Rocks, what sources tell me about bill barr and whether his job is safe as the press secretary declines to say either way. The president if he has any Personnel Announcements youll be the first to know it. Im Hallie Jackson in washington on a busy thursday morning. Maura barrett is in tennessee where the Vice President will be soon and Shaq Brewster in richmond, indiana. 100,000 people hospitalized with covid. You are seeing that number firsthand. Its a state that ranks second in the country for covid hospitalizations per capita. What are you seeing . Reporter youre seeing hospitals be as creative as possible, doing whatever they can to expand the capacity. Believe it or not, this was a Conference Room here at reed health in richmond, indiana. In the past couple of days its receipt fitted to add to the capacity of the hospital as they are experiencing more patients in the covid wing of this hospital. Yesterday was such a grim day. Look at the numbers, more than 205, nearly 205,000 new cases announced. 2,777 lives lost, that was announced in the past 24 hours and the record 100,000 people in the hospital fighting with this virus. When you talk about the impact that has on Rural Communities like richmond, indiana, listen to what a doctor told me here just this morning. We have these overflow areas like the one were standing in because the normal permanent hospital beds are constantly too full. Were not designed to run at 90 , 95 capacity all the time. Its like running your car at the red line all the time. Reporter across the state, you have hospitals deferring or deflecting and moving other patients out of their hospitals. You have staffing shortages and the strain on staff and as all of that is happening here at reed hospital, theyre going to be distributing the vaccine whenever the vaccine is approved. So not only do you have them dealing with the influx of patients and it will likely only get worse as the impact of the thanksgiving holiday really comes clear for people, but theyre dealing with planning for how theyre going to distribute the vaccine. Its a lot going on, a lot of strain and stress on medical officials, especially here in the state of indiana. Hallie . That is for sure. Tennessee also obviously getting hit hard. Maura, the Vice President will be there today as the state sees the record cases, not a lot of icu beds that are available. What is the focus today and what kind of reality is he walking into . Reporter the Vice President is going to be holding a coronavirus roundtable over in memphis, hallie, focusing on methods of distribution for the vaccine, and picked memphis, fedex is based there, working with operation warp speed to develop cargo planes to have more capability in terms of having dry ice and cold storage for vaccines and Vice President pence will be meeting with some of the fedex executives to walk through that process as well, but as hes looking ahead to the Vaccine Distribution plan, at hospitals like the one im at here at vanderbilt and nashville theyre closing out elective surgeries to accommodate more coronavirus cases. Weve seen recordbreaking numbers this week and when you talk about icu beds across the entire state, not just here at this hospital, but across the entire state, there are only 170 beds available, and thats in a state of nearly 7 million people. The state of play in tennessee is serious. Tennessee does not have a statewide mask mandate. The governor instead focusing on having counties make that decision. Doctors ive spoken to here are urging for additional leadership, both on the state and federal level because theyre not seeing a flattening of the curve without that leadership right now. Hallie . Maura barrett, Shaq Brewster. Thank you. Lets go inside the race for the vaccine with the interview youll only see here on nbc and msnbc. Our own lester holt sitting down with the top executives at pfizer, moderna, johnson johnson. Two companies waiting for fda emergency approval. Were lucky to have lester holt the nbc of nbc nightly news and dateline joining us with the exclusively. Good morning to you. Great to have you on the show. Good morning, hallie. Its remashlgable to watch you sit down with the three leaders of competitors. Theyre telling you theyre cheering each other on at the moment, given the moment. They really are, hallie. According to these executives, theyve been talking all the way along. This is not a typical competition. They all feel the weight of the world on their shoulders and recognize also a Single Company simply cant meet the demand for the amount of vaccine that will be needed. And they also recognize the failure of one vaccine could shake trust in all of them and so in many ways they are in this together. The world has been just waiting for this moment, for to you produce these vaccines. Our mitigation efforts seem to be failing and increasingly our only hope seems to be on these vaccines. How does that guide you as someone responsible for a company trying to make a competitive product and also understanding that the world is really depending on you . Yes, its what i had said from the beginning, this is not about normal business. This