Then as hospitalizations from covid hit another record high in the United States, we will speak to a virginia doctor who was among the first to receive the pfizerbiontech vaccine. And we will look at how President Trump has raised over 500 million since midoctober while trying to overturn the election. How much of the money is going into his own pocket . Trump has raised countless millns since election day citing the legal costs sociated with his efforts to overturn theesults of the election. But in reality, most othe money raised has gone toward his loosely regulated political vehicle, which can help them retain influence under the Republican Party leaving the white house and also potentially help and if it himself and his family financially. Amy all that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the quarantine report. Im amy goodman. Congress voted monday night to pass a 900 billion Coronavirus Relief package, the first new aid since april. The measure is part of a 2. 3 trillion package that includes 1. 4 trillion to fund the government. It is one of the largest relief package is in u. S. History. The legislation includes a 300perweek federal unemployment assistance for 11 weeks, a round of 600 stimulus checks for people who earn up to 75,000 with another 600 per child, more money for schools and hospitals, and an extension of an eviction moratorium. It also includes 284 billion for another round of Small Business aid through the Paycheck Protection Program and money to purchase and distribute vaccines. We will have more on the covid relief bill after headlines. The United States recorded more than 200,000 new coronavirus cases and nearly covid19 deaths 2000 on monday. U. S. Hospitalizations hit record high topping 115,000 and 16 states recorded a Record Number of new deaths. The virus is ravaging hospitals in Southern California and the san joaquin valley, where some intensive care units are filled to capacity. This comes as the tsa said it screened more than 1 million passengers per day at u. S. Airports over the weekend, the largest travel surge since the pandemic began, as americans shrugged off the desperate pleas of Health Officials to halt Holiday Travel to slow the spread of the virus. On monday, the first doses of modernas newly approved covid19 vaccine arrived at medical centers around the u. S. One of the very first to receive the vaccine was 44yearold arlene ramirez, a nurse from queens, new york, who became ill with covid19 in march and lost her father to the disease. As a health care worker, seeing what we saw, people clinging to life, death after death, having endured all that at the same time illness of my fatherinlaw being severely ill of my fatherys began at the intensive care unit here, this vaccine is hope. Will ceasethat we this pandemic. It is hope we will live a better life. Amy president elect joe biden received an injection of pfizers covid19 vaccine in a televised event monday, urging americans to line up for their shots when the vaccine becomes available to them. Meanwhile, the vatican has told catholics around the world it is morally acceptable to receive covid19 vaccines that were developed using cell lines from aborted fetuses. South carolina Congressmember James Clyburn has ordered health and human servicesecretary alex azar and cdc director Robert Redfield to turn over documents to congress by december 30. Clyburn says an investigation by the select subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis found white house political interference hindered the u. S. Response to the covid19 pandemic far more extensively than previously known. The United Kingdom has become increasingly cut off from the outside world since Prime Minister Boris Johnson set a new variant of coronavirus sweeping this country was 70 more contagious. More than 40 countries have temporarily suspended some or all travel from the u. K. , and British Grocery stores are warning of Food Shortages as delivery trucks piled up onhe fridge side of the channel tunnel separating britain from the european continent. Some observers have give her the crisis to what the u. K. May face if a Nodeal Brexit is allowed to proceed after the new year. Researchers say it is not clear whether the new coronavirus variant is in ct more contagious and it may have been coacted because of the extensive Monitoring System of the u. K. We will have more later in the broadcast. Outgoing attorney general william barr split with the president again on monday, saying there was no need to appoint a special counsel to look into alleged voter fraud in the november election or to investigate hunter biden, the son of the president elect. Barr also dismissed trumps propal for t departmt of holand secity to sze vong machine barr madthe commtsn his final ne cferee as attorneyeneral. On mday, tru and vic present mikeence hela prive meetinwith a gup of republic lawmars, incling ngressmamo brookof alama, to scuss wa to overturn the Electoral College results in january. The conspiracy theorist lawyer Sidney Powell was back at the white house for her third visit in four days. Meanwhile, televangelist Pat Robertson has urged President Trump to retire, saying he believes joe biden won the election. The president still lives in an alternate reality. He really does most of people sight, he lies about this, that come and the other. To him, it is the truth. He is very erratic. He has fired people, five people, insulted people, keeps going on the line. It is a mixed bag. Think it is time to move on. Amy robertson represents nines of evangelicals around the country. Some of the strongest of the base of President Trump. President elect joe biden is set to nominate Connecticut Public schools commissioner Miguel Cardona as the next u. S. Secretary