This is a plan that trump now supports. And Senate Democrats are ready to make it law but today, Mitch Mcconnell is blocking holding a vote on just that. Now, this part is a familiar story. Mcconnell obstructing a bill. Hes proud of that kind of thing but some democrats say they have more leverage this time, this time could be different and the reason its the calendar. It the end of the year. Congress wants to go home like everyone else around the holidays and senator Bernie Sanders is invoking that leverage warning hell use the rules to force senators to be stuck in d. C. With the senate open over new years unless Mcconnell Green lights an up or down vote. We have got to raise the direct payment to 2,000. So that is where we are right now in this historic moment. Do we turn our backs on struggling working families or do we respond to their pain . Republicans looking at a tough choice. If they vote against the money, they buck trump and oppose this clearly vital help for americans during the pandemic. If they vote for the money, they break what this small government ideology and controlling the deficit. Democrats need 12 republicans for this measure to pass. Tonight, there are five republican senators that say with trump meanwhile back at the gulf course today showing however much he claims to care about the issue isnt enough to make him up up to work like the rest of congress including people in both parties. The president has not been there and president elect harris is back with senate dems pushing their message, pushing mcconnell to hold the vote while getting her Covid Vaccine dose you see there on camera for all americans to see the leadership. It may seem odd after so Many Republican delays on covid relief all this year that this particular funding showdown comes down to the wire with this deadline in this holiday week at the end of the year. But lets be clear about why this is happening. This isnt some accident. This isnt as i mentioned just a late in the year type of thing. This is a reflection of what Mitch Mcconnell does. He prefers to obstruct and stall. He calls himself the grim raeapr for a reason and a reflect of Donald Trumps pension for erratic governing and shows some democrats are using a level of vigor using whatever tools they have to force a vote. Bernie sanders wont be popular with his colleagues threatening to keep them so you see how the year ends. A stark contrast. The president golfing his way through the life and death dilemma and congress at work finally and the Incoming Administration applying pressure and modelling a more serious approach to covid while warning that for far too Many Americans in this trump era, it is already too late. Our coverage kicks off tonight with the New York Times mara gay. Co conservative bill crystal and shay who has worked for the obama and clinton campaigns. Good to see each of you. Bill, there are many aspects to this including as mentioned this serious stakes for americans but its also something of a trump versus republican chaotic civil war thing and thats sort of your thing, would you agree . Its been your thing for the last four years. Yeah, unfortunately. Im looking forward to the ending on january 20th. There you go. Maybe other people will join you in looking forward to that. I go to you first on breaking down what is happening here on an issue that matters. I mean, the questions is just a clever thing pressuring republican senators and pressuring health care comcconn see evidence. Hes golfing, one or two tweets urging something. We know what president s can do if they care, we know what trump can do. There are a heck of a lot of republican senators that dont want to get on the wrong side of him and i see no evidence hes doing any more than wants to go out looking as if hes a generous guy and buckled and sienl signed the covid bill and the government with the funding of the government which is good. Hell get on the defense bill tomorrow. I think this show boating by trump. Mara . Well, you know, the thing thats interesting to me is that the democrats, as you eluded to, ari, seem to have a pep in their step in terms of understanding not just the leverage and the power that they have but far more importantly politics of the situation understanding the importance and impact of what 2,000 would mean for the American People and really putting the ownous on republicans to make it happen or to fail the American People. I think thats something that they have really struggled to do for a long time. I think they have struggled to articulate a cohaerent policy platform and message at times around the everyday issues that impact working class americans of all races and backgrounds, and this is something that they really are understanding how to do better. Their messaging has improved around it and more important than the messaging, they really are essentially sticking this to Mitch Mcconnell and saying do you want to deny this to the American People . Thats, i think thats politically right and more important, i think its morally the right thing to do. There is also just an acknowledgement the Current Situation is just not enough for people. Its not even going to make a dent into the real expenses that americans are facing. So i think its the right move. Shay . Yeah, i mean, i think that the only way to read these events is that trump was sending a Ballistic Missile directly to Mitch Mcconnell and it was mainly an apt of revenge and anger at the fact that mcconnell acknowledged bidens victory. Thats the on reason hes done it and taken the democratic