is not about return on investment. We feel that for civility and we feel the press of the billions of people in this world, and millions of businesses in this world, and the hundreds of governments in this world during this process, because they were all investing their hope in this industry to find a solution. I think one of the things that really surprised me watching the development is all three of your companies started producing vaccine well before these trials were completed. Was that a gamble or was that a smart bet on something you were pretty sure was going to work . Well, it was something that we felt we had to do because if we waited, there would be no way wed be in a position to have adequate capacity and adequate number of vaccines to make a difference. Steven, was that your thinking as well, if we get out of the gate quickly, we have to start preplanning . Absolutely. We were rooting for each other but we ultimately felt like we were responsible for delivering for that billion or half a billion people in 2021. In order to do in a, you need to manufacture at a scale and faster earlier Development Process than ever before. You have a number of volunteers who receive placebos. At this point begin your success do you intend to give them the vaccine . I think we as a company and i imagine alex and albert feel similarly, we as a company feel thats an obligation we have at some level. These are folks who are as alex was saying a moment ago, heroes of the story. People who step forward and agree to take risks in these Clinical Trials and participate. There are hundreds of people developing covid19. We had over 30 severe cases and even had a death in our recent reported update. That brings home your sense of responsibility to these people that we have vaccines that we believe are safe and effective and could protect those folks who step forward and battle at this point. At the same time you need to compile longterm data, would that get in the way of developing that . I think thats the tradeoff but in the face of a pandemic like we have right now, and the face of the loss of life and disease, it just feels like a tradeoff we should be willing to make and hopefully there are other smart ways we can still follow for durability and longterm efficacy over time that dont require us to keep people in placido. Hallie, pfizer and moderna submitted their vaccines for emergency approval by the fda. Johnson johnson should have stage three results finished quickly. Theyre confident theyll have a highly effective vaccine as well. For a lot of people it feels like a light at the end of the tunnel. One of the next steps is Building Public trust, being up front and clear about the data and evidence but in the special report later on tonight on nbc, youre following a group of volunteers in pittsburgh looking at communities hit hardest by covid, particularly communities of color. Communities in some cases are the most reluctant to get vaccinated. Take us inside that. J. J. Theres historical resistance to vaccines in some of the communities. One of the things we do is go along with the group going door to door, one of them a woman who was actually in one of the vaccine trials going door to door, trying to convince people and get a read on any questions they may have about the vaccines, and you hear people bluntly say im not doing it. I dont trust what they might put in my arms. Thats going to be a huge obstacle because you will need to see a fair percentage of the American Population to be inoculated to feel the effects of the program. Thats for sure. Lester holt, it is so great to see you this morning. Thank you very much for being with us, as you know, and as everybody knows, you can see more indepth reporting coming up tonight on nbc and msnbc dateline. You heard lester talk about the importance of boosting public trust in a vacine. This morning, listen to this, three former president s are volunteering to get their vaccines publicly on camera, if need be, if and when the time comes. President obama, president bush, president clinton hoping to send a powerful message to americans who may be skeptical. Former president obama stressing he puts his trust in the nations top Infectious Disease expert. Listen. If Anthony Fauci tells me this vaccine is safe and can vaccinate, you know, immunize you from getting covid, absolutely, im going to take it. We have a ton of news to get to, later in the show involving covid and current and former Top Administration officials, including new reporting on the president s displeasure, lets call it with his attorney general. And a threeyear nbc news investigation on President Trumps former National Security adviser, Michael Flynn, details youve never heard, and more on why the president decided to pull the trigger on his pardon now. And even after warnings to state Department Employees to go virtual for the holidays, secretary of state mike pompeo is not, instead holding big parties with hundreds of guests, were talking with a reporter who broke that story, ahead. And i cant get enough were still having fun, and youre still the one applebees 2 for 20. Now thats eating good in the neighborhood. Im a peer educator,. A fitness buff,. And a champion for my own health. I talked with my doctor. And switched to. Fewer medicines with. Dovato. 