of education. Thats according to the Washington Post which reports the decision is not yet final. Cardona is puerto rican and grew up in public housing. His career in education began as a fourthgrade teacher. He became the states youngest School Principal at age 28. During the pandemic, cardona has advocated for the reopening of schools. Although only about onethird of connecticuts Public School students are able to attend inperson classes. He has pushed for using federal aid to buy personal protective equipment for teachers and classrooms. His administration has also allocated federal funds to purchase laptops and Internet Access for students who remain at home. In immigration news, an undocumented couple from jamaica has moved out of a Philadelphia Church after living there in sanctuary for over two years to avoid deportation. Oneita and Clive Thompson walked ouof the churcmonday morning as Community Supporters cheered them on wi applause and the sound of bells and whistles as they celebrated news the federal government has killed their deportation order. The couple h seven children, three of whom are u. S. Citizens. The thompsons fled jamaica 15 years ago after a gang burnt down their farm and threatened to kill them. The family is now allowed to seek permanent residency in the United States. In new jersey, protests outside Bergen County jail continue, demanding the release of immigrant prisoners during the pandemic. This is one of the prisoners speaking through the phone to a crowd of protesters sunday. We all want to go home to our families. Nobody wants to stay in jail anymore. We are not inmates or prisoners, we are detainees. Everybody wants to go home. Amy this comes as advocates are also denouncing ices violent retaliation against a group of prisoners who led a Hunger Strike for over one month at Bergen County jail. The strike was broken up last week after at least five men were transferred to other jails and one of them was deported to mexico according to advocates. Another one of the former Hunger Strikers father from guatemala, a was released from Bergen County monday with an ankle monitor. A lawsuit filed today by republican attorneys general in nine states is asking a federal judge in texas to declare the deferred action for Childhood Arrivals Program unlawful. The lawsuit comes just two weeks after another federal Court Ordered the Trump Administration to fully and immediately restore the program, known as daca, in its original form. Since it was passed in 2012, daca has granted protection from deportation and a work permit to at least 700,000 undocumented people who were brought to the United States as children. Reuters reports the Incoming Biden Administration is considering a plan that would grant temporary protected status to more than 1 Million Immigrants from guatemala and honduras after hurricanes eta and iota battered Central America in november. A decision is expected after bidens inauguration on january 20. Congress has approved a bipartisan bill that would expand critical funding to help identify human remains of Asylum Seekers and migrants whove died in remote areas of the border while crossing into the United States. The legislation also asks for additional 911 rescue beacons to be deployed in Border Regions where people often go missing. Thousands of human remains have been found across the u. S. Mexico border since the u. S. Government began enforcing its immigration prevention through deterrence policy. The practice pushed Asylum Seekers and migrants to cross through remote and deadly routes. To see our coverage of that area, go to democracynow. Org. In mexico, the former governor of jalisco state, aristoteles sandoval, was shot dead friday, in one of the highest profile assassinations mexico has seen amid an ongoing spate of violence in recent years. Sandoval was gunned down in a Puerto Vallarta restaurant restroom. The perpetrators have not been identified but Security Experts say it could be members of the jalisco cartel. As of november, over 31,000 murders have been recorded in mexico in 2020. In oregon, a group of farright protester stormed the statehouse monday to disrupt a special legislative session. Some of the protesters forced their way into the statehouse which was closed to the public due to the pandemic. They attacked Security Officers with chemical sprays and assaulted a number of journalists. Four people were arrested. The demonstrators were calling for an end to Public Health restrictions aimed to slow the spread of covid. Participants included members of the farright group patriot prayer. And a statue of confederate general robert e. Lee has been removed from the u. S. Capitol. The statue represented virginia in the National Statuary hall collection. The state of virginia plans to replace it with a statue of civil rights pioneer Barbara Johns. In 1951, the 16yearold johns organized a student walkout to protest segregated schools in virginia. She was also involved in a lawsuit that became part of the landmark brown v. Board of education case. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the quarantine report. Im amy goodman in new york joined by my cohost Juan Gonzalez in new brunswick, new jersey. Hi, juan. Juan hi, amy. Welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. Amy congress voted monday night to pass a 900 billion Coronavirus Relief package, the first new aid since april. The measure is part of a 2. 3 trillion package that includes 1. 