Transition is finally under way. Exactly three weeks after election day and 2 1 2 weeks after joe biden was declared the winner, President Trump and the white house relent to reality. Late last night the General Services administration approving the transition. A longstanding norm that frees up money and Key Resources for president elect biden. Trump said the move was in the best interest of the country but this morning and in a late night tweet he said the legal challenges are, quote, moving full speed ahead and that he will never concede to what he calls fake ballots and dominion. President elect biden in just a few hours getting ready to formally announce he members of his cabinet and his National Security team which includes some familiar faces. Some historymaking firsts and veterans of the Obama Administration. Biden Officials Say the transition approval also helps them get a better handle on tackling the pandemic which is pushing hospitals to the limit as the u. S. Closes in on another grim milestone. 200,000 new infections in a day. Lets bring in our nbc News Reporter ali vitali with the president elect in wilmington. Peter alexander at the white house. And Washington PostWhite House Bureau chief and msnbc political analyst phil rucker is here with some of his new behind the scenes reporting. Great to see all of you. So ali, i want to know if you are hearing any reaction yet from the Biden Transition Team to the gsa finally saying what most people have known for a very long time, joe biden is the president elect and deserves all of the mandated benefits of a transition. We got that reaction immediately last night, chris. As soon as the gsa sent over that letter, the reaction from the Biden Transition Team was just that, finally. They had been making this case over the course of the last two weeks that the only job of the gsa here was to deem biden the apparent winner. They said that by all standards and metrics that we had seen to this point he was the apparent winner. And now that reality is met now in the gsas letter of ascertainment. One top transition official saying they were getting the ball rolling immediately. Johannes abraham saying in a statement that the Transition Team will begin meeting with federal officials to discuss the Pandemic Response. Have a full accounting of our National Security interests, and be in complete understanding of the Trump Administrations efforts to hollow out government agencies. So they are really hitting the ground running. Theyve been wanting to get all of this coordination as they can on the pandemic and other issues. Finally now getting to that place. But of course, theyve also announced that slate of cabinet officials that you just referenced. A return to normal in that regard as well because youre right. You are seeing a lot of Obama Administration veterans on that list. The clear message when you look at who these picks are is that the premium is being put on government experience and having been in these spaces before. And first read actually frames it really nicely this morning that in some ways, this is what a third term of the Obama Administration might have looked like. Several of these people were deputies in the agencies that they are now going to lead. And it sort of speaks to the promise being fulfilled of what democratic voters wanted in this primary. They were given a very wide array of options that ranged from revolution in Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren to a return to the obama years which is what biden consistently offered them. This cabinet is a reminder of that promise being fulfilled. But the more things change, the more they stay the same. Theyre in this unprecedented backdrop of dueling crises on the economy and the pandemic happening right now. But biden still looking ahead when he spoke yesterday to the gridlock that tends to maintain itself in washington. Listen to what he said. Do you expect republicans to put up road blocks to your nominations . Are you kidding me . Why did you go with National Security first . Because its National Security. Thanks. And, chris, you know, nothing makes it official like putting it on the internet. The biden transition website now has a dotgov email address. They are able to coordinate on a staff level within the agencies. Having the money to move forward with this transition. Basic email addresses and the allimportant issue of starting the background check process so these folks who need security clearances, need to be vetted before getting into their roles can have that before they set to start. Yeah, just three letters, gov, but packed with meaning in this case. Peter, in the meantime, the president has not conceded. I dont know who is expecting him to say those words, but if his tweets this morning are any indication, hes still pushing ahead with the legal challenges. Youre exactly right. As much as some things, significant things have changed. Many others stay the same in terms of the president s public posture on this. While he did acknowledge the gsas move, in fact, sort of accepting the way things are going right now, he again on twitter today is calling this a rigged election. Last night he said he would refuse to concede. Its that idea of a concession is the key point you should focus on. Weve been reporting at nbc news over the course of the last several weeks those aides and allies of the president said the best place they hope this president would get to is a place where he acknowledged he had lost, never would formally concede but would say that hes continuing this fight. And thats exactly what he appears to be doing right now. Today, tweeting a variety of things, attacking fox news, retweeting the actor randy quaid, his criticisms of the election. Among the other things is that 79 of trump voters, according to a new poll from breitbart say