>> i feel hopeful today, relieved. i feel like healing is coming. i hope this marks the beginning to the end of a very painful time in our history. i want to instill public confidence that the vaccine is safe. we're in a pandemic, and so we all need to do our parts. >> how about that? and the virus has tightened its grip on this country. indeed the outgoing president ignored the crisis again today while keeping up his campaign to deny his defeat at the ballot box and overturn the election. today the electoral college cemented joe biden's victory after weeks of legal challenges that went all the way to the supreme court. the effort was focused on six battleground states that have now all affirmed the will of the voters. >> the electors of the commonwealth of pennsylvania have cast 20 votes for the honorable joseph r. biden for president of the united states. >> the electors have unanimously cast 16 votes for joseph r. biden. >> madam secretary, we have 16 votes for joseph r. biden for president. >> wisconsin was its 10 electoral votes for president of the united states of america to joseph r. biden jr. >> the people of arizona selected joseph biden and kamala harris, and the electors will cast their votes accordingly. >> 16 electoral college votes on behalf of the state of georgia for joseph r. biden for president of the united states. >> california's 55 electoral college votes push the biden/harris ticket over the threshold of 270 tonight. biden spoke this evening after his win was confirmed and cemented, and for the first time he attacked donald trump's attacks on our democracy and trump's effort to overturn this election. >> the trump campaign brought dozens and dozens and dozens of legal challenges to test the result. they were heard again and again, and each of the times they were heard, they were found to be without merit. none of this has stopped baseless claims about the legitimacy of the results. even more stunning, 17 republican attorneys general and 126 republican members of the congress actually -- they actually signed on to a lawsuit filed by the state of texas. that lawsuit asked the united states supreme court to reject the certified vote counts in georgia, michigan, pennsylvania and wisconsin. it's a position so extreme, we've never seen it before, a position that refused to respect the will of the people, refused to respect the rule of law and refused to honor our constitution. >> tonight biden's chief of staff, ron klain, confirmed that several senate republicans have now at least reached out to the president-elect. biden's also looking to help the democrats in this runoff in georgia's dual races. early voting started there today. he will campaign in georgia tomorrow. as already mentioned bill barr will soon be donald trump's former attorney general. barr's apparent resignation became public less than ten minutes after biden reached 270 electoral votes. as usual trump notified the nation via twitter writing this, quote, just had a very nice meeting with attorney general bill barr at the white house. our relationship has been a very good one. he has done an outstanding job. as per letter, bill will be leaving just before christmas to spend the holidays with his family. deputy attorney general jeff rosen, an outstanding person, will become acting attorney general. while bill barr, indeed, wrote a parting letter to trump immediately branded by journalists as a letter in praise of the dear leader, it reads in part, i am proud to have played a role in the many successes and unprecedented achievements you have delivered for the american people. your record is all the more historic because you accomplished it in the face of relentless, implacable resistance. the letter also notes trump and barr talked about so-called election fraud allegations today. barr said recently he's seen no evidence of election fraud. that did not endear him to the boss. barr's power in the cabinet was once unparalleled or so we thought. his now rocky relationship with the president underscored by a mutual belief in expansive executive power at one time. >> bill barr, one of the most respected jurists in the country, highly respected lawyer. >> your declaration of an emergency on the southern border was clearly authorized under the law, and from the standpoint of protecting the american people, it's imperative. >> thank you very much. bill, that's great. well, you'll be defending it. >> i concluded that the evidence developed by the special counsel is not sufficient to establish that the president committed an obstruction of justice offense. >> our great attorney general made a -- an immediate decision there was no obstruction. bill barr can go down as the greatest attorney general in the history of our country, or he can go down as just an average guy. it depends on what's going to happen. >> elections that have been held with mail have found substantial fraud and coercion. >> mr. president, can i ask you to respond to the comments by your attorney general who indicated he has not seen at this point any evidence of fraud enough to overturn the election results? >> well, he hasn't done anything, so he hasn't looked. >> do you still have confidence in bill barr? >> ask me that in a number of weeks from now. >> bill barr