4 trillion to fund the government. The combined legislation is among the largest relief packages in u. S. History. President trump has until december 28 to sign it. The Coronavirus Relief part of the bill includes 300perweek federal unemployment assistance for 11 weeks, a round of 600 stimulus checks for people who earn up to 75,000 with another 600 per child, more money for schools and hospitals, and an extension of an eviction moratoriums by a month. It also includes 284 billion for another round of Small Business aid through the Paycheck Protection Program, as well as 20 billion to buy vaccines and make the vaccine available at no charge for anyone who needs it and 8 billion for vaccine distribution. The package includes a ban on Surprise Medical Bills from outofnetwork medal providers, a resration of pell grants for incarcerated students, 35 billion to fund wind, solar and other clean power sources, and 15 billion to u. S. Airlines to bail them out. The government funding part of the bill also allocates nearly 1. 4 billion for the border wall. Independent senator Bernie Sanders ofermont td cnn th covid lief bilis a ste forwarbut doesot go fa enough thi bil to be honesthas a t of ver importa stuffn it. We worked ry hard iorked th senat holly tmake sure there wode directayments. I waed 1200 we end up with 600. For family of four, wil be 400. Ll that help . S, it ll. Ist enough noit is not. We maned textend employme for anoer 11 s with aupplement of 300 on top oformal unployment is that ough . No, shodveeen for fou monthsnd that mber shod ve been gher. Aidded zero fancial to stas and lalities l ov this country who a suffering devasting fancial oblems which mns they ve to lay o firem and pole offirs and tchers a so rth and soone. Sohis is atep fward. It is beer than thing,ut it is nowhere near in my view where it should be going. Amy meanwhile, treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin said on cnbc that hundreds of dollars in direct payments could begin reaching people as early as next week. So i think as you know, we were worried about Something Like a Great Depression again earlier in the year. But this is much more targeted. I expect it is needed in a short period of time, and i think this will take us through the recovery. Amy to talk more about this 900 billion stimulus package that is half the size of the 2. 2rillion stimulus law passed in march, we are joined by darrick hamilton, professor of economics at the new school, where he is also founding director of the newly created institute for the study of race, stratification, and political economy. He was a surrogate and economic adviser on Bernie Sanders 2020 president ial campaign. Also one of sanders appointees to the bidensanders joint task force. Welcome back to democracy now can you start off by reacting to the overall stimulus bill, what is in there, what you feel needs to be in their . It is long overdue. I am glad it is here. It needs to be thought of as a to getbill, as a bridge us to abide presidency where we can do something that is far and, keepr in scale on, leading into transformative policy so we will be less vulnerable to the next pandemic our next Economic Crises for everyday vulnerabilities that Many Americans live with. My concern is, will i see some excellent provisions in this bill that were not in the previous bill for instance, there is now an allowance for a family where perhaps one person, one wage earner in the family does not have a Social Security number, may possibly be undocumented, that they would be able to count in terms of being able to get payments and actually even retroactively claim it on next years taxes for the previous stimulus that there were not eligible for but at 5600 pages, this bill obviousl has a lot of stuff that we have not yet clearly heard about. Were told were not going to get the final version possibly until sometime next week. Im wondering, do you have any concerns about some of the stuff that has already come forward . For instance, apparently now they are increasing the that businesses can take for business meals to 100 from 50 . Controlledlowing Foreign Corporations to be able to bring back their income from abroad without having to pay taxes, that they have been sheltering abroad. Theyre all caps of other provisions, including an expansion of the new markets tax credit, which to me has always been a scamper Real Estate Investors to make super profits of expansion of the new markets tax credits. And we dont know much of what is still in the bill. Your concerns about that . You are spot on, juan. We know washington politics includes porkbarrel politics and cronyism where we are going to get into the bill, and that is problematic. It fact it is so long and just got released and we have not had a chance to dissect it, these are problems. But there also some positive things in there that we should recognize. And the politics of happiness piloted positive things in the bill becomes very useful as we get rid of that politics of the past where we load bills with special interests that are not aimed at the American People. For example, recognition that education itself needs to be an industry that we invest in. Education, money for relief set aside for transportation. You and i both know there needs to be some money for state and localities as well. And that is not in the bill. So there are a lot of problems. It was definitely necessary that we had the bill passed. What i like is the precedent of interventions in some areas, like you pointed out, undocumented people families have access to some relief. Lucky also pointed out, having a workerst includes gate we think about the unemployed. Why should that ever be a distinction . Going forward, we need to provide unemployment leave for all American Workers period. We know this to classification of putting vulnerability under workers where they are not formally employed in firms that we traditionally employ them, the fishing of the workforce, we need to rethink how we design unemployment so all American Workers, documented and undocumented, in