reporter: breaking ranks here at the moment and confident when this nominee comes down, they ll get the votes to happen. no defections in the ranks and one key democratic swing vote manchin seems to be on board with the process so far. so far, thank you so much. let s get to this and more. joining me is chief political analyst gloria borger. cnn anchor abby phillip. let s get to it in a second, because i want to start about the inner circle that the trump aides drafted two versions of an executive order to seize these voting machines after he lost the new york times reporting, directed rudy giuliani and trump was the one to direct him to call homeland security about seizing voting machining. let me play what the former attorney general alberto gonzalez said about this today. do you think perhaps something legally incriminating about this information? could be, yes, obviously
sources also tell the times that around that time, trump also tried to persuade state lawmakers in michigan and pennsylvania to use local law enforcement to take control of the voting machining in those states, and they also refused to do so. trump then moved on to the military. the times reports that in a december 18th meeting, michael flynn and sidney powell handed trump a draft executive order that would have authorized the pentagon to seize the voting machines. trump reportedly sought rudy giuliani s counsel but two sources tell the times that giuliani was vehemently opposed to the idea. trump then moved to the department of homeland security. according to sources, trump asked giuliani to call ken cuccinelli, the acting deputy secretary at the time to see if he could help. cuccinelli said he could not. nbc news has not independently confirmed this report. and has reached out overnight to the former president for comment. congresswoman liz cheney is adding her voice to the handful o