the election was stolen. He says they are 100 correct. Well, the reason that most of those folks feel that way is because the president himself has been telling them it was rigged. In spite of the fact theres been no evidence of widespread voter fraud and nearly all of his legal challenges have either been rejected or dismissed by courts. Chris . Electoral expert randy quaid being retweeted. Thank you for that, peter. I want to go to phil rucker, Washington Post bureau chief. You have a great article about what went on behind the scenes at the white house leading up to this decision to approve the transition. And you quote a Senior Campaign adviser who said the president basically just conceded. Thats as close to a concession as you will probably get. Talk to us about how the president got to where we are right now. Well, chris, the president was very reluctant to agree to this formal beginning of the transition process with the Government Services administration. He wanted to keep fighting. He is refusing, obviously, to concede in any formal way, but he was convinced by his advisers, by some of his attorneys, including his private lawyer jay sekulow. Excuse me for my dog barking in the background. He said youre not going to youre not going to win here. And theres this growing chorus from republican senators from business leaders, including steve schwartzman, the president s closest ally, the chairman of blackstone, closest ally in the business community, as well as those hundred National Security officials yesterday who said that delaying the transition any further was a danger to National Security and threat to the nations Economic Health and would complicate the Pandemic Response. And so all of that taken together is what persuaded the president to just go along with this procedural step that we saw take place yesterday. I speak dog, and i think yours is saying, im done with this. But were not done with it yet, phil. So yesterday hes jealous that im talking with you, chris. Well, shes going to have to get over it. Congressman mike quigley was on this show yesterday or on with me yesterday. He chairs the subcommittee that ov oversees the gsa and told me he was ready to subpoena administrator emily murphy who he had talked to one on one. Let me play a little bit of what he told me. Article 1 powers and were not going to be afraid to use them. And that is to compel or to appear. I sense the pressure that she was under, but i made clear what her legal requirements are. This, as tough as all that is, this is her job. So he said that he saw very clearly that she felt she was under pressure, but in the note that she put out, she said there was no pressure. What are you hearing about how this came to be. Did word come down from the white house . Was it the democrats who were putting the pressure on with their threats . What was going on . What are you learning . Well, chris, the pressure played out very publicly. So even if emily murphy didnt get a direct call from the president or his chief of staff saying do not authorize this transition, the signals from the white house were clear from the moment after the election. Johnny mcintee, the president s loyalist who heads up the office of president ial personnel in the west wing reportedly sent a directive to political appointees saying not to cooperate with this transition. If you are found searching for a new job, you could be terminated. Therefore, not believing that there would be a second trump term. And so it was very clear to everybody working in the administration what the president wanted them to do and importantly what the president did not approve of them doing. So even if she didnt get that direct pressure, she certainly felt it. Phil rucker, i free you to deal with a jealous woman. Thank you so much for being on the program. Thank you, peter. Thank you ali as well. Tonight, Nbcs Lester Holt is going to be talking exclusively with president elect joe biden. This is his first interview since the election. Theyll discuss forging ahead with the transition of power, including his newly announced cabinet picks and managing the covid crisis. Airing tonight on nbc nightly news. Now to the latest on the coronavirus. With a Record Number of hospitalizations of Covid Patients for 14 Straight Days now. On monday, the number of people hospitalized for coronavirus nationwide exploded to more than 85,000 people. More than 178,000 new cases and more than 1,100 deaths. We have our team of reporters covering every angle of this story from across the country. I want to start with Gabe Gutierrez in north dakota where the surge has been so dramatic, gabe. And now they are calling in dozens of air force nurses to help at several hospitals in the state, right . How is it going to work . Yeah, thats right, chris. Good morning. This is one of the hospitals where those air force nurses will go to work later today. They are here in support of fema. And at the request of the states governor. And weve been reporting on staffing shortages getting so many obstacles. The Pandemic Response is really entering a new stage at this point. A critical stage. Now here in north dakota, the rise in cases has been dramatic. We spoke with bismarcks Public Health director. Shes expecting many people at a testing site. Drivethrough testing site later today. And she says cases have been rising and rising here and thats part of the reason why these air force nurses are coming here. Many of them Critical Care nurses. The air force had been deployed to other areas like california and texas, but now they are here in north dakota. Take a listen to what bismarcks Public Health director had to tell us. Our Health Care Workers are really fatigued at this point. Theyve been working long hours, suffering from covid themselves in horrible situations, whether it be in their own personal