Way too early, the show that is way behind in its christmas shopping. Im Jonathan Lamire in for kasie hunt on this tuesday, december 22nd. And well start with the news. At a News Conference to announce new charges related to the 1988 bombing of pan am flight 103 over scotland, attorney general bill barr knocked down a series of President Trumps false claims and conspiracy theories. When questioned by reporters, barr broke with the president on everything from seizing Voting Machines to assigning blame for the hack of federal agencies. He began with this comment on the hunter biden investigation. I think to the extent that theres an investigation, i think that its being handled responsibly and professionally, currently, within the department. And to this point, i have not seen a reason to appoint a special counsel, and i have no plan to do so before i leave. I see no basis now for seizing machines by the federal government. Do you believe theres enough evidence to warrant a special counsel to investigate that perhaps Sidney Powell or someone else . If i thought a special counsel at this stage was the right tool and was appropriate, i would name one, but i havent and im not going to. From the information i have, you know, i agree with secretary pompeos assessment. It certainly appears to be the russians, but im not going to discuss it beyond that. Tomorrow it should be noted, is barrs last day in office. Meanwhile, President Trump met privately with a group of House Republicans yesterday to advance his Election Fraud crusade. The talk centered around an effort to object at a joint session of congress, the electoral votes in key battleground states that joe biden won. That sessions slated for january 6th. Some of the republican lawmakers spotted in the west wing reportedly include ready for this . Newly elected congresswoman and qanon conspiracy reporter Marjorie Taylor greene along with matt gaetz, jim jordan, mo brooks and louie gohmert. Vice president pence was also in attendance. Trump and his chief of staff confirmed the meeting on twitter. Mark meadows wrote they are preparing to fight back against mounting evidence of voter fraud. Meanwhile, trump posted, quote, conservatives call on state legislatures to appoint new electors in accordance with the constitution. Again, there was no widespread voter fraud and joe biden is the president elect. Despite that reality, yesterday President Trump called into a convention of young republicans and made more false claims about the election. He praised the lawmakers who are going along with his attempted coup and then called on the Justice Department to back him up. And we won this election in a landslide. Theyve got hundreds of thousands of ballots in each state. Its all documented. The problem is, we need a party thats going to fight and we have some great congressmen and women that are doing it, and we have others, some great fighters, but we won this in a landslide. They know it, and we need backing from, like, the Justice Department and other people have to finally step up. Again, very little of that is true. Mixed messages continue to spew out of the white house surrounding exactly what role lawyer Sidney Powell is playing in the Trump Administration. The noted election conspiracy theorist with whom the Trump Campaign parted ways with six weeks ago was seen yesterday at the white house for a third time in four days. The New York Times reports he is considering appointing her as a special counsel, serving in the white house and investigating Election Fraud. Meanwhile, trumps personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, appeared on newsmax last night to cast doubt on powells involvement. Let me say definitively, Sidney Powell is not part of our legal team. She hasnt been for five weeks. She is not a special counsel for the president. She does not speak for the president. Nor does she speak for the administration. She speaks for herself. Joining us now, reporter for the Washington Post, eugene scott, who has much better lighting than Rudy Giuliani just did. Eugene, good morning. Thanks for being here. Good morning. With all this talk of trump recruiting republicans to do his bidding, what actually impact will these gop lawmakers looking to overturn the Election Results have when congress meets next month to actually secure and certify the electoral votes . Well, the main impact theyre hoping to have is to continue to please President Trump, as theres concern and hope, depending on which side of the aisle youre on, that republicans will move forward with president elect biden in hoping to carry out his agenda, or at the very least, not continue to prioritize that President Trump. What trump is really trying to demonstrate is that he continues to have a hold and influence over the republican party, and even the next generation of republican influencers. Loyalty is really important to him and these lawmakers have communicated very early that even if he leaves, they will continue to focus on him and his desire for america. Gene, indulge us a moment more. Stay with us, because i want to get your take on this development, too. Overnight, Congress Passed one of the largest stimulus packages in the countrys history. It totals 2. 3 trillion and includes not only 900 billion Coronavirus Relief bill but full government funding package as well. The combined bills, which include direct payments in unemployment benefits, top out at nearly 5,600 pages. It was only given to lawmakers to read yesterday afternoon, due to some technical issues, including with the printer. However, that didnt seem to stop most members from easily passing it, minus a few dissenters, many of them the most loyal to the president. In the house, it passed 35953. 