fact, we need pathways to having citizenship for people who are undocumented. The last point i will make, this sets a precedent for us to build upon a step that is what it needs to be thought of. Senator sanders is right. There is optimism because we look at people going into congress, they are i think still in Standing Firm and Building Industrial policy that focuses on workers. Juan i am wondering if you could talk a little bit more about like a provisions lack of provisions for local and state governments . New jersey, for instance, this because is having to deal with borrowing over 4 billion to deal with its expected budget gap this year. Could you talk about the plight of states and municipalities right now . Yes. The plight is such that state ies ar constrained to balance the budget i know what the federal government is not. The federal government has the power of perks and can find us to really. But weve been told a great deal of burden on state and localities to take care of their citizens without increasing federalism were state and localities are responsible for the residence, as well as ellen singh their budget. It is really problematic. And the impact is going to be dramatic. If we think about who is receiving the benefits at local levels as well as who is employed and what austerity is going to mean it will mean layoffs for teachers if we dont get relief om federal government. It is going to be reductions in benefits such as contributions to food security, such as contributions to schools. So it is critical and vital that you get the next package, when biden takes office, that there is really directed to state and localities. Amy professor hamilton, Public Citizen last month tweeted a comparison of the wages subsidized by different governments during the Coronavirus Crisis. Whereas japan stood at close to 100 , the u. S. Has subsidized 0 of wages due to the pandemic. Paycheck Protection Program is what have right now. If we had a paycheck guarantee, that would be more direct. Bigger in scale and provide more security. If you look at our international comparisons, we are not doing what we should be doing. And we have Greater Public power to do so. But i think the clear narrative is this was a necessary ingredient that theres a lot more work we need to do. I think that is the resounding message. Amy the issue of corporate liability, what Mitch Mcconnell and others were holding up this l4 that corporations would be protected from consumers or workers during the pandemic being sued, that ultimately was dropped out of this. There are many interesting things in this. If you could respond to that and also the no surprise for medical bill procedures. This is an amazing accomplishment pushed by Grassroots Health advocates around the country. They worked on this for years. When you go to an emergency room, or getting an operation, have no idea which doctors are working on you. Some can be outofnetwork. Then you end up with instead of a 600 emergency room bill, Something Like 10,000. Private equity groups have bought up emergency room doctor groups just so they could go out of network and make this fortune. This is becoming a legal . Ideally i mean, medicare for all would address all of this if we had a singlepayer Health Insurance system. But we dont have that at this point. I agree with you, amy. We have made some progress on the progressive side. So there is a lot to be disturbed about in this bill. Juan started out the conversation describing some of this porkbarrel politics that still exists. Progressives should be vigilant and steadfast and also feel some sense of accomplishment in that we were able to keep out corporate liabilities as an emphasis. So it signals we need to put workers first. And with the provision you just described, some people are not hit with a surprise medical bill that they did not anticipate, that is an accomplishment. The fact we are sending direct checks to American People as relief, that is any accompaniment. Albeit too small. 300 is not enough. 600 is not enough, neither is 300 supplemental for an insurance is sets a tone for what government can do. What we should not be concerned about is austerity politics. Some notion of deficit constraint. I think both sides of the aisle, particularly the left side of the aisle, needs to recognize pay go is a problem, particularly in pandemic. The constrained use of the public perks for relief for ericans is absolutely not what we should be doing. We need to be doing more to ensure, as i said earlier, not only will we have protections during a pandemic, that we have a structure that when we are not in a peculiar economic crisis where people can have social mobility, a moral economy. Juan one of the positive aspects of the bill to me is credited to the pressure of the Sanders Campaign and the left of the Democratic Party are the provisions on addressing Climate Change in terms of apparently credits for solar installations and for research longerwind power and serving batteries. Could you talk about some of those provisions . Yeah, to be frank, i dont know the specific details but i think it goes back to that narrative that there was ridiculed directed at Bernie Sanders as if he was holding the bill up. But as we can see, there are provisions in their that he is not alone. Theres a whole conglomerate within congress that is fighting for the rights of americans. I think that momentum is illustrated in this bill. To me that is what we should be celebrating a focusing on also, the fact we do have a pathway forward. You cited one, Climate Change. Clearly, if we think about this pandemic and he isolated isolation, that is a missed opportunity. This economic severity, the health risk, were still going to be vulnerable after this