So tell me, brad, what are we going to do. We won the election and its not fair to take it away from us like this. And its going to be very costly in many ways. And i think you have to say that you will reexamine it. But reexamine it with people that want to find answers, not people that dont want to find answers. Absolutely stunning. Lets go to monica alba. We want to know that this again is audio that we obtained from the Washington Post. They released some excerpts. What is to be made of this . It is remarkable. This is an hour long phone call, youre right were only getting some excerpts and we have not been able to listen to the entirety of it and we have not independently verified this, but you can hear in what they put yobl, the republican georgia secretary of state, who you hear push back on the president , who makes an extraordinary claim and request of the officials in georgia to find missing votes. And really continue his quest to overturn the results of this free and Fair Election by all counts. This is really an interesting insight into a president who we have not heard from on camera in any public remarksover extended speeches in some call. And this was happening behind the scenes. But both the president and him acknowledging it occurred. They traded some tweets on that earlier with the bpresident disputing what was said. So now you have an audio again that the Washington Post released online. Viewers and readers can see for themselves that this president continues to push what many consider dangerous claims that have no base in reality. Theyre ahead of the Critical Senate runoff races before wednesday when the president is expected to speak at a rally here in washington dc as the Vice President will preside over that joint session in congress. Were learning a growing number of republicans plan to object to that. We kraeched out to the white house. Theyre declining to comment on this at this time. Referring instead to the Trump Campaign and we have not heard back from the secretary of state but we will continue to bring you more on this breaking news story as it developed. Thank you so much. Joining me now to further this discussion and beyond, we have senator tim cane. This is a big deal. What is your reaction to that audio. Does it raise legal questions . It does, it is shocking but not surprising from this man. This quote, i just want to find 11780 votes tells you everything you need to know about him. He is a spoiled rich kid, he is making it all about him. He is talking about our democracy like it is a real estate deal. Give me 11,000 more for this piece of property. This is an election that is supposed to be secure and accurate. He is encouraging people to come to washington to engage in unruly and violent behavior if is very dangerous. Any of any Senate Colleagues that flirted with the idea of following him over the cliff, when they see this story they should look in the mirror and ask how they want to be remembered for their lives. Lets take a listen to that. The people of georgia are angry. The people of the country are angry. And there is wrong with saying that you recalculated. All i want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, one more than we have. We won the state. Senator, it is so specific what he is asking the georgia secretary of state. Another description is that trump begs and be rates him to overturn president elect joe bidens win. It is stunning, but how disturbing is this for the campaign being wages in democracy. Alex. This is fundamentally an effort to overthroughout the government of the United States. He knows that he lost. He said i have to find the votes. He issage knowledging that he lost, and just so your viewers understand this, he wants it to be recalculated. He has done it four times since they called the race for joe biden. A hand recount of all ballots. And after the vote was certified, they campaigned that pail in ballots didnt have the right signature. And now 15,000 ballots and they could not find a single one with voter fraud. There has been forty efforts to recalculate and verify the biden win and they have all come up the same. He is trying to steal an election. That might be accepted in some third world deday torship, but not what we do in the United States. What has gone through your mind . Biden won by even larger margins in 2020 than trump one defeating you and Hillary Clinton in 2016. Did challenging the election ever cross either of your minds . No, thats not what duo in the United States. We have a peaceful transfer of power. If we could tell that there was recounts or recanvass it would not change the results enough. So we told americans to respect the outcome. This is who he was from long before he got into office. What is surprising is the enablers in the senate who were suggesting that theyre going to go along with this and what is saddening is that he has been able to bam boozle them. Senator, you talk about these senators that will challenge the election, after they hear this video and audio recording, what do you expect them to do . Have they made their beds and are they lying in them now . Talk about the motivation for these 12 to support not certifying the Election Results . Is it personal . Do they all have Higher Office aspirations . What keeps them motivated . Is it fear of trump . I think they know better. They know the election is over and that joe biden has won. Theyre afraid of donald trump and more importantly theyre afraid of donald Trump Supporters. Their ambition is ten times the side of their backbone and integrity. So they want to try to keep in good graces with the Trump Supporters and theyre willing to make an effort to they know will be unsuccessful, but they are willing to make an effort to make them and their senates. Im going to ask my director, rob, put up the screen again. Were supporting and not certifying the election. Will any of these 12 