The road blocks have been removed. The question now, what about the president s theatrics . Plus, reporting that the president plans to pardon his former National Security adviser Michael Flynn. But with legal questions surrounding the president , the question is will he also try to pardon himself . And the u. S. Reports its highest number of covid hospitalizations yet. With so Many Americans suffering. The question is why is the president so much more concerned with the stock market . Its way too early for this. Good morning, and welcome to way too early, the show that hopes each of you can find something to be grateful for in this difficult year. Im kasie hunt on this wednesday, november 25th. Well start with the news. President ial transition is now officially under way. A biden official tells nbc news that from the afternoon yesterday, Transition Team has made contact with all of the federal agencies including the white house. The president elect says hes not yet received the president ial Daily Briefing from u. S. Intelligence officials. But that it could happen today. Heres more from the incoming president in his first sitdown interview since winning the election with our own lester holt. Immediately, weve gotten outreach from the National Security shop. Were working on a meeting with the covid team in the white house. I think were going to be not be so far behind the curve as we thought we might be in the past. And theres a lot of immediate discussion and i must say, the outreach has been sincere. Have you had any conversations with President Trump postelection about, you know, paving the way for this transition to happen . No, i have not heard anything from President Trump. Wow. The president elect said that he would, of course, meet with trump, but only if the president asked. Biden says hes not yet spoken to dr. Anthony fauci, but that his staff has been in touch with him. And, of course, yesterday, president elect joe biden officially introduced those cabinet picks. And its a selection filled with career, National Security and Foreign Policy professionals. As expected Anthony Blinken will serve as secretary of state. Alejandro mayorkas will be the first immigrant to head Homeland Security. Avril haines will become the first woman to hold the role of national sbuintelligence. Jake sullivan. And former secretary of state john kerry will be climate envoy, a new position. Heres what biden had to say about them yesterday. Its a team that will keep our country and our people safe and secure. Its a team that reflects the fact that america is back, ready to lead the world, not retreat from it. Once again, sit at the head of the table. Ready to confront our adversaries and not reject our allies. Ready to stand up for our values. Theyll tell me what i need to know, not what i want to know. What i need to know. How, we have to proceed with equal measures of humility and confidence. Humility, because as the president elect said, we cant solve all of the worlds problems alone. The department of Homeland Security has a mobile mission, to help keep us safe and to advance our proud history, as a country of welcome. President joe biden will trust in god. And he will also trust in science to guide our work on earth. America is back. Multilateralism is back. Diplomacy is back. Going from America First to america is back. Republicans, of course, were quick to judge president elect bidens cabinet choices even if some of them havent yet called him president elect. Former senator marco rubio tweeted that the group will be polite and orderly caretakers of americas decline. Tom cotton said that biden is surrounding himself with panda huggers who will only reinforce his choices to go soft on china. George holley wrote what a group of enthusiasts and bigtech sellouts. Ambassador ben sasse who has acknowledged the president elect had a different take on current secretary of state mike pompeo. What do you think of bidens cabinet picks, do you think hell have a hard time confirming them. Im glad. I know some of these folks, they took a very different view. They lived in a bit of a fantasy world. They led from behind. They appeased. I hope theyll choose a different course. Here we are in 2020, its different than 2015. Okay. Meanwhile, President Trump has told confidants he plans to pardon former National Security adviser Michael Flynn. Two sources with direct knowledge of the statement that he pled twice pled guilty to lying. And flynn said there was no basis in the interview for which he lied, prompting the initial prosecutor on the case. The matter has been since tied up in a federal court by a presiding judge who was unwilling to. Its worth noting that the attorney was Sidney Powell fired from the trump team on monday after claiming that georgias governor and secretary of state helped rig the election in bidens favor. The New York Times reports that powell had talked to the president about her client and asked that he not issue a pardon. Its unknown if they have discussed the matter since. Joining us now, the author of the washington posts powerup, jacqueline mcenany. Im glad youre healthy and youre braev to write abouve to on washingtonpost. Com. Lets talk, first, about Michael Flynn. This is obviously a phase were entering here. The president has got part of december and january left. This is something that happens in an outgoing president s term. But, of course, as with everything under President Trump likely