today. he said this was a mandate for action on the coronavirus, the climate crisis, racism. those are all big picture priorities for democrats, the democratic base. he called them out specifically tonight to send a message. and both messages at the same time, which was clearly very intentional, just signaling to people he's going to try to do both things. >> yesterday, president trump in all caps issued a press release in which he said, if you count all the votes, the legal votes, i win. if you count the illegal votes, then they win. we discussed how the theory that he didn't tweet this, because if he had tweeted it, it would have been flagged as false information by twitter or facebook. so he put it out in a press release. he came out, we didn't know what he was going to say. we're long past the point of hoping for a pivot from this president. but he started his remarks

immediately with this thing that if he had put it on twitter, it would have been flagged as false. with just a lie about the election. we didn't hear that tonight. >> no. >> we didn't hear joe biden mention donald trump. >> no. >> it was just about the fact that the voting was happening, the counting w i'm sorry, the counting was happening. and we're going to get to work as a country. >> the only slight allusion to the president was, i know how hard people are going to try to stop it. meaning the counting. but, no, it was not about him. it was about the country and about what he's going to do. the other thing i thought was really, really telling, and i think we're going to see a lot more about this is, if he does win, if he does get the first state, georgia, and the last state there, arizona, that's a

huge deal for a democrat, to be able to claim wins in those two states. if in fact it does happen. particularly if you look at, he talks about the blue wall, rebuilding that. when you talk about the midwest. but he's also talking about the southwest, and a totally different kind of democratic party that is alive there. >> yeah. if these gains hold on this map, this is a new map. this is a joe biden map, similarly to how in 2008, barack obama won north carolina and indiana. those were -- and solidified states like colorado. these were changes to the map in a barack obama era. this is a different era that joe biden is going to have to define. what kind of mandate is he reading out of what happened? there were some mixed results for democrats on tuesday. but if you heard joe biden tonight, it sounded like he felt

that -- that he could govern without viewing it as a divided result. he said he had a mandate, it's an interesting but intentional choice. obviously, one could argue that even a mandate, if he ends up with 306 electoral votes, the margins in some of these states are so narrow, and the fighting was so bitter that, yeah, the country remains divided. but he's choosing to lead even with a smaller majority in the house of representatives, and that democrats are unlikely to take over the senate. that will be, i think, an interesting -- it's going to be interesting to see how it's executed. >> and in all fairness, when donald trump won the same number of electoral votes with slimmer margins, although we don't know

the final result, and he lost the popular vote, he certainly claimed a mandate. he called it a landslide, which hadn't happened. you noted that a democrat hadn't won georgia since 1992. i don't think a democrat had won arizona since 1996. you have to go back to 1992 to find a time that an american president, an incumbent, ran for re-election and lost. so, joe biden has done something quite unique. and we'll see if donald trump handles himself with any close to the grace that george h.w. bush demonstrated in 1992. anderson? >> she said she felt like it was a soaring address, and it was

normal and traditionally presidential. ran seven minutes or so. and perhaps that sounds particularly soaring given what we've become used to in the last four years with the kinds of remarks we're used to hearing. and he talked about the human losses, the pain that exists out there because of the deaths of so many americans. and also the economic losses, clearly it's one of the messages that he's going to be trying to send in the next several days. addressing the pandemic itself, but also trying to talk about mitigation efforts on the pandemic as a way to bridge to try to help the economic pain that is out there. >> when you think about donald trump's speech last night, it was all about challenging the legitimacy of the process, undermining democracy, you know, charging falsely that votes weren't counted, et cetera, et

cetera. and that the votes should stop being counted. biden tonight spoke about the legitimacy of democracy. and applauded democracy, and praised the way it works. he was optimistic, he was not full of grievance. this wasn't about me, me, me. it was america, america, america. and being president of all americans. and when i listened to it, i thought, okay, this is a speech that was kind of written by professionals who understand what it's like to be a gracious winner and to behave that way. one thing he pointed out was, we're already at work. and our colleagues were talking about that. but i can tell you, his transition is in full swing, as it has been. and maybe that's what he'll talk about if the race is called tomorrow. maybe he'll give us an

indication about his bipartisanship. they're moving, about covid, and everything. and i remember the transition, when chris christie came in with the big transition book, and they threw it out the day after he got elected. so this is completely the opposite of what we're used to. >> i'm happy. i like the speech, the empathy, the optimism, i like it. it's just good. you know, this guy is going to need a lot of help. if he wants to do what he's talking about, if he wants to bring people together, he's going to need a lot of help, he's asking for it, and he's worthy of it. i liked the speech. talking about civility, that shouldn't be corny stuff. that's what we were raised to be, listen, i'm sorry -- i'm just happy.

>> rick santorum, and then david, and we'll go back. >> i think republicans will look at the speech as a perfectly fine speech, sort of a normal speech. i don't know of any president who gets elected who doesn't say they have a mandate. but i think republicans don't see it that way. that will be the real question here. >> i think one of the most important things he said, we may be opponents but we're not enemies. we're americans. we need to get past the anger, we need to put that behind us. and he promised to be a president for everyone. we don't have a minute to waste on partisan warfare. these are important messages after a very, very rough campaign. and given the presidency that we just saw. my only question is, what is he going to say tomorrow if he gets elected? because you expect he's going to

hit the same themes all over again. >> i don't mind. say it again. >> but if van is happy, i'm happy. >> let's go back to jake. >> thanks, anderson. we have some breaking news, let's go to caitlkaitlan collin with some bad news on the coronavirus front. >> we're now confirming from a white house official that the president's chief of staff, mark meadows, has tested positive for coronavirus. this is notable because meadows is someone who works closely with not only the president, but has been around several campaign officials and top west wing aides this week, as they've been going over the post-election fallout, dealing with what the president's next steps are going to be. now we've learned that mark meadows has tested positive for coronavirus. it's not clear when he tested positive, or what the situation is. we know he has not been around other officials today, but we've

confirmed this. and mark meadows was the person who was by the president's side when he went to walter reed, when he himself had coronavirus. and there were several instances when we were talking about the fact that meadows was not wearing a mask when the president was infectious. but meadows continued to test negative. and now, as the white house is trying to navigate what they're going to do, you know, whether or not the president is going to concede the election, if it becomes clear that joe biden has secured the presidency. now they're dealing with another twist. the chief of staff himself dealing with coronavirus. and, jake, this must have been really a recent development. we've been reporting over the last several days about how meadows has been intimately involved in the next steps. it's been said he was feeding the president the claims about

voter fraud, and he's been around the white house and the president, and around campaign officials. it not only raises questions about him self-isolating, but also the people around him since coming into contact with him. and mark meadows does not often wear a mask. he was on capitol hill, and he said he wasn't going to talk with a mask on because he was socially distanced, and he walked away. we're going to get more details on it, but the chief of staff has tested positive for coronavirus. >> thank you so much. and today actually was the worst day in the united states, in the history of this pandemic, when it comes to new infections reported. more than 125,000 americans today alone tested positive for

coronavirus. this is also the third consecutive day of more than 100,000 cases, new cases, each day. and this does underline, dana, the failure of this administration to not only contain the coronavirus pandemic in a way that is comparable to canada, but also from the white house. this is at least the third outbreak of sorts. you had the president get it, you had the vice president's staff get it, you had the event for now justice amy coney barrett where a number of people got it. a super spreader event. now the white house chief of staff. >> and we could have had another super spreader event at the white house this week. the president had a couple of events, including a big one on election night tuesday night.