50 republicans voted against it. While in the senate, it passed with no problems at all, 926. Two republicans missed the vote, while six voted against it, many of them citing the cost of the bill. The final hurdle is, of course, the president , who were told is expected to sign it. So, gene, this is finally happening, we think. Walk us through where the politics of this stand right now. Well, its in the best interests of both parties to support this bill. The reality is that lowincome americans, barely middleclass americans, the working poor, have been pressuring lawmakers since the pandemic began, to get behind some type of agreement that would benefit them. Theres been a lot of criticism towards both sides of the aisle about how little the relief bill is going to make life how little it will improve peoples lives, considering how small the dollar amount is. But ultimately, biden will consider this a win for him, in part because he really wanted something to get done before he got in the white house and could, therefore, focus on improving this moving forward. And it gives trump some degree of a win to say that he actually did get something passed in these final days of his time in the oval office, where so much of the Media Attention on him has been criticism based on his response to the election. I think thats right. He, of course, has been largely m. I. A. , so i think he is able to try to claim at least some credit here. The Washington Posts eugene scott. Thank you so much, sir. Meanwhile, the United States has surpassed 18 million coronavirus cases, just days after the country crossed the 17 million case mark. The death toll stands at 320,000 people nationwide. More than 232 million tests have been conducted in the country and more than 7 million americans have recovered. According to the covid tracking project, just yesterday, states reported 2. 1 million tests in 178,000 new cases. There are currently a record 115,351 people hospitalized. More than 40 countries have now halted flights from the United Kingdom amid fears of a new, more infectious strain of covid19 circulating there. Parts of england, which includes london, were placed on a new lockdown over the weekend as Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned that the new coronavirus strain was 70 more transmissible. But u. S. Public Health Officials are reportedly not advising a similar ban on travelers from the uk. Dr. Anthony fauci warned against, quote, overreacting to the situation. But governors across the country are taking matters into their own hands. Washington states governor, jay inslee, issued a proclamation yesterday, calling for travelers from the uk, south africa and other nations where the new covid19 strain has been reported to quarantine for 14 days. Meanwhile, new York Governor Andrew Cuomo has called on the federal government to ban travel from the uk and has asked airlines to test travelers from the United Kingdom to his state. Meanwhile, former fda commissioner Scott Gottlieb says he doesnt think a travel ban will prevent the mutated strain from coming to the United States, because thats because he believes its already here. Still ahead, federal prosecutors say their investigation into Rudy Giuliani isnt only ongoing, but that its very active. Well tell you what possible evidence investigators are now seeking. And before we go to break, a phenomenon that hasnt been seen in ages. Last night, the two larges planets in our solar system, jupiter and saturn, were the closest theyve been since the year 1226. Even Mark Barnacle doesnt remember that. They were so close that to the naked eye, the planets appeared as if they were a single star. Really amazing. Were back in just a minute. Really amazing were back in just a minute. Among my patients, i often see them have teeth sensitivity as well as gum issues. Does it worry me . Absolutely. Sensodyne sensitivity gum gives us the dual action effect that really takes care of both our teeth sensitivity as well as our gum issues. Theres no question its something that i would recommend. 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. Sprinting past every leak in our softest, smoothest fabric. Shes confident, protected, her strength respected. Depend. The only thing stronger than us, is you. Hell turn 26 saturday, day after christmas. 26 on the 26th. Heres bernard, still on his feet touchdown bengals time now for sports, and monday night football. That was bengals backup quarterback ryan finley. Who . Under center in place of injured top draft pick joe burrow, connecting to a 14yard touchdown in the second quarter. The steelers unable to generate any offense early against their division rival were blanked in the first half. As the lastplace bengals forced three turnovers while building a 170 lead before the break. Pittsburgh narrowed the advantage to seven early in the Third Quarter before our man, finley, ran untouched for a 23yard touchdown to push cincinnatis lead to 14 in the fourth quarter. They hung on to win, 277, snapping a streak of 11 consecutive losses to their archrival steelers and keeping them from wrapping up the afc north. Pittsburgh, which is already guaranteed a spot in the playoffs, had been on track for the afcs top overall seed with an 110 start to the season. But after three straight losses and now no chance of catching the chiefs, they could end up with a wild card with a pair of tough matchups remaining against indianapolis and division rival cleveland. Hall of fame linebacker kevin green has died. Considered one of the fiercest pass rushers in history, the twotime all pro and fivetime pro bowl selection had 150 sacks over his 15year career, third most in league history. No cause of death was given by his family or the pro football hall of fame. Greene was just 58 years old. Meanwhile, the nfl has revealed this years pro bowl rosters. Kansas citys Patrick Mahomes and green bays aaron rodgers, both mvp contenders, are designated