pandemic, after the dissemination of the vaccine. We have climate catastrophe looming and waiting if we dont do anything about it. Amy finally, professor hamion, what do you think e Biden Administration should do, President Biden should do first language he is in office, both through executive action and pushing for economic recovery . What is most critical . In earnest, there is no Silver Bullet policy so we need to be thinking about economic protection across almost a bill of rights. If i were to single out some, for one, he can address the debt. We are going to have this benefit the pandemic legislation included moratorium on evictions, moratorium on somelosures, as well as reliefor students with regard to paying back their debt. So i would certainly recommend thugh executive order if congress does not enact, some relief with regards to student debt that has been accumulated. But if i have to focus on something, it is jobs. Public jobs. Public jobs that are building a better human and physical infrastructure for americans, as well as putting americans to work with a decent wage and benefits put pressure on the private sector to ensure they also have to have decent wages and benefits if they want to compete in the marketplace for American Workers. Amy darrick hamilton, thank you for being with us professor of , economics at the new school, where he is also founding director of the newly created institute for the study oface, stratification, and political economy. As hospitalizations hit another record high in the United States and as britain has cut off the rest of europe because of a coronavirus,e were going to speak to a virginia doctor who was among the first to receive the pfizerbiontech vaccine. We will ask him a lot of questions. Stay with us. [music break] amy all that i have by quetzal. This is democracy now im amy goodman with Juan Gonzalez. The number of nations banning travel from the United Kingdom continues to grow in response to the new highly infectious variant of the coronavirus british Health Officials announced over the weekend, throwing much of britain into strict lockdown. South africa has detected a similar variant. More than 40 countries have temporarily suspended some or all travel from the u. K. , including canada, chile, france, ireland, and hong kong. The United States has not announced a travel ban with either england or south africa. On monday, Washington State governor jay inslee announced his state would require those arriving from either country to quarantine for 14 days upon rival. British officials claim the new variant could be 70 more contagious but is not thought to be more deadly. Many scientists are skeptical of the claim, which has not been peerreviewed. Experts also say its possible the coronavirus variant did not develop in the United Kingdom, but instead was detected there first because of britains extensive Monitoring System. Of the codso other countrs of the genetic sequence could analyze what they have. The United States does not share that kind of information as widely. On tuesday, biontech ceo ugur sahin said he was confident the covid19 vaccine would work on the new variant. We are going to evaluate that in a test. We will bld this into our system and evaluate if the immune response against our vaccine is able to were confident this will be a cases in the past we have tested more mutations. Es of positions multiple under the rus. Amy this comes as the United States recorded more than 200,000 new coronavirus cases and nearly 2000 covid19 deaths on monday. U. S. Hospitalizations hit another world record high topping 115,000 and 16 states corded a Record Number of new deaths. For more were joined in charlottesville, virginia, by dr. Taison bell. He is a Critical Care and Infectious Disease physician at the university of virginia who received the pfizerbiontech covid19 vaccine earlier this month. Dr. Bell, welcome to democracy now we are talking global, but lets correct the molecular and personal level, how did it feel to get this vaccine . What should people expect and why did you decide to be among the first to get this . Dr. Bell, can you hear me . I can hear you. Amy can you talk about the experience a how it felt . Quotes i received it last tuesday and just had a little bit of injection site pain initially, but right after that, a little arm soreness which has been commonly reported. The days folwing, i felt completely fine and have no symptoms whatsoever. It is important to point out a lot of people who had other symptoms like maybe a lowgrade temperature or fever or chills, it was after the second dose. After the second dose, we will see. A so far, so good. Some ofuld you address the issues that have been raised about reported side effects . Should people be concerned about issues like bells palsy or allergies severe allergies or is it allergies in reaction to a previous vaccination . That is a good question. To address the issue bells palsy, there was a numerical difference in the number of patients who had bells palsy under the clinical trials. In the clinical trials. What confuses is there is a baseline rate of bells palsy in the Community Just without a trial happening in the first place. The numbers kinda match up with those numbers. It is hard to tell whether it was due to the vaccines or not. At this point it does not seem to be a signal. We will get more data as it goes on. The issue with allergies is a little more nuance. We have seen the reports of people in the u. K. And alaska who had anaphylacticlike reactions which are severe reactions to the vaccine. Is to onlyndation not receive the vaccine if you have a history of severe allergies to one of the known components of the vaccine itself. So pfizer lists the 10 components in the vaccine and moderna