should have stepped up. all he had to do was say an investigation is going on. but when you affect an election, bill barr, frankly, did the wrong thing. >> with that, let's bring in our leadoff guests on this monday night as we start a new week. phil rucker, pulitzer prize winning white house bureau chief for "the washington post," co-author of the best-seller, "a very stable genius." he along with his colleague are teaming up once again for a forthcoming book on his final year in office for donald trump. also with us arrin haines, a veteran at the associated press and cynthia oxney is back with us, former federal prosecutor in the civil rights division over at doj, former assistant u.s. attorney who served under bill barr during his first tour as attorney general in the bush era. and, cynthia, indeed, by way of welcoming you back, i'd like to begin with you with two things before we start our discussion. here is "the wall street journal" editorial page cementing their title as house organ tonight. bill barr has certainly earned the right to leave early. he's been the right man at the right time for that difficult job with the principles and toughness to make difficult decisions despite bitter democrats in congress and a willful president trump. neil katyal appearing tonight with joy reid seemed to disagree in his assessment of the outgoing attorney general. >> this attorney general is just despicable. i mean attorneys general have historically stood for the rule of law, and this person has spit on it. an attorney general stands for evenhandness and justice being blind, and this attorney general stands for justice being about who your friends are. attorneys general are supposed to stand up for career men and women of the justice department. he openly defies them and makes fun of them. an attorney general is supposed to protect americans, not tear gas them. he's going to go down as the worst attorney general in our lifetimes, which is fitting because president trump is going to go down as the worst president in our lifetimes. so i guess these two have managed to accomplish something in the end. >> cynthia, you and i were on television part of the coverage back when he was named. you, and i must add anyone else, long-timers at the justice department applauded the naming of bill barr. you said he was an institutionalist. everyone thought, well, here comes a human guardrail. in retrospect, your view of what he did to the law, presidential powers and what he leaves behind at the department of justice? >> well, i've certainly eaten my share of crow on that. i will say that this attorney general, i would agree with neil, is the worst attorney general in my lifetime, and that includes richard nixon's attorney general. he has done generational damage to the department of justice and just the general concept that no man is above the law. he has lied to the american people. he has lied to congress. he has helped president trump's friends. he has punished his enemies. he's even tried to get the justice department help president trump out in a personal rape case. there is no way anybody can defend the job that he has done as an attorney general, and i don't know how long it's going to take to repair that damage in the eyes of the american people and future jurors in cases. >> phil rucker, it goes without saying if anyone watching can find someone in their lives to write a letter to them like bill barr wrote to donald trump tonight, keep, cherish and hold that person close for the rest of your life. we didn't even read the mushy part. it's quite a letter. phil, what do you make of the timing and circumstances of the a.g.'s departure? >> well, look, brian, i think clearly the attorney general wanted to leave on his own terms or at least make that publicly appear to be the case, and he knew that his relationship with the president was going south, and it had been for many months, frankly. but it really worsened in these last two weeks when barr contradicted the president publicly in that interview and said there simply was not any evidence found by the department of justice to support the president's claims of widespread voter fraud to have changed the election. that was a big deal, and we've seen through these four years of this presidency that when cabinet members publicly cross the president or disagree with him in some way, that that can be a breach that cannot be repaired. so it seemed like it was a matter of time before trump may have tried to fire barr. barr in this case resigned and is leaving office on his own terms. there's not much time left in his presidency, but there still are three or four weeks that are going to be remaining, and there's a lot president trump may want to do and may seek to do with his new acting attorney general. and that letter you mentioned, it really was extraordinary to see barr heap the praise on the president and to have in that letter particular disdain for the russia investigation, which of course is what barr's former friend robert mueller oversaw as the special counsel for so many years. barr clearly trying to curry favor with the president in that letter where he was resigning. >> somebody said on another network tonight it's as if barr broke into mike pence's love letters