as starting quarterbacks for their respective conferences. The rosters are highlighted by a leaguehigh seven players named from the chiefs, packers, ravens, and seahawks. A hint for the first time in 31 seasons, not a Single Player on the Dallas Cowboys was selected. Thats a shame. But there will be no pro buoy game this season because of the pandemic. Players will instead be celebrated on new years eve during two pro bowl themed broadcasts with a virtual pro bowl experience within the latest madden nfl video game. And honestly, id take my chance in madden against one of them. Army football will now play West Virginia in the liberty bowl on new years eve. Stepping in to rios re place tennessee last night hours after the volunteers decided to end their regular season following results of their latest round of covid testing. The black knights were left without a bowl sunday night when the Independence Bowl was called off without a viable opponent. Meanwhile, the iowa hawkeyes, who were scheduled to play missouri in the music city bowl next week, have paused all football activities for at least five days because of an increase in positive coronavirus cases. And finally, even though it feels like their season just ended, the nba regular season is set to tip off tonight with a doubleheader featuring the nets hosting the warriors. Thats Kevin Durants return. Followed by the defending champion lakers hosting the clippers. Set for a 72game schedule, the league will not utilize the protective bubble this time, as it did in the spring when it tried to mitigate the risk of coronavirus. And while the nba was criticized for its access to otherwise limited Testing Capacity last spring, commissioner adam silver, like his nfl counterpart, said the league wont, quote, jump the line for the coronavirus vaccine. Time now for the weather. Lets go to meteorologist bill karins for the forecast. Bill, what do you got . Good morning. Weve got a big storm thats going to track across the country. Thats the biggest headline. Its not going to be a lot of snow and ice, but we are going to have to deal with some travel issues for those still traveling. I know were actually lucky. You know, if we had a storm like this in a typical travel schedule, wed have a lot of nightmares. Heres how it will play out. Rain will be breaking out in the green, going from new orleans all way to the great lakes. Today its fine, but tomorrows when the rain breaks out. The back side of it, a little bit of snow for our friends in minnesota, a little bit there in iowa and nebraska, too. And then look what happens on Christmas Eve. All of the yellow is heavy rain. The pinkish color there is going to be ice. And then the blue and the white is snow. So were going to watch a period of very heavy rain, gusty winds, and then as it gets colder, were going to see kind of a flash freeze situation and maybe a little bit of snow on the back side of this, too. And then by the time we get through christmas, well watch this beginning to exit out of the northeast and out of new england. So, the problem is going to be this we already had, you know, the huge storm last week with the 2 to 3 feet of snow. Then were going to get 2, maybe even 3 inches in the mountains. Then were going to get snowmelt and the heavy rain, and thats why were going to deal with some flooding problems on Christmas Day in the northeast. And then as far as snow goes, we could see a decent amount in the ohio valley. Ohio, western pennsylvania, and also minneapolis to duluth will get a White Christmas out of this, jonathan, but for our friends in new england, Christmas Eve is going to be wet and also with the potential for the flooding. So, heres how its all going to play out. Weve got the pretty map for you. I know youd appreciate this. I do. Areas in the east is where were going to watch Christmas Eve issues the most. Even areas like new york, i think all of the snow is going to be gone by the time its all said and done, and then on Christmas Day, youll wake up to heavy rain, hartford, providence, boston, all the way through northern new england. Christmas afternoon, new england will be dry and clearing out. Then well just watch those cold temperatures in the southeast. Look at atlanta, 39 degrees. Thats it on Christmas Day. But yeah, you know, jonathan, if it was like a normal year and we had a storm like this, i mean, the airports are going to be a disaster on Christmas Eve. So for those that are still traveling, you know, just be prepared. If you can change it, you may want to. For so many reasons, stay home this year, folks. Bill karins, thank you for the forecast and the very festive map. Still ahead, the president gets a harsh critique from one of his staunchest supporters. Plus, new reporting on how the Trump Administration is trying to stall the biden transition. Well be back in just a moment. Transition well be back in just a moment burke deepsea driving, i see. customer Something Like that. burke well, heres Something Else with your farmers policy perk, new car replacement, you can get a new one. customer that is Something Else. burke get a whole lot of something with farmers policy perks. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum secret stops sweat 3x more Yo Yo Yo Yo Yo Yo start your day with secret. Than ordinary antiperspirants. With secret youre unstoppable. No sweat. Try it and love it or get your money back. Secret. All strength, no sweat you know, with all his talent and the ability to raise money and draw large crowds, the president still lives in an alternate reality. He really does. People say, well, he lies about this, that, and the other, but no, he isnt lying. To him, thats the truth. He had the biggest crowd on inauguration day. He had more people than ever. He was the most popular people he saved nbc with the apprentice. You go down the line of things that really arent true. And you know, people kept pointing to them, but because they loved him so much and he was so strong for the evangelicals the evangelicals were with him all the way, but there was something about him that was good, that god placed him in the office for the time. Hes done a marvelous job for the economy. But at the same time, he is very erratic and hes fired people, hes fought people and hes insulted people and keeps going down the line. So, its a mixed bag, and i think it would be well to say youve had your day, and its time to move on. Thats televangelist and one of the president s most ardent supporters, pat robertson, calling on the president to face the reality that he lost the election. Robertson also advised the president not to run in 2024, saying it would be, quote, a side show and a mistake. Now more in the investigation into Rudy Giuliani, personal lawyer to President Trump. Two sources tell nbc news that prosecutors for the Southern District of new york are trying to gain access to giulianis emails but first need approval from main justice in washington before seeking a search warrant. Thats because the material may be protected by Attorney Client privilege. Its unclear if that approval has been granted. The scope of the investigation is also unclear, but in october 2019, the wall street journal reported that prosecutors were reviewing giulianis bank records as part of an investigation into his dealings in ukraine. Giulia giulianis attorney tells nbc news he has no reason to believe his client is under investigation. Still ahead, well go live to wilmington, delaware, as the president elect prepares to address the nation and take questions. Nbcs mike memoli will be in the room. And mike joins us next. But before we go to break, we want to know, why, just why are you awake . Email your reasons to waytooearly msnbc. Com or tweet me jonlamire, no h there, using waytooearly. We promise to read the best answers later in the show. Nicorette knows, quitting smoking is hard. You get advice like try hypnosis. Or. Quit cold turkey. Kidding me . instead, start small. With nicorette. Which can lead to something big. Start stopping with nicorette want to sell the best burger add an employee. Ode . Or ten. Then easily and automatically pay your team and file payroll taxes. That means. World domination or just the west side. Run payroll in less than five minutes with intuit quickbooks. Plus have high Blood Pressure. They may not be able to take just anything for pain. Thats why doctors recommend tylenol®. It wont raise Blood Pressure the way that advil® aleve or motrin® sometimes can. For trusted relief, trust tylenol®. Subut when we realized she wasn hebattling sensitive skin, that advil® aleve or motrin® sometimes can. We switched to tide plus downy free. Its gentle on her skin, and out cleans our old bargain detergent. Tide pods plus downy free. Safe for sensitive skin with eczema and psoriasis. On the third day of croodsmas my neighbor gave to me three. Dun, dun, duns. 2 shrieking girls and a. Whoa, peanut toe. In a pack of croodaceous families go to watchcroods. Com. Welcome back to way too early. Its just before 5 30 on the east coast, 2 30 out west. Im Jonathan Lemire in for kasie hunt, who has a few welldeserved days off. With 29 days to go until joe biden is inaugurated, its becoming increasingly clear, the Current Administration is doing as little as possible to help with a peaceful transition. The Washington Post reports that in the final weeks, the white house is trying to do everything it can to reshape the government with lastminute policy changes and political appointments. The newly installed defense secretary, a trump loyalist, has stopped briefing the transition team, calling it a, quote, holiday break. The biden team says it never agreed to this, adding, the move will, quote, have consequences well beyond january. Trump is also reportedly telling advisers not to share information with bidens team that could be used against him. And with his possible run for office, hes already looking to begin at least informally campaigning soon and will surely criticize biden daily. Meanwhile, Kamala Harris, the Vice President elect, hit the campaign trail in georgia. She paid a visit to columbus to rally for Democratic Senate candidates jon ossoff and raphael warnock. This was her first visit to georgia since democrats flipped the state last month in the president ial election. So far, nearly 1. 5 million georgians have already cast ballots in the Critical Senate runoff races. Joining us now from wilmington, delaware, nbc news correspondent mike memoli. Mike, first of all, go blue rocks. Secondly, how is the biden camp reacting to reporter blue hens, brother, blue hens. Is the Minor League Team the blue rocks . The blue hens reporter okay, im thinking all right, were getting our delaware sports teams. Im thinking of the university of delaware. Thats very look, we could go on for the rest of this show. Reporter were going off the rails, lemire. We could go on for the rest of the show about the delaware sports scene, but lets stick with the news. How is the biden camp reacting to the pushback we just described, with the transition process trying to be derailed by the Current Administration . Reporter well, i mean, the transition of power from one administration to the next has been a bipartisan concern for years, really, and the chairman of bidens transition, in fact, is the author of legislation that was designed to do Everything Possible to take the politics out of these things, to put it in the hands of career officials, to lay down very clear rules and guidelines for how transitions should occur. And so, you can understand the frustration of the biden team to see the trump team doing everything they can to, in their view, undermine what is supposed to be