lives or at work. And so having the extra help is ideal. Something that we really need right now in order for us to be able to catch up and maintain our numbers. Chris, as you know, its not just major cities suffering from the pandemic. More rural areas such as north dakota are being hit hard. A lot of concern here about the Holiday Season as well. North dakota, chris, incredibly, is one of the places with the highest covid mortality rate in the world. And so these Health Care Nurses are here to be able, too leaveiate soleav alleviate some of the stress on the hospitals across the state. Just some of the many people were thankful for this holiday week. And go inside, get warm. I just saw the realfeel temperature where you are is in single digits. Lets go to Antonia Hylton in massachusetts. They are putting a Field Hospital back up because hospitals are overwhelmed. Antonia, what are officials there telling you . Hey, chris. So here the dcu center in worcester, there are doctors and Staff Members working 12hour shifts right now to get this Field Hospital up and ready to accept patients starting december 6th. To put this situation in context. Here in the worcester area, doctors tell me there are patients getting boarded into hospitals but sitting around waiting for access to beds. As soon as the dcu center is open, patients are going to be able to walk through these doors and there are already doctors waiting to send patients here. Some of the doctors with the umass Memorial Team running this field site are feeling frustrated right now that the state is back at square one. Take a listen to this conversation i had with dr. Eric dickson, the ceo of umass memorial. Its incredibly frustrating. By and large, Health Care Workers have played by the rules. Theyve worn their masks, social distanced. But yet, because everyone didnt do that, they are now put in a situation where they are getting exposed to this virus again which could get them exposing family members. And it is frustrating. It didnt have to happen. So, chris, in addition to scrambling to getting this site up and ready for december 6th, dicksons team is scrambling to do recruitment because in order to run an overflow site like this one you have to bring in nurses from around the state and around the country. That was easy to do at the start of the pandemic when massachusetts was one of just a few places dealing with a serious outbreak but now everyone has a serious outbreak so finding top talent to come and work at this site is going to be a challenge. Back to you, chris. Big reality, check, antonia. Thank you for that. Coming up, the pandemic is also forcing tough decisions for College Students. Should they stay on campus or go home for thanksgiving . Ill be talking with the president of Arizona State university about what they are doing to fight the spread of the virus. But first, president elect biden making history with his cabinet picks. Stephanie ruhle joins me to talk about why janet yellen from the Treasury Department has two very important bases covered. And the key group that might not still be sold. When i was in high school, this was the theater i came to quite often. The support weve had over the last few months has been amazing. Its not just a work environment. Everyone here is family. If you are ready to open your heart and your home, check us out. We thought for sure that we were done. And this town said not today. [ engine rumbling ] [ beeping ] [ engine revs ] uh, you know theres a 30minute limit, right . Tell that to the rain. 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If approved by the senate, yellen would be the first woman to hold the cabinet level position of treasury secretary in the agencys 100year history. But, boy, will she have her work cut out for her starting on day one. Specifically, of course, the massive task of confronting the economic crisis triggered by the coronavirus pandemic. Joining us now, someone you usually see at this hour, msnbc anchor and nbc news Senior Business correspondent Stephanie Ruhle who apparently doesnt know the meaning of the phrase a day off. So stephanie, its good to see you. Well, chris, when you have the first woman fed chair hold on. When you have the first woman fed chair be named to be the first woman treasury secretary, i had to come back from vacation for that. Well, we are happy you did. Lets start with something that you have talked about which is that the that she has essentially two very important bases covered. What are they . She does. First, her deep experience in pulling us through an economic recovery. Remember, she was named fed chair in 2013. And while that wasnt sort of at the height of the financial crisis, which was back in 2008, she was an integral part of pulling us from the darkest points through our economic recovery. That would be number one. And number two, and this one is a bit darker, she has the ability to work with both the treasury and the fed as well as the white house on some sort of impactful policy through executive order in the event that we end up in a situation where weve got a divided government that doesnt want to work together. So a lot of progressives wanted to see senator warren as treasury secretary. How are they reacting to this pick of janet yellen . She herself did tweet about it, Elizabeth Warren, that is. She did. Elizabeth warren herself several tweets she said that janet yellen was an outstanding pick, strong, smart, principled and while there are many progressives who would like to see Elizabeth Warren in that seat, and she is surely qualified for it, she also serves a very Important Role as a sitting senator for the state of massachusetts. And democrats need every senator they can get right now. But its not just Elizabeth Warren. We saw leftleaning groups like democracy for america say that in 2013, janet yellen