that he had written to donald trump in the past. hey, errin, let me keep you clear of this wreckage. let's talk about joe biden. he broke his silence today. as i said at the top of the broadcast, his election was already official. today it was really, really more official when the electors cast their ballots. what did you make of his breaking his silence? he can't obviously be critical in something like the state of the union, which will get a broad audience. >> right, you know, for the past month you have had the president, you know, discrediting this election, discrediting the americans who carry out this election, discrediting the voters he said voted illegally in this election. seeing the electoral college process play out across the country on live television for voters who many of them were quite engaged in watching this process unfold during the course of their workday really helped to reverse, you know, a lot of the narrative that our elections and our institution is a democracy and a franchise are not working. i think that joe biden was trying to reinforce that in a speech he gave tonight saying, reiterating again that the dozens and dozens of legal challenges that donald trump put up against this election were allowed to play out. the outcome has not changed. it continues to not change. it will not be -- it is not likely to change over the next less than 40 days until joe biden and kamala harris are the next president and vice president of the united states. and so, you know, days like today, again, just reinforce that our institutions are working, that the transfer of power, while it may not necessarily be peaceful, is happening nonetheless. >> cynthia, in your first answer you in a reverse way kind of laid out the damage list that a new person will have to repair when they walk into doj. the names i've seen floated for biden attorney general remains sally yates, deval patrick, doug jones, merrick garland. what qualities, now that we have some distance on it, what qualities if you were biden would you be looking for in this job at this time? >> well, i'm looking for someone who tells the truth, and all four of those do. and i'm looking for someone who can really rally the troops and try to bring the morale back up. and i would say probably that means sally yates or doug jones or deval patrick would be my gut. but any of them would be fine. but before we get too carried away with who's next, remember there's a lot of time at the department of justice between now and january. and many terrible things can happen. there can be, you know, pardons handed out like christmas cards. there can be special counsels appointed who will be embedded who can go after the president's enemies and who will be there for the new attorney general to deal with. so it's too soon to take our eye off the trump justice department and just focus on the biden justice department, unfortunately. >> yeah, hear, hear. there's all evidence that you're absolutely correct. phil, today on paper could have been a good day for the trump white house though we did not see the president on this day when vaccine shots arrived in american arms. >> yeah, you know, brian, you're right that it was a good day in terms of the vaccine rollout. and i'm frankly surprised we didn't see the president. this is the one element of the coronavirus response over all these months that has animated the president and that he has tried to be in the spotlight for, and that is the "operation warp speed," the vaccine development and now of course the vaccine deployment and administering this vaccine into the arms of millions of americans as quickly as possible. i'm surprised he didn't try to do some sort of a press event to claim credit for the miraculous shots that we saw on television this morning. it was really a sight to see that health worker on long island getting the shot in her arm, and it's meaningful because it's a sign that this pandemic may actually be over soon, that we can see light at the end of the tunnel, and yet the president was so focused, so engrossed by the electoral college development and his loss in this campaign that he couldn't focus on the management of the pandemic today. >> hey, errin, one more political note. you have never let us down on this broadcast, and i'm not asking for a straight up prediction, but how do you see the races in georgia? >> oh, wow. well, you know, if early voting is any indication, the electors in georgia were not the only ones casting their ballots today as early voting got started. i think that at least from what i'm hearing, the black women organizers that are on the ground trying to get people out even in the midst of a pandemic, even as this pandemic is surging and hitting people, especially black and brown people from a public health and an economic perspective here at the end of the year, they are seeing the connection between this pandemic and policy and the stakes of the future of the senate. and that is motivating them to participate in this democracy, to do it safely. you know, joe biden is going to be in georgia tomorrow making his case for why those voters should come out one more time and make georgia blue once again. i think that, you know, it really is extraordinary to, you know, be thinking