i didn't see many masks there, did you? meadows was there. and i was told he was not only at the white house yesterday, he was at the campaign. question o whether or not that will spread through the campaign, whether people will have to quarantine when they are wanting to fight the fight. we hope he's okay, and wish him well. >> of course, yeah. >> but wearing a mask sometimes helps in 2020, now that we know what we know about covid. >> this is, by my count, the third outbreak that we've found out from the media, because the white house refuses to be transparent about people who are contracting coronavirus within that organization and that institution. they are obviously trying to keep this under wraps because it

looks bad for them politically. but it's irresponsible. they had a very large event in the east room of the white house on tuesday night, and very few people, including several white house officials, that you could clearly see, were not wearing masks. >> and for anybody wondering about the situation at cnn, we're sitting farther apart than we normally sit, six feet apart. and when we go up and back to our offices and walk in the hall, all of us are wearing masks. here's my mask. and our cameraman and crew, it's a minimal, skeleton crew, and they're all wearing masks as well. look, it's sad, obviously mark meadows, we don't wish this on anybody. we hope he gets better soon, and that he doesn't show many symptoms. but it's once again an example of how this administration doesn't appreciate the health experts who are telling them the

best way to keep the virus from spreading is to wear a mask. and we've heard a few days ago, president trump was talking about perhaps firing dr. anthony fauci. wolf? >> yes, it's sad. i'm not happy to hear that mark meadows has coronavirus, he's 61 years old. we hope and wish him only the best, john. we hope a speedy recovery for mark meadows. and everyone who was in contact with him, they presumably will have to quarantine for a while. and hopefully nobody will get it. but it's a really worrisome development. and biden said he fears the number of daily coronavirus cases could go up to 200,000 a day. and pointed out correctly that 240,000 or so americans have already died. >> we wish meadows the best, but

it's another outbreak within the white house. and the most likely president-elect of the united states, receiving daily coronavirus updates, but the president is not anymore. he doesn't attend the meetings. what do you take away from that? joe biden is trying to tell the american people, i believe i have a mandate. 74 million votes and counting, could reach 75 million votes, the most votes any candidate for president has ever received. he's set a record in american politics. however, his opponent, joe biden says it's time to stop calling each other enemies, his opponent got 70 million votes. he will retain a grip over the republican party for sure. and if this map holds up, he's

made quite the statement, pennsylvania, michigan, wisconsin, back in the democratic fold. georgia, a recount there, but it could end up blue as well. arizona, last time it was democratic was in 1992. this one in 1996. holding all the clinton states. and there are many challenges for joe biden. he says, let's do covid, climate change, racial justice, and the economy. he will have huge fights, the liberals unified for the election, they want big policy fights. one thing he doesn't know is what will be the composition of the body in which he once served. joe biden, a longtime united

states senator. right now, republicans have the balance of power in the senate. still have control. but there will be two runoff elections in georgia which could determine it. and one last thing i want to show, this is what joe biden was talking about if you come here and look at this. the country he will take over as president if things stand, set a record for covid infections. it's everywhere. in red america, blue america, republican and democratic communities. and donald trump is president for 75 more days. he's shown zero interest in recent days and weeks in dealing with this. and he'll be president for 75 more days. >> joe biden is clearly concerned, he wants to remain calm and patient, but there's a lot going on. everybody stand by. biden moments ago saying it's clear he's going to win this race as his lead expands in pennsylvania. we'll take a closer look at where the race stands.

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welcome back to cnn's continuing coverage, election night in america goes on. i'm chris cuomo with don lemon. joe biden said confidently, we will win this race. more about tone than content. the president was obviously -- the president, he wishes. maybe president-elect biden was trying to project calm, to be patient and respect the process. it's good advice, because we have a ways to go. >> i think the patience thing, people i was with said, you know

what, he made me feel calm in this moment, that's something that we need right now. we're talking about a lot of numbers, the votes coming in. the record number of people testing positive for the coronavirus this week. the country is dealing with a lot in this moment. we're going to help people get through it. we have an election, we're seeing the votes. they have been changing all day since we've been here. people want the country to come together, and that's what the possibly president-elect is saying. he's also talking about the worsening pandemic numbers. it's impacting families, the economy, it's impacting all americans. >> often, don and i will say to each other, can you believe what we're living through, every once in a while, it hits you. we're living through history. >> and i didn't mention the chief of staff. >> mark meadows, testing positive for coronavirus. the white house becoming a

cluster, we wish him well, we hope it doesn't spread to his family, we hope he's back on his feet as soon as possible. but this country won't be until somebody decides to take on the virus. the election matters, but the problems are continuing right along. today, we had the most cases we've ever seen, single day, in this country. so let's get to business. the grind is the glory. as we take little steps, we'll get to the finish line together. d-lemon, another light, let's get after it. >> let's do it. >> the key race alerts for where we are in the election. pennsylvania and georgia. of course, we're talking about four states, nevada and arizona, but pennsylvania, 28,833, that's the margin for joe biden. are votes still coming in? yes. will they change the state of play? likely not. but remember, everything that happens adds a layer of doubt or

certainty. georgia, 16 electoral votes. the margin, 4,395 votes. vote to come in there, very skinny. recount, almost a given. we will watch that very carefully. arizona, arizona, it's better when you wait for it. 11 electoral votes, 29,861 is the cushion there. remember the math. biden wins pennsylvania, race is over. if before that biden wins arizona and nevada, race is over. you got to watch it all. the margin there, just under 30,000. nevada, 6 electoral votes, 22,687. we'll go through this on the wall in just a second for biden. here's the wall.

253-213. frustratingly inactive. why? you have to be sure. mail-in ballots have changed the dynamic. they get processed more slowly. you have to be more exacting, it's better to wait, to be careful. we have two reporters covering the campaigns, kaitlan collins and arlette, as well. his speech, what are they hoping for right now in the biden camp? >> chris, joe biden had hoped to be delivering a victory speech, that he would have been declared the president-elect by this point. but as this race retains uncalled, joe biden turned to a message of unity. he talked about the need for the

process to play out, to respect that process. ev even addressing, acknowledging that the votes coming can be behind-numbing. but each number represents a vote from a real person, talking about the power of voting. and you also heard the former vice president speak in very stark terms about the coronavirus pandemic in the country right now. that's something he's repeatedly stressed over the course of his campaign, saying he's going to continue getting to work on it right now. they held a briefing on it just yesterday. but he wanted to make sure that that is front and center of americans' minds at this moment. but really the speech was about unity. he talked about how politics isn't meant to be constant warfare between people. people may be opponents, but they shouldn't be enemies. that was a hallmark of biden's

campaign, talking about the need to unite the country. tonight, he's looking beyond the current race. talking about how americans need to find ways to work together. now, biden at the end of his remarks did say that he hopes to address the american people again tomorrow, that is a moment he's hoping will be a moment of victory for him. here in wilmington, delaware, the stage behind me remains set for the time being. it's been unused for a few days since joe biden came out to speak on election night. but for now, while his aides had hoped that this race would have been called by this moment, they're still in this waiting game. adhering to that patience that the former vice president has called for as he is waiting to see if he will cross that 270-electoral vote threshold. chris? >> and let's be honest. we know what the biggest

x-factor is right now. will president trump, if this election is decided for joe biden, will he accept it? if not, what will he try to do to the rest of us? let's go to kaitlan collins. what is the word in and around the trump camp? >> the latest we've heard, the president has not repaired a concession speech. even if joe biden's lead continues to grow, as it has throughout the day in several key states, we're told the president does not plan to concede. instead, they're looking to the courts and their legal team to try to fight it and drag it out into a prolonged battle. even though the president has said the math may not be there privately, he's saying he wants to be able to cast doubt on the results of the election, as he has continued to do since wednesday. and the president is trying to

paint it as something nefarious, but the president's supporters largely did not vote by mail. so we're seeing as the ballots are counted, that were by mail, they were for joe biden. we're told the president is voicing displeasure with the legal team they've assembled, asking for more attorneys and questioning whether or not they'll be able to make solid legal arguments in court. and we've seen they've not been able to do so in the public eye. and another twist to the drama, already inside a west wing that was described as a frenzied atmosphere, his chief of staff, mark meadows, who has often been seen not wearing a mask, has now

tested positive for coronavirus. it's not clear when he tested positive, but he's been in the residence this week, at the west wing, in the campaign office, and this is him in virginia on tuesday, you see mark meadows not wearing a mask. several other officials are not wearing a mask. but people like kayl-- as the president is gearing up to contest the outcome of the election, his top deputy, his chief of staff has now tested positive. >> mark meadows proving his own statement correct, we're not going to control this pandemic. i wish him well, i hope his

family stays well, and i hope he gets back soon. but if the president's best argument is to try to undermine the democracy, not a bad time not to be too close to the white house. thank you to you both. so, where are we in the state of the race, how does it look? let's get to the magic wall and phil mattingly, good to see you, my brother. what are we seeing, how close are we? >> let's topline things, give you the full universe as we get started with our shift tonight in the seemingly neverending election week. four states that could all go to joe biden and give him as many as 306 electoral votes, but have not been decided yet. what are we watching? we're watching pennsylvania, georgia, arizona, and nevada. the universe of outstanding ballots, how much is left, how long will it take to count?

