The president s Team Planning legal challenges, all of this as the president s chief of staff tests positive for coronavirus and the u. S. Is hit with the most cases ever. Who will be the next president to handle the pandemic . And will today be the day a president ial winner is declared . America is watching and waiting, today, saturday, november 7th, 2020. Announcer from nbc news, this is a special edition of today with peter alexander, kristen welker, and dylan dreyer. Live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. Welcome to today and thank you so much for joining us on this saturday morning. Peter and i are so happy to be joining you from new york. Typically of course we would be in d. C. , but here we are in our election headquarters as we watch and wait for results today. Thats right. We had election day that turned into election week. We welcome you to election weekend. You were in wilmington, i was at the white house. Were in new york for as long as it takes to get you results. It has been four days since election day and so far still no president elect. Weve been keeping an eye on pennsylvania, nevada and georgia as poll workers labor through the night trying to get the votes counted. So heres where it all stands at this hour, the very latest. In pennsylvania with 96 of the vote in, Vice President biden is leading by about 28,000 votes. A victory in pennsylvania with its 20 electoral votes would put biden over the top. Lets go to nevada now. The former Vice President there also holding on to his lead by nearly 23,000 votes. In arizona, biden is ahead by more than 29,000 votes. And then to georgia where the secretary of state there has already said that there will be a recount. Biden holding on to a lead that expanded overnight, now over 7,000 votes. It went up by about 2,800 votes overnight. The Electoral College count stands where it has been since wednesday. Joe biden with 253, as you see on the board. Donald trump still at 214. And mr. Biden addressed the country late last night in a speech saying, quote, we have to remain calm, patient, let the process work out as we count all the votes. Our team of correspondents is fanned out all across the country covering the very latest on the vote count. Lets begin with Geoff Bennett covering the Biden Campaign in wilmington, delaware. Geoff, good morning to you. Reporter kristen, good morning. Joe biden says hes certain of a resounding victory over President Trump as his lead expands in key battleground states, but last night biden stopped short of declaring a win, drawing a real contrast with President Trump and urging patience for the slow vote count. This morning joe biden on the verge of victory. Were on track to over 300 electoral votes, Electoral College votes. And look at the national numbers. Were going to win this race with a clear majority of the nation behind us. Reporter pulling ahead of President Trump in pennsylvania on friday, hours after doing the same in georgia, making it more likely than ever that democrats will reclaim the white house. But while were waiting for the final results, i want people to know were not waiting to get the work done. Reporter committing to combat the Coronavirus Crisis. I want everyone, everyone to know on day one, were going to put our plan to control this virus into action. Reporter and vowing to revive the economy. Millions are worried about making rent and putting food on the table. Our economic plan will put a focus on a path to a strong recovery. Reporter the Campaign Says the candidate is still confident hell win, but is careful not to get ahead of the vote count. I know watching these vote tallies on tv moves very slower slow and as slow as it goes it can be numbing, but never forget the tallies arent just numbers. They represent votes and voters. Men and women who exercised their fundamental right to have their voice heard. Reporter the campaign expecting to grow their lead in pennsylvania, which would put biden over the required 270 electoral votes. On friday, philadelphias democratic mayor declaring the race is over, even though the counting continues. No, i think what the president needs to do is frankly put his big boy pants on. He needs to acknowledge the fact that he lost and he needs to congratulate the winner. Reporter the Biden Campaign saying friday it doesnt matter whether President Trump concedes or not. A biden spokesperson saying the United States government is perfectly capable of escorting trespassers out of the white house. Though biden himself hammered home the importance of unity. We have to put the anger and the demonization behind us. Its time for us to come together as a nation to heal. Its not going to be easy. We have to try. Reporter now, joe biden said last night he hopes to speak to the country again today. Thats if the race is called. Look, if that happens, expect a major celebration out here with speeches from both biden and senator Kamala Harris out here on the outside stage with fireworks to follow. Kristen, peter. Yeah, the anticipation is at a fevered pitch there in wilmington. Geoff bennett, thank you. For his part President Trump did not appear in public on friday, instead choosing to venting his frustration on twitter, questioning the integrity of the election and the vote count itself. Nbcs Kelly Odonnell is at the white house this morning. Kelly, good morning. Reporter good morning, peter. Someone who has emphasized winning as central to his political identity is now forced to wait and watch as those early leads that he had in some key states faded in favor of joe biden. The Trump Campaign and the