has their list as well. Most of these are like salt, sugars, to keep the mrna that could bele potentially responsible for the severe reactions. For all intents and purposes, unless you have those reactions, the recommendation is to go ahead and get the vaccine. If you have a history of severe allergic reactions, just wait a little longer than the usual 15 and its and what 30 minutes after the injection to make sure you dont have these allergic symptoms. In all these cases, the workers were in the monitoring period and were able to receive the treatment they needed. Juan could you talk about the rollout of the vaccine and specifically the priorities recommended by the cdc in terms of who should get it . Obviously, especially after even within the first group of Frontline Health care providers, there is a lot of leeway. For instance, we have all seen house on jacob to of cnn, a surgeon and journalist, got a shot in the first week even though he does not directly deal with covid patients, being a surgeon. So people within the medical community, there are people who arefrontline and those who in other fields or administration of then when you get to the second priorities , the First Responders and people over 75, among the First Responders, theres a huge variety. You could be a Police Captain or i Deputy Inspector who never comes in much contact with the public versus a beat cop who might regularly come in contact not only with people he has to arrest but Homeless People and others. Could you talk about how you determine a locality determines which people within the Priority Group to get the vaccine first . That is a difficult questn but i think what we should focus on is equity distribution. So equilibrium who are the highest risk providers initially provided front uncovered care and hospital workers in those communities that are also at high risk. Thatvan example recently a group was skipped over. Privateons largest historically black academic science, they have been leading on the front for covid19 and the workers are extremely high risk. Not only that, the president and ceo is on the Advisory Committee to the fda that initially reviewed and approved the vaccine. There is no way they should have been skipped over the initial shipment of vaccine. Planrns out the state actually focused on larger institutions likeanderbilt but left out small institutions like mary and save them for the moderna vaccine. They had to get doses of the Pfizer Vaccine from a separate hospital system. If we think about this through an equity lens, we need to m think about places likeaharry initially and change it from shall we distribute Early Vaccine to places like this that are extremely high risk and serve a higher risk community, if not should we distribute but we need to distribute to places like this and how do we overcome the hurdles . Y can bes like maharr left out and into black and Brown Community is at risk. We need to think about equitable distribution. Amy if you can talk, dr. Bell, about the reports of the mutation of this virus . It is not a different strain, it is a variant. It looks like britain is being basically shut off from europe right now with this reported variant that could be up to 70 effective or maybe just so will document because they are sequencesese gene that the u. S. Has not contributed to very much so we dont know as much about what is happening in this country, but the significance of both britain also south africa and what this means, that the head of biontech says they have taken into consideration these various variants and it will be covered by the vaccine, for example, that you took, dr. Bell . Exactly. The variant that has been circulating is relatively recent discovery but was thought to have ourred beginning in september in the southern part of the u. K. Now we have seen it has become one of the more dominant species or dominant variance of the vaccine or the virus itself. It is importanto remember that the mutations will naturally happen in the course of the virus and into community and circulating. Luckily for us, the coronavirus actually does not mutate at the same rate of viruses like inuenza oriv, which is a good thing. So it is not expected to have these changes in variance in the community. The researchers that came up with a vaccine do this, of course, and then for it. So the protein that is training our immune system to make antibodies against the coronavirus is actually comex three dimensional structure and our immune system generates anbodies in different parts of it. For instance, if you were to go outside and see a baby and then go backater and see the baby is asleep, so recognize it as the say baby en if the eyes are clos or theres a blanket over it. There are different ways for you to recognize was something is. Likewise, the immune system has to figure out if something is a friend or foe. Even if one part of that mutation is a little different, you have other antibodies that recognize it and you can still recognize whether something is a friend or foe. Down the road, is there the possibility there are so many changes the protein might change enough we have to update the vaccine . Sure, that is a possibility. If that were to happen, the scientists are already on it and have a plan to update it if they need to. I think the main thing to think about with this variant is that it does appear to be or transmissible. That means our Public Health practices are going to have to be more important like social distancing, wearing a mask, avoiding tightly packed indoor spaces. In the vaccine should still work at this point. Juan dr. Bell, could you talk about the past nine months, what they have been like for you . You have been overseeing the covid19 care unit at the university of