stand up to trump. Will anyone say say look what i heard . This is unacceptable and now were going to certify the election for joe biden . Before the tape came out in the last hour, i was sure they were all going to support objections. I hope this tape will make them look in the mirror and ask if nay want to be joined with this skru corrupt effort. How is it that Mitch Mcconnell and that he said please dont get to be part of this, im not supporting this at all. Why do you think so many of them are defining Mitch Mcconnell, who is arguably the most powerful republican in the country, who has like 17 days left in power. I think it is back to the point of who theyre really afraid of more than Mitch Mcconnell is donald trump but also the donald trump voters. They feel like if they dont object to these Election Results, if they dont try to overthrow the election, that they will take it out on them. It was jon lewis that got beat up on a march for Voting Rights, that lead the senate to come together to guarantee Voting Rights for all. Shortly after john louis dies, i hope that they will listen to this tape and ask themselves how they want to be remembered in history. You can gain the whole world and lose your soul. Thats what these folks are about to do if they go along with this corrupt president on wednesday. Have you spoken with any republican colleagues who who machinery, for example, who said this is ridiculous. This is audacious. This is a losing proposition, stop . Im putting words in his mouth, but thats the tenor. What are they saying to you . Well, i think youre going to see in the votes cast on wednesday over whelming repudiation of this. There could be a dozen, maybe a couple more republicans, but you will see these repudiated by democrats and republicans. We are talking about do we need to do more than just repudiate on wednesday in is there other things we should do to stand together. So there are some discussions going on about what more we might do, but in a minimum on wednesday, i think you will see a over wewhelming repudiation. Senator, what do you think all out of this amounted to with the certainty that joe biden will be certified as the president on wednesday, what has been the point of all of this . You know the point is duonal trumps own self internet. The sad thing is he is bamboozled so many people into going along with it and even people that know better, that are willing to do this. The sad lesson as we come into a new year, you know, our institutions can be bruised and battered, but when people participate in big numbers like they did in november, like i hope they will do in georgia on the fifth, that is tallahassee the only guarantor that we stay true to our values and principals. I want to ask you about what is going to happen on wednesday. He says he is twoing to dport the protesz tors, how do you think they will react when they uphold joe biden at the next president of the United States . I am worried about it. I would say if you dont need to be in Downtown Washington you should stay away. There will be a lot of people who have been stoked by this president to believe in lies and experience theories. And they could try to do all kinds of things egged on by this president. Just as we saw happy in charlottes vil, where people who were supporters of and supported by the president , did horrible things. You might see that happen. That will not stop us from standing up against a corrupt dictators effort. But i would say if, you know, if you have any business in Downtown Washington, dont do it on january 6th. Dont mix it up with these people that are with these bow us why conspiracy theories. You have joe biden watching all of this unfold. How do you think that he will address congress . Will there be republicans that have to pay a price for all of this noise . I think the institution of the senate has to repair damage that these people are doing in the senate. Thats not something that joe biden needs to do. I think we need to have a conversation about repairing damage within the institution. Nobody has a better understanding of the u. S. Congress than joe biden. His 36 years as the senate and his eight years as Vice President gives him a deep knowledge of the personalities. He is not naive enough to think that once he takes the oath of office that republicans are going to sudden i will be his friends. He has deep enough relationships with people on the republican side and the nation is still in enough of a crisis with the coronavirus, and i think that he will try to support a recovery. Is this making it tougher . Absolutely. Thats what trump wants to do. He failed so miserably, were going to do everything that we can in congress to work with him. Not because it is joe biden, but because the American Public still really needs help. Something that might be easier after tuesdays election in georgia should those two candidates that are democrats win and give the support to the joe biden. Thank you, it is a very important discussion and i appreciate it. Thank you. You bet. Thank you. Joining me right, a reporter with georgia public broadcasting. You dropped a bomb on me when you said you listened to this phone call. First, lets listen to the part of the call again that we have access to. Play that again, take a listen. I just want to find 11,780 vot votes. Its not fair, we won the election. Its going to be costly in many ways. And i think you have to say that youre going to reexamine it, and reexamine it with people that want to find answers, not people that dont want to find answers. Have you heard the entire thing and what are we missing so far . I listened to the entire conversation between the president , his chief of staff, and members of georgias secretary of States Office nap sums up the gist. He shared conspiracy theories about the election. He pushed the secretary of state to try to overturn the results that were counted