position and gone full aoc on the stimulus effort all that time. What occurred, i believe, probably, if Lindsey Graham is telling the truth is that Lindsey Graham perhaps others made it clear to him that georgia is not in the bag for the republicans. There are Early Warning signs in the state. There is a very light republican turnout in northwest georgia thats a great concern and very high African American turnout in the early vote of that state. Enough to concern the republicans that a failure to pass this bill would lose them the senate. And i think graham and others made it clear if republicans lose the senate, trump will be blamed. His future in the gop will be in jeopardy. Trump 2024 may not happen if that is the case. Its interesting, shay, with your knowledge of campaigns reminding us where that hangs in the balance and i think youre associating yourself with bills interpretation a lot of this matter as great deal. Were covering it for the significance and yet, the und underlying motivations of the players are incredibly petty because its shay, ill try to go christmas here but you know thats not my personal specialty. I have less personal knowledge of the faith. It sounds like you and bill arguing that you have, as far as working people are concerned, you have a real scrooge in donald trump and what makes scrooge potentially generous on paper is not generosity. You and bill arguing he doesnt actually care whether people get this much needed relief but rather the only thing that scrooge could get generous over is the pettiness of trying to burn someone that hes mad at and that if the pettiness and the revenge is motivating enough, he will be less stingy, shay. If you look back on the last four years of this presidency, you know, you talk a lot about how trump has violated norms but he always violated norms almost always to help himself. To shield his taxes, to shield his finances, to shield transparency and make sure the Trump Organization made more money. He never violated norms to advance privacy calls. Thats not something he did. It was always about himself. So were entering a new year but the same trump. Trump only thinks about himself and perhaps we should be grateful because somebody who really thought about the country and thought about what they could do with the power of the president could perhaps be a lot more dangerous over the last four years than trump has actually ended up proving to be. Its funny making that point, i dont know if you popped on a grudge report today which is an influential writer, well put up the report on the screen here. They go at the fact that as they put it, okay, give out the money. Debt nears 28 trillion and have the ticker tape record. It was down below 20 trillion when trump took office. The point, bill, made very simply that i think reinforces which shay is saying, its not about fiscal conservatives to begin with. That the for sus for sure w. Look, i will get back to maras point about the democrats. They have done a descent job of framing this. They could do more. President elect biden can say ill submit this on january 21st and ask Speaker Pelosi to bring it back up and ask democrats and republicans i believe in senator mcconnell as a courtesy of the new president to allow for an up or down vote. This news about the bad and worse version of covid coming here, the more the one thats more unfortunately more contagious and with the general apparent, i think its temporary but still halting rollout of the vaccine, Speaker Pelosi could pass and there is not much money in the covid bill for the states to actually do manage the vaccine rollout. Its 8 billion. Thats a big thing to get this thing done right. Speaker pelosi can pass 20 billion, 40 billion for the states just for [ inaudible ]. This is a case to throw money at a problem do good. We know how to do this, we just dont quite have enough assets going right towards this and see if mcconnell doesnt take that up and pass it again in the new Congress Next week and have again, the president elect biden say im going to do this right away. I think for now, its a little happen hazard because the 2,000 thing emerge in a weird way and fighting about the other, the covid bill so im not sure how much effect, im not sure how fearful mcconnell is. I dont think he thinks hell lose georgia because of this. He may lose georgia anyway. The democrats up in the air in georgia with a massive ad buy saying two things, mcconnell, they tell you you want a republican senate. Mcconnell is stopping you from getting the money and b, donald trump thinks you should have this money. Why arent leffler and purdue insisting on it and go to trump voters with democratic advertising to attack them for not supporting President Trump . I think the democrats arent quite all in on punishing republicans as they might for this. Mara . Yeah, i agree with that and just to continue that thought, i mean, i think there is an opportunity here to do the right thing if you can really capitalize on this economic populism but actually cuts across both parties right now. There is an opportunity to do that and i think its the job of everybody in congress in this case when we really do need to just throw money at a problem to make sure that they do that. They need to make this happen. If they cant make it happen, i think they risk all of them looking extraordinarily out of touch with the reality on the ground, which is just an immense amount of suffering. So, you know, i think there is an opportunity here. Yeah, bill mentions the covid outlook. Chay, thats something