone ringing es offers orebig button,lized phones. And volumeenhanced phones. Nes. Get details on this state program. Visit right now or call during business hours. And accessoriesphones for your mobile phone. Like this device to increase volume on your cell phone. phone ringing get details on this state Program Visit right now or call during business hours. Good thursday morning. Craig melvin here. Folks, we are setting record after record with this pandemic, and it should concern all of us. These are the latest facts at this hour. Nbc news reports more than 144,000 new cases wednesday alone. Thats a new record. It beats mondays high, which was a record. This is now the eighth day in a row where our country has recorded more than 100,000 new daily cases. Even more concerning this morning, hospitalizations are climbing. In fact, according to the covid tracking project, more than 65,000 people are in the hospital as we speak. Thats also a new record, according to their data. New york, not taking any chances as infections surge nationwide. People in new york remember what spring was like. Governor andrew cuomo just announcing new restrictions that will start friday. They include curfews on bars, restaurants, gyms, also limiting private home gatherings to just ten people. All of this adds new urgency to the biden Transition Team as it gets ready to take on the crisis. Nbcs mike memoli covering president elect biden in wilmington, delaware. I also want to bring in robert gibbs, former White House Press secretary in the obama administration. Robert also a msnbc contributor. Mr. Memoli, well start with you. President elect biden has announced ron klain will be his chief of staff. He was in charge of the obama administrations ebola response. What more do we know about the choice and what does it signal, big picture . Well, craig, in many ways, this is one of the easiest decisions joe biden is going to have to make during this transition period. Ive been talking to biden insiders for weeks, even before the election, and they all said that ron klain was the nearcertain choice to be the chief of staff. You mentioned his experience as the leader of the Ebola Task Force in the obama administration. Thats getting a lot of attention, obviously, with the pandemic, going