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Your doctor may prescribe a different medicine. Than dovato if you plan to be pregnant or if pregnancy is confirmed during the first trimester. Dovato may harm your unborn baby. Use effective Birth Control while taking dovato. Most common side effects are headache, nausea, diarrhea, trouble sleeping,. Tiredness, and anxiety. So much goes into who i am. Hiv medicine is one part of it. Ask your doctor about dovatoi did. Hiv medicine is one part of it. [anthat can leave cleaning gaps and wrap hair. So shark replaced them with flexible power fins to directly engage floors and dig deep into carpets. Pick up more on every pass with no hair wrap. Shark vertex with duoclean power fins. Multiple sources are telling my colleagues and me President Trump is not ruling out the possibility of firing bill barr but no decision has been made. One person tells me some in the president s circle are trying to convince him not to make that move. Still as the Washington Post put it, the president is livid with barr for a couple of reasons, and its not just about his pushback on Election Fraud. Nbcs Kristen Welker is at the white house for us, and also joining us National Political reporter for the Washington Post and friend of the show, robert costa, moderator of Washington Week on patience and msnbc political analyst. Kristen and bob, good morning. Kristen, we got a note here, the Justice Department says its going to keep investigating specific and credible allegations of Election Fraud, this isnt over. Tell us more about what were hearing, working together on this last night of talks inside the white house whether barr should be fired. It was a late night working our sources who told us at this point, the president is frustrated with bill barr for breaking with him publicly on the issue of Election Fraud. Of course, despite that clarification that you just read by doj, the bottom line is, barr made it very clear, he does not believe there was widespread fraud in this election. That counters everything that President Trump has been saying so hes frustrated, hes not ruling out firing him but youre right. A lot of people close to him trying to urge him not to do that. So close to the inauguration. A couple reasons why President Trump is frustrated with barr. Its not just of the latest statements but the investigation into the roots of the russia probe, and President Trump really feeling irritated by the fact that the results of that were not put forward before election day. So of course, we now know that barr has moved to make durham a special counsel so he can stay on beyond President Trumps administration. It is also worth noting, hallie, against the backdrop of all of this, i was in the briefing yesterday, i had the chance to ask press secretary mcenaney, and she said if we have any Personnel Announcements well let you know. That is the standard line from the white house that weve heard in the past and worth noting, too, the president has been mad at officials before in his administration, hasnt actually fired them. Bob, you got reporting from your colleagues at the Washington Post, they got some insight from somebody close to bill barr why he decided to talk about the issue of Election Fraud in the first place, right . Bill barr, the attorney general, has been forced to step out there, his associates say, because of the president s repeated claims that are baseless about the election and barr wants to protect the integrity of the Justice Department, but also his own reputation, im told by one of his confidants. So hes ready to go to this point with President Trump, but all of his work with President Trump in recent years still stands. He is still a staunch trump ally in almost every way. So this latest move is not some kind of break from President Trump. Just an acknowledgment of reality. You also have, bob, what i think is interesting one of the president s closest allies, lindsey graham, again basically saying hey, put up or shut up. Release evidence to back up your claims or move on. Here say little bit of what senator graham had to say. To the trump legal team, youre making all these claims, you got to prove it. Doing a video is not proof. You need to take the claims into a court of law and get relief. You are deeply sourced, bob, in the gop conservative world there. What is the impact of that . Do you anticipate more allies coming forward with similar comments . Yes, major republicans may zin to Say Something to that effect in the coming days but thats not entirely the point, President Trump is trying to convince core supporters now and potentially the future this election was somehow baselessly claiming its a fraud and rigged to set up his political brand and standing for the future. As much as he says he wants to fight to the Supreme Court its as much fighting politically in the years ahead and being donald trump a winner at least to a segment of this country. He is using the backdrop of his official