about asking these folks to come out again with, you know, the voter suppression that has loomed over the state but also the rhetoric around the rigged election that has loomed over the state. that can be something that depresses voters, but it can also be something that motivates them, and i think we're seeing both of those dynamics playing out here and are going to play out here over the next few weeks. >> indeed. thanks so much to three friends of this broadcast, phil rucker, errin haines, and cynthia alksne starting us off as we begin a new week together. coming up for us, she's been on the medical front lines from the start of this pandemic for ten months of it. now she's the first person in her state to get the covid vaccine. our special guest joins us just ahead. and later how donald trump's refusal to accept defeat has the gop tearing itself apart before our very eyes. "the 11th hour" just getting under way on a busy monday night. 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. do you struggle with dull, dry skin, and find yourself reapplying moisturizer throughout the day? try olay ultra rich. olay's luxurious moisturizer melts into the skin. it's formulated with vitamin b3 plus peptides and shea butter, providing lasting hydration, for up to 24 hours. there's no need to reapply, and no greasy residue. and, for enhanced hydration, try olay serum. just 1 drop has the power to renew a million surface skincells. for deep, lasting hydration try olay. you're choosing to get connected to the most to xfinity mobile, reliable network nationwide, now with 5g included. discover how to save up to $400 a year with shared data starting at $15 a month, or get the lowest price for one line of unlimited. come into your local xfinity store to make the most of your mobile experience. you can shop the latest phones, bring your own device, or trade in for extra savings. stop in or book an appointment to shop safely with peace of mind at your local xfinity store. this weekend's shipment of vaccines is 2.9 million doses, enough to vaccinate 2.9 million people. with 2.9 million doses held back and sent in 21 days for people to receive their second dose. >> as it is avail, it's allocated to the states. the states tell us what location they want it on, at what quantities. we package, and we deliver. it is a constant flow of available vaccine. >> you heard it from the four-star. the flow has started. the vaccine is making its way to airports, hospitals and into arms, most importantly. today the first recipients received the vaccine. they include our next guest. we're happy to welcome debbie ford to the broadcast. she happens to be chief nursing officer for oxner health in new orleans and this morning became one of the very first people in our country to get the clinically tested covid-19 vaccine. thank you very much for being with us. i have to ask, debbie, did you feel anything? do you feel any different? how does it feel? >> i just feel great that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. the shot itself, i didn't even feel it. i think i was too excited, and so i didn't even feel that she had given me the shot. >> i have to say watching people on the television coverage this afternoon and tonight, i saw a surprising number of people getting emotional either during or after receiving the vaccine. i understand it because of who we're giving it to. these are the people who have seen far too much death and suffering, the frontline medical heroes like yourself. did you have an emotional reaction to it? >> we have seen so much suffering along with death, and so just standing there in line with everyone to get the vaccine as another layer of protection -- you know, we still want to wear masks, we still want to social distance, wash our hands, but to know that we've been on this marathon for the last nine months of we're doing all we can, but there's no cure in sight, and to now finally be able to start the beginning of ending this crisis i think was very emotional for us. we were talking about it in line. >> talk about your role now in public health, the importance of getting folks to get this vaccine especially the importance of getting black folks to get this vaccine. >> i would like to encourage everyone to get the vaccine. it's just -- i just feel this deep sense of hope that we can eradicate this. we can live longer lives with our loved ones. we can spend time with them, not have to limit our time. so i think that as a health care worker, as a chief nurse executive, my mantra is let's protect ourselves. i ask my nurses, let's protect ourselves to take care of the communities we are privileged to serve then i ask the community to protect themselves so that we can all get to the end and the other side of this pandemic. >> this should be purely a happy day. lord knows you're in a town that doesn't need an excuse to celebrate anything any day of the week. but it's not purely a happy day because of the gut punch of learning we went over 300,000 dead in this country. because new orleans, a city i love so much, took it so hard at the start of this pandemic, let our viewers know how you're doing tonight. >> right now i'm just ecstatic. we've been able to discharge in-patients from our facility, nearly 