president elect biden hit today. Take a look. The trump administrations plan for vaccines is falling behind, far behind with only a few days left in december, weve only vaccinated a few million so far. Chay, the argument being its not exactly warp speed. No, its not and this is a thing that, you know, if you are somebody who is giving trump advice and thankfully im not one of those people but if you were one of those people giving trump political advice, one of the things you say is hey, you should be doing victory laps about this vaccine. You should be out there toting your success at the vaccine. If you really care about trump 2024 and the future, the best thing to do is go out graciously and extent the olive branch of joe biden and do victory laps and make sure everybody in america knows youre working the hardest you can to get the vaccine out there. Thats not who he is. He thinks about the vaccine only in that it helps him politically, personally but never about the country. That is just never something thats ever entered his mind. So it is very sad for the country because we dont know fully what the damage has been done but trumps inaction during this period of transition but i think by the spring or summer we will know and it might be very trag tragic. Yeah, and chay, you talk about giving that advice and youve worked for these campaigns. How would you teach donald trump to be gracious . Are you that good at your job, if you had to do it as an operative, how would you do it . One of the things, thats something you cant really teach your candidate from within and you choose candidates because they have those qualities inside of themselves rather than the other way around thinking you can go in reverse but i dont think we should under estimate the psychological drama about trump were watching. His inability to concede here really speaks to something very deep about his life. When candidates lose president ial elections, it is a humiliating personal rejection. It is a tremendous failure and they need family and friends around them to help them cope with that defeat. You know, donald trump doesnt have that. I remember the crushed Hillary Clinton embracing Chelsea Clinton after she conceded. Mitt romney surrounded by his family as hes about to call obama to concede. Does donald trump have any of that . Who will give him a hug. Lou dobbs . I dont know who can reach him in that way. In many ways, if that is a christmas lesson to be learned there, its exactly that. Trump may on paper seem like a winner in life. He has money, power and status but what we really see is this man is a loser. He has nobody. Very strongly put. And bill crystal as the saying goes in washington, sometimes you start out with scrooge and you end up with a hug from lou dobbs and thats it. Chay, bill sometimes start up the scrooge and end up a scrooge. Yeah, sometimes its scrooges all the way down. Thanks to each of you important stuff but with a little wait along the way. We have our 30second break and you have democrats trying to demote mcconnell and also, trumps former Attorney Michael Cohen told me its making waves and news on the pardonspree backfiring and before were done tonight, Chelsea Handler the great comedian is here for a new conversation were excited to air for the first time but first, next, Michael Beschloss on lame duck when we come back. Im joined by president ial historian Michael Beschloss author of ten books on the presidency. Happy holidays. Thanks for being here, michael. Same to you, ari. Nice to see you. Great to see you. I wanted to actually pick up on something that our other guest was disdiscussing, how you deal with that rejection and same number who once work for the trump but become more critical makes this new comment trump is no longer the celebrity mogul mandate he was in new york. Now hes part of the exclusive jimmy Carter George h. W. Bush one term president club. Your thoughts on that part of history here . Yeah, i dont know why all these republicans seem to be so afraid of donald trump in retirement. Look what happens to president s who were defeated for reelection. They fade out pretty quickly and they are not very powerful. So anyone who is fanaticizing that a year from now that donald trump is going to be this for rowo political figure everyone has to consult and every tweet and speech he gives at a county fair, thats not going to happen. I think hes likely to be distracted by legal problems. I dont think he will be remotely the figure in the Republican Party that he is today, and thats why i think Republican Leaders right now should move on, look to the future, not to the past. Very interesting. You mention legal problems. Thats something former trump lawyer Michael Cohen just brought up on this very program last night. It made headlines today for folks who havent seen orbi or busineor busy with holiday leftovers, here is the crux of the announcement last night. This produce as very significant problem for donald trump in the fact that once he received that pardon power, once you get the pardon, youre no longer able to invoke the fifth amendment of selfincrimination because you cannot be charged. So all of these people may ultimately be his down fall simply because theyll be testifying against him. Michael . I saw it. I thought that was well said and who better than Michael Cohen to be an authority on what problems donald trump is going to have legally . I think hes going to be a velcro for lawsuits if he pardons himself assuming that the courts decide its possible for a president to pardon