happening now, not for the benefit of a biden administrati administration, but to ensure the safety and the health of the public good here. Now, whats notable here is the approach of the biden team in terms of their public response to it. You know, its a measure of the difference between the guy youve covered a long time, donald trump, and the guy ive covered a long time, joe biden, that when the biden team tried to raise the temperature a bit of this on friday, they used the term pockets of recalcitrants to describe some of the pushback theyre getting within the Trump Administration. That was seen as salty language from the biden team. This was something that represented a real escalation of the rhetoric from their side. But the sources i talked to in the Biden Campaign do say that, for the most part, they have had very good interactions from their transition landing teams with the career officials who are the representatives of the agencies that theyre meeting with. But it is a very real concern that, of all the agencies to see the most pushback in, it is the defense department, of any aspect of this transition, it is, especially given the threats we face, the cyber hack that we just recently saw, the possibility of Real National Security Issues that the biden team wants to make sure theyre prepared to meet, that really represents a break here. And thats why you saw them try to raise the temperature a little bit. And they rely on sort of the bipartisan push here from republicans in the senate. It was that push that led to the ascertainment issue being somewhat settled, not as fast as they would have liked, but a few months ago, a few weeks ago when we finally got that from the General Services administration. And so, theyre hoping now that by raising the temperature a little bit here on the pentagon context, that that will lead some republicans to really raise the issue themselves with the Trump Administration and say, this is not a time to play politics, we need to move forward with this. Mike, im going to confidently make the prediction that President Trump has never used the phrase pockets of recalcitran recalcitrants. Reporter thats right. The other thing he has not done, at least yet, taken, publicly, anyway, the covid vaccine, which president elect biden did yesterday. And while doing so, he gave credit to the Current Administration for operation warp speed, its scientific achievements. What do you think the biden team is hoping to achieve with the moment right now . Whats the messaging behind what biden did yesterday, by not just taking the vaccine, but how he spoke about the Trump Administration as he did it . Reporter yeah, fascinating to hear him give credit to the Trump Administration for this. This is the ongoing efforts on the biden side to sort of, if not appeal to trump himself, to appeal to his supporters, try to be a president for all americans. But clearly, this is also a continuation of what we saw in the campaign. More than anything, he says, you know, publicly, what he proposes in terms of his policies, just trying to model good behavior. And of course, well see Vice President elect Kamala Harris getting the vaccine next week. Mike memoli, thank you so much. Enjoy wilmington today. Still ahead, whats your Favorite Movie to watch during the holidays . Were breaking it down by state, next in the cooler. Way too early is back in a moment. You arent going to want to miss that. You arent going to want to miss that among my patients, i often see them have teeth sensitivity as well as gum issues. Does it worry me . Absolutely. Sensodyne sensitivity gum gives us the dual action effect that really takes care of both our teeth sensitivity as well as our gum issues. Theres no question its something that i would recommend. Keep cosentyx accessible and affordable. If youre taking cosentyx and your insurance or coverage changes or you need help paying cosentyx connect is here to help. Dont use if youre allergic to cosentyx. Before starting, get checked for tuberculosis. An increased risk of infections and lowered ability to fight them may occur. Tell your doctor about an infection or symptoms, if your inflammatory bowel disease symptoms develop or worsen or if youve had a vaccine, or plan to. Serious allergic reactions may occur. Call us or visit us online. Were here for you. And my water broke. At only 23 weeks. Andrew we had to stay in the hospital for 10 weeks, 1000s of miles from family. Our driver kristin came along in our most desperate hour. Suzanne bringing us homecooked meals and gifts. Andrew day after day. We wanted to show you something. Kristin oh my god Andrew Kristin is the most uncommonly kind person that weve met. Suzanne thank you so much. Sprinting past every leak in our softest, smoothest fabric. Shes confident, protected, her strength respected. Depend. The only thing stronger than us, is you. Gillette proglide and proglide gel. Five blades and a pivoting flexball designed to get virtually every hair on the first stroke, while washing away dirt and oil. So youre ready for the day with a clean shave and a clean face. Time now for some of the things that will have people talking today, beyond the delaware sports scene. Its almost christmas, and if youre in misery looking for that lastminute gift, clark and Ellen Griswald have just the thing for you. I hope no one sees me in my yoga pants. You mean your sitting on the couch pants . Ah ah hallelujah ah, ha ha incredible, dad. Wow ha ha nice whip, clark. Shotgun. No, i was first. Im your dad, so i used to have a mustang, back when cars made sounds. Thats fun. Original National Lampoon christmas vacation stars chevy chase and beverly dangelo, teamed up with ford to recreate the iconic scene with an electric mustang twist. tis the season for cozying up to watch some holiday classics, and what you watch might depend