3,000 in-patients, and so that is just a great feeling to be able to be part of that and to know that we will have less people undergoing this disease would really be great. i feel like we're finally getting on a different track and a track that i'm very glad to be on of saving people versus having people fall so ill and suffer. >> yeah, i fear we're in for a dark winter, but you're right. i think we're finally on a new track. please give my best to everyone down there. debbie ford, thank you very much after the big day you had in new orleans for joining us here tonight. a break for our coverage coming up. he says the republicans defending donald trump have crossed the rubicon and should never win a presidential election again. that would we steve schmidt and former white house press secretary robert gibbs. both gentlemen standing by to talk with us when we come back. 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. bundle auto and home, and save up to 25% with allstate. bundling just feels good this time of year. saving is easy when you're in good hands. call a local agent, or 1-800-allstate for a quote today. don't settle for silver #1 for diabetic dry skin* #1 for psoriasis symptom relief* and #1 for eczema symptom relief* gold bond champion your skin to your friends... your family... to your teachers. in that spirit of giving, chevy's proud to give our employee discount to everyone. the chevy price you pay, ...is what we pay. not a cent more. because giving, ...and giving back, is what the holidays are all about. use the chevy employee discount for everyone to get a total value of over eight thousand four hundred dollars on this silverado. get the chevy employee discount for everyone today. the political world has a new independent tonight because earlier today republican congressman paul mitchell of michigan decided to leave his republican party over trump's efforts to cast doubt on the election. >> it became clear to me that i could no longer be associated with a republican party that leadership does not stand up and say the process, the election is over. it's over today. i voted for donald trump. i supported the administration policies 95%, 96% of the time the last two terms. i've been active in the national state party, but this party has to stand up for democracy first, for our constitution first and not political considerations. that's just a candidate, not simply for raw political power. and that's what i feel is going on, and i've had enough. >> back with us tonight robert gibbs, former obama campaign senior advisor, former white house press secretary under one president obama and steve schmidt, longtime political strategist who led the mccain '08 campaign that since left the republican party and among the founders of the lincoln project which set out to defeat trump and trumpism. and, steve, that's why i'm going to start with you. what have they unleashed? i've got a poll to show you, fox news poll. 77% of trump voters feel that the election was stolen from their guy. then this weekend at a maga rally in washington, a chant starts up, "destroy the gop." what have they uncorked here? how will anyone fix this? and is a guy like mitch mcconnell ready for the consequences? >> well, let me just say, brian, that several years ago a book came out, and it was by an author named jay winnock, and he posited that april 1865 was one of the most important months in country's history, and i think when we look back november 2020 is going to be such a month. it's a before and half month. it hinged in our history, and it was a month where faith and belief in american democracy was deliberately, premeditatively and intentionally poisoned by donald trump and by his supporters including by many elected republicans and culminating with 126 members of congress and 18 attorneys generals signing an amicus brief. now, it's important to understand that signing that amicus brief was not a legal act. it was a junk lawsuit. it was preposterous. it was a political statement. it was a repudiation of the bedrock of the american system, the idea that a government of the people, by the people, for the people. the people are sovereign. the people decide who our leaders are, and their attempts to maintain in power the defeated incumbent president over the clear and legitimate victor is something that will do to american democracy what the "exxon valdez" did to alaskan waters or "deepwater horizon" did to american waters. it poisons that fundamental faith and belief which the system can't survive without. and then lastly, we saw in washington, d.c., we saw right-wing extremist violence with these proud boys, and just because they weren't wearing brown or black doesn't mean that they're not the same people that you saw in 1935 or 1927 in italy or in germany. it is a fascistic organization trying to impose through violent political will on the country. we're in a lot of trouble as a country after this month of november, and we're going to be fighting this fight for a generation, and this is the month where american politics realigns. we have on one side a pro-democracy coalition, and on the other side we have an autocratic coalition. within that autocratic coalition, for example, in the house you have a conservative leader, liz