twice. They have been certified. There was Law Enforcement investigations into claims of fraud that found no evidence of wrong doing. And the secretary of state and an attorney spent much of that call trying to explain that the investigations were done and that is how things work. Trump blamed the secretary of state your shoddy republican turnout so far and suggested if purdue and loeffler lose, it is his fault. This call took place yesterday. You had the president , mark meadows, the secretary of state, the General Council for the secretary of state and other aides on that call. It was not a large call, but it happened yesterday and it took place for about an hour. Soing with ou so, okay, steven, trump begged and berated the georgia secretary of state to overturn the president ial election and joe bidens win in georgia. Presumably you will concur with that. What was the secretary of the state of georgias reaction to that . How did he how he did push back . Right, were working to put up the audio. I have a story that will be posted soon on npr and georgia public broadcasting. The secretary of state was incredibly patient with the president but pushed back on some of the claims from social media telling the president that social media doesnt always tell the truth. And explaining that the data he is looking at is not correct. Much of the call was the president at times angry. He lashed out against brian kemp saying that he was a smuk fchmur endorsing him in 2018. When he spoke and the general counsel spoke, they laid out the same facts over and over and over again. Joe biden won georgia and there was no fraud. I have a couple more people to bring in. How did the president react when he just said look, joe biden won georgia. What was the reaction of the president . What was the tenor of that from him. He didnt really take it in stride. Like i said earlier he suggested that republicans are angry in georgia. People in georgia are angry. If it comes down to it, and democrats could flip the senate and it could rest in the hands of brian kemp and rashensburger. Stay where you are, were joined now by kimberly atkins. A senior opinion writer for the boston globe. What a conversation to jump into, guys. Jeff, you first, has there been an official response from the white house to this audio that has been leaked . Not that i have seen yet. It is clearly explosive. It is amazing in a way this is coming out right now at the beginning of january. If this happened months ago you would see an impeachment drive by democrats again. It is just kind of answering the question about what President Trump has been doing. We know that he has been discussing some strategy. We know there is other opportunities that he took to pressure legislatures and other leaders in the states that he lost, but it is just extraordinary to see the details and to listen to the actual quotes. These are the quotes that we hear him using to pressure a republican leader in a state where hi lost. Imcurious, kimberly, about what you think of the timing of the call. It is about 11 59 when we get to the certification of the big picture here. What does it say about the president that he is making this call yesterday . Yes, aside from me concurring with everything that jeff said, the president essentially did to georgia officials what he denied doing to ukrainian officials. This would cost someone the presidency if the people of the United States didnt do that already. The times is because you have two two things happening. You have a crucial georgia run off and a certification that is a pro forma event. It has been built up by conspiracy theories that the president is floating as an effort to stop something stop a fraud that every existed. You see the president becoming increasingly desperate, it seems, to try to grasp on to anything he can and he is not above pressuring officials to lie. One question that i have watching lawmakers this week, not only the lawmakers from the four states that were the focus of these frivolous lawsuits claiming there was fraud in them. Tim also looking for the lawmakers from georgia. I would hope for them to answer, do they think they were duly elected if this fraud existed . They were on the ballot, too. To that point, they are saying this whole thing is creating problems for republicans that are trying to get georgians to vote on wednesday. Do you think the president understands that he could be under mining their chances of maintaining power in the senate . I dont think he cares. He doesnt care about the reputation of the republicans that he is urging to say this, not just lie, but antidemocratic lie that cuts to foundation of our democracy. He doesnt care how that will make him look in history. Im not sure he really cares. We have seen him give less that full throated endorsements even during the election. I think he cares about himself and is trying to create an illusion. Or at worse destroy democracy to hold on to power. I want to ask you to respond to my conversation with all of this. We know there is 12 senators, up to 140 house members all on board to reject the election. Why do you think support for this president and his claims are growing after months of failed legal challenges and do you think this call may make all of the difference as tim kaine called for. I think it will change the minds of anyone that met President Trump. We saw that consistent with him regardless of the behavior he has exhibited in office. Some of the lawmakers that decided to reject that election this week, well just have to see, but i think the fact that in that letter that was released, lead by ted cruise z others, look at what they used as their destination. They said they dont think that this election was legitimate. Theyre just saying what people think and it comes after months and months and months of the president undermining the election itself. It there should be no surprise. He