virginia and personally and politically what kind of tall has this taken on you as you have been dealing with this day in and day out . I think i could join many healthcare workers and sega has been a personal hell. There is no other way to describe it. No one person has been spared, whether it is you contracted covid yourself, taking care of family members or colleagues or friends that have can attracted contracted covid or being affected by the shut down in the economy or children not in school. Are all dealing with this in some form or fashion. It is disproportionately affecting black and brown communities. Some people i know and love, my own family members, it is horrendous and what we have been dealing with. That is why was so important a moment i received the vaccine because i felt a little bit of a bird been lifted. Of course we have a long way to go. There is hope. We have to get through the light at the end of the tunnel. There are dark days but we can get there. It will take a big effort and continued vigilance on our part. Amy finally, dr. Bell, i could not help but think as we learned about the state of virginia taking down the statue of this confederate general robert e lee from the u. S. Capitol from statuary hall and replacing it by a civil rights pioneer Barbara Johns who protested segregated schools in virginia, involved in a lawsuit that became part of the landmark brown b board of education case, thinking about those kind of statues being tumbled and the kind of work youre doing your final message, not only to pluck charlottesville, given documenting your attorney along your way, but to people throughout this country and the world when it comes to dealing with covid and who gets treated, who doesnt . Ini think the symbolism society matters. Actions matter as well. It is not lost on me i work on an institution founded by the members of society who highly esteemed but thought people like me were unwory, disagreeable body odors, and were subhuman. I walk in icu and try to save lives for the commonwealth of virginia. Amy youre talking about Thomas Jefferson . I definitely am talking about Thomas Jefferson. What we have to remember is we have to take down our symbols that are honoring legacies that do not agree with our true nature of american democracy. But we also have to take action and make sure our actions speak for our words. That means fusing on equitable this infusion, thinking about black and red committees on the outset instead of an afterthought. Black and brown unities on the outset instead of as an afterthought. This is a chance where we can actually make True Partnership with our communities that need us the most and we have to take that chance and take that opportunity. Amy they can so much, dr. Taison bell Critical Care and , Infectious Disease physician at the university of virginia. The pfizerbiontech covid19 receivedthe pfizerbiontech covid19 vaccine earlier this month. Next, how President Trump has raised over 500 Million Dollars since october as he tries to overturn the election. How much of that money is going into his own pockets . Stay with us. [music break] amy memories of the future by meklit featuring preservation hall horns. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the quarantine report. Im amy goodman with Juan Gonzalez. As President Trump continues to look for ways to overturn the 2020 election, he has also continued to raise massive sums of money including 250 million since election day. Trumps largest single days for online donations actually came after election day. On november 6, he raised nearly 750,000 per hour. The New York Times reports that more than 60 million of the money he has raised has gone to a new Political Action committee that trump will control after he leaves office. For a sense of scale, this is about as much money as trump spent to win the president ial republican president ial nomination in 2016. The times report opens donald j. Trump will exit the white house as a private citizen next month perched atop a pile of Campaign Cash unheardof for an outgoing president , and with few legal limits on how he can spend it. The times also documents how trumps new pac, called save america, has actually being actually been receiving nearly all of the money he gathered from supporters who donated to what was billed as a Georgia Election fund to fight the two Runoff Senate races there. Neither republican senator on the ballot will get the funds. Will trump use this money to pay off his massive 420 million debt or to fund a potential 2024 run . For more, we go to brendan fischer, director of federal reform at Campaign Legal center. Hes been closely following the money trump is raising since the election. Welcome to democracy now this is an astounding story. For people who are looking at what he is doing and saying, is a total madness as he continues to allege electoral fraud, taking case after case to federal courts and the Supreme Court as, what, close to 50 cases have been thrown out of court even the trump ally judges are saying no to him he wont accept it. Is this madness or is it that every time he does this, he has another incentive and fundraising letter to say, lets fight the fraud . Ultimately, that money goes into his pocket, brendan fischer. Thats right. I think it is fair to say this is entirely president. President after a leaves office, he fades into the background, begins to focus on writing his memoirs, setting up his president ial library. But trump has been on a fundraising tear since election day asking for donations to Election Defense Fund or to support the senate races in georgia. But most of every donation, as you said, has goneo his new leadership pac save america. Save america sff anything any of trumps postelection