cheney, and you have an autocratic leader, kevin mccarthy. in the same way that the kansas, nebraska act broke the the whig party in 1954 and led to the emergence of a new party, the republican party i suspect what we've seen play out over these last weeks with members signing on to this in time will break the republican party into its conservative faction and its autocratic faction. but either way we have one institution politically in this country, which stands for the ideals of american democracy, and that's the democratic party, the oldest political party in the world. >> wow, you've given us a lot to think about there, and i concur on your assessment on april 1865, which i love and is on my bookshelf. think of all the senators i look to call the witness protection program, the lamars, the blunts, especially the portmans. they insist on being upstanding republicans. all of them to a man have taken a dive for this president and have sold out their seats and votes when it comes down to it. how are they going to react when perhaps as the ultimate extension of trumpism these chants start up about destroying the gop? they didn't make that bargain. they just went along with a president, a cult. they were scared of getting tweeted out. who doesn't understand that? they didn't go along with destroying the party that got them to the dance. >> well, they didn't, brian, but i think they cut a deal essentially with trump and bought something they may not be able to now return because this is going to land on them. how are they going to sit across from a president that 77% of their own party believes is illegitimate and try to govern the country? it has to start, brian, with not just a recognition of what happened today at the electoral college but how and why it happened, because of an honest, free and fair election. 50 some court cases, which heard wild accusations about fraud that never got proven and an election that delivered a president-elect and a vice president-elect, and if they don't begin to explain that to their own voters that this wasn't just a happenstance on a calendar for the electoral college but in fact a result of an election that was had in this country, then they too are going to be able to govern. the idea that this is just making joe biden less and less of a legitimate president and that they own or, quite frankly, aren't going to feel the effects of this on them, i think you're beginning to see it, whether it's the chants that you saw in washington, whether it's the questions that the senators that are up for re-election in georgia are getting. they go to these rallies, they pitch their candidacy for a vote, and then somebody says what are you doing to protect democracy for the presidential campaign? and if they don't start to let the air out of that balloon in a real way, nobody is going to come vote for them in january because nobody is going to have confidence in the system, even their own base. >> it boggles the mind. we're going to take a quick break. both gentlemen have agreed to stay with us. they have no other plans. they're at home. coming up, will bipartisanship make some sort of a comeback under the new president? also, quick question, which republicans are they going to find to be bipartisan exactly? and steve schmidt has a story to tell about aoc when we come back. heart failure causes nearly two hospitalizations 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 you're never out of touch. it's seeing someone's 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. there's 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 what's possible, we won't 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. let's continue our conversation. steve schmidt and robert gibbs have kindly stuck with us. hey, robert, jennifer epstein on twitter from bloomberg tweeted this tonight, biden says seven senate republicans, profiles in courage encourage all. mostly senior have called him tonight. he spoke to one of the most senior members who expressed a willingness to work on china and infrastructure. it's going to take six to eight months but gop will work with him. quote, you're going to be surprised. so, robert, since the horse is already dead, let's beat it some more. they've already looked at the possibility of destroy the gop being chanted at their district offices. what could be worse than that? oh, i know, cooperating with the guy 77% of trump voters believe is illegitimately elected. so can you tell me even in a man of the senate like joe biden where the bipartisanship is going to come in? >> well, i do think there is a possibility on certain issues as was mentioned here, something like an infrastructure might be a good place to start. and people like pat toomey from pennsylvania who's retiring, we have seen remarkably different political outcomes in those that are leaving than those that are staying around. but i would also look at somebody like a mit romney, a lisa murkowski from alaska, a susan collins from maine who have a bipartisan record of reaching across the aisle. i think these georgia races are going to be important to see what the final makeup of the senate is. but understand it's going to take a herculean effort by the president-elect and his team to get this