on where you live. A Consumer Tech website compiled data from imbd and google trends to list the top holiday films in each state. Home alone was number one in eight states, including oklahoma, texas and new york and i will note it polled very well among my boys, ages 9 and 6. Die hard clinched the top spot . Alaska and two other states. Chevy chases ford commercial might perform well in south dakota, as National Lampoons christmas vacation is that states number one. And its a wonderful life, classic and one of my favorites, is beloved in wisconsin and maine. At the height of the pandemic, when everyone needed a pickmeup, office alum John Krasinski brought us good news. His web series has since gone on hiatus, but the star couldnt let 2020 end without one more episode. He teamed up with stars George Clooney and dwayne the rock johnson to bring some Holiday Cheer to all. Clooney delivered a very insightful weather report, saying, quote, uh, looks pretty good. But the best moment of all was when the rock surprised a father of two who began selling his own things on ebay to pay for his Kids Christmas presents. I saw your tweets, and your tweet really, really moved me. Heres why. Of all the things you could have asked me and of all the things that people do ask for and thats okay nothing wrong with asking, man the only thing you wanted was a retweet. I thought, duanoklaus can do better than a retweet. I want you to take all of your stuff off ebay, because dwayneaklaus is going to take care of all of it. Nicely done, the rock. Still ahead, more of William Barrs break with the president on the way out the door. What that pushback means from the outgoing attorney general and what it could mean for trumps continued efforts to overturn the election. As we go to break, a look at this date in history. In 2001, a passenger on an American Airlines flight from paris to miami tried to explode an explosive in his shoes but flight adwraentsd and passengers subdued. Officials say a Flight Attendant discovered a passenger carrying a bomb on the jumbo jet. When they saw what this individual was attempting to do and literally tackled the individual and get into a, you know, a wrestling match in attempt to subdue and stop this action. Attempt to subdue and stop this action tremfya® helps adults with moderate 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. To all of us, every day. Some of us start something with them. Some of us pursue them further. Some of us change them into Something Else. Its not about the times they were started, its about the person who starts it. But maybe that idea, and its action, is yet to come. And if we stopped the noise. It could come even now. Godaddy. Start now. What i want to say is we owe these folks an awful lot, the scientists and the people who put this together and the frontline workers. We owe you big. We really do. Thank you. And one of the things is that i think that the administration deserves some credit getting this off the ground with operation warp speed. I also think that its worth saying that this is great hope. Im doing this to demonstrate that people should be prepared when its available to take the vaccine. Theres nothing to worry about. That was the moment we discussed earlier in the show. In an act of solidarity with the scientists fighting the pandemic, president elect joe biden received the Pfizer Vaccine from a Nurse Practitioner from Christiana Health hospital in wilmington, delaware. Joining us now is grace panetta. Good morning, grace. Thanks for being here. The incoming administration, of course, has a massive job ahead of it when it comes to distributing that vaccine, which joe biden just took. What are you hearing in terms of their concerns and fears about how the logistics are shaping up and how they are going to get this vaccine to all the tens of millions of americans who need it . Yes, absolutely. So, obviously, the cdc Advisory Panel recommended on sunday that after the Health Care Workers and some government officials and highranking folks like joe biden get the vaccine, this First Priority group, the next will be frontline essential workers and people over the age of 75, and thats going to be a huge effort to roll out. And i think the biden team is kind of trying to be a bit realistic about the timeline. Bidens nominee for surgeon general, dr. Vivek murthy said on meet the press on sunday that he thinks it could be as late as summer to early fall before the vaccine really makes its way to the general population after all these essential groups get vaccinated, which is quite different from sort of the more rosy, optimistic timeline that the Trump Administration and some of the operation warp speed folks have painted, and it kind of relates to what biden said when he got the vaccine, which is, listen, we want you to get this when its available, but it might be a while. So, until then, please, keep wearing a mask, keep social distancing. Do not let up and do not let your guard down because we still have a long journey ahead of us. So tampering peoples expectations, despite how amazing the news of the vaccine is and figuring out all of the complicated logistical issues is something theyre going to have to deal with hitting the ground. Smart messaging from the president elects team, not just keeping americans on guard, saying look, just because of the good news of the vaccine doesnt mean you can stop social distancing and stop masking, so on, but you manage expectations. And if youre able to get the vaccine to most americans by the summer, it looks like they beat what they thought. But i wanted to go back here, grace, to how we opened the show, with attorney general bill barr and his pretty stern rebukes of the president , the way he really broke from trump, both on the need to appoint a special counsel for the hunter biden case, but also