set the stage for that now for months and months. Im curious on the logistics of this, how long do you think it will take to get the white house to relace a statement on that do you think people are scrambling because theyre aware of the release of this audio and theyre aware that people will be clam bowbering for a result the white house. I dont know how long it will take them. But the truth is when you have Something Like this their hands are tied in some ways to respond. Theyre not going to come out and deny it, they cant. What use is a white house comment at this point. We will ask for one, but the news is clear and it is what the president himself said. Do you expect any of these 12 to now come out after hearing this audio and say were going to change our mind and were going to certify the election for joe biden. If their oath to uphold the constitution is not enough to present them from joining in on this effort in the first place, then i dont think this phone call will make a difference. They decided that for political reasons getting behind donald trump for any reason is what they must do, i think that calculation has already been made. I cant think of anything that could be an impoe discuss for them to change their mind. I will mention what was said last night. He said this in an attempt to overturn the election. He said it could push back the inauguration. I would not be surprised to see a potential counsel on this. I cannot imagine what he goes there the facts that he wont. He went past that date. We can go past that date, and if we need to. And we have to get this right. Get it right. They stole it. We need to take it back for the people. Listening to laura trump versus the constitution. Its not true, but do you think that trump and his team believe there is validity in this think or are they just trying to show the base theyre going to fight from the very end . I must have missed the day in high school where he said he could go against the text of the constitution. I only know the truth. What about january 6th it is something that has a lot of people concerned jeff with this rally in dc. We know the president said he will attend and said it is a wild day. They are setting up a potentially chaotic situation. You have to wounder what his supporters, those going to washington dsk, how that happens. I think it makes sense. We have seen the president gin up this type of enthusiasm, his reaction from supporters before. They have come and don demonstrations elsewhere. It is hard to say what will happen on the 6th. I have to say the tweet you have to wonder how the secret service feels about that. This is not an organized rally so far. Its not a Trump Campaign rally where there is clear spaces for people. There is not a clear security line where there is a spot for the president of the United States to go. I dont know what he has in mind in terms of showing up but he is still the president of the United States for another 2. 5 weeks or so. His safety is paramount to the secret service and the country. 100 . That is a question mark. When you have people coming to the capital, ape you dont know if it will play out safely or not. Will the president , that one time he was flying over the striets, maybe that would be one way. I would like for you to both stay where you are. They are working with the National Security advisor. I want to get your reaction to what we heard the president says on that call with the georgia secretary of state. Over all, whats your reaction to all of this . I have to say that nothing surprises me any more. He has no bountt ris for what they will do. And it is really about whatever cost. It doesnt matter how the great republicans continue to support him. The attention and the. Let me ask you since you worked with mike pence about the pressure on him right now to certify this election on wednesday and his boss is addiment he doesnt that want to happen. Talk about how he is dealing with this since you have worked with him so closely. I was surprised to see the statement saying he welcomes these efforts on january 6th. I have to say that the Vice President is behaving like always. There is no line drawn. What is happening in our company and trump. Once again, anyone that may be just joining us, it is pretty bomb shell audio, everybody. Lets listen to the president of the United States. Hi is pressuring the georgia sk tear of state who is trying to find votes for him. Overchurning the elections. So look, all i want to do is this. I want to find 11,780 votes, one more than we have. We won the state. So tell me, what are we going to do, we won the election, it is not fair to take it away like this, and it will be very costly in many ways, and i think you have to say you will reexamine it. With people that want to find answers, not people that dont. Can you interpret what he means when he says people that want to find answers . Who is he speaking about . That is classic President Trump saying you need to find the people that will help me with them. There is no incentive. This is classic trump. He does this to governors and republican leadership. These are the calls they get along the way. Oly ya, stay where you are. Joining our conversation is carol of the Washington Post. She is coauthor of a very stable genius. One of your colleagues at the Washington Post broke this story. We were also bringing you on to talk about the secret service and the changes there that are imminent. What is your reaction to this phone call . After covering President Trump for a long time, i cant agree more with olivia. This is classic trump. He is rejecting all facts that he doesnt like. You will give me the answer that i want, secretary of state of georgia. There is several striking parts. One is the president insisting they won the election in jaz georgia. The official says you can imagine how long rungs lower this man is is. And he said the facts