Years later we could lose more americans than that in a single day without a word from our president . Fortunately we have good news to begin with tonight. In u. K. , tuesday, day one for distribution of the vaccine. Well have a report from london within this hour. But then theres the situation in our country, where the virus is at its height, where the virus reaches a new height with each passing day. We are closing in on 15 million cases, the death toll now over 283,000. Weve added more than 1 million new cases just in first five days of december according to Johns Hopkins and the covid tracking project. Weve lost 16,000 people just so far in the month of december. Dr. Anthony fauci now warning the pandemic is entering a treacherous phase in this country that a steep acceleration in new cases is more than just likely. With thanksgiving, it was just the end of the week, then you go back to work the next week. With christmas it starts several days before, goes through christmas, the week after christmas, into new years and the holiday. I think it could be even more of a challenge than what we saw with thanksgiving. We are in a very critical time in this country right now. The fda meets thursday to talk about emergency approval for that Pfizer Vaccine. Signoff could come just days after the meeting. Meanwhile the New York Times reporting tonight the white house passed up an offer from pfizer over the summer to sell the u. S. Government additional doses of the vaccine. The administration denies this report, but it indeed raises more questions about whether there will be enough of the vaccine for everyone to eventually get one. Tomorrow the white house will hold what its calling a vaccine summit to focus on distribution to build up Public Confidence in the vaccine. While that is going on, Republicanled SenateHomeland Security committee will be hearing from one dr. Jane oaur rent who has advocated for hydroxychloroquine as a treatment. Joe biden has moved forward for naming choice, current California Attorney general Xavier Becerra will be the nominee for secretary of health and human services. Former member of congress, vocal challenger of trumps efforts to gut the Affordable Care act. And biden will nominate retired u. S. Army general lloyd austin to be defense secretary. Would need a special waiver, fewer than seven years since retired. Should he be confirmed would be first black dod secretary. Duties would include leading u. S. Military effort to make sure the vaccine is distributed all over the country. Among this, rudy giuliani, who has been traveling the country to overturn the Election Results is being treated for coronavirus at georgetown hospital. Holding event in oval office featuring several people without masks, gave update on his friends condition. Hes doing very well. Just spoke to him, no temperature. Trump is not letting go of his effort to invalidate the 2020 election, so he can stay in power. In fact tonight the Washington Post is reporting he called the speaker of the Pennsylvania House of representatives twice during the past week for help. Nbc news confirms trump talked to the House Speaker but his spokesperson says trump didnt press for the election to be overturned. Meanwhile cases brought in michigan and georgia to challenge joe bidens win both went nowhere when judges threw them out. Georgia also today recertified bidens win after yet another recount. Tomorrow is whats known as the safe harbor deadline for certification of state results of the election, when they need to lock in their Electoral College delegates. Some trump allies are hoping the Supreme Court intervenes to upend the election result somehow before the delegates are set in stone, theres no sign of that happening, no test case headed their way. Trump repeated false assertion it was rigged. Claimed he won 2016 and 2020 as well. Politics, i won two, im 20, thats pretty good too. Well see how it turns out. Election was totally rigged, its disgrace to our country, like a third world country. Case has been made and well find out what we can do about it, youll see big things next couple of days. Leadoff guests, ashley parker, Pulitzer Prize winning reporter for Washington Post, peter baker, chief White House Correspondent for the New York Times. Dr. Vin gupta, specializing in these diseases and affiliate assistant professor at university of Washington Institute for Health Metrics and evaluation. Welcome to you all as we start another week. Ashley, if we presume stages of acceptance not unlike grief, what stage would you put the president at based on your reporting tonight, accepting the fact that he lost. The president is sort of caught in the buffering stage. There was a sense early on after election day from his own advisers that he just needed time to move through the stages of coming to accept his loss. But in my reporting, i was talking to a Senior Administration official who basically said, look, anytime i or anyone else goes in to talk to the president , it doesnt matter what the topic, the stated agenda of the meeting is, always comes back to what the president again falsely, baselessly calls a rigged election. An election thats being stolen from him. Thats what he wants to talk to. This person said the president basically has 75 versions of the exact same conversation every single day with whoever walks into the oval office. You cannot get him to focus on the topic at hand, and the only variation is whatever sort of new Conspiracy Theory he has seen on news max or oan or has been brought to him by an ally who believes in this stuff or at least wants to encourage the president. Thats where he is right now. Hes stuck somewhere in stages of grief and