can't give you an answer on the latter, but on the former, there's about 90,000 left. in georgia, a little over 4,000. georgia is likely headed to a recount, but joe biden with a lead of about 4,000 votes. arizona, that's a race that unlike pennsylvania, where joe biden has slowly pulled donald trump's lead back, overtaken him, and extended his own league, donald trump has tried to do the same thing with joe biden in the state of arizona. bringing back biden's pretty sizable lead right now, what we're waiting for in arizona is about 173,000 votes. many of them coming from

maricopa county. and finally, nevada, about 120,000 ballots left outstanding. joe biden has a fairly comfortable lead, all things considered, at least compared to georgia. but the bulk of them coming from clark county. that's the map as it currently stands. the reality, and we've been talking about this for a couple of days, this is where everybody was looking. this is a place that donald trump had at one point a 600,000-plus vote lead. but it faded away. >> and one of the questions i see in the universe of skepticism, 96% here, 99% in the other one. you guys call races all the time at 40% of the vote in. why aren't these states being called? what is the easy answer? >> the easy answer, let's lay a couple of things out. everybody wants finality to

this. >> if it comes with accuracy. >> that's the biggest thing. our decision desk, i think it's the absolute best in the business, we have smart people who have been working on this assiduously over the past couple of days. the trend line, it's glaringly obvious where this has been headed over the last 24 hours. election day vote went huge for president trump, then democrats dominating the mail-in ballots. and the mail-in ballots have been even bigger margins. but a little shy of 90,000 ballots outstanding, and the provisional ballots. every desk is taking that into accounts. we're not calling the races, because we want to get it right, and make sure to understand the full universe before making a

call. >> and what makes it different, just that the the margin are th slim? >> they're the expert, but you don't want to call a race when there's any chance it could change. we see the trend line, it's been clear in pennsylvania. but wait and see, count everything, and go from there. >> we've learned that projections can be wrong. let's go to senator bob casey, democrat, of course, from pennsylvania. you have the map behind you of the state. you know the state well. you've been saying for days that joe biden would take pennsylvania. you've always had a high degree of certitude. i'm assuming that has not changed? >> no, it hasn't. chris, the data crunchers at the voter project, who have -- they'their numbers are the ones i place

reliance upon. and so far, we've seen the margin grow. the only question i have is, what will the number be, the preliminary number upon which some news organizations may make a determination about a call? but ultimately, the official count maybe two weeks from now will hover around 100,000. >> well, look, the number has to be a coefficient, how many votes are still left, and what is the trending percentages, and can it be bested by that? and once they feel that certainty, they'll do it. and time is ack curacy, that's good. but is the biggest risk whether or not biden wins pennsylvania? probably not. it's how will donald trump respond to pennsylvania being called for joe biden? how worried are you about what trump is capable of?

>> well, chris, i always have to be concerned when you have a president who, on a regular basis, is not only lying about mail-in ballots, lying about the vote that we're seeing unfold before our eyes, but he's willing to do virtually anything to undermine our process of voting, and will do anything to distract attention from what is happening, what has been happening ever since voters cast their votes. the good news is, the american people are not distracted. they voted in record numbers, none seemed to be intimidated, or pushed in the direction of not voting. and i think what they're yearning for right now is a president who will lead. and i think they saw that president tonight, joe biden. you saw a leader who stood up and provided in a short body of a remark, unifying, respectful,

empathetic comments about where we are in the country, not just with voting and covid-19, but how we relate to each other. they saw that tonight, and they wish the president would demonstrate that same leadership. >> let's take one more step down the road of what the is next. arizona, georgia, and you. you're the vulnerable state in terms of the president's marketing. you have democrats running the state, and he could say, it's an inside job. you guys have the rule that was made by a court and not by a legislature. he's going to come at you and you've decided the election if it goes for biden. do you believe pennsylvania has vulnerabilities in terms of how the balloting was done, the accuracy of the count, anything like that? >> none.

chris, this law, act 77, is a law passed by the general assembly of pennsylvania, controlled by republicans. signed by a democratic governor. the only issue the president has raised about a number of potentially, a number of votes that is very small. maybe as little as 10,000 votes. in other words, the votes that were postmarked on election day and came in after that. it's going to lead to a margin that means that joe biden will win the state. >> okay. appreciate it, senator bob casey. thank you for joining us. let's see what happens. hopefully it gets done completely and accurately, and then this country can move forward with our challenges. and let's get to d-lemon, it's

amazing. three days this week with record numbers in the pandemic. >> it's really unbelievable. and it's what you said off the top here. we're in the middle of an historic election, and an administration that is currently in power who have been downplaying -- >> intentionally. >> intentionally. but lying about it, telling in public saying one thing, and behind closed doors admitting to bob woodward, that the president knew how deadly the pandemic was, and how easily it is to transmit it. >> you have president trump trying to make people believe something that is not true about the largest celebration of democracy in our lifetime. the american people showed up to vote. but at the same time, he's lying to you about an inside scheme to keep the pandemic quiet, and it's getting worse and worse.

>> tough day. and you can't deny, when it comes to the pandemic and this race, that's math. those are the numbers. i want to talk more about it. you had bob casey, i have charlie dent. >> it's a strong play. >> charlie dent is a former congressman from pennsylvania. thank you, congressman, for joining us. before we get to the race, quickly, when you hear about mark meadows and possibly others around him, some aides, the reporting is still coming through, what do you make of this? during the middle of an historic election? >> well, mark meadows is a friend, and wish him and his family well. but it's clear to me, so many people in the white house haven't taken this pandemic seriously. most of us travel with a mask, always wearing it, especially indoors. seems like they're just not taking this pandemic as

seriously as they should. and they're going to lose this election because so many people want this issue addressed seriously. and the white house has been a hot spot, and frankly they have themselves to blame for it. and i wish mark well, but i'm just sorry that we are where we are. >> i just remember, i think it was maybe a week or two ago, he was doing an interview with jake. he said, come on, jake, you don't wear it in the studio. it's like, of course, we have the masks on, when i leave this set, if i go to the restroom, sometimes i have to run back and get it, but we walk around with these masks. because we know the science. >> yeah. >> i want to ask you something about the election, unless you want to make a point. >> no, covid is something you have to take seriously. yeah. >> vice president biden is trying to set a tone. he wants people to be calm. he wants people to respect the process while the president still wants to fight right now. listen, there is going to be no

graceful departure. what does biden do in this case? i feel, and i think many others do as well, and the president and the administration are signaling that this is not going to be a traditional exchange of power. so what does biden do? >> well, i think what biden does is what he did tonight. talking reconciliation, unity, calm, starting to project forward and saying he's going to win. he can't declare victory. but projecting confidence, stability, and steadiness. which is a wonderful contrast to donald trump, who displays chaos, disruption, dysfunction. it's a wonderful contrast. i think he's trying to rise above it, and he knows there will be lawsuits, yelling and screaming, but at the end of the day, joe biden knows he will win, there will be a transition, and we can only hope donald

trump takes it seriously and shows some grace, as did george h.w. bush, al gore, or jimmy carter, all of whom showed us how to help with a peaceful transition of power, the right way. >> especially with barack obama, considering what the current president had said about the former president, about not being born in this country, the whole birther issue. >> of course. >> and i want to go back to covid, because i know some republicans won't think this is a mandate. but joe biden is also saying that he has a mandate when it comes to covid, on climate change, on systemic racism. is that how you see it? >> yeah, i think joe biden will have a mandate on covid. i think there are certainly a bit of a mandate to address climate change and racial rec n

reconciliation. but i don't think there's a specific policy mandate for either joe biden or for the republican, who can make a case that they did well, too, last night, certainly on the congressional side. it's more of a governing mandate, steadying the ship of state. projecting to the world that america is back in the game. and that we're going to function with some degree of normality. i think that was really the message. because i do believe that voters wanted to send a message. they want to get rid of the dysfunction and disruption of donald trump, the steadying voice of joe biden, but they want to make sure the left wing doesn't have too much of a sway in the election. >> congressman, you're in

pennsylvania, a former congressman. as you see it now, where do you see this going? >> oh, yeah, joe biden is going to win pennsylvania. we just heard senator casey, he says 100,000, i'm going to say he'll get at least 40,000, he may hit 100,000. but i'll say at least a 50,000-vote margin. the ballots will take a little while longer. i'm hoping we'll know by the end of the weekend. i'm hoping the weekend, but i don't know. >> i thought you were going to say by the end of the night, that's in about 11 minutes or so. >> this is government work. >> congressman, it's always a pleasure. thank you, we appreciate it. the numbers, it could happen tonight or tomorrow. and as you heard the former