are not on your side. The president saying i know these people, the dominion Voting Machines are sneaking out the guts of these machines and the state Officials Say no, that is not happening, he says are you sure and the state Officials Say that is not true in is just a desperate call and a hard core pressure tactic call. The president is insisting here that you will give me what i want. You will give me the facts that i want which is that i won this election. It also sounds like the guts of the Voting Machines being taken out. The entire call, this hour and two minute long call . I heard the bulk of it and a special shout out to amy gardener. They are capturing what is going on behind the scenes. The parts of the audio that i listened to are so streaking. The president is listening only to those people, the advisors around him. They are saying that we can engage martial law and rerun the elections in swing states. He is a member of the bar that dominion machines, somehow through the nat is now dead, have miscounted all of thesed voted for biden that should have been voting for President Trump. It is just sort of a lot of things that are baseless. We heard from Steven Fowler who listened to the entire thing. He also said that on the call, carol, was the chief of staff mark meadows. A few others. Do we know if anyone else was on that call, that steven did not report, or that in orderly there could be others on a call of this nature accompanying the president giving him information or listening to what will be transpiring so they know what they have to deal with when the phone call is hung snup . It would not normally be appropriate that Campaign Advisors be sitting in. It would be common for advisors to be on the call. There is nothing inappropriate about calling the Georgia State official, but telling him to find 11,000 votes to change is bizarre. Advisors should have interrupted the president saying Something Like i dont mean that is what president means, brad. I think what he means is he is concerned about the grass of this election. But the way the president says it is nothing short of, you know, a strong arm move. Yeah, okay, stay where you are as well, carol, i appreciate your insights on all of this. Joining us is the former u. S. Acting solicitor general. Give me your reaction to what you heard, not only just your reaction, but from a League Perspective . I heard the excerpts. This is the way that people in organized crime rings talk. They are asking the georgia officials to find him 11780 votes. Maybe that works in the soviet union or something, but it is not the way that american governments have operated. So i see both, you know, really truly an Impeachable Offense here in is the heart of what abuse of power that our founders worried about so much is. The ideaed th that a Government Official can stay in office to try and brown beat other officials that disagree with them. So whether or not was a misdemeanor committed. The tape makes it sound like there has. Second is whether or not there is a criminal offense. It prohibits a federal official from interfering in a state election process. And again, that sure sheems like what seems like what we heard on the tape. I think that is the at least of what will happen here. How does this affect any potential legal outcome. If this happened a few years ago, you know, it might be different with but we have 17 days left. That is it. How does this get pursued legally. How could it potentially effect President Trump as president or as a private citizen . There is a lot of nonsense where they try to challenge the results. This tape will not help him, but he had a 07. 0 chance winning anyway. It makes the optics look worse. But beyond that i dont think it matters. I think it makes criminal liability easier because trump has been protected by his Justice Department which is i think it has been for the last four years but that will now change with a new administration. And well see how that cuts after an investigation. It might be that trump has a defense here. The one thing im sure of is that it has to be investigated. You think of impeachment as reserved for people in office. But the founders made the remedy available for people who are out of office to bar them from future office holding. Neil, that is the money point right there. How this could effect donald trump down the road. Whether or not, and i spoke to many that dont believe his political as ppirations for 202 are legitimate. Is this the kind of thing that could prevent him from ever declaring a candidacy again . Absolutely. That is something that the founders put in the constitution. I think he will have general and civil exposure on any number of fronts. I still think it is the right thing to do here if you a president that abuses his power in this way, future american president s and the American People need to know that you cant blaif this way. It is unacceptable in an american democracy. Go back to the soviet union. Which is also going to bring up the prospect of pardons. Not the pardons that trump demonstrated that he is willing to do in his presidency, but the potential for pardons of him of various levels of malfeasance. Does the country fair better with an investigation and being held accountable . Or does it fair better . A question that is allowing for questions. What is your thought on that . I think that you need today have the investigation first. I i dont think that we can decide in a vacuum whether or not a crime has been committed. And for four years the Justice Department trying to prevent at every turn an inquiry into the facts. It is so laughable to me that the republicans are now insisting and claiming fraud, fraud, fraud over the election. There has been serious ak cuations about fraud for four years and they never bothered to investigation and they tried to stop it at every turn. I think the American People will be interested