himself, which im not so sure about. Yeah. Do you think then that donald trump based on what past president s have done has a route . I mean, is there i ists fun to say but is there a carter route you received from a political world that has ultimately rejected you and focused on other things . I mean, for trump its not going to be presumably based on the past building houses for the needy but maybe some other project to occupy him. Okay. Im trying to do this with a straight face. No, i do not think that donald trump will be building houses for the needy. No, i do not think he will start a foundation. He tried that once and it turned out to be corrupt. This is someone who has big financial problems, big legal problems, hes going to probably be overwhelmed by them, maybe very soon after he leaves office. Yeah, thanks for joining us, as always. Great to see you, a rirri, h holidays. We have a lot more to come. Chelsea handler and murdoch done with the antics, see the blistering new op ed out today making waves that gives clues to where conservatives are headed and trumps erratic behavior has worries about the very thing that could control the fate of the biden presidency. What if republicans lose georgia . When we come back. F republicanse georgia . When we come back. Ustomizes your Car Insurance so you only pay for what you need . Really . I didnt aah ok. Im on vibrate. Aaah only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Subway is open and serving footlongs contactfree. Order in the app for quick and easy pickup. Or, get contactfree Curbside Pickup staying home . Get delivery so many ways to get footlongs contactfree subway. Eat fresh. So many ways to get footlongs contactfree since youre heading off to dad. I just got a zerowater. But weve always used brita. Its two stagefilter. Doesnt compare to zerowaters 5stage. This meter shows how much stuff, or dissolved solids, gets left behind. Our tap water is 220. Brita . 110. Seriously . But zerowater let me guess. Zero . Yup, thats how i know it is the puresttasting water. I need to find the receipt for that. Oh yeah, you do. To all the businesses make it through 2020. Thank you for going the extra mile. And for the extra pump of caramel. Thank you for the good food. And the good karma. Thank you for all the deliveries. Especially this one. Youve reminded us that no matter what, we can always find a way to bounce forward. So thank you, to our customers and to businesses everywhere, from all of us at comcast business. Theres a lot going on. Were one week out from these pivotal elections. It can tip the senate and control what happens to the entire first term of the biden era. We know now, 2. 3 Million People have already voted which breaks the record from 2008. Trump will be in georgia next week, but this increasingly the erratic behavior, officials have republicans worried about it backfiring. Take a look at the wall street journal paving on the covid relief check is now quote the biggest democratic hopes for the senate. Longtime republican pollster frank luntz sounding an alarm. It feels like he wants to do as much damage as he cannot just to Mitch Mcconnell and i believe that those two republicans may well lose on the fifth of january because of what the president is doing right now. Im joined by al sharpton, president of the action network. Merry christmas, good to see you, sir. Merry christmas to you. You hear these warnings and everyone knows you want to pump up your side and warn people to get out and vote there is a turnout quality to this but also a theme that weve heard throughout the hour tonight, which is people in both parties looking at donald trump here as playing only for trump even if it risks what happens in georgia, rev. There is an old saying be careful what you wish for and they wanted trump and they got trump who is selfcentered as he is, he never did care about anyone but trump, and it was all right when it was mexicans or blacks but now hes made it very clear he could careless about his own party including whether they maintain a majority of the u. S. Senate. For he to come out of nowhere after mark meadows, his chief of staff was involved in negotiations and now say oh, no, the money is too low. I want 2,000. This is all trump trying to have the attention back on him and back those who wouldnt go with his scheme of trying to undermine an election he clearly lost. Yeah, you remind everyone that of course, anything here that was supposedly a priority could have been proactively pushed by the president of the United States for the past several months. If you need to be this way if this were legit, go ahead, sir. He was involved in negotiations through his chief of staff. Hes a man that tweets in the middle of the night. So when all of a sudden did he come up with this 2,000 that he wanted that clearly democrats said they wanted more money. I think to do that at risk of his own party shows just kind of the kind of person he is on the way out the door, hes doing then what hes done to us for four years. Well, rev, your analysis here, i know youre a james brown guy but getting close to dr. John there. Trump was in the right place, must have been the wrong time. And i think that the problem they have is they dont know what to do with it. As fate would have it, hes going to be in georgia the night before the election which they predict always that the red voters come out on election day more than the early vote and you dont know what hes liable to say. They dont know what hes liable to say and ill give you a secret as someone who fought