position at the white house tokristen, with the 46minute video of the claims that have no evidence, about Election Fraud. Talk about what youre hearing about that strategy and the video moving forward. What was notable about that video is that video shot, edited by the white house. No press in the room, and it was 46 minutes of the president reiterating a number of the baseless, unsubstantiated claims about what he believes was fraud in this election. We continue to reiterate statistics but worth noting that 47 cases brought by the president and his legal team and his allies, 27 of those have been denied, dismissed or thrown out. No fraud has been found in any cases. Election results have been certified in key battleground states. Robert talks about the path moving forward and the president s legacy moving forward and thats the concern with the president s allies. By dragging this out, he may be damaging his legacy and depressing voter turnout in georgia with two key runoffs on the horizon. Those are the internal rumblings starting to rise to the surface. So the georgia point is interesting. Possible, i want to ask you, that is the immediate shortterm back drop. The runoffs and what it means. Some folks allied with the president ostensibly, pro trump attorney lin wood to boycott the election. Newt gingrich coming out saying that new dont vote strategy will cripple america. Whats your sense of whether these claims, how this plays out in georgia with a lot of eyeballs on that state over the next five weeks . Speaker gingrichs comments is aligned from leader mcconnells political orbit. They need the Republican Voters from georgia in the rural areas, suburbs of atlanta to come out january 5th to counter that Stacey Abrams stitched together coalition from 2018 through 2020, which includes white liberals and black americans in georgia but a rising asianamerican and latinoAmerican Population in that state. The republicans say might as well sit on our hands, you could have because of two seats in georgia a democratic senate. Republicans to say the least at the National Level are alarmed but many republicans at the state level are listening to the president s facebook message two excellent reporters talking through all of these threads on the show this morning. Appreciate it. Returning to capitol hill this morning, which is buzzing with new optimism from democrats, that maybe they could get to an agreement on covid relief, maybe as soon as this weekend. Maybe. Were live on the hill with details on the new pressure on Republican Leaders to do something. But first w all eyes on the battle for the senate in georgia, both sides getting ready to bring out the ateams. Georgia democrats are announcing just as we were coming on the air that barack obama will join Stacey Abrams and john ossoff and Rafael Warnock in a virtual get out the vote rally tomorrow a day before President Trump plans to hit the state to rally for the republican candidates, Kelley Loeffler and david purdue, the contest heated about a month before the january 5th runoffs. I felt like. I was just fighting an uphill battle in my career. So when i heard about the applied Digital Skills courses, im thinking i can become more marketable. You dont need to be a computer expert to be great at this. These are skills lots of people can learn. I feel hopeful about the future now. Is now a good time enough, crohns. I feel hopeful about the future now. For adults with moderate to severe crohns or ulcerative colitis, stelara® can provide relief, and is the only approved medication to reduce inflammation on and below the surface of the intestine in uc. You, getting on that flight . 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The ninja foodi power pitcher. Rethink what a blender can do. I got it all from you im always pushing through i know well make it to the finish line i know youre waiting on the other side im like you ondemand glucose monitoring. Because theyre always on. Another lifechanging technology from abbott. So you dont wait for life. You live it. So weve said it before, and hopefully we wont have to say it again. But there might be movement on covid relief on capitol hill, something millions of americans are desperate for, with a lot of benefits set to run out later this month. Top democrats nancy pelosi and Chuck Schumer getting mind a bipartisan relief package less than half of what theyre asking for and support from president elect biden. What about the other side of the aisle . Where is Mitch Mcconnell on this . Whatever happens if anything cant come soon enough for a lot of folks with a new report out this morning showing extending Unemployment Benefits could save more than 5 million jobs. Msnbcs Garrett Haake is following developments on capitol hill. Steny hoyer says they could get to an agreement as soon as this weekend a, is that realistic and b, where is Mitch Mcconnell here . Reporter with all due respect to steny hoyer thats an overly optimistic assumption. Were hearing the legislative text on this bipartisan agreement wont be ready until monday at the soonest. I think were looking at something a little bit later in next week. My