acceptance purgatory, and not really moving on. Peter baker, in the ongoing dichotomy that is your career in journalism, youve written quite elegantly about a period in the west wing that has been quite ugly of late, that is in these days since he lost, how do you reckon this ends . Well, look, it ends january 20th at noon, then the president will no longer be president. Doesnt mean hes going away, or wont continue to shape the National Conversation some way or another, but will do it from outside the white house. We have safe harbor day tomorrow, basically all but insulates results from further challenges, at least in theory thats what the law is supposed to do. Vote on december 13th by electors and congress is supposed to count and accept them before early january. Could see points where disruption could be made but no outcome is going to change the result of joe biden being the next president. Its beyond feasible at this point. The president is lashing out, hes obviously doing things no other president has ever done, calling legislators in pennsylvania, governor of georgia, michigan legislators, gove governor of arizona trying to get them to overturn the will of the people in order to substitute electors favorable to him even though he lost in those states. Its unprecedented and wont be successful. But we have a polarized time. Rather than coming together in which one president graciously hands off to another, tradition of last 200 and some years, we have continuation of the divisiveness weve seen past five years encouraged by number one person in the country and ignoring publicly the real crisis going on in the country with more than 2,000 people dying every day. Hey, doctor, we like to refer to special relationship between the u. S. And u. K. , we have something in common, both led by men early on coronavirus deniers. Of course both men lost time and lives and that continues here. For people who may be curious, why are the brits going first in terms of this vaccine starting tomorrow and not the americans . You know on that, i would say, good evening by the way, the fda here has a more rigorous process. I would encourage all viewers here to take heart that the delay here is not because of politics or a problem with the vaccine, were taking more time to vet the science. Thats a good thing. Hope that engenders greater confidence in American People in the quality of the Pfizer Vaccine and subsequently moderna. If theres concerns, theres concerns raised on the supply we have access to from pfizer, this is where its important to think about Global Engagement and not rush to judgment on the w. H. O. W. H. O. Leads initiative across 172 countries, covax facility, effort across 172 countries to help with r d and pipeline of other vaccine candidates. We dont have access to that or nine other vaccine candidates which we could have if we participated in w. H. O. And engaged with the Global Commons here. Its not to say were not going to have adequate vaccines by march april time frame, but it didnt have to be this complicated. Ashley, back over to your beat, and how it extends across the potomac into northern virginia. Pentagon, if he is confirmed, retired general lloyd austin will run the department of defense and hundreds of thousands of employees. What kind of situation, in english, how big of a mess is he apt to encounter at the pentagon if confirmed . Just in terms of handling the coronavirus and vaccine distribution, its an incredibly daunting task in the best of circumstances. And this is not the best of circumstances. This is a pandemic that has been allowed to rage out of control. Were seeing new records, sort of records you dont want to be setting, every single day. And because of the lag time theres a sense that december is absolutely going to be the worst month yet, followed by potentially several more grim months of a very dark winter. And this is also being hampered by a transition process that was late to get started in part of what we discussed earlier in the segment, the president s reluctance to admit defeat and start a peaceful and efficient transition of power, which is always incredibly important, but even more so now when you have Something Like operation warp speed, started under president trump, could be one of the big Success Stories of his administration but it needs to be from supply chain to fda approval to vaccine rollout to how many doses the u. S. Gets, it needs to be streamlined with the Incoming Administration who has to take this over. That is going to be a challenge. Peter, continuing on your beat and as it extends over to the department of justice at times, bill barr, the attorney general has been such a supplicant to this president , as has been reporte in both newspapers, why would he be mulling over leaving now after all hes been through. Wouldnt think 43 days before Inauguration Day leaves time left to leave on matter of principle. But he seems to be discussing leaving before the end of the year. Obviously if he does that, will be a statement of some sort. Were not exactly sure why he would do it. People weve talked to say its something he thought about even before the tension in recent days. But youre right, hes been one of the most important cabinet secretaries. Considered to be his roy cohn. Didnt have it in Jeff Sessions and bill barr helps in number of occasions, framing the Mueller Report in terms favorable to the president , lowering the sentence for roger stone, the president s friend, overturning the guilty plea of National Security adviser michael flynn, but theres been a rising tension there. President was particularly upset with bill barr for not doing something before the election to highlight