with him for 30 some odd years in new york, i dont believe he knows what hes going to say and thats what is dangerous to put a man in charge that he doesnt know from one moment to the next what hes going to do because hes driven by ego and impulse and thats dangerous to have as president of the United States. Yeah, you lay it out and mention to the extent people follow policy and it more it hits your pocketbook, the more youre likely to perk up. Not everyone pays attention to the restaurant regulations but when they are closed, people Pay Attention which could be bad for trump and republicans because it can draw attention to what im about to play, trumps erratic swinging on this covid funding issue tied up these Georgia Senate candidates in knots. Take a look. Ive said absolutely we need to get relief to americans now and i will support that. We dont need incentives not to work. Im not seeing a big need to extent the federal unemployment insurance. This should have been done four months ago. Im delighted to support the president s 2,000. I fully support what the president is doing. Getting a direct payment like the first round of cares. I really oppose that. Donald trump managed to force both of them to contradict themself on the core issue of covid recession funding, support for people who need it in the campaign, rev. They have gone directly against what they have said in the past and the voters in georgia are maybe diverse but not stupid. They can see what they said and they can see what theyre saying now and since you mentioned james brown, it appears to me they are both talking loud and saying nothing. Fair. Fair. Get on the good foot as it were. I have one more thing to show you, rev. That is this is wacky. Im not even going to show with sound. Im not going to show the full ad but ill put up the video so folks have a sense of donald trump here on his way out with this video implying that maybe he has some sort of link to this noble prize, of course, hes not wanted if he had, you would have heard about it and reflects sort of one of his fixations for credit he didnt get to do. Take a look. The noble peace prize, ill tell you about that. I saved a country. You love your president and your president gets honored because im not being honored. Youre being honored. Were the noble peace prize. Donald trumps noble peace prize. They gave me a noble prize for that. When i say noble prize, nomination. I dont know. You know, i dont know. The fact check is he delusional. He lost any competition there as we lost the election, rev, but it speaks to a real messiness for lack of a more neat word, if you will, in the out going days of this administration, what hes pushing out and lying about. And its sad to see a man 744 years old come apart in public because he lost an election, and to think that as we are looking at 300 and tens of thousands of people dead and he could have done things to avoid it when he was warned it could be that way in january of this year and he didnt act until late march and for him to say he saved the country when those amount of people are dead when he could have done more, it is absolutely insulting and offensive and all im doing is trying to continue to raise the issues and work out every day because on january 21st, ill be more contemporary this time, ill do the jayz, ill have 99 problems but trump wont be one of them. [ laughter ] brush it off, rev. Brush it off. You know the difference between me and you, i talk about jayz, you talk to jayz. So, you know, im following your path. Give me a few more decades, well see where we go. A few more days is more like it. I know your track record. You dont take decades to do anything, ari, thats why you have the beat. Rev al coming through all kinds of layers and levels. Appreciate you sir. Happy holidays and merry christmas. Politics nation weekends 5 00 p. M. Eastern. Stacey abrams will be on the reidout. Plenty to watch from our colleagues. Coming up later, we have some of the top cultural and fall back moments from 2020 but first, the National Reckoning on race. Musicians and artists speaking out plus the great Chelsea Handler, a comedian getting serious about certain political issues of privilege on the beat continue. Beat continue ah, honey isnt that the dogs towel . Hey, me towel su towel. Theres more gain scent plus oxi boost and febreze odor remover in every fling. Gain. Seriously good scent. Love the scent of gain flings . Then youll swoon for long lasting gain scent beads. But not every tomato ends in the same kind of heinz ketchup. Because you cant be everyones favorite ketchup without making a ketchup for everyone. A lot happened this year but 2020 will be remembered for the National Reckoning on race, black lives matter protesters coming out in massive numbers for days on end. Calling for change to injustice. We also say a wave of engagement from artists, cultural figures, musicians actors and our next guest comedian Chelsea Handler as been at work on the issues. Her netflix is called hello privilege, its me chelsea confronting race and privilege head on. Why this project on White Privilege . I just kind of had a wakeup call after our 2016 election and i thought i want to really do something. I took a deep look at my own life and realized how spoiled and entitled i had become and i wanted to actually take an honest look at it and i started to think about the privilege i was born with and taken for granted my whole life because i thought White Privilege was a specific part of the Community Like rockefellers and people that went to harvard