president insisting there is still time and reason to fight. Election melancholy. For candidate trump on twitter. I had such a big lead in all these states late into Election Night, only to see the leads miraculously disappear as the days went by. Perhaps these leads will return as our Legal Proceedings move forward. President trump, who stayed out of public view friday, tried to steer perceptions and buy himself time. Joe biden should not wrongfully claim the office of the president. I could make that claim also. Well, he did, making this false claim in the wee hours wednesday. Frankly, we did win this election. Reporter not so. The counting continues. President trump also tried to set a new clock, claiming on twitter Legal Proceedings are just now beginning. Although the president had predicted litigation was likely, the campaign scrambled to organize and fund its defense. Trump advisor david bossi, who is not a lawyer, tapped to lead the effort. And thats why donald trump is going to get reelected because every single one of you is here to fight for him. Reporter with former Campaign ManagerCorey Lewandowski trying to keep alive a belief that trump can come back. Are there enough votes to overturn the current deficit . You bet they are. Reporter the Trump Campaign issued a statement friday in the president s name but not really his voice, taking a more lofty approach. This is no longer about any single election, this is about the integrity of our entire election process. Top republicans like Mitch Mcconnell did not side with the president s claims of election fraud. Youre going to have contests, youre going to have court decisions. Thats how we settle these kinds of disputes in this country. Reporter and there is another serious count that is happening here at the white house and thats the number of covid cases. Now, white house chief of staff mark meadows and some Campaign Aides have tested positive for coronavirus. We have often seen mark meadows traveling and right at the side of the president. They were together around the country in the final Campaign Stops and meadows was inside the east wing on the overnight tuesday into wednesday election party, often seen not wearing a mask. Peter, kristen. Mark meadows one of hundreds of thousands of americans to test positive for the virus this last week alone. Kelly odonnell at the white house, thank you. To pennsylvania now with 20 electoral votes that could biden at the top. Stephanie gosk is in philadelphia with the very latest there. A very busy day in philadelphia. Stephanie, good morning. Reporter yeah, another really busy day, kristen, good morning to you. You know, the votes here in pennsylvania keep trickling in. The latest last night at 10 00, thousands of votes out of Allegheny County adding to the total pushing joe bidens lead up to close to 30,000. But you know there are still over 100,000 uncounted ballots out there. They are a mix of mailin ballots and provisional ballots, including a group of 29,000 mailin ballots in Allegheny County. These ballots were delayed. They didnt start counting them until 5 00 on friday because they were originally misprinted and then became part of a legal battle. Then there are these provisional ballots. Unlike the mailin ballots that are breaking in a certain direction, we dont know which way these ballots will go. By our estimate theres no official count. There are more than 80,000 of these, which is an unusually high number of provisional ballots. These are issued when theres some question about a voters eligibility. They have to go through them one by one. Theyll be looking for things including whether or not the voter tried to vote twice. That can be a slow process. We dont know how long thats going to take. Meanwhile, leaders in this state for both Political Parties are pushing back on accusations of fraud, and we are hearing that same mantra over and over again here. Calm and patience. Guys, back to you. All right, two important words right now. Stephanie gosk in philadelphia, thank you. So from pennsylvania lets go to georgia right now where the race is so close that the republican secretary of state has said there will be a recount. Nbcs blayne alexander is in atlanta this morning. Blayne, good morning. Reporter peter, good morning to you. You know, if joe biden does hold on to this lead, it will be the First Time Since 1992 that a democrat has turned this state blue during a president ial election. But we may not know who won the state of georgia until sometime around thanksgiving, possibly even later. Thats because the state is almost certainly helded for a recount. You know, we talk about these thin margins and this is beyond razor thin. Joe biden is in the lead by just 0. 1 . There are only about 7,200 votes that separate him from President Trump, a lead that we saw grow overnight. But there are still thousands of ballots that still need to be counted, many of them provisional ballots, so we could see that lead or that margin change tnat any time. Lets talk about what this recount would look like. It would come after the state certifies the results of this election. The deadline for that is november fwen20th. The recount process would take about a week from start to finish so were looking at possibly after thanksgiving. State Election Officials have said they will try to move that certification up to get that process started earlier, but again, no guarantees, guys. Blayne alexander, thanks so much. The big question looming over all of this, will today be the day we finding out who the president of the United States will be. For that we go to chuck todd, moderator of meet the press. Thank you for being here early on a saturday. Whats the answer . We have the cots and sleeping bags. Im glad you didnt wake up lester and savannah. Well, look, well start in pennsylvania. Were in a strange situation. We actually have a higher confidence that joe biden is going to hit 270 electoral votes than we have on which states are the combination that gets him there. Its an unusual situation where you know youre far more certain of the outcome of the Electoral College right now than each individual state, right . This is the todconundrum weve n in. The first reports out of Allegheny County were heavier towards joe biden than we expected and his margin is creeping awfully close to 30,000. The reason thats an important number is were going to get awfully close right now were at exactly 0. 