was a historic progressive pick for fed chair. Shes going to be the same this time. And she actually got more support from progressives than some of the other top picks. Lile brainerd could have been chosen. She got less support. Janet yellen, across the board, a lot of people really breathe a sigh of relief. Like weve got a professional in the seat. She knows what shes doing. She knows what shes doing, but how will she be at navigating what may be the biggest challenge here, which is the politics of all of this . Weve seen how fraught its been ever since the start of this pandemic, trying to get money to go toward all the people who need it, how it should be divided. Now youve got somebody who has got to look at this big picture. Wow. It boggles the mind to think about what shes facing. How will she deal with the politics of it, steph . This could be her biggest challenge because normally the treasury secretary does have to do a ton of politicking, schmoozing, International Travel with world leaders. And thats not something that janet yellen has done a ton of in the past. But this time could actually be different. Given how hyperpartisan we are, someone with a great deal of political acumen may not be the right answer. Because she is apolitical, because she sits above politics, and is a true expert in terms of economic and Monetary Policy and given how fragile our current Economic Situation is, you might actually see both parties willing to work with her. But politics, thats not her jam. Thats not her jam. Thats not a phrase ive ever heard used in relation to yellen before. As always, Stephanie Ruhle with the way to go. Hey, listen. Get back to your vacation, will you . Youre done for the day . Thank you. I am done for the day. But thank you. You are killing it. Im sitting in my house watching you. A huge upgrade to 9 00 a. M. On msnbc. Oh, please. Somebody really does need to sit you down and talk to you about the meaning of the word vacation. Ill let you get back to the pumpkin pie baking. Thank you. Thank you. Up next, more devastating coronavirus news with a recordsmashing number of americans in hospitals. And the group where theres a big spice ke in cases. New york is remembering its first and only black mayor, david dinkins. He passed away from natural causes. He was born in new jersey, moved to harlem to live with his mom in 1927. At the time, black people werent allowed to use the School Swimming pool. Dinkins held a series of fairly lowlevel elected and appointed positions before being elected mayor. In his memoir, he attributed his failed reelection bid to racism, pure and simple, is how he put it. Hed go on to become a professor, radio talk show host. Dinkins wife joyce passed away little more than a month ago. Research shows people remember commercials with nostalgia. So to help you remember that Liberty Mutual customizes your Home Insurance, heres one thatll really take you back. Wow whatd you get, ryan . Its customized Home Insurance from Liberty Mutual what does it do bud . It customizes our Home Insurance so we only pay for what we need and what did you get, mike . I got a bike. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. 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Joining us now is nahid bhadelia, medical director of special pathogens unit at boston medical center. She is also an nbc news medical contributor. Always great to see you, doctor. Do we have any idea where theres this rise in child cases . Is returning to inperson school catching up with them . Is it just as the general population number goes up, the child population numbers go up . Or the child numbers go up . What do you think is happening here . Good morning, chris. Always great to join you. I think its a couple of things. We always wondered in the spring when the cases among pediatrics were so low it was because kids were not out in the community and did not have the opportunity to interact with anybody outside of their family. If i were to place my money on something, i think part of the increase, the percentage increase more recently is because Community Transition is going up. Were seeing cases increase in almost every state in this country. What we know from not just experiences here in the United States but other countries like israel, when schools are open and the setting of Higher Community transmission, kids represent both whats happening in their own families and whats happening in their communities. So thats really what i think is happening here. You are seeing the cases in pediatrics reflect what is going on in the community. Makes sense. While were hearing the cdc say stay home for the holidays, Melania Trump welcomed the White House Christmas tree amid reports the white house is actually planning indoor holiday receptions. I mean, how do you expect americans to listen to the cdc if the white house is throwing parties . Yeah, chris, this is sort of the m. O. Of this white house throughout the entire pandemic. Lets be clear. When we said wear masks, when the Public Health experts said wear masks, the white house sent a very mixed message about wearing a mask. When we said dont gather, the white house put together large rallies. And so this is on par with what theyve done. Im glad to see were starting this transition to an administration that will value the recommendations that the cdc has given. And what were seeing is, it plays out. Youve seen the number of people who are traveling this weekend, despite the cdcs recommendations. Well, the cdc has been almost absent and now that theyre back on the scene, theres confusion among the public. I hope this happens and i hope cdc can regain their rightful voices being the beacon of providing the guidance that this country needs in this perilous time. Yeah, and, obviously, fatigue and denial and even new york Governor Cuomo who