and yale. My father was a used car dealer. Thats not privileged. Obviously, weve learned unfortunately over and over again in this country that having the being white is an advantage. So as long as somebody is being discriminated against, somebody is benefitting from that discrimination and i didnt want to be the beneficiary of that. I wanted to be part of the solution and part of the conversation to move forward, so i read a lot of black authors and thought wow, the next thing i should do is make a documentary questioning white people about White Privilege. Which is using your platform and following to have some of this conversation. Let take a look at you talking to two very recognizable co comedians. If you had a message i could give to white people who dont understand what White Privilege is and that there are many knew wanss what is that message . You know where youre going and come from. We dont know that. We have to take a dna test and we dont know if we were related to kings or queens or farmers or built houses. We dont know. You guys know. Thats a privilege you guys have. Tell me about that moment. Well, i mean, again, something a white person never had to think about. Certainly something i never had thought about until tiffany said that sentence to me, and then i really had to think about it after the fact, and ive discussed it on social media at length with people that watched it because what does she mean . What do you think she means . These people are unaccounted for. Peoples ancestors are unaccounted for. There is no way to cover the subject mat near a documentary. There is no way to cover it in six documentaries but im committed to do the work and have followup conversations about it because it is a white persons problem. White privilege is our problem to fix, and we keep going to the plaque co black community wanting to know what to do. We need to fix it and be uncomfortable about it because we can afford to be a little uncomfortable and have uncomfortable conversations. Thats how change happens. You dont follow particular career rules. You built your following and choose to do whatever you do. How did you get there . How do you say thats neat, i wish i could do that. Youre doing funny stuff, serious stuff, making a documentary and comedy special. How can other people do that . First of all, its a lot of privilege again, thats not all of it. Its a need to be authentic. I went into therapy for the first time in my adult life that led to a book because i wrote about my therapy experience because he opened doorways in my head and i started to become a real more patient, more kind person because of therapy. Did you worry therapy could make you less money . No, im not worried about anything like that. I got the funny. I needed the serious. I did that and wrote a book about it and then i filmed this documentary so those two projects in my mind were very much about this new phase of my life where i am conscious about what i want to do and i dont want to take, take, take and get a paycheck just for showing up. I want to message and inspire people to do more and better and to go out and be activists and fight for people. You know and marginalized communities. Its important to use your voice and if you dont have a platform, use your voice. We kno you know, it important to look around and say something. What do you think is the delay in your life that led you to go to therapy. Rested development, too much success and a lot of it and going spinning around for many, many years. There were great times, but i wasnt connected to the work i was doing for a long time. I was just kind of saying yes, oh, they will pay you to do this and here is a show, write a book, do this. I was saying yes to things, and i finally was like no. Say no and sit with yourself for a year and then see what you want to do and who you are at this age. Im 44. I want to do something to help people. We wanted to share that with you and our thanks to Chelsea Handler. Interesting thoughts here especially at the end of the year as we take time to reflect. Thats the very first time weve aired that interview. It was previously recorded. Our special report on heroes protecting and serving. Thats something we want to share that is very important. Its up next. Is very important its up next [narrator] this is steve. He used to have gum problems. Now, he uses therabreath healthy gums oral rinse with clinicallyproven ingredients and his gum problems have vanished. crowd applauding therabreath, its a better mouthwash. At walmart, target and other fine stores. Welcome back. We turn to the special report on the Police Officers who serve and protect. And marking many who are leaders in their field. Right now, investigators are probing the motive that drove that nashville suicide bomber. Six officers are being hailed as heroes for evacuating residents at the scene and saving lives. I want to thank the Police Department in nashville, particularly those five Police Officers that worked so quickly to evacuate the area before the explosion occurred risking their own lives. They dont think about protecting themselves and they thought about the citizens of nashville and protecting them. Had they not made effort, wed be talking about the tragedy of people and lives lost. There is unity on one thing there, harolding. T as the debate over u. S. Policing continues with hard and significant evidence about Police Misconduct and racial profiling, there is no single story to tell about the 800,000 citizens that serve as Police Officers thats why my work on the beat and Legal Correspondent we take a brief accounting of some of the officers that died on the job this year. We look at their lives, their service and we think for a moment about the families and communities that mourn what is the first Holiday Season without them. Were talking about officers who lose their lives protecting us and all the different ways that officers face these officers fa daily risks. We do this reporting every year with the National Law EnforcementOfficers Memorial Fund which tracks this all year and supports officers and families. 