for Election Fraud. Whats your takeaway as to what the attorney general did yesterday in one of his last days in office . Yeah, absolutely. So, this is attorney general bill barrs secondtolast day in the position. Hes set to leave tomorrow. And it really has been an incredibly tumultuous tenure. At times hes been accused of acting more like the president s personal lawyer than the nations lawyer. During the impeachment inquiry. And now that hes drawn the president s eyre and the president s legal teams eyre for breaking with their unsubstantiated claims of massive voter and Election Fraud. In the press conference yesterday, which was really an update on the dojs ongoing investigations into the 1988 lockerbie bombing, barr broke with the president in four really significant ways, first by saying he will not appoint a special counsel to investigate hunter biden. He was already under an active doj investigation. Hes not going to appoint a special counsel to investigate the nonexistent Election Fraud that trump and his allies claim have taken place. And he said that the federal government has no authority to seize Voting Machines, which the New York Times reported was something that was floated in the west wing this weekend, predominantly by conservative lawyer Sidney Powell, and he backed secretary of state mike pompeos assessment that it seems that russia was behind the solar winds attack that affected our federal agencies. He was cleareyed, saying no need to appoint the special counsels, it was russia who did this. And hes trying to set his legacy in his last days in office. This could be the very last significant Public Service role he has. And hes sort of thinking long term about what is the departments legacy, but also his own personal legacy. Whats going to be in his obituary . Will it be the attorney general who was accused of acting as the president s personal lawyer or the one who pushed back when things really spun out of control and the president was actively trying to subvert democracy . He sort of has two paths he can go down in his last days. Grace, one more for you. The president tomorrow leaves for maralago for an abridged holiday, expected to be there ten days or so. While there, he is then going to make a Campaign Trip to georgia for the Senate Runoff races there that will determine which Party Controls the senate. We saw that Vice President elect harris was there yesterday. Whats the latest youre hearing in terms of smart strategists on both sides of the aisle, republicans and democrats . Whos feeling confident right now about where things stand in georgia . Well, really, i would say no one is feeling super confident on either side. Thats not a super satisfying answer, but the dynamics of runoffs are pretty unpredictable, especially after the democrats just flipped what was once formerly a solid republican state for the first time. Biden won georgia for the first time that a democrat carried it since 1992. And of course, pollsters are not really, you know, in the field there. A lot of significant pollsters are sitting this out because of all the issues with polling in the november election that underestimated trump and a lot of other downballot republicans. We dont have the huge sudden rush of highquality polls we saw prior to november. So, everyone is sort of thinking that it could really go either way. It seems pretty unlikely that a democrat would win one race and a republican would win the other. That would be kind of a surprising outcome. But at this point, it really, either outcome is entirely possible. Terrific stuff from business insiders grace panetta. Grace, thank you so much. Earlier in the show, we asked that immortal question why are you awake . Carly, who is the president of a community college, says shes setting the example that it is never too early to learn. A viewer tweets that theyre up way too early because of these two. I like it. Ally and gus. Well, they cant get along. Thats the problem. And marcus emails to say, quote, as a Frontline Health care worker, im always awake this early on a chicago morning. Oh, and this day in particular because im receiving my first dose of the pfizer covid19 vaccine. That is terrific news. Up next, a look at the axios one big thing. And coming up on 1 big thing. Coming up on morning joe, whats being called quote the most ambitious police reform, new jersey has sweeping new policies regarding the use of force and the attorney general will join the conversation. Plus, a conversation with sean penn and what hes doing to help with the vaccine distribution. You dont want to miss that. Morning joe, just moments away. Away harold twelve hundred strings of lights. betsy quarter mile of tinsel. harold and real snow all the way from switzerland. betsy hmmhm. Gonna be tough to top. Well played. vo add some thrill to your wish list. At the season of audi sales event. Get exceptional offers now. Women with metastatic webreast cancer,. Standing in the struggle. Hustling through the hurt. Asking for science, not sorrys. Our time. For more time. Has come. Living longer is possible and proven in women taking kisqali plus fulvestrant or a nonsteroidal aromatase inhibitor. 