is kind november the face of reason, not just for new yorkers but around the country got a lot of flack after saying publicly yesterday he was going to have his 89yearold mother and daughters to thanksgiving dinner. They were going to travel to albany. Boy, he just got annihilated, particularly by republicans, but he has since rescinded the invitation. I mean, does that just show you how tough it is for people to, frankly, do the right thing . You know, maybe they were going to be tested. We dont know what precautions they were taking, but for a lot of people, the sort of fallback is, well, i know these folks well and so im sure they are going to be okay. It is, chris. Im going to start by saying that its particularly important for our leaders to set a good example. If were asking americans to make sacrifices, it starts at the top. But i also want to engage a little bit. In Public Health, the one thing we dont want to do is to shame people. Look, this has been a tough year. We miss our loved ones. Theres pandemic fatigue. Weve lost so many in our communities. And what we want to do is get the message out of like, look, this has a bad effect. Theres a down stream effect. Theres a risk to what youre doing, including to your immediate family. But then short of that if people are doing that rather than shaming them, what id like to do is to give them ways to mitigate how to make their activities safer fop start by saying, do not travel if you dont have to. If youre traveling, here are the steps you can take. Quarantine beforehand. Get a test. Wear a mask and a shield when you travel. And then when youre there, dont if you have people who are vulnerable in your families, try not to swap air which is what dr. Osterholm says. Dont share air or surfaces. Quarantine until and wear a mask indoors until you can get a repeat test. Thats how you mitigate some of that risk. The safest thing is to only spend thanksgiving with your own household. So were pretty much out of time but i want to get this last question in. The ceo of qantas says once a vaccine becomes available, his Airline Might require passengers to have before boarding a sort of vaccine passport saying ive been vaccinated. And he said in talking with the leaders of other airlines, they would do the same thing. Is that a good way to make travel safer . Is that something you would look to and say, hey, that would be something the government should get on board with . Chris, theres a couple of i saw that. I was a little surprised. There are a couple of open questions including, do vaccinated people still transmit disease . Can they get asymptomatic infection . Maybe they dont get the disease but the infection and can pass it on. Thats one question. We also dont know how long protection from vaccine lasts. So its premature, but it wouldnt be the first time. Weve done this with yellow fever. Cdc gives these cards for travel. So i see that in the future potentially when most of the world is vaccinated, we could potentially go to that point. Dr. Nahid bhadelia, always great to see you. Happy thanksgiving. Appreciate it. You, too, chris. Happy thanksgiving. As coronavirus cases rise, some colleges are telling students stay on campus. Dont go home to be with family this thanksgiving. But with the tsa now saying it screened almost 4 million passengers since friday, about a million a day, it is unclear how many students are listening. Joining me is michael crow, who is the president of Arizona State university. Welcome back. Good to see you. Good to see you, chris. I looked and saw a week ago you sent an email urging your College Community to, quote, do everything in our power to keep ourselves and our family, friends and neighbors safe in the coming weeks. How does that seem to be going, and what specifically will be going on for the thanksgiving holiday where you are . Well, nice to see you, chris. Basically, that message is being heard. Our community is very compliant with what we call our community of care. We have people masked. We have people random tested. We have people being tested all that they want to be tested. Weve got people staying in the Residence Halls over the thanksgiving holiday and then were Holding Thanksgiving events for folks in our socially distanced ways. And so basically what weve learned is that people who listen and allow themselves to learn can create an environment where they can stay healthy. They can move forward. Life can move forward and thats what we have built here at the university. So you believe as you said recently that essentially covid19 and the growing number of cases in arizona, like most of the country, frankly, is manageable. Well, we think its manageable if you follow this theory that a guy in the wall street journal wrote the other day. This swiss cheese notion. You have all of these shields that can help you. The mask which is very helpful. Our Daily Health Check which is very helpful. We built our own salivabased test. We think that the notion of the masking is essential. If you do all those things together and you add the new shield of vaccines, all of them have holes and all of them have weaknesses, but if you bring them all together we very much believe its manageable and our semester this fall has proven that to be the case. The Economic Impact of covid has hit families and students alike. I know its been particularly tough on daca and dreamer students. Youve got them from more than 20 countries. How is asu helping students who are struggling financially . Well, were basically saying anyone, you bring us your financial concerns and well come to your assistance. And so were not running a life boat but a life forward boat. This is a critical moment in a students life. We have 75,000 students here withous campus. 75,000 with us online. 