litigation, not financing the senate races in georgia. Instead, it is a loosely regulated political vehicle that trump can tap into after he leaves the white house to retain influence in the republican and also to potentially benefit himself and his family financially. That,could you talk about the potentially benefiting himself and his family . Because most people are not aware when you have Campaign Cash first of all, is not declared himself a candidate. So if he did, he would have to you would then have to have more restrictions on how he could use money. Could you talk about the potential ways that he could directly benefit, that this could become the ultimate griff ar on his way out the door . First of all, it might be helpful to define what a leadership pac is. It is effectively a second pot of money separate and apart from a candidates on campaign fund. Leadership pack is supposed to be used to support other candidates but very often their used as a slush fund because their regular loosely regulated. The key distinction between his as save america is that Trump Campaign funds cannot be used for personal expenses. But the federal Election Commission has not interpreted that personal use ban to apply to a candidates leadership pac, which opens up all sor of ways that trump could potentially use to leadership pac funds benefit himself or his family financially. He could pay himself a salary. You could but Tiffany Trump on the payroll. He could buy enough copies of don jr. s book to put it on the New York Times best seller list. He could rent out entire floors at trump hotel. There are very few limits as far as the way the sec has interpreted this law. Maga what about trumps pac . It is really the fundraising vehicle for save america. Fundraisingf appeals that have gone out since election day asking for donations to a nonexistent Election Defense Fund or asking for donations to support the senate races in georgia are actually going to trump maga p ac. When you read the small print, shows every donation to trump maga pac is reallocated. At this point, 75 of every donation that you get any response to trump fundraising appeal will be l. A. Gated to save america allocated to save america. For the first week after the election, most of every small donation was going to be routed toward trumps 20 debt retirent. After trump set up save america coming on most of every donation goes to finance save america. Amy this is president rumps former personal attorney and Michael Cohen speaking to msnbc after the explosive New York Times article on trumps taxes broke. I think what is bothering him the most is trump has over 420 million in outstanding loans that are coming due. In the event there is a potential Tax Liability for the time period that theyre talking about, it could be hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars. To, add those together, he is facing potential bankruptcy. You will find some corrupt foreign entity to help him out of the situation. Amy we can find a corrupt foreign entity as michael, said, or send out these fundraising letters, sometimes another a number a day come and raise the money he needs. No longers when he is president , also president ial himself openving to lawsuits, which might explain some of these astounding meetings he is having at the white house right now, for example, Sidney Powell, who they just forced out because of her outrageousness and unfounded conspiracy voter claims, possibly talking about making her some kind of special counsel on electoral fraud but also talking with people like the man he just pardoned, general michael flynn, pushing for martial law so that trump does not have to the office. Can you explain what happens after he leaves and what kind of accountability there is for the money and what needs to be done to change the entire system . It is not only President Trump that could take advantage of this. Of pacs is noton entirely new. There is bipartisan industry of shady political operators using incredibly misleading fundraising appeals to ask people to donate money that is not actually going toward the purposes for which people donate. But it is rare to see such misleading appeals coming from a candidate, much less the incumbent president. Campaign finance does not really look at the veracity of fundraising appeals. Could be some movement is with the sec and extending the ban on personal use of Campaign Funds to leadership pacs. Clarify aing it to candidate or politician like trump cannot convert leadership pac funds to zone personal use. Juan theres one trump donor, North Carolina businessman fredric eshelman, has sued the campaign to recover his 2. 5 million nation, citing disapinting results. Do you think there might be other such lawsuits and they have any chance of winning . Yeah, so that lawsuit actually pertains to a separate group which also took money from or took money from eshelman and promises to try and overturn the Election Results and of course failed. I think a distinction between where a lot of the money is coming from for trump leadership pac and eshelman, a lot of the money from trump is coming from small donors, from people who may not have the resources to sue trump or to really even identify the money is being misused. I think that is part ofgr what s unique about this. Typically, candidates have an incentive to maintain a level of trust to their supporters. They might use inflammatory fundraising appeals but they want to maintain a level of trust so people keep giving. Trump is the person who said he could shoot somebody off at avenue and still maintain a level of report in this postelection fundraising might be the political version of that. Amy thank you, brendan fischer, rector of federal reform at Campaign Legal center. Aiuog