to be particularly explosive and controversial. What legacy would this leave if he does pardon flynn . Yeah, kasie, as you noted right at the top of the show, i think this pardon, and to do what you said, washington hasnt actually confirmed this news, but what this pardon means the president is taking a very brazen approach to closing out his final lame luck few months in office here, despite not yet conceding or recognizing president elect joe biden as the president elect. But it does raise the question whether or not this president is going to pardon himself. As you also said, this is a tradition. Many departed president s have issued pardons and commutations previously. Weve already seen this president issue a commutation for roger stone. Another one of his former Campaign Officials who had dealings with russia. And what this marks, really, is the president finally taking revenge, the culmination of a yearlong investigation into russia. Flynn was the sole person connected to the campaign, and the trump administration, who was actually charged in the russia investigation. And this is President Trumps way of, you know, closing the book on this. And, you know, again, once again, falsely claiming that there was no wrongdoing here. And trying to pardon him. But, again, as he seeks to shield himself from any legal problems it does raise the question whether or not hell try to implement a subparter ne. Lets talk about the contrast. Everything from the last four years and what we saw from the biden team when the president elect introduced his National Security team, announced his first slate of cabinet picks and white house staffing choices. I mean, the event was was extraordinarily traditional. There was a focus on family. On service. The overall sensibility, and we showed a little bit of what was said that underscoring america is back. That phrase we hurt repeated several times. I think really designed to send a message to the rest of the world and perhaps to the current president as well it is obviously, inevitable that joe biden will take office on inauguration day. And hes clearly laying out a path that he wants to look very different from what weve been through in the last four years. Right. And its, you know, it is sort of it feels like reporters are having to just completely shift back to the way things were. It is taking a bit of getting used to, to be honest with you here. Not having to scramble at sort of these haphazard wild announcements by twitter on President Trump, sort of having this very organized, rolledout, you know, pretty just normal sorts of press conferences. But the president elect is trying to tell, you know, send a really strong message here, that as you said, america is back. Theres still a number of big cabinet picks that have to be chosen, including his attorney general. But these are deliberate picks that the team is making now in order to avoid potentially problematic confirmation battles in january. And the biden team is trying to show theyre hitting the ground running. Theyre working with dr. Fauci on how to distribute the vaccine. And a number of other things. Now, that the gsa ascertainment has been completed, they can move forward with work with other agencies formally. All right, the washington posts jackie alemany, thank you very much. We hope you have a very nice thanksgiving. The dow surged to a record high yesterday, crossing 30,000 for the first time after President Trump said his aides would help with president elect Joe Bidens White house transition, though, trump still has not publicly conceded. The stock markets rally was already gaining steam after the release of promising covid19 vaccine results. The markets also responded favorably to bidens nomination of janet yellen as treasury secretary. Heres President Trump on the stock market yesterday. Stock market has just broken 30,000. Never been broken. That number, thats a sacred number. 30,000, nobody thought theyd ever see it. I just want to congratulate all of the people within the administration that worked so hard. Most importantly i want to graduate the people of our country because there are no people like you. Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you. That was a lastminute 64second quote unquote press conference that they announced at the white house yesterday. Meanwhile, hospitalizations from the coronavirus reached a new high yesterday, shattering the previous record which was set only a day before. Over 88,000 people are currently hospitalizeded with covid19, according to the covid tracking project. The u. S. Yesterday also reported its highest daily death toll in six months logging nearly 2100 fatalities. Still ahead here, will the coronavirus stand in the way of the thanksgiving rivalry game between the ravens and steelers . Well have that answer in sports. And it seems that the Trump Legal Team is now at a point of staging fake hearings to make its case about voter fraud. Those stories and a check of your weather when we come right back. Why are we doing this . Why are we doing what . Using my old spice moisturize with shea butter body wash. All i wanted was to use your body wash and all i wanted was to have a body wash. To Severe Plaque Psoriasis uncover clearer skin that can last. In fact, tremfya® was proven superior to humira® in providing significantly clearer skin. Serious allergic reactions may occur. Tremfya® may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. Tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms or if you had a vaccine or plan to. Tremfya®. Uncover clearer skin that can last. Janssen can help you explore cost support options. A new buick . For me . To james, from james. Thats just what i wanted. Is this a new buick . I secret santaed myself. I shouldnt have. But i have been very good this year. Wow wow wow this year, turn black friday into buick friday all month long. Now during buick friday, pay no interest for 84 months on most 2020 buick suv models. Pay no interest for 84 months honey honey . New nyquil severe honey is maximum strength cold and flu medicine with soothing honeylicious taste. Nyquil honey. The nighttime, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy head, fever best sleep with a cold medicine. Welcome back. Time now for sports and the First College football rankings of the season. Alabama, number one, followed by notre dame, clemson and ohio state. The crimson tide are among four s. E. C. Teams that appear in the topnine initial rankings. Fifth ranked texas a m, and ninth ranked georgia. Auburn, number 22 is the conference 5 teams in the overall rankings. Meanwhile, in an apparent snub because of a weak schedule, undefeated byu appears behind three twoloss teams at number 14. Not only are the cougars out of reach for the playoffs, being outside of the top12 means they also likely wont qualify to reach a new years 6 bowl. Bummer. The Baltimore Ravens shut down their facility and moved to remote work yesterday after reports that the team has as many as four new positive coronavirus cases. The team placed outside linebacker mcphee on the covid list. On monday, the Team Announced running back j. K. Dobbins and mark ingram tested positive. Defensive tackle Brendon Williams was placed on the list as a close contact. The ravens are still slated to travel to pittsburgh for the thursday night matchup against the undefeated steelers. Time for weather. Lets go to meteorologist bill karins for a check on your thanksgiving forecast. Bill, hows it looking . Good morning, kasie. It was dangerous last night, in texas, specifically, the dallas area was under a tornado warning, sirens going off. Everybody was in cover. There was significant damage, this roof structure collapsed on four vehicles. There were some people trapped briefly, we have not heard of any deaths or significant injuries but well continue to update that as we get new pictures in during the morning. Lets get to the forecast, watching the storms rolling in from louisiana, mississippi and tennessee. Theyre not as severe so thats good. But on this busy travel day, all of that rain is heading through the ohio valley, the Tennessee Valley and a brief amount of rain there throughout the southeast. Keep in mind traveling, especially i70. For thanksgiving day, the rain lingers for much of the day from philadelphia, new york, southern new england, especially the hartfordprovidence hear. Kasie, were clearing out there briefly. And its not often that they get late tornado warnings but that was the case. Pretty scary. Glad to know we dont have any injuries or anything along those lines. Bill karins, thank you as always. We will see you monday. I hope you and your family have a happy thanksgiving. Still ahead, well have new reporting on those within the president s inner circle said to him to continue to move forward with the biden administration. Were back in just a minute. Laundry isnt done until its done with downy. Lexus has been celebrating driveway moments. Heres to one more, the lexus december to remember sales event. Get 0 financing on all new 2020 and 2021 lexus models. Experience amazing at your lexus dealer. Sprinting past every leak in our softest, smoothest fabric. Shes confident, protected, her strength respected. Depend. The only thing stronger than us, is you. Depend. With the ninja foodito intelligesmart xl grill. Ing just pick your protein, select your doneness, and let the grill monitor your food. It also turns into an air fryer. 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Shingrix is a vaccine used to prevent shingles in adults 50 years and older. Shingrix does not protect everyone and is not for those with severe allergic reactions to its ingredients or to a previous dose. The most common side effects are pain, redness, and swelling at the injection site, muscle pain, tiredness, headache, shivering, fever, and upset stomach. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist about protecting yourself with shingrix. Shingles doesnt care. Shingrix protects. Welcome back to way too early. Lets take a look at whats driving the day here in washington. House and Senate Appropriators are onestep closer to avoiding a Government Shutdown. Republicans and democrats on the House Committee reached a bipartisan agreement heading the way for a 1. 4 trillion spending package that will avert a Government Shutdown next month. Overall agreements for 12 appropriations bill that would combine for one omnibus bill is what we call it. The wildcard here, President Trump. Everyone hoping that he did not launch us into some sort of Government Shutdown or other crisis as he is on the way out the door. Meanwhile, we are learning more about the pressure that the president faced to allow the transition to proceed. The New York Times first reported about a meeting on monday in which white house chief of staff mark meadows, white House CounselPat Cipollone and ja