any misdeeds he felt like happened by the obama team. He openly said he wanted the attorney general to prosecute his opponent in the election, joe biden, as well as his predecessor barack obama and maybe even hillary clinton. Bill barr didnt do that. Let him down again saying didnt see any fraud at scale to overturn the election. Maybe bill barr is getting ahead of being fired. Thats a possibility in the white house. Get in the job on day one, first thing you should do is write letter of resignation undated and be ready to put it out on your own terms rather than let the president at a tiput it on terms. If anything would be a matter of trying to suggest some sort of independence after several years he didnt look all that at any point. And dr. Gupta, last word from you on your beat, which is saving lives by day and appearing on our broadcast increasing number of nights. It got our attention when dr. Fauci today said that the virusma i may still be spread by people who have had the vaccine. Talked about how masks and distancing are just going to have to be baked into our lives. For those watching, doctor, for how long is this virus going to be part of American Life . Brian, best estimates suggest you have to hold off on vacation planning unt planning until at least midsummer, maybe fall. For your viewers, friends with family in icus, what im seeing, care is being rationed right now. We have to have disaster mindset. Heard from two families just today, critically ill family member, stable but critically ill by any definition is moving to advanced rehab facility. Thats unheard of in normal times. One pull monologist in texas is caring for ten hospitals. Thats going to result in delays in care and necessary procedures being done because one person cant do it all. Takehome message, please do not travel. Please do not travel. Somebody who thinks theyre otherwise healthy and will be fine with covid inadvertently passes it to someone who ends up in icu, dont let it be your friend. Grocery, over 65, shield in addition to a mask and be careful with good hand hygiene. Everyone in the sound of the doctors voice, i hope you take heed of those words, hope we all do. Ashley parker, peter baker, dr. Vin gupta, great thanks for starting us off this monday night. Before break, breaking story, the great chuck yeager has died, flew his x1, a rocket with wings over and past the sound barrier. Book by tom wolfe, author said you were grateful that such men existed and indeed we were. General yeager was close to fearless as any american ever produced. Chuck yeager pushed the edge of the envelope and lived to tell about it over a good, long life, among us, on solid ground, gone tonight at the age of 97. We go now to first break. Coming up, as coronavirus continues to grow, the system that got the sickest patients to the hospital, they say they are at their breaking point. And later how a trump delusion turned into a fact among his most loyal followers, and what all of it means for the future of the Republican Party, say nothing of our country. All of it as the 11th hour is just getting under way on this back to work monday night. These folks dont have time to go to the post office they use stamps. Com all the services of the post office only cheaper get a 4week trial plus postage and a digital scale go to stamps. Com tv and never go to the post office again. Every minute. Understanding how to talk to your doctor about Treatment Options is key. Today, we are redefining how we do things. We find new ways of speaking, so youre never out of touch. Its seeing someones face that comforts us, no matter where. When those around us know us, they can show us just how much they care. The first steps of checking in, the smallest moments can end up being everything. Theres resources that can inform us, and that spark can make a difference. When we use it to improve things, then that change can last within us. When we understand whats possible, we wont settle for less. The best thing we can be is striving to be at our best. Managing Heart Failure starts now with understanding. Call today or go online to understandheartfailure. Com for a free Heart Failure handbook. I reported today that over 1,700 Health Care Workers tested positive for covid19 last week. Thats double the number we saw the week before. To protect the hospitals, we have to get Community Transmission rates down. And everybody can help with that. Officials in california warning Hospital Systems are becoming overwhelmed, and services that transport those coronavirus patients to the hospital say in many cases theyre on the brink of collapse. In a letter to the feds, president of the American Ambulance association put it this way, the 911 emergency medical system throughout the United States is at a breaking point. Without additional relief, it seems likely to break even as we enter the third surge of the virus in the midwest and west. To that end we welcome to the broadcast, dr. Ed brock, a member of the American Ambulance association. At the outset, remind our viewers, there are two times of ems, volunteer, folks who leave their families and beds and dinner tables when a call comes in, sometimes stand by at ems headquarters. Or career paid professionals who do the same work. They have a lot in common, they treat patients the same way, and one critical thing in common, end of their shift or run, they go home to their families, potentially infecting all of them. Tell us the state of your industry as of tonight. Youre so right, brian. Thanks for asking us to join you. The emergency medical system in the u. S. Has been and continues to be a safety net for communities, patients and families. When you call 911, t