senate and to get this congress and really to repair our democracy. to get it in a place where governing is something that is a possibility. we're a long, long way away from it being a probability. we've got to get it back to being a possibility. >> before people hop on twitter no horses were harmed in the production of this broadcast. hey, steve schmidt, i want to quote from a letter you have written as part of an outreach to aoc, perhaps making for one of the best political pairings of the year that ceases to surprise us. i would like to officially reach out to aoc on behalf of the lincoln project in defense of democracy. we disagree on many issues, and that is okay in our view. by the way, we don't look down on waitresses. we admire them. we are all the types of guys who always tip 50% or more. i have an idea. let's approach each other and our points of view in good faith. we say the following with respect and seriousness. ma'am, our hand is open and we need to work together or we are going to lose america. the fight will last for many years. steve, i got the impression when she first tweeted about the lincoln project, she might have misinterpreted your cause. she might have gotten you guys wrong at the outset. do you think she has come around to knowing your work, and what is the extent of the cooperation you think you can have? >> well, here let me just say first off i got dinged a little bit on twitter for being condescending when i made the waitress point. and the point i was trying to make is she had said last week that a lot of republican members have made fun of her for waitressing. and she made the point most of them couldn't survive a single shift, and certainly she is right about that fact when it comes to actual hard work. and i think that more people that actually have had the experience of work for at least a day in their life serving in the united states congress is a good thing. look, ideologically, she's as far as you can get from us within the biden coalition. you know, the lincoln project has 600,000 donors. we have millions of followers. when you look at the actual vote shares and how the biden coalition came together and how it won, it's essential that we keep it intact. i'm a single issue voter now, and i work for a single issue organization. we care about american democracy, full stop, end period. the debate between progressives and conservatives ends if we have an autocratic leader and we have an autocratic movement in the united states that's flourishing. when we saw the type of violence playing out in washington, d.c. this weekend, this isn't violence that comes from a rage of having nothing and burning down a city. the type of rage that martin luther king diagnosed while at the same time condemning in the 1960s, this was fascistic violence. this was right-wing political violence in the streets of the nation's capital and cited by the president of the united states at the same time when every one of these members of congress except for i suppose a handful of the truly craziest ones knows that joe biden won the election. so what i believe to the core of my being is that the coalition that elected joe biden has to hang together because the pro-democracy side of a great debate in american politics cannot lose an election, not ever again, because if we lose an election, they may not give up power next time, and make no -- have no doubt about it. what you saw play out over november and december, though it played out as a farce was in fact the democracy where you see 77% of republicans, the system requires one side being willing to lose and to come back and try and win the next time. that is at the center of democracy, and it's in trouble in this country because of trump and the extreme radical republicans. >> gentlemen, thank you both. robert gibbs, steve schmidt on a monday night. greatly appreciate it. coming up for us, it just might be that trump initiative to launch a joint cyber security effort with the russians. remember that? that could have been among the worst ideas of modern times for reasons we'll show you just ahead. the holidays are a time for giving. to your friends... your family... to your teachers. in that spirit of giving, chevy's proud to give our employee discount to everyone. the chevy price you pay, ...is what we pay. not a cent more. because giving, ...and giving back, is what the holidays are all about. use the chevy employee discount for everyone to get a total value of over eight thousand four hundred dollars on this silverado. get the chevy employee discount for everyone today. so we found out this weekend we've been hacked. u.s. agencies, the latest victims of russian hackers. so far at least five have been targeted including departments of state, homeland security, treasury and commerce for starters. the hackers appear to be after information from government clients, but the extent of the breach isn't yet known. it's a good reminder, however, that after the five years we have just lived through of how we should probably and properly view russia and putin. and further on that score there are new details tonight about the poisoning of that russian opposition leader who was almost killed last summer. our chief foreign correspondent richard engel has details