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to figure out where we're going, we have to understand how we got here. that brings us to phil mattingly and the magic wall. pennsylvania. the most recent moves. this was the number we were watching, for a long time. when the dam broke, why? and where? >> let's just go to 24 hours ago. that's friday, at midnight. i know we've all lost track of the days right now. but if you take what's happened, donald trump started the day up friday. then, you can progressively see as it gets cut down over the course of the day.

joe biden flipped into the lead. by midday. where are we now? there's two things you need to pay attention to if you were watching pennsylvania. one, what came in down here? we knew. we knew, last night, the outstanding in bulk was democratic strongholds and was going to be fast. >> to be fair, you knew. i was not sure. we talked about it, plenty. >> i gave you the information. whether you took it was up to you. and then, we knew -- we knew there were about 3,6votes from allegheny. and joe biden has progressively built up his lead. the one other thing i think has been most clarifying about this path over the course of the last 24 hours has been the vote that's come in counties that aren't deep blue, like southeast pennsylvania. you take a county like right here, this is deep red. this is deep red. donald trump. you look at that margin, it's --

it's a large margin. you put a bulk of donald trump's vote and what he picked up right here. and yet -- and yet, when we saw votes come in and be reported, they were leaving towards joe biden. this gets to the point of why the trend lines have been so firm. is that, even in republican counties, because of vote by mail, because that's how democrats voted, that's where the vote is coming in. joe biden's picking up not just in strongholds, he is picking up votes in the president's strongholds. >> okay. of course, we have a couple of what-happens-next context to discuss and we will, right after this. the new ergo smart base from tempur-pedic responds to snoring automatically. so no hiding under your pillow. or opting for the couch. because it's our first system that detects snoring and automatically adjusts to help reduce it. your best sleep. all night. every night.

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welcome back to cnn's breaking news coverage of election night in america. we are getting there, together. chris cuomo, don lemon, we'll be your guides for this evening. joe biden. all eyes on him. he came out and addressed the

nation, tonight. he didn't declare himself the winner but he did say, don, i do believe we're going to win. but it seemed his point of purpose, tonight, was calm. respect the process. the grind is the glory. we will get there. we have big challenges. we'll do it together. as simple of a statement as it is, we're not used to hearing it, are we? >> you are reading my mind because i was just talking to the guys here in the room and said who would have thought we would be talking about a fairly normal speech? about, hey, we got to fix the races, we got to come together, as americans. but that's not what we are used to. >> i thought it wasn't over until he accused you of being treasonous and sent off the island. >> right? or being fake or that the coronavirus doesn't exist. >> oddly, i didn't miss it. >> yeah. but he was confident. without saying -- saying i'm going to wait for all the votes to be counted.

but he is also asking americans to be patient, right? to let the proper vote-counting process to play out to its completion and that's what we should be doing right now. >> absolutely. but there's a trick to it, right? which is, hey, take some time. be calm. tough, in the middle of a pandemic that is making us sick, at a rate that we've never seen before, today. >> record number. >> all over the country, people are dying. the system is stressed, again. i know you've heard it before. but when it happens again, it's even more difficult to deal with. we're out of resources. we need a plan. so this election needs to end and we need to move forward, one way or another. let's start with a key race alert. pennsylvania and georgia. yes, of course, nevada and arizona, too. but one at a time. why? we all know now. biden wins this, he is one and done. the lead increasing.

there are more votes to come in. it would be good for biden because he would like to see out of automatic-recount territory. georgia. this is automatic-recount territory. almost assuredly will stay there. 4,395 votes to biden's favor, right now. the other two states. arizona. 11 electoral votes. 21,861 now the margin for biden. votes still coming in there. we will look at it. again, very, very close. nevada. six electoral votes. 22,657 the margin there. the vote, still, coming in, in nevada as well. and it's all important. clark county, where las vegas is. get out of the way of the numbers. 253-213. why does it keep staying that way? because you want to get it right. and we see the trend lines, as

phil mattingly says. but if you rush it and you get it wrong, it's too big a problem to justify the speed, in the first place. so let's get to phil mattingly over at the magic wall. state of play. what would you say is the top line where we are right now? >> it's pretty apparent to everybody watching right now and looking at the universe of outstanding votes, joe biden is in a good position. he is on the brink of surpassing 270 electoral votes. why? you start with the state of pennsylvania where he raced into a lead. that's 20 electoral votes. if he wins that state, he is over 270. also, leading in the state of arizona. leading in the state of nevada. if those two are called before pennsylvania, that gets him to 270 electoral votes as well. georgia, obviously, took the lead early in the morning. who knows, while that is likely headed to a recount, that would be a huge deal. first democrat to win the state since 1992. i think maybe the big elephant in the room is why has pennsylvania not been called?

what's outstanding in arizona? what's outstanding in nevada? look. the reality is this. there is a universe of vote that is outstanding in pennsylvania, in arizona where the margin has tightened for president trump over the course of the last 24 hours. and in nevada, decision desks are getting the sense of the full universe and when you do the math, there is no way joe biden could be surpassed, that is when the races are called. that is when the calls are made. you got just shy of about 90,000 votes outstanding. trying to get a full sense where those stand, the counties they come through, what they might turn out to be. that explains to this point, why pennsylvania even though, look, we've been talking about this for two days. we know where it's going. we saw it happen when president trump still had a couple thousand vote lead. same deal in pennsylvania. joe biden's lead based on what we've seen, based on what's outstanding and where that vote is, is only likely to grow over

the next 12 to 16 hours as more votes are reported. however, let everybody count. counting takes time. that's pennsylvania. arizona. i think the big, outstanding issue, besides the fact that there is about 145,000 votes left outstanding is that has tightened and we are trying to get a better sense of the universe in terms of maricopa county. largest county in the state. we can go in there real quick and look at it. it's the largest county in the state. it's more than half the outstanding vote. it has tightened over the course of the last 24 hours but look at the margin right now for joe biden. donald trump needs to hit a specific margin with all of the outstanding vote in arizona, to even have a chance to get close. he missed that the last couple times. >> phil? >> yes, harry. >> i believe, looking at the count, we were discussing this as early as i think tuesday or wednesday night that the president had hit certain thresholds. and it's my understanding that he's not hitting them, even as he's sort of been closing the gap in the state. >> that is a fact. i think the president needed to be hitting somewhere between 55

and 56 for a period of time. >> give me the why on that. why does he have to win a certain percentage? >> it's math. and i know that sounds simplistic. >> and insulting but go ahead. >> no. but if joe biden's up and there is 140 votes left outstanding, donald trump needs to overperform the mean in order to close the gap there. it's the same thing joe biden had to do in pennsylvania, that he successfully did to overtake president trump. >> it's not enough to just beat biden, you have to beat him by enough to make up for the gap. >> exactly. to harry's point, what we saw over the course of the last 24 hours, is vote coming in from republican strongholds. vote coming from here. vote coming from here. that vote came in pretty high for president trump. couple thousand votes. narrowed the margin even more. harry, correct me if i am wrong on this but the last few batches from maricopa, president trump has won them i guess on net. i think to harry's point when

you talk to democrats on the ground in arizona, and republicans who are cogently looking through things, they think joe biden is probably in pretty good shape there. but when there is 140,000 votes outstanding, maricopa is a swing county, at this point in time. and joe biden's only out by 29,000 votes. that is the best explanation i can give with the full acknowledgment that i'm not the one who makes the decisions here about when things happen. >> that's right. there's also a small margin for error because even though the president has to overperform, you're not dealing with that many votes so it's tricky. perfectly explained and thank you. harry, thank you as well. now, another problem that we have in this is that this is new. the -- this volume of absentee ballots. okay? but the dynamic isn't new. what is new is we have never had a president, in our lifetimes, let alone someone running for president, challenge fraud in the system, without any proof.