in what actually happened here. If it turns out that it looks like a crime was committed, absolutely you have to prosecute. No one should be above the law. Thats what the American Revolution was all about if is not a happy moment right now to see this. It is a moment that a lot of of people have said we were going to hit with donald trump. That were hitting with 17 days to go, you know, may be the only surprise, that it didnt happen earlier. Neal, carol, jeff, kimberly, i want to get your final thoughts as we wrap up my hour. But lets go to georgia, because i want to see how this is reverberating there. Priscilla thompson is there. Has anybody talked about hearing this tape yet . Reporter ive spent the past few hours here talking to democrats. Largely, people hadnt yet heard about this. Some folks have gotten the alerts on their phone. But the sense were getting is that this is not impacting how georgians are thinking about the raise tuesday. This is expected from the president , this is not a surprise. Sort of rolling their eyes, and focusing on the senate seats that are far more crucial. From republicans, were hearing much of the same that ive heard from them as ive been out speaking to republicans at polling sites. Yes, they believe there is fraud. They are concerned about that. But guess what, theyre still going to the polls as well to vote in the senate races, as a just in case. They want to make sure theyre doing their part to save these senate seats. Is it having an impact . That will be seen possibly on election day. For now, it seems like the president is continuing to talk about this, as a lot of voters have moved their focus to the senate races that are going to be begin to be decided on tuesday, alex. Okay, thank you so much for the update, priscilla. We have about four minutes to wrap up with your thoughts on this. Its an absolutely stunning audio tape that were hearing thanks to the Washington Post s reporting. Your thoughts on how this will play out, not only today in the news cycle but come tuesday and more notably on wednesday . Kimberly first. Yes, i mean, i think that, as i said before, i cant imagine anything at this point moving the republicans who are backing this effort. But i think it is important that it lays bare, for americans to hear with their own ears, just how far President Trump has gone in this effort to undermine the election result. And i think history is not going to look kindly on this moment. I think everything neal said is absolutely correct. This seems to be an Impeachable Offense, and everybody who took the oath of office today needs to think about in their actions this week. Jeff, your wrapup thoughts on how this will play out within the white house . Alex, i think this is all not over with President Trump for the country, for himself, for us, for some time. It makes clear to me and i think to everyone listening that the president is not going to give up on his efforts to undermine the election and to continue to challenge it while joe biden is in office. It suggests to me, hes going to all efforts that he possibly can, and not accepting the reality now and in the future about what happened in november with the election. And am i right, presuming that you have yet to hear officially from the white house on this explosive report, they havent made any comment yet . I have not heard back from them. Carol, your thoughts, applausing the extraordinary reporting of amy guaardner on this. But how does it change the dynamic wednesday . It lays it bare. There are easily a dozen to two dozen white house officials who can tell you, account after account, and they did for the Washington Post about the president s mafiosostyle tactics. Jim comey being told i expect loyalty, mcgahn being told i need you to shut this down. John kelly being told, i need this security clearance for my soninlaw. In real time, were seeing exactly how the president operates. Thats important to hear. It absolutely is. It may have a chapter in the book youre writing on the final days of the trump presidency. Neal, a final word on what we can expect going forward. I think carol hit it so well, talking about the implications for our national governance. If youre a voter in georgia, and youve seen donald trump saying what he said, hes basically trying to take your vote away. If youre a republican or democrat, youre an american first. Do you really want to send two senators who will stand with this nonsense, and not protect our most cherished right, its our right to vote . Its simply about, do we want to live in a democracy or Something Else . So i do think it may impact the race in that way come this week. Neal, carol, kimberly, jeff, i could not have asked for a better team to go through this extraordinary breaking news hour. Thank you, and ill see you all soon. That is a wrap for me on this edition of weekends with alex witt. See you next weekend. Up next, well have the reporter who broke this. Stay with us, its big news. Autoglass came right to me. Ae with service i could trust. Right, girl . Singers safelite repair, safelite replace. Robinhood believes now is the time to do money. Without the commission fees. So, you can start investing today wherever you are even hanging with your dog. So, what are you waiting for . Download now and get your first stock on us. Robinhood. Good afternoon. Im lindsey reiser, in for yasmin vossoughian. Two major news stories were following. Explosive audio released of a conversation between President Trump and the georgia scare tec of state, in which the president tries to make him recount votes in his favor. And the new congress is in session right now, with a vote for House Speaker under way. But its all overshadowed by the new effort by a group of republican senators to overturn the president ial election this week. Well have much more on all of that coming up. But heres where we begin. Nbc news has obtained