150,000 total. And for our students who are living here with us, we say were here to help you. If you have food issues or resource issues you raise your hand. Raise your hand so we know and then well be responsive to you with whatever is necessary for your life to move forward. Thats what were trying to do here. President crow navigating like College President s everywhere, a situation unlike anything weve ever seen. Thank you so much. Happy thanksgiving to you and to all the folks on campus. It is true, and he just mentioned food, from College Students to families, hunger does not discriminate. And charitable groups have been working overtime to meet the demand for food right now. After the show, im going to be heading to one new york city pantry in manhattan, not a place most people think of when you think about hunger. But with rising unemployment, they are helping more people than ever before. You can see my live reports today right here on msnbc. But still ahead this hour when asked why president elect biden made his first cabinet picks for National Security offices, he said, because its National Security. What this tells us about his administration coming up next. Priceline works with top hotels, to save you up to 60 . These are all great. And when you get a big deal. You feel like a big deal. Priceline. Every trip is a big deal. Well, audreys expecting. Twins grandparents we want to put money aside for them, so. Change in plans. Alright, lets see what we can adjust. Wed be closer to the twins. Change in plans. Okay. Mom, are you painting again . You could sell these. Lemme guess, change in plans . At fidelity, a change in plans is always part of the plan. Were a little more than three hours away from the first inperson gathering of president elect bidens newly announced nominees for key roles. An historic moment in the making sending a message to americans and leaders around the world about the biden administrations priorities. With his National Security team, the first to take shape, staffed with former Obama Administration officials, many foreign officials have already worked with. And the other part of his message, about that commit to diversity biden has promised with him making alejandro maorca the first to be named. Avril haines for director of national intelligence. With me, nicholas rathmusen, an msnbc security and Intelligence Analyst and White House Reporter for the Washington Post, ann gearan, an msnbc political contributor. So a lot going on right now, nick. I think youve worked with all of these people, the president elect has announced. What are your takeaways as you look at this team . Well, first of all, thanks for having me on. My first set of observations would be its a nodrama team. This is a group of individuals who have experience working together who have sat around the table with each other tackling some of the hardest National Security issues. And i would suspect our partners overseas take a great deal of encouragement. It signals president elect biden wants to work with partners overseas, not on not in an america first, do it our way, or the only do it our way because thats the only way fashion but wants to tackle the hard problems we face whether thats the pandemic or iran Nuclear Problem boo working with our partners overseas. Each of these has a track record of doing just that. Ann, what are you hearing from inside these agencies . Whats their reaction . In many cases, its relief. You mentioned the important messages that are being sent here. One of the other messages is to the federal government and to republicans across governor, in congress and in mayors offices and governors mansions across the country which is a return to sort of the regular order of business of government. And within agencies in washington, particularly state department is the one i know best, people are relieved. They have coming in someone who is a leader who has already worked at state and knows the issues. People at the state department can be clear and sure will have their interest at heart and will be representing the United States the way Many Foreign Service officers went to the went into that job to do. And then Linda Thomasgreenfield at the u. N. Is a state department veteran who is beloved in the building and who was basically chased out by the trump people. So theres a certain air of restoration to many of these choices. Yeah, nick, during the Trump Administration, a lot of people were gone. A number of agencies have seen not just obamaera regulations stripped but also lots and lots of jobs. The state department especially impacted. This summer, there was a Senate Report that found more than onethird of undersecretary or assistant secretary posts alone were vacant or filled by acting officials. How big a job will it be to essentially reconstruct, rebuild the state department and, i guess, on a lesser scale, some other agencies . Thats a good point, chris, and it is not just the state department id worry about here. A lot of us worried about a hollowing out of the National Security workforce. Both at the senior levels, as you talked about with senior positions going unfilled at the assistant secretary or under secretary level but also just people voting with their feet. Young men and women who came into National Security work at the state department, at the defense department, the Intelligence Community and who just simply decided this was not what they wanted to do given the direction that they saw the government heading over the last four years. The big challenge for the biden team coming in is, as they engage with departments and agencies is just getting a feel for how big a hill are they trying to climb to rebuild some of this capability and capacity . They know theyve got a tough job ahead of them. Im glad they got the green light to start engaging with the Agency Professionals directly and not having that obstacle in