colleague Leigh Ann Caldwell caught Mitch Mcconnell in the hallway. He said this is something theyre working on. Weve talked to republican senators all morning and look, you never have lost money betting against covid relief in congress up to this point in this year but it appears there is momentum on this. There are senators who are part of this Bipartisan Group working on this as of a few days ago, im told that Group Continues to increase in size and members are breaking off to dig into the specifics. I think everyone up here knows this is the last best chance to get something done, probably until significantly into the First Quarter of next year and that deadline does seem to be driving people towards perhaps an actual solution or at least the passage of what the members describe is an emergency measure here, roughly 900 billion bipartisan framework. We talked about whats in the bill, right, and we know that report came out of a weekly Unemployment Benefits, bipartisan framework would extend that as youre noting for people which a lot of people are desperate for. Theres some discussion as we look at that graphic now, some discussion about maybe having lawmakers if they cant get it done in the next couple days, stay over the holidays. Well know before christmas. Reporter its tough to say. Certainly before christmas. The Congress Works best when operating under a deadline. Theyre a lot like journalists in that way. Much like reporters. Reporter exactly. They need this looming deadline to get things done and this december 11th deadline that exists right now in government funding is proving to be a good motivating factor. Its possible you could see some small extension of funding by a few day its or by a week if they feel like theyre close enough that they could reach a deal. Maybe were still here leading up into the holidays. As we get into next year, we have a new congress and different set of problems if they dont get this done in december. Garrett haake live on the hill, keep us posted. Thank you, my friend, appreciate it. Over at the state department it is party time for the holidays although its not Holiday Cheer but holiday fear for some, with concerns about potential super spreader events, like what we saw at the white house in september, you remember that rose garden announcement involving new Supreme CourtJustice Amy Coney barrett. Mike pompeo is inviting hundreds of people to indoor holiday parties this month, after leadership sent out a notice to staff last week around are warning against hosting nonMission Critical events. Information obtained by the post called diplomacy at home for the holidays, set to take place in the departments reception space, the Benjamin Franklin room. Beautiful chandeliers and columns. With me now we bring in Washington Post reporter National Security reporter john hudson to talk about the new reporting. Great scoop by you here about whats happening at the state department. Youve got the invitation we just mentioned, 900 invitations going out to that party and the next day another 180 people invited to a party for ambassadors, another party being billed as a holiday open house at the white house, Holiday Cheer, all this stuff going on. There are concerns there are red flags and the state department is defending this. Talk us through this. When i raised issues about event planners about their own personal safety, a state Department Spokesman said look well be following all social distancing guidelines, people are going to have Hand Sanitizer at the ready. Theres going to be temperature checks. Of course, as weve learned throughout this coronavirus pandemic, those measures pale in comparison to the potential viral load that is present when you have hundreds of people indoors at a large gathering, unmasking because of the presence of alcohol and food. We reached out to the state department for reaction in reporting and told us the same thing, stuff wearing mask, social distancing guidelines, but its not just the state tent. You also have the white house hosting 20 indoor holiday parties. You talked with an Infectious Disease expert. These events are dangerous and its unfair and unethical and flies in the face of what we need to do to protect each other. I wonder, too, if your reporting backs up the concern there is kind of a double standard, right, a set of rules for the rest of us arent followed by the people making the rules not just illustrated by this incident but other leaders, gavin newsom, nancy pelosi canceled the reception for freshmen democrats. The feels of hypocrisy and anger inside the state department, this is almost sort of the straw that broke the camels back. There is an immediate concern officials dont feel safe and catering teams, people that might not have Health Insurance put at risk having to serve an event like this and the larger hypocrisy issue where obviously they sent the guidance out telling people not to have indoor events that are nonMission Critical, do it virtual. This kind of fits into a pattern for some diplomats at the state department that secretary pompeo is not walking the walk. This is the same secretary that put out a Mission