5, onehalf of 1 . As it depogoes outside of that, youre outside of recount territory. Even with the provisional ballots . Not necessarily. Allegheny, we expect more volt to be added today. Theres more vote by mail in philadelphia. So we know this lead on vote by mail will grow as the provisionals which take longer will perhaps shrink it down. But at some point joe biden may have enough pad today where our best estimate on these provisionals will mean theres just no mathematical possibility it goes down. Were expecting at 9 00 this morning theyll start counting again. Sometimes this morning well see what this first batch looks like but this next set of votes could put this in a mathematical situation that changes things there. So it is, again, the vote by mail and it turned out to be a higher number than we expected. For clarity, do we know how many provisional ballots are still out there in pennsylvania . So 55 of the 67 counties have reported what their provisionals are and it was just over 100,000. The question is how many more in 12 more counties. What we learned is in some of these smaller counties which have already gotten through their provisionals, they looked like election day vote, meaning the election day voters in pennsylvania obviously, it was heavier to President Trump. So will those provisionals look that way . Thats something that we want to see how much is there. So, look, the bottom line is there may be enough pad where those provisionals and what happens there wont matter as much. The other thing to keep an eye on today, so thats this morning. As the morning gets later, we expect a couple more batches of votes to be counted both in Maricopa County, we expect another in fact all of Maricopa County is coming in today. Which is phoenix. Which is the phoenix area. As its been coming in, President Trump has not been getting the vote by the clip hes needed. He needs close to 60 if not now over. We could have a lot clearer picture today by the end of the day, but its funny, its always been right on the margin. We just cant get to our 99. 5 certainty area. And then in nevada, theres also a provisional situation here. Wed like to know what the election day, sameday Voter RegistrationParty Breakdown was in clark county. We know what it was every other day before that. Wed like to see that breakdown a little bit just to make sure there isnt some sort of election day tilt in the sameday Voter Registrations in clark county that we saw, for instance, in pennsylvania and in some other places. But this is getting closer to our 99. 5 certainty level, but again, not there yet. But we do think it could get closer. Its really this morning, weve got some interesting places that could change the situation in pennsylvania. Chuck, very quickly, level of confidence we might get a call within the next 24 hours. Were putting you on the spot. Im giving you a big pad, 24 hours. As ive told my son, its coming soon. Sometimes you miss your due date by three or four days, but the due dates still come. Chuck, fantastic, thank you so much. President trumps legal team is threatening or has filed lawsuits over these Election Results. The u. S. Supreme court has already weighed in now on one request from Pennsylvania Republicans. Nbcs justice correspondent, our colleague pete williams, is in d. C. With more on that this morning. Pete, whats the very latest. Well, the Pennsylvania Republicans are fighting to keep the state from counting the mail ballots that came in between tuesday night and friday evening under that extended deadline that was ordered by a Pennsylvania State court. The secretary of state had earlier ordered all those counties to keep the ballots separate because of pending lawsuits over that deadline. On friday state republicans told the Supreme Court that they couldnt tell if all the counties were obeying that, so they asked the court to order the secretary of state to tell the counties that again, and they also asked for an order that would block local election boards from counting those ballots in case the boards decide later theyre invalid. Late friday Justice Samuel alito did order Election Officials to keep the ballots separate. Democrats say they were already doing that, but he did not block the state from counting them. He asked for a response from the state by 2 00 this afternoon. And then in state lawsuits in pennsylvania, the republicans are suing to stop the counting of any provisional ballots that were cast to let voters fix mistakes on filling out mailin ballots. Even if all these republican efforts succeed, it doesnt appear based on the numbers so far that it would affect enough votes to take away the biden lead in pennsylvania. And there are no other lawsuits, peter, now pending in any other battleground state that w