front of them any longer. Yeah, and not just a big hill to climb, ann, but less time to do it. The center for president ial transition says recent transitions have had about 77 days to prepare while president elect bidens team will only have 57 days. A lot of the immediate concerns, as nick was just saying, involving National Security, intelligence issues. Whats going on now . What can start happening in places Like State Department that you know well, justice department, other places where its been clear from the beginning since the election was finalized that Vice President and president elect biden was going to move quickly and try to get this stuff going. Yeah, chris, a couple of important things can happen now that couldnt legally happen before the gsa ascertainment. And one of those is that people who will be working for incoming President Biden can talk to not only the Trump Administration officials, the political figures in those agencies, but also to the career government officials. We see that most importantly playing out in the context of the Coronavirus Vaccine rollout where the biden team, i spent last week with them in wilmington. Their main complaint about the delay in the gsa, you know, ticking that box and allowing things to go forward was that they were blind to this very important period when the vaccines are just about to be ready to go and exactly what is the federal government doing to make that possible was that available to the biden folks. And then beyond that, youve got a whole lot of finding out to do. The biden folks are curious to see what has changed within these and so this will allow the kind of communication to be able to find those kind of things out. Its always great to see you. Ann, nick, thank you for coming on during this holiday week and have a great thanksgiving. Appreciate it. Up next, can a massive Testing Program help curb the spread of can have this far into the pandemic . One city in the uk wants to find out. Were live in london after the break. Break. [ engines revving ] its amazing to see them in the wild like th shhh. 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Com, thats aerotrainer. Com. This was the theater i came to quite often. The support weve had over the last few months has been amazing. Its not just a work environment. Everyone here is family. If you are ready to open your heart and your home, check us out. We thought for sure that we were done. And this town said not today. As expected, uk Prime MinisterBoris Johnson announced hes loosening the lockdown there, but that doesnt mean giving into covid fatigue. Instead theyre putting more min toward a testing and tracing program aimed at some of the hardest hit areas to crush the virus. It went to trial in liverpool and they saw an infection rate drop by more than 75 . We have been tracking this program. We are joined from london. Walk us through the program, because some of the logistics of getting people tested and that are agreeing to the Contact Tracing seems complicated at best. Reporter yeah. Thats been the reaction to some of those involved. You have more than 2000 members of the British Military manning dozens of test stations set up across the city. What theyre trying to do is encourage tens if not hundreds of thousands of residents to get tested frequently. Theres been a huge Public Awareness campaign supporting that effort. The tests themselves, the technology involve second down called a literal flow test. Its quick and cheap. We saw one woman getting her results via text message within 20 minutes. Those are some of the reasons when i spoke to the mayor, he said his team jumped at the opportunity for this to be trialed in their community. When we were given the opportunity to work with government and the armed forces, i seized the opportunity. I want it to work. We need it to work. So that we can protect peoples lives, but also protect the livelihoods of people as well. And if we come auout of tier 3 the second december, hopefully well achieve both of the objectives. Reporter the tier three is the highest level of restrictions imposed once england exits a national lockdown. The government says in a couple days theyll explain why specific regions or cities or towns have been selected for that based on infection rates. Fascinating stuff. Thank you so much. Reporting to us from london. That wraps up this hour. Hallie jackson picks it up next. She has a big guest, the north Dakota Republican senator kevin kramer. Keep it right here on msnbc. Her. My nunormal fewer asthma attacks. Less oral steroids. Taking my treatment at home. Nucala is a oncemonthly addon injection for severe eosinophilic asthma. Not for sudden breathing problems. Allergic reactions can occur. Get help right away for swelling of face, mouth, tongue, or trouble breathing. Infections that can cause shingles have occurred. Dont stop steroids unless told by your doctor. Tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. May cause headache, injection site reactions, back pain, and fatigue. Ask your doctor about nucala at home. Find your nunormal with nucala. In the words of our political unit, are you not ascertained this morning. The president doesnt seem to be. Still no concession from him. Even after the transition of power has formally started. And even as this morning just as we were coming on the air, actually, the president is pointing out its not the gsa that determines the next president. Hes right. Its not. Its the voters and they have decided on president elect biden. Straight ahead, new behind the scenes reporting on what led to the formal lek in addition of the transition two and a half weeks after biden was declared the winner. Well speak with a gop senator who called on just such a transition. What is next for the party . Senator kevin kramer will be here. Heres whats next for team bi