Statement for all tdiplomats, everyone should be apolitical and turning around and giving a speech at the rnc, a big republican booster event for the president s reelection. So all of those things together have created a lot of anger about this and theres still questions about the coverage and moments like today, that were giving a spotlight to the Infectious Disease experts raising concerns about this, about b whether or not thats enough to cancel the event or change the event and reduce numbers and make it more safe. The officials i talked to this morning believe that its probably just going to go on, despite the coverage. Thats interesting and i was going to ask you the officials and sources youre talking to, all trying to make the point this is a Mission Critical event. Is that how theyre trying to get around that language there . I havent heard anyone try to make the case that this is Mission Critical. That was not what the spokespeople were saying. Okay. They werent responding to a lot of questions that are just sort of obvious in an event like this. You say everyones going to be wearing masks. How are they going to consume the food and alcohol . Is this all going to be sort of ground up in a pureed beverage . Thats obviously not going to happen. A lot of questions they havent answered. Never defended Mission Critical and the aspect im sure will take masks off. Boy, john, ground up food and beverages you suck through a straw. Happy 2020, i appreciate you coming on. To you, too. Thank you, great reporting. I appreciate it. Some news just in to our newsroom for the first time today dr. Anthony fauci is going to meet with members of the Biden Transition Team to talk about the covid crisis, thats according to a person close to fauci and a transition official. Fauci has had conversations with the president elects incoming chief of staff ron klain. This marks the start of the more formal prosense in the transition. Were told that todays talk is expected to be substantive more of that at least. You can be sure dr. Fauci will be asked about that meeting and more here on this network in just about 90 minutes from now. Hes going to be on with andrea at noon eastern here on msnbc. After the break, we have a deep dive that you will not want to miss, at the fall of former National Security adviser Michael Flynn, from firing to pardoning. Plus, after months of urgent pleas, new details on what the government is doing to reunite migrant kids separated from their parents, next. Another bundle in the books. Got to hand it to you, jamie. Your knowledge of victorian architecture really paid off this time. Nah, just got lucky. So did the thompsons. That faulty wiring couldve cost them a lot more than the mudroom. Thankfully they bundled their motorcycle with their home and auto. Theyre protected 24 7. Mm. What do you say . One more game of backgammon . [ chuckles ] not on your life. [ laughs ] when the lights go down opportunities are all about timing. 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That includes senator Susan Collins who says president s should take advice from the Justice Departments Pardon Office and senator mike rouse who says pardon power should be exercised after serious thought. This comes as there are reports that the president talked about the possibility of issues pardons for his family members and some close associates, a source telling nbc news the conversations were within the context of a president who feels embattled and not because President Trump believes he or any of his family members had done anything illegal im told by another source familiar with the discussions there is a lot of chatter about pardons inside the west wing, between now and inauguration day. Nbc news has an exclusive new investigation into what led up to that pardon from Michael Flynn, the president s former National Security adviser. Nbcs carol lee is behind that investigation. Carol, i got to brag on you for a sec. This is an incredible piece of work. Congratulations to you. Reporter thank you. Youve been working for months if not years on this, and its a fascinating examination of what basically triggered the president s sort of battle and this idea that forces are out to get him. Reporter yes, it is, and it started with Michael Flynn lying to the Vice President and other officials in the white house, even before they got in the white house, during transition, and then that fbi interview that he did just on the fifth day of President Trumps presidency, which he didnt tell anybody about, and the opening scene of the piece is later that night, Michael Flynn outside of his office in the National Security adviser suite, which you know well is a Corner Office in the west wing, standing over his assistant as they scrolled through names of possible attorneys, so the weight of whats about to unfold is already weighing in, is already sinking in with him. Meanwhile, nobody else in the west wing really understands at all what is about to happen and then you have President Trump, who a number of officials told me had already soured on Michael Flynn, so this was coming at a time when he was frustrated with him. He