on new evidence that strongly suggests vladimir putin's government was indeed behind the attack. alexi navalny, an outspoken critic of vladimir putin was on a flight over siberia when he suddenly began to moan in agony. german doctors say he was poisoned by a nerve agent. behind the attack a special chemical weapons division of the russian intelligence service, the fsb, according to the investigative news site bellingcat which analyzed over 100,000 phone and internet connections, some bought on the black market. christo grozev, the lead researcher. >> the thing that totally shocked me was that russia maintains a murder machine within downtown moskow that employs 30 people with medics plus trained chemists plus trained muscle. >> reporter: this author is one of the world's leading experts on russian intelligence. what do you make of these claims, these accusations by bellingcat? are they credible? >> well, i think they are actually quite credible. >> a spokesman for the kremlin once again denied involvement in navalny's poisoning, but experts say today's reporting naming names could set back russian activities by forcing the kremlin to do damage control. richard engel, nbc news, london. and coming up for us, he wasn't a man of medicine. he had no patients. yet we'd never dream of calling dr. king anything but dr. king. there's a lesson in this stemming from something that happened over this past weekend. we'll have the story for you after this. the future of heart failure. 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 you're never out of touch. it's seeing someone's 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. there's 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 what's possible, we won't 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 understandhf.com for a free hf handbook. call today or go online to understandhf.com robinwithout 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. introducing the new sleep number 360 smart bed. now temperature balancing, so you can sleep better together. can it help keep me asleep? absolutely, it intelligently senses your movements and automatically adjusts to keep you both effortlessly comfortable can it help with snoring? i've never heard snoring. exactly. no problem. and... done. so you can really promise better sleep? not promise. prove. save up to $700 on new sleep number 360 smart beds. plus, 0% interest for 48 months and free premium delivery when you add a base. ends monday. looking to save money this look at allstate.n? drivers who switched & saved, averaged $718 dollars. saving is easy when you're in good hands. call a local agent, or 1-800-allstate for a quote today. last thing before we go tonight involves the history of modern first ladies. michelle obama and hillary clinton both had ivy league law degrees. laura bush had a masters and lady bird johnson had two different bachelors degrees. they have been a well-educated group going back decades. but dr. jill biden will be the first holder of a doctorate. it's a title uniformly used in her work, her world of education. and this weekend an op-ed in "the wall street journal" took issue with the title in a spectacularly patronizing fashion. our report tonight from nbc's andrea mitchell. >> reporter: like many people with doctorates, jill biden calls herself dr. biden. think of dr. kissinger. but joseph epstein, a former university english instructor who has a bachelors degree argued biden should drop the doctor from her name because she's not a medical doctor. >> from the moment i stepped i into the community college, i thought this, is it, i'm home. >> reporter: she earned a doctorate in education from the university of delaware and taught at community colleges for 35 years. >> i have always loved the sounds of a classroom. >> reporter: the op-ed drawing fire in part for its tone. epstein addressing biden in his opening line as madam first lady, mrs. biden, jill, kiddo. perhaps he should no better than to mess with a woman who body blocked a profester from getting to her husband last march. a spokesman for biden calling the column disgusting and sexist. doug imhoff, kamala harris' husband tweeting this story would never have been written about a man. michelle obama writing, all too often our accomplishments are met with skepticism, even derision. biden taking the high road tweeting, together we will build a road where the accomplishments of our daughters will be celebrated rather than diminished. >> andrea mitchell with that report tonight to take us off the air. with our thanks for being here with us, that's our broadcast a the air. with our thanks for being here with us. that's our broadcast as we start a new week on behalf of all my colleagues at the networks of nbc news. good night. i'm chris hayes. it has been a really remarkable day of news. we just heard president-elect joe biden delivering a speech in wilmington, delaware on a truly significant day as we're right now looking to turn the page on the two biggest stories of this brutal, brutal year. so today members of the electoral college met across the country to formally cast their ballots. now, this happens every four years. this is usually a pro forma thing that's not really covered. it happens in the backgrou