that's what trump did. so now, we are in a situation where he put down a claim, with no proof. and keeps promising that it will come. i know that's a familiar dynamic but when you are messing with the democracy. it's different than just saying my health care plan is coming. it's different. so let's go to kaitlan collins in washington, d.c. what have you heard about how real any lawsuits are, coming anytime soon? >> well, the campaign has threatened them. they have also threatened to ask for multiple recounts in any states where the margin is anywhere near close. and so, they do seem to be preparing some kind of legal effort to challenge this because they have been having the campaign attorneys at the headquarters, basically all day, meeting with several white house officials. on the phone with the president as well. but, of course, the question is whether or not they're going to have merit to stand on and if those are going to actually make it through the court system. or if they're going to be dismissed or if they're just procedural moves that we have

seen from the trump campaign, so far. it can buy them some time with the president can continue to tweet and try to sow doubt about the outcome of these results as we have seen him do, chris, since his lead started to diminish on tuesday morning -- or on wednesday morning. as these votes, the mail-in ballots, were being counted. now, the question is who is doing this litigating for the president? because they have assembled this legal team where you have seen rudy giuliani, former florida attorney general, pam bondi, a few others who were involved. but the president, himself, based on the sources we have been speaking with, doesn't seem to be happy with that team. he's been questioning if they are actually going to be effective, if they are going to be heavyweights, and whether or not he should get other attorneys added to the team. now, that raises questions why this is a conversation the president's having with his staff? for several weeks now, that he was going to challenge these results if he didn't like them, if they didn't come out in his favor. regardless if the fraud actually

happened. before voters even went to the polls on tuesday, that there was going to be fraud in this election. so the president's unhappy with his legal team. unclear where it's going to go from here. but we have even heard from senior officials who feel like if they are going to go out, going to be on tv and making these allegations, they want to have serious, heavy-weight legal team behind them. they do not have that, to say the least, in rudy giuliani, in pam bondi who was there for the president's impeachment defense. >> you know, having top practitioners isn't the bar. it's really having top-level proof. and i think that, this being as obvious and as thin as you point out, kaitlan, as a device, it may be hard to get good talent to come in on this. this isn't like everyone deserves a defense. this is a naked allegation against the fundamentals of our democracy.

thank you for the reporting, as always. let's bring a true, pro-practitioner. ben ginsburg, longtime lawyer, friend of show. good to see you, counselor. >> good to see you, chris. >> so, let's chew on this a little bit. the president says it's all a fraud. it's all a scam. the democrats did it. the mail-in ballots. no transparency. they're cheating. there are stories all over the country. they all have to go. the chance of finding any legitimacy for that kind of claim in the judiciary? >> i think, very little. i know, from bitter experience that, if you don't have the proof of fraud and irregularities on election day and realtime affidavits and other sworn statements, you're not going to get it recreated after the election. what kaitlan was reporting about the legal talent is part and parcel of that. you really have to have sort of

red-meat litigators on the ground, ready to go, talking to people in the polling places to get their affidavits. and, chris, you know, the other problem is that the president and the republican national committee and republican parties brought 40 suits around the country, before the election, in an attempt to sort is of tilt the playing field in their favor. and you know what? it's an abysmal track record on those races. so, there was a hint of this, beforehand. they've weakened themselves by those cases, having such a poor track record. and now, the allegations of fraud ring as false as the -- the -- the cases were before the election. >> half step to the side, counselor. phone rings. you pick it up. you say, hey, ben, you took care of us with bush v. gore. team needs you. help us prove that there's fraud all over the country. do you take the call? >> well, if i picked it up, i don't have a choice but to take

it. >> don't parse. >> no. i mean, it's too late. it's too late. and i think they're going to have problems, now, recruiting the legal team of -- of their dreams. i mean, in florida, by the friday after the election, we had every supreme court clerk and experienced practitioner we could find down in florida or lined up to come to florida. ted olsen who -- >> right? >> you have coney barrett on there. you got kavanaugh. >> yep. and justice roberts were all helping us out. and so, it was a quick-recruitment effort. >> all right. so now, the next, big issue are these unknowns but big fears. so the race gets called. biden wins pennsylvania. it's over. no, it's just beginning. what happens if the president says i do not concede? there is fraud and even though the courts won't help me on it, they're part of the fraud.

now, what happens? >> well, what happens is that he does have a legitimate avenue to pursue his grievances under the recount laws and contest laws of the individual states. it's not a rhetorical play. they actually have to present proof if they're going to contest the elections. they certainly have the right, in the narrow-margin states, to ask for a recount. and, you know, the -- the thing about recounts is that they can expose flaws in the system. right? we have 10,500 jurisdictions. it's run by volunteers. >> so, his, really, only shot there is pennsylvania because the narrative breaks down in terms of there was a conspiracy if it's georgia or arizona because you got republican administrations there. why would they go bad, on their own? so, if it's pennsylvania and they do the review and they do the recount and everything's still there. what if he refuses to concede? it's not in the constitution.

it's a tradition and we've never tested it. >> it is. and -- and -- and, frankly, it's irrelevant to the legal process. means a lot in bringing the country together and the politics of the situation. but as a legal matter, it does not -- it is not -- of no concern to the legal process, whether he formally concedes or not. in fact, the processes in the state will move along. the states will certify the election results in the precincts and counties. they will, once they've certified the results, they'll pick the slate of electors. that slate will go to the house of representatives on january 6th and the electoral-college winner will be declared. >> you know, i lived through 2000. and i remember the time we were like, boy, we'll never see anything like this, again. that was boring, compared to what we are looking at right now. ben ginsburg, as always, thank you so much for helping understand our situation a little better. pleasure is mine.

so, there you have it. let's take a little break. when we come back, we are watching to see if there is any more confirmation of what things stand in this election. apparently, which is that joe biden appears to be on the cusp of being the next president of these united states. beautiful. but support the leg!

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i know watching these vote tallies on tv moves very slow.

and as slow as it goes, it can be numbing. but, never forget. the tallies aren't just numbers. they represent votes and voters. men and women who exercise their fundamental right to have their voice heard. and what's becoming clear, each hour, is that record number of americans of all races, faiths, religions, chose change over more of the same. they've given us a mandate for action. >> listen. former vice president and possible president-elect is all of us right now. i don't even know what day it is. we just call it shmursday. so let's bring in, now, bakari sellers. april ryan. scott jennings. you guys feel me, don't lie. so, i think people are -- they just want to be put out of their misery, right now, scott jennings.

whether you are a republican or democrat and correct me if i am wrong, people just want to celebrate in their heads that it is over for their side. call it. we can't do it right now because the math is not there. but people are ready for this to be done with. >> yeah. look. i think it's natural, after you have an election. and -- and it's the most consequential transition of political power in the world, right? and so, we've been having a very anxious period. it was a stressful election for a lot of people. and now, it's over and folks want to know what our future holds, whether it's biden which looks likely. or trump, which looks unlikely at the moment. people want to know which direction the united states is going on and i think, don, frankly, what the united states needs more than anything is, no matter what happens, to accept the results. i think we can't have much acceptance, frankly, under trump. >> you don't think people accepted the results of president trump? they may not have liked it.