was angry about some of what he saw as negative headlines about him during the transition. He was frustrated Michael Flynn didnt pass on that russian president Vladimir Putin was trying to reach him. As one adviser told me the president wanted to fire Michael Flynn before he got into the white house so that was the context in which all of this was happening and then you have Michael Flynns case unfold through the Justice System and he cooperates with the special counsel and the president is not quite sure what to do with him. Once he flips again and flips back in the president s corner and is confrontational with the special counsel and trying to withdraw his guilty plea, the president embraces Michael Flynn essentially because its a means to his own end to undermine the mueller investigation. He used this case as a political cudgel and the president s pardon hes wanted to do over the summer. A white house official told me they were preparing for it, thought he was going to announce it then and wanted to hold off and see if the court case could make its way to a final conclusion, but one white house official told me in the past week that once the president lost reelection, that that was not, the time was not on their side and that he couldnt wait and they said that was the motivation for the timing of that pardon last week. After all of this, there are some Big Questions in the white house about how this unfolded and you write the biggest reque question never answered, he didnt say he talked about sanctions because no one would have cared if he did. Still not an answer to that question. Reporter theres still not an answer. Its amazing, thats the question that Everyone Wants to answer, why did he lie, and now hes saying that he didnt lie to the fbi, but if you look at everything that he said, he wasnt truthful to the fbi. He wasnt truthful to any of his colleagues and thats what one of them at the time said to me was, the thing everyones forgetting is that Michael Flynn was lying to everybody. This was not just the fbi or the Vice President. It was everyone and no one even to this day can understand why, because as the official said, they didnt care if he talked to the ambassador about sanctions. They just wanted to know whether or not he did and so because they didnt care, it made no sense to them that he would lie about this repeatedly and that led to tense conversations in the west wing with at one point the then chief of staff yelling at Michael Flynn, using expletives saying what is the deal here, and he just continued to mislead them until eventually he was forced to admit that he had talked sanctions because it became public. Right, because that Washington Post report came out. Carol lee, excellent reports. Head to cnbc. Com to see the page, really appreciate you being on the show with us. Thank you, my friend. Reporter thanks. Turning to a story we followed a lot on the show the 628 Migrant Children separated from their families at the border whose parents have yet to be found. Today they may be one step closer to reyou nireuniting afts of pleas, the Trump Administration handed over previously unknown phone numbers that might be key to tracking those parents down. I want to bring in nbc news justice correspondent julia ainsley. Weve been covering this part of the family separation story for a while. The kids have been separated from their parents for years. What took so long to get this information to the people who needed it . Reporter well, its a good question, hallie and it starts before these families were separated. The officials of this administration sat in the situation room at the white house and all raised their hands to go forward with family separation knowing they did not have a good system to put back together, put the families back together. But now lawyers who have taken it on themselves to represent the family answer find them and reunite them say that after months of pleading with the government to hand over any kind of data, phone numbers, addresses, anything they can do to figure out where these families, where the parents and the children are in this system, whether theyve been deported, whether the children sent to live with foster families, they have a sliver that could be critical and that comes from the Justice Departments Immigration Court office. They are handing over information to show that for parents and children who are in the United States, those who might be going through deportation proceedinged or claiming asylum have information for the people. They have phone numbers. This came in the wednesday before thanksgiving. The lawyers are still going through it, but according to the filing that they filed in federal court last night, it could be helpful and they expect that 628 number could go down now that they have this information. Is there anything about this process that could change in 48 days from now, julia, when the government changes hands . Well, its certainly the hope of the incoming administration. The bidenharris Transition Team said theyll set up a task force to look at how they can reunite these families, so at least we know the government, the