2020 is one of the deadliest years for Police Officers in america in 50 years. We have had years where violence takes lives of many officers. This year their work and presence in the community made many Police Officers more exposed to a risk that of course took over the world this year. The coronavirus pandemic. Which is now driven the officer death rate to the highest since the year of the september 11 terror attacks. 242 officers died in 2001. And so far here in late december you see the spike, 210 officers. Dying this year. Heres how the leader of the officer down memorial page put it. By the end of the pandemic its likely covid will surpass nine eleven as the largest incident cause of death of Law Enforcement officers. The estimates are 179 officers died of covid this year alone. More than the total last year. Here well show you their faces. Each one a public servant. Each face you see here is a person who is left behind a family and friends. And stories. Theres no way to even begin capturing discussing reporting on each of these lives. But when we look at what they have done and take a moment were leaving this up on the screen for you. Just sink in what their work and lives meant and how from our reporting and stories from friends and family we have heard about, yes, the tragedy and inspiration. Uplift as well as heartbreaking end. Take one for example tonight. Wane county sheriff. He spent three weeks battling covid19 on a ventilator and died of the coronavirus last week. He had served 45 years in Law Enforcement. He had braved so many other threats. To be failed by this one. And people tell us he was known and loved in the community. He led a high profile investigation into the attack on olympic skater. And type of work he did wasnt only reck neezed by people in the community. It was recognized for his service by everyone from president obama. To michigan governor whitmer. Who said she was aware of how his personality and love for people was key to how he led. I am here. I am ready. To serve you First Respond rs are part of priority targets for the vaccine. Giv given essential work and regular exposure. Vaccines didnt come soon enough for the sheriff. Mourners, lines of people outside a funeral home in the december cold gathered before the doors opened. Its just of course one person. One of the 210 officers who pay the ultimate price. Others died this year of other Police Fatality causes like gunfire and car crashes. Covid the main killer. As we take a moment to of course just learn brief le about one of them. We hope theres some measure of proportion to think about 209 others. And then their hundreds and thousands of family, friends and Community Members left behind. In a year with so much loss it its hard to comprehend it. There are times when people when all of us may want to turn awe way from this death. To just move on. So tonight we take this brief moment to turn towards it. To face the lives and these deaths and remember and honor those who serve. Each febreze car vent clip gives you up to 30 days of fresh air. So, you can have open window freshness. Even with all the windows up. Enjoy fresh, any time, with febreze. Unlike ordinary memory want supplementster . Neuriva has clinically proven ingredients that fuel 5 indicators of brain performance. Memory, focus, accuracy, learning, and concentration. Try our new gummies for 30 days and see the difference. 2020 thats it calling anyone with grit change this, change that, but dont ever quit 2020s done a new era has begun so keep pushing forward. Because this is twenty twenty won the future is still ours to win. Make a different future start different at godaddy. Com its velveeta versus the other guys. Clearly, nothing melts like velveeta. Research shows people remember so to help you remember that Liberty Mutual customizes your Home Insurance, heres one thatll really take you back. Its customized Home Insurance from Liberty Mutual only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Its been a long year. Lets look at some of the moments from fall back friday in 2020. Its friday on the beat. Its time to fall back. The ridiculously funny sup superfamous comedian kevin heart. American icon ll cool j. Joseph reverend run and his wife. Does he ever share his adidas with you . Even the rats are hungry, yall. If wed only known. We need to stick together. We are the people. We have to survive this together. Fat joe and bill crystal reunited. Who can forget the bond created here on the beat. Its too late, baby. Let me ask you a question, how do millennials ask me anything you want. Im your guest. Go birds of a feather flock together. Yes. Thank you. Way too much handshaking. Youre the Justin Bieber of New Hampshire right now. This is going off the the rails. I blame both of you. Youre welcome. Theres too much handshaking. That was before we knew the to stop shaking hands. Well see you back here tomorrow at 6 00 p. M. The the reidout starts now. Good evening. Im Jason Johnson in for joy reid. Donald trumps