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Its our time. To continue to shine. Because we are the thrivers. Ask your doctor about kisqali, the only treatment in its class proven to help women live longer in 2 clinical trials. Stnarrow it to all thes ikarate moms. In desperate need of brown sugar. Meaning, you. Youre the one we made mywalgreens for. With pickup in as little as 30 minutes. Hiya get 30minute pickup at walgreens. Com smells more amazing than ever. Flings now so their laundry isnt that the dogs towel . Hey, me towel su towel. More gain scent plus oxi boost and febreze in every gain fling. Joining us with a look at axios a. M. , the cofounder, mike, what is the 1 big thing this morning . Well, jonathan, this is a breaking 1 big thing. Trump turns on everyone. So we have late reporting out of the white house last night, the president that President Trump now is turning on Vice President pence on Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell, on the white house counsel. Anyone who doesnt want to go out and impound Voting Machines is now suddenly considered by the president to be weak. So one example of this, the Lincoln Project which always seems to do seems to get inside the president s head ran an article ran an ad saying that Vice President pence was turning on trump and sources tell Jonathan Swan that this is clearly stuck in the president s head and hes starting to doubt even mike pence. We posted last night an astonishing powerpoint slide this is another sign of what where the president s head is at. He had his personal assistant last night send around to republican lawmakers a slide arguing that Senate Majority Mitch Mcconnell was quote first off the ship and trump taking credit for mcconnells win in kentucky. Of course, the president had nothing to do with that. If anything, the president created head winds because mcconnell won and trump didnt. Yeah. Mitch mcconnell won by a lot. I dont know that President Trump had much to do with that, but i wanted to back up for half a second. Vice president pence has made a display of loyalty, sort of the trademark of his time in the white house. We remember the fawning introductions he would always give the president. Hes always been lock step. Its true he hasnt been out there as forcefully on the election conspiracies, but is there any sort of anger or frustration or some doubt thats seeped into the president s mind. I think as you know the Vice President has his eye on the prize. He is looking down the road. But you make a Perfect Point and this is indicative of the way the president treats the people of most who have gone out on a limb for him, the people who have been the most loyal to him. And by the way, wheres jared . A twist on a question you may have heard a time or two. Swan asked that question and was told, quote, jared is focused on the middle east and sure enough, jared was in israel planting a tree with Prime Minister netanyahu in the grove of nations so swan sent me a text. This is the perfect visual encapsulation of whats going on. Jared is in the middle east planting a tree, accepting plaudits while President Trump is meeting with Sidney Powell and plotting shenanigans including trying to still overturn this vote. Hes even, jonathan, talking about new ways to go at the state legislators, to try to change things before that january 6th certification by congress. Certainly Jared Kushner as an act of being out of up to in particular moments of crisis for the white house. Long history of that. He does indeed. Axios is reporting that there are officials in washington who say the incoming head of the department of justice has the worst job right now. Who is he and what is his focus going to be . So the acting attorney general, jeffrey rosen, whos going to become the acting attorney general were told that that very Interesting Press conference by attorney general barr and barr has been very loyal but im told that was to create a little cover for the incoming acting ag. But jonathan, youre right, our sources say its the worst job in town. He has no idea swan is told from inside the west wing the insanity that is going to come his way but hell be asked to be a party to, preside over, it will be the longest month of his life. Mike allen, terrific stuff as always. Thank you very much, my friend. We wanted to fit in one more story this morning. Dozens of cadets are facing disciplinary action after being accused of a major cheating scandal at west point. Courtney kube has more. Reporter in what could be the biggest honor code violation in decades, more than 70 west point cadets are accused of cheating on a math exam while learning remotely last spring. 72 freshmen and one sophomore caught when they all made the same mistake on one part of the calculus exam. Two have since been exonerated. Four left the academy, but the others still face administrative actions. The 55 cadets who admitted guilt will be on probation for the rest of their time at the academy. West points honor code states, a cadet will not lie, cheat or steal nor tolerate those who do. In a statement, a spokesperson for the academy said cadets are being held accountable for breaking the code while disappointi disappointing the honor system is working and the others will be held accountable. When they graduate they go into the army and theyre responsible for everything in the lives of maybe 40 people. Very much different than graduating from a civil institution. My final thought for in tuesday morning, the continuation of the split screen presidency. President elect biden is expected to address the nation today, preaching to stay home and stay safe this holiday and President Trump no events on the public schedule. We are not expected to see him at all. That was way too early for a tuesday morning. Thank you to kasie for letting me take the helm for a couple of days and thanks to you for watching and for most of your tweets. Morning joe starts right now. No more machines, oh, my god, whats so private about an election machine . I see no basis now for seizing machines by the federal government. For two years they have been trying to get this information to the Justice Department and the fbi. One fbi agent went like this to the witness. I think to the extent theres an investigation i think it is being responsibly and professionally within the department. The president suggesting that the massive hack may have been carried out by someone else. Not russia. From
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