federal government will be taking some responsibility. It wont just be in the hands of lawyers with very limited information, but the thing that they have not publicly committed to yet, hallie, is whether or not they will bring the parents who have been deported back to the United States for possible reunification. Lawyers say without that commitment, youre asking parents who have been deported, which they think are about twothirds of the total separated, youre asking those parents to make the choice between bringing their children back to a dangerous country or face indefinite separation. So we are still waiting to hear how that process will work and as soon as we get any kind of commitment or news from them, you know well come to you with that, hallie. I know will you. Julia ainsley, thank you for that. We appreciate it. Speaking of news coming in to us, we were asking the question a couple minutes ago where Mitch Mcconnell is when it comes to this idea of a covid relief bill. We just heard from him. Now potentially some signs of hope about compromise about this covid package. He says nancy pelosi and Chuck Schumer are getting behind this bipartisan framework bill is a step in the right direction. Compromise is within reach. We know where we agree. We can do this. Let me say it again. He can do this. And we need to do this. So lets be about actually making a law. Our Capitol Hill Team will be all over that as on this show, nearly two years after being grounded the boeing 737 max is taking its first ever passenger test flight now, since those crashes. I want to bring tom costello in, on board for it. Here is a preview. The focus on that is to make sure that this doesnt happen again. Experience the power of sanctuary at the lincoln wish list sales event. Sign and drive off in a new lincoln with zero down, zero due at signing, and a complimentary first months payment. Youre all, youre all i need youre all, youre all i need as long as i got you then baby you know that youve got me, oh yea. Youbefore money, peoplet me, tools, cattle, grain, even shells represented value. Then currency came along. They made it out of copper, gold, silver, wampum. 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On wednesday this max took to the skies and American Airlines demonstrated a flight. Their goal to show passengers the plane is safe. Americans top max pilots say its not the same plane involved in the killing of 260 people. The focus is to make sure it doesnt happen again. Control is never taken away from the pilot. Reporter before it can fly technicians must upload a sixhour software fix, blamed to contributing to both crashes. The faa requiring wiring changes and new requirements for pilots who fly the max. All American Airline pilots will be crosstrained on the max. Its a safe environment for pilots to practice and train on those events so if they do occur, they know how to react to it. Reporter getting plane updated is only part of the challenge. Every airline must convince the public the plane is safe. American will start with a single flight in late december, early january, miami to new york round trip. Passengers will be told theyre booked on a max with the option to rebook. Our promise to any customer that flies on us is if you get on a 737 max and you dont want to fly, well allow you to change. Reporter but the families of the Crash Victims call the flight a media stunt writing passengers should avoid this aircraft. For boeing and the Airlines Getting the max back in the air is critical to their financial recovery. The Airlines Need this plane because it offers more fuel efficiency and its a lot of money sitting on the ground, a brand new plane going nowhere for 20 months. They have to upgrade the plane and get it back in the skies. Hallie, back to you. Thanks, tom, for that. Thanks to you for watching this hour. Up next Ayman Mohyeldin after the break. Mohyeldin after the break. I felt like. I was just fighting an uphill battle in my career. So when i heard about the applied Digital Skills courses, im thinking i can become more marketable. You dont need to be a computer expert to be great at this. These are skills lots of people can learn. I feel hopeful about the future now. I feel hopeful youre still the one that i love to touch still the one and i cant get enough were still having fun, and youre still the one applebees 2 for 20. Now thats eating good in the neighborhood. Good morning, everyone. Im Ayman Mohyeldin in for craig melvin here in new york. We are breaking horrible new records with this pandemic. Just this morning the total number of reported covid19 cases in the United States surpassed 14 million. That is after a record setting 24 hours on multiple fronts. Our Health Care Workers are reminding us once again that each number we talk about is an american life. I can understand and i can describe the sound of a zipper on a body bag. I can describe with great detail the odd and very ugly color of purplish gray you turn when your body is suffocating. For me, whereas i cant understand the numbers, i can understand the humans behind those numbers. Lets get you caught up on the facts at this hour