>> no, i don't. i think there was resistance every single day of donald trump and i don't think that would be good for the next presidency. >> april, shaking your head. i'm not sure if you are agreeing or disagreeing? >> well, i agree with scott. i like the fact that he said it's time to just call it what it is. we're on the cusp of joe biden being the 46th president. but depending on what side of the spectrum you sit, you know, there are those who support joe biden who want it to be over. but then, you have those who support the president, who i am now calling instigator-in-chief, because he is instigating a lot of this angst with his -- with his constituency, his followers, who are screaming either stop the count or continue the count. and joe biden is right, you know, we may be opponents but i'm not your enemy. this is a time for unification. not only is it a time for unification, this president, donald john trump, is holding up the peaceful transition of

power, to include the transition process for joe biden to begin to heal the nation, and start the work for the american people. >> bakari, you're ready to celebrate. i know you're ready to pop a champagne bottle. i'm being totally serious, i'm not joking. >> yeah. no. i'm ready to celebrate. even more importantly, i think the normalcy, the calm, the demeanor, the grace, the empathy, the compassion, that joe biden showed tonight is something that everybody in the country, democrat or republican, is -- is -- is grasping for. we miss that. we miss the time when we had a leader who could go up and not make it about him. who was bold and showed how -- how democracy works. and joe biden spoke to something, today, that i think is very important. he spoke to how fragile our democracy is, and how he wasn't going to let it be torn apart. i think that's very powerful. to scott's point about accepting the results, i understand that scott is talking about the -- the investigations into foreign interference. but i want to talk about this moment, and draw a direct

contrast because hillary clinton actually called the president of the united states in the middle of the night and conceded that election. she gave a speech, the next day. i wish donald trump would actually be woman enough to be like hillary clinton. you know, to actually have the audacity and the courage to do what's best for the country. so, that would be more of an apples-to-apples comparison. i'm not going to lie. i'm celebrating joe biden. i'm celebrating my friend, kamala harris, even more. because right now, my 22-month-old twins do not have to grow up in a country where donald trump is president. and for me, that just makes me feel a lot better than i did the way before the election. >> that line. did you practice that? because that was really good. >> no, i can't practice lines with you. i don't know where you're coming from, some nights. so i just have to -- have to let

it flow naturally, don. >> i got to tell you and i am being serious about this because, you know, people are wondering. i am getting texts. even people saying, don, it is scandalous that you guys have not called this. and my standard text back to them is that the math isn't there, yet. but people see where it's heading but you don't expect people to call an election when the math isn't there, yet. we don't know what's going to happen in these places. i mean, you guys can fight me if you don't think that i'm speaking the truth here. but how do we call it when the math is not there, yet? >> don, who wants to be -- but, don, what state, particularly, those who are traditionally red, who wants to be the one who come out and says -- they are making sure there is no lawsuit from the -- >> of course, there's going to be. there's going to be a lawsuit everywhere. >> but there is nothing there. joe biden has over 600 attorneys. they were prepared for this. they were anticipating this.

they have over 600 attorneys across the nation who have looked at this, who say there is nothing there. all for not. but what state wants to be the ones, particularly who were once red, to flip blue and go out and start this? they want to make sure they have got all their is dotted and ts crossed. >> and for cnn, we got to be right. more than anything, we don't have to be first or fast. we've got to be right. but, scott, i want to ask you. i've watched -- you know, this is my job so i read all kinds of media. everything. before this, the president was saying, conservative media saying the people need to know. they need to know the night of the election. this needs to stop. it can't go any longer than the night of the election. now, they're saying, well, why rush it? let it all play out. have a count and a recount and all this. which is it? the night of the election?

or does it let it play out as long as it takes? which is it? i'm confused. i don't know which one to -- that they actually believe. or do they not believe any of it? >> well, it is what it is, in the moment that they think is needs to be. they are clearly grasping -- they're grasping for strategy in ten-minute increments and the strategy is different, depending on the state, right? you know, i want a count here. i don't want a count there. and i agree, the writing is largely on the wall here. but i guess tehey're going to give it, you know, the ole, college try. i heard mr. ginsburg on, who i have great admiration for, earlier. that's when you have all the leverage, you're on offense in these situations because once it's unlikely votes are going to come off the board. and that's the situation the

trump campaign finds itself in as we head into this weekend. >> as i am watching this in realtime. how much manufacturer core can ? we had the murder hornets earlier in the year. we are doing it on top of a pandemic. we have an administration, bakari, who's basically ignored it saying -- you know, trying to make it all rosy when we have hundreds of thousands of people who have died from this. and now, you see the chief of staff and then you see aides in the west wing or aides of the chief of staff now positive with coronavirus. you could not write this. if you wrote this for a "west wing" episode, they would send it back, say this would never happen, start over again. >> the first thing is let me just say my heart goes out to the family of mark meadows and the staffer. praying for him to have a great recovery from this deadly virus. the contrast couldn't be clearer, though. you see joe biden and kamala harris walk on stage to claim the mantel of the presidency and

vice-presidency. but they're wearing masks. they're leading by example. i think there are a lot of people and what we are going to see, when we peel back the layers, is there were a lot of issues that drove people to the polls but the number one issue was the leadership on coronavirus and the leadership going down two fronts. one is economy. the other is public health. and it's something donald trump just could not get right and tonight was so apropos. i mean, it just fits perfectly. but, yeah, i think one of the things you highlighted is the level of exhaustion we have over the last four years. the level of exhaustion we have with this president. but, i can tell you this. the next 30 days or 60 days or until the inauguration. if we thought the first four years were bad, if we thought the first four years were filled with turns and ups and downs and hurdles and pitfalls, wait until this president knows that he will not be president for another four years. and he will remain in this white

house as president of the united states, fundamentally, unchecked. that is what's scary, for me. that's the angst that i have and that's kind of the chapter that's next to come. >> hey, april. quick answer because we're going to have you guys back. but 74 million people. is that a mandate? >> 74 million people. no. it's about unification. it's about people understanding that there are problems here. covid. racial reckoning. climate change. the economy. it is -- it is the fact that there are people out here who want change. but he, also, has to bring in that other group. that other group that -- that don't feel like they've been touched by government. >> all right. thank you very much. we'll get back to you guys. stand by. and you stand by at home as well because we are waiting for the votes to come in. they're being counted. will biden pull ahead further in pennsylvania? look at that. pretty close there. 49.1 to 49.6. don't go anywhere. we'll have a key race alert.

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all right. so, we're in the phase now, here near the end, where we are dealing with the ifs and the buts. for instance, if joe biden wins the presidency, and it is looking more likely as the count continues. what would it be like for him in the middle of a pandemic, with what looks like it's going to be a very divided congress? don lemon and i are going to take on a governor who was the center at the biggest problem of this country, washington governor, jay inslee.

biden competitor obviously in the democratic primary process. but really distinguished himself in taking on the pandemic, and seeing what the right course was, early on. governor, thank you for joining us. don, what's your question for the governor? >> good to see you, governor. i am sure you listened to joe biden's speech tonight. he said that he had to deal with the coronavirus. he had to deal with systemic racism. and he had to bring the country together. that is a tall order, considering how divided we are right now. what do you think his chances are? >> i think they're great. and i think he's -- this is a magic moment of the man meeting the moment. and i'm serious about this. look. i -- i like his policies. i think his climate change clean energy jobs program is fantastic. i think he's going to be a great general in the war against covid. and it's going to be so refreshing to have a president who will help, instead of hinder, this effort.

but i think, tonight, the thing he's doing which is the most important was to give a refreshing, reassuring approach that we are going to, instead of aiming to have constant warfare, we'll aim to solve our problems in this unifying approach. and that, very much, is his personality. and it is his skill set. and so, i think that's the most important thing and he did it really, really well, tonight. >> chris, can i follow up, real quick? let me follow up, governor, because i want to ask you -- there are many saying your policy, especially with climate change and everything, was pulling the party really far to the left. and they don't believe that joe biden is going to do that. that he is going to be more of a centrist. do you think that was a rejection of the more progressive policies, more progressive wing of the party? >> very much not. listen. you know one of my principal messages was fighting the climate change. it's been a passion of mine for

over a decade and a half. and i could not be more delighted to -- for what he is proposing. and frankly, he has shown tremendous growth, in this respect. we debated, i don't know, a year and a half ago. and since then, he has embraced comprehensive, robust, achievable, economically productive plan, and i cannot be more delighted with that plan. both, because it is ambitious and because it is achievable, not just economically, not just technologically, but also politically. it's going to be great to win a couple seats in georgia or whatever we can do, that's going to help. but he's got a lot of executive authority and on covid, look, we have been desperate for national leadership on this. this was like fighting world war ii with a president who said just let connecticut fight the war and good luck. to have a person who will actually engage the nation, distribute, in an efficient way,

a vaccine which we believe is coming. but also, to reenergize the kind of personal/moral commitment of americans which is desperate that we need right now to get people to start wearing masks at home. reconsider their thanksgiving plans. >> have a mask on because we're in the middle of a pandemic that's never been worse. but if we -- if we look at the political practicality here. biden comes in. he's got a pandemic. again, never been worse. has to deal with it. the economy is never -- it's never been in a more vulnerable place than it is right now during this past four years so he has to deal with it. after that, to your premise, you guy ts didn guys didn't -- you got beat up on the house side. i don't know where the enthusiasm comes from in georgia. i think you're as likely to lose as anything else. so what is the motivation to take on anything as ambitious as

what the left wing of his party wants to do? >> look. i know joe biden and i'm just telling you, this guy's got it deep in his heart to understand the existential crisis of -- of climate change. he has embraced it, body and soul. he has put himself out here. look. this is a guy with enough intestinal fortitude in the last debate, go out and say the truth, which is that we have to transition over the years and decades, off of fossil fuels. when he knew pennsylvania was going to be the critical state. that is proof that he is going to be there, big time, as a leader on this issue. and he is going to carry pennsylvania. so, i think he has demonstrated his commitment. i have no doubt about it. yes, i hope we're all going to be active in georgia. and by the way, when donald trump is not on the ballot in these special elections, john lewis is going to be hovering over us on that special election and i hope we bring it home for him. >> that was my question for jon

ossoff, by the way. i asked jon ossoff that. i said without -- without the president being at the top of the list, will people feel less compelled to vote straight across red or party lines? he said he thought it was more about his opponent than who was at the top of the ticket. >> look. we have seen some things in georgia that makes the runoff very different than what we would have thought before. still, an open question. couple steps from that. in terms of who biden's going to have around him. governor, you're very important where you are. phone rings. trying this to interviews in a row. it's joe biden. hey, man, need you. here's the deal. you got to come to washington. be part of my cabinet. you are my environmental guy. please. do you take the call to duty? >> well, i certainly take the call because i am an admirer of his. but today, i was working on our covid plan that i am very dedicated on. we got problems now, big time. i am -- i am committed to this job. so we got a great state. my grandkids are here so that's

what i'm committed to. >> oh, the grandkid card. i like that one. hold onto that. you might need it. >> chris. coming from a political family, how many times have you heard that answer? then, all of a sudden, the phone rings and they end up doing what the person on the other end asks them to do. >> if it's a wife or a husband or kids, i think it can change. grandkids? maybe not. people actually love their grandkids. don, i got the best kind of news. we have potential for more votes coming in, in the state of georgia. let's take a quick break. we'll come back. >> my favorite. a key race alert. >> there it is. next.

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we have a key race alert. joe biden has just picked up a few more votes, in georgeorgia. let's give it right now. here it is. 16 electoral votes. 4,430 votes now separate the two candidates. 99% of the vote is in. again, that means different things, in different contexts. so, let's take a look, right now. okay? do you want to go through other states?

or we good? let's go right to the magic wall and phil mattingly. i always get afraid to walk away from the wall. everybody goes crazy. >> give you a sense of the universe that's out there in georgia right now. we just got new vote in from chatham county, home of savannah, about 3% of the population is here and we know they are just north of 70% of votes that came in. the counties that have outstanding votes, are very few of them and reporting just a handful here or there. joe biden netting so you showed the top line, 4,430 vote s ahea. that's with the additional 34 votes. we have been looking at the universe of provisionals, where military ballots could end up. i think the reality right now, there's probably 500, 600 mail-in votes to count towards

gwinnett. right now, when you look at georgia and you look at what's outstanding and you look what might come in. joe biden's sitting at 4,430 votes would feel pretty comfortable. and i think when you look kind of the overall universe, it is similar, with bigger spreads, almost across the board. we are waiting, obviously, for pennsylvania. we are waiting for arizona. we are waiting for nevada. and at this point in time, joe biden holds pretty decent leads in all of those with more vote to come in. >> harry, give us some perspective. people wrestling with i can't believe how small these margins are despite all this turnout. when we look at history, where does this race size up, in terms of this number of states and this thin margin in each? >> one of the things we spoke about before this election was donald trump wanted to be harry truman, right? he nearly did but that race is more instructive to me. back in that election, truman ended up winning the popular vote by about 4.5 percentage

points. and also, the three, key states in that particular race were all determined by less than a point. it's rare that we have so many >> hashry, can i ask, we've been falking about arizona. everybody is laser focused on pennsylvania. what's going on in nevada? i know we saw a new clark batch drop, and that went well for biden, which i think made a lot of people believe, okay, we have a sense of the universe now. clark is the biggest democratic county. clark is obviously where the democratic stronghold is in the state. it's 70-plus percent of the vote, largest county in the state. what's your sense of what's outstanding there, and what's that going to mean for joe biden, who on net right now is up by about 22,600 votes? >> yeah, i wouldn't be surprised if that lead grew. we know in all the states the vote by mail has trended much more democratic than the election day vote, and i honestly think that biden's margin is going to grow there. in my opinion of the four states

that are even out, i feel most confident about biden's chances in nevada not just because of the vote that's out but because his lead is largest there. >> is there proof of the theory that the reason that this early vote is going so against the president isn't just because, oh, there is a pandemic, so everybody voted this way, but that his messaging wound up upsetting a culture bias of republicans usually voting absentee by mail more than democrats. >> yeah, i mean absolutely the case. i mean look at the margins that we're seeing in that vote by mail for democrats. this is highly unusual historically, and it would seem to me that the president probably hurt his own cause. my guess is a lot of the folks who are going to vote by mail anyway voted election day, but you never know what's going to happen. i would say the president's messaging on this hurt him. and given the state of the race and how close it is, maybe it could have made the difference in a few states. i don't think in the overall race it did, but in arizona

where that margin is shrinking, shrinking, shrinking, i wouldn't be surprised if we had a different outcome in the president's rhetoric on vote by mail had been different. >> as you're making your way through the toxic soup of allegations that are out there right now, for the president trump to be right, you would have to have republican -- be part of a concerted effort with democrats to undermine the president but help republican congressional house and senate seats. think about how crazy complicated that would be and that no word got out of it for months, or is it more likely that his messaging not to do it, which was always fake, wound up coming back to bite him? think about that especially over the next couple of days when the promises of a lot of things that will be empty come out of this president. now, in terms of what biden needed to do in this race, what used to be called the wall and what he was trying to win back, how has that gone in this race? >> as well as they could imagine

if he closes the deal on the four remaining states. look, this was all about, everyone in politics knew, it was kind of three words. it was pennsylvania, it was michigan, it was wisconsin. that was his theory of the case is i'm from scranton. i know this area. i'm the one who can speak to union voters, midwestern voters who turned away and turned toward president trump. if you look at all three of those states, they're all blue. we've called two, and the third looks to be on the way. i think the difference here and the wild cards are here and here. there's a lot of talk about the sun belt. a lot of talk about how arizona had been shifting towards democrats, and the idea that joe biden, who his whole case was bringing back, rebuilding the blue wall, and joe biden's the one who might kick down the door in georgia for the first time since 1992, might kick down the door in arizona, that has been progress live moving toward the center. i think it's a fascinating dynamic, and i think one of the things dr harry, i know you've looked at this a lot.

how does this remake how the next person runs for president? how does this remake the party given what people thought would happen going into election night and where it ends up now that we're looking at things? >> i mean take a look at a state like pennsylvania or the commonwealth of pennsylvania as our colleague jake tapper might say. where did biden significantly improve upon clinton's margins? it's not in philadelphia. it's in the suburbs. it's even in those white working class areas in the northeast part of that state. talk about lackawanna county, luzerne county. those are the places where biden was able to improve consistently on clinton's margins. and the other thing that i will note, you know, about joe biden, he was selling himself. i can go in, win back these states in the blue wall, places like pennsylvania. at this particular point in the state of pennsylvania, republican candidates are leading the democratic

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welcome back to cnn's breaking news coverage, election night in america with your boys chris cuomo and don lemon here. tonight we are anxiously waiting final votes. we see the trend lines but you got to get it right, and we'll see if that happens on our watch. we're watching pennsylvania most closely because if joe biden wins there, this is over. however, in georgia, biden just picked up some votes, don, and that could be a big play. >> yeah, it could be. listen, chris, we know how the folks at home are feeling about this. we're living it. we are feeling it as well. >> they don't like we won't call the race. >> we can't right now. the best way to put it, the math is not there yet, yet, but it is moving in one direction, and we

cannot deny that. but we can't officially say anything right now because it just would not be accurate at this point. and no one wants to be wrong. we want to be accurate. we want to be right because we're doing the work of the american people. we are here for you. so this is a little while ago. i don't know if everyone saw it, but the possible president-elect, joe biden, addressed the american public saying confidently that he will win this race, but asking everyone, as i just said, just be patient and let all the votes be counted and let it be counted properly, chris. >> yeah, look, no question he gave the right message. and one of the reasons that everybody has to be careful here is because we have an underlying suggestion, baseless as it is, that this can't be trusted. >> mm-hmm. >> and that coming from the person who should be instilling the most trust in the process, the person who was elected to defend it, president trump. so let's give you the latest information. we have significant key race

alerts. all right. let's take a look. pennsylvania, 20 electoral votes. now the margin, 28,833. votes still trickling in. obviously if biden wins, biden is president. georgia, 16 electoral votes. frankly biden would be president-elect. let's be careful about it. 16 electoral votes in georgia. the lead just went up 30 votes. why? we're into very small batches of ballots now. 4,430. that state really looking at a recount. now we have arizona and nevada. so arizona first. 11 electoral votes, 29,861. for the last few days, this has been a story of the inverse narrative. trump has been catching up to bind. arizona an interesting study into the window of the change in ameri america. nevada, six electoral votes. 22,657 there.

that had been seen as shaky mostly because of a vacuum of information. the more votes have come in, it looks like biden should be okay. we will see. takes us to the electoral map. 253-213. why does this not change? we keep telling you that the states seem more and more for biden. because until it is projected, you will not see it detected on that map, okay? the places stay clear because until we get it done, they're going to stay here. cnn has not called arizona and has not called maine's second congressional district. i know other people have different numbers. that's their business, not ours. let's go to mj lee right now. she's with the biden team. she's actually in front of the big location in wilmington, delaware, where if joe biden becomes president-elect, that's where they're going to have their big celebration. what are they saying in terms of the likelihood of anyone ever joining you there? >> reporter: well, chris, we heard joe biden himself basically walking right up to the line of saying that he was victorious without actually saying the words "i win."

but the reality is that we are now entering saturday without the race having been called. but if you have been talking to folks close to him and if you listened carefully to what he said, it is clear that the biden campaign at this point believes that it it to me earlier this evening, they said it is not a matter of if he is going to win but by how much. and as you heard the former vice president himself saying in his speech, he predicted that they were going to win arizona and georgia, and he of course talked about rebuilding the blue wall and said he is certainly going to win pennsylvania. obviously those results have been trickling in. and one part of his speech that i thought was so critical and so -- such a key part of his speech and clearly his message going forward was talking about just bringing the country together. obviously i think the last couple of days have really shown how divided this country is, and

his message so far has been so much centered around national unity and getting rid of sort of the divisions that have really plagued this country. and tonight in his speech, he said that there is a difference between opponents and enemies. take a listen. >> the purpose of our politics, the work of the nation, isn't to fan the flames of conflict but to solve problems, to guarantee justice, to give everybody a fair shot, and to improve the lives of our people. we may be opponents, but we're not enemies. we're americans. no matter who you voted for, i'm certain of one thing. the vast majority of them, 150 million americans who voted, they want to get the vitriol out of our politics. we're certainly not going to agree on a lot of issues, but at least we can agree to be civil with one another.

>> now, even though the biden campaign is feeling very confident that victory is headed their way, it doesn't mean that they're not feeling some level of impatience. the reality is that they have been in this sort of holding pattern. they can't officially declare victory, and they just want to sort of move on with it, right? as you were talking about where i'm standing right now, the stage behind me that is lit up, that is presumably going to be the stage that they have been prepping, where he would give his big victory speech. we don't know if that's going to come necessarily today. that's certainly the hope from the biden campaign. they thought that that speech would actually come last night. it obviously did not. i will also say too biden said, even if i can't officially declare myself the victor yet, i am going to get started on the work of, you know, confronting and dealing with the big problems facing the country. and when i've spoken to biden advisers, they say that certainly includes his ongoing work on covid-19. we obviously know that he has

been very busy these last couple of months meeting with public health officials and holding these briefings. these aides say that work is going to continue regardless of whether or not this race is called. chris. >> mj lee, thank you very much. let's go over to the magic wall, and phil mattingly, i'm actually surprised, phil, that he's not talking more about the pandemic. one, it gets you away from the frustration of nothing really changing and waiting. start doing the job. you know, if that's the job you want, we need to have the discussion anyway. the more he talks about that, the think the better for everybody. so georgia. he just got some more votes. take us through from where and why they're so small, and what does it say about how close we are to the end? >> i want to do something real quick, and then we'll do that. what people need to be watching for right now besides being still awake for four straight days and wondering when this is going to be done. you make a key point. there is one state that is the most important state of all because one state that could end it. that's the state of pennsylvania. you hit that one state, 253 turns to 273. there's your pathway.

there's your president-elect of the united states. however, there's another combination here. as these votes come in and what we're going to be watching for is there's also a distinction possibility and arizona and nevada could be called in a pretty timely manner when their votes start to report, when their votes start to come in. that also gets the vice president to 270. there are multiple pathways for vice president biden. pennsylvania is what everybody keeps an eye on, but given the amount of vote that should come in this morning in arizona and nevada, keep an eye on those. now that people have an understanding of the kind of entire universe, those are on the verge as well given what we've seen. you asked about georgia, and i think what we saw last hour, we got 74 votes in from chatham county. 74 votes underscoring that unlike election night when we were getting 10,000, 20,000, 30,000, a million votes at a time. >> we are now at the stage where we are getting 74 votes. if you want to take anything away from where things stand in georgia right now, it's that every batch of votes come in,

joe biden's lead goes up. it might only be by 34 votes as it was with the votes that came in in chatham county. but the vote that's outstanding, gwinnett has about 500 or 600 left. that's a democratic county. we know they're still looking at provisionals. but going into a recount, which it's almost a certainty that they will, joe biden's going in with a solid lead. a solid lead unless something changes dramatically. we'll see how the military votes come in and the actual yeun vun of them. harry knows about this too. if you're shifting 4,000 votes on a recount, something went catastrophically wrong. that's not something you normally see. just keep an eye on that on the margin. >> again, i don't believe in giving a fair hearing to an unfair allegation. but for the president to be right about his suspicions, again, this would have to be true, that there had been grotesque levels of fraud and a republican administration with a

friendly governor who wants to impress donald trump, right, who risked the real kind of expeditious nature of dealing with covid to kind of please trump. he kept it quiet? he's not saying anything about it? he was part of this scheme? a republican governor, a republican secretary of state? it doesn't make sense, which is why they're not offering any proof, and they're not going to court. usually you go to court, look at the proof we have. we'll tell you what it means. they're doing it in reverse. think about it. now, harry, you think about this. make whatever point you want, but after you answer this question, which is why we're not calling the race is about feel more than it is formula. so while phil is right, 4,430 votes should be okay from a recount perspective, what are you looking at in terms of a level of sufficiency to make a call on an election because it's not, oh, at 48% or 90% in or 99% in. what are you looking for to feel comfortable with a call? >> i should make it clear, right, i'm not the decision

desk. >> i know, but you understand the political science. >> look, this is the presidency of the united states we're talking about here. we want to be as sure as we possibly can be. we want to make sure in pennsylvania, for example, let's get outside that recount territory. we know that there's those provisionals. we believe that joe biden will probably gain from those, but we can't be necessarily sure. so we just want to be careful as much as -- as careful as we possibly can be. but here's the thing i will note about the count so far. nothing in the returns from any of these states have been surprising. so, yes, we should be careful. we should dot our is, we should cross our ts, but what we're seeing in georgia right now, in pennsylvania, and even in arizona where his lead is shrinking, at this point all of the counts in these key battleground states are going as we should expect them to go. and if they continue to go as we expect them to go, joe biden should in fact be the president. of course we'll just have to see

on that. >> did you have another point you wanted to make? >> no. that was exactly the point. you led me straight into it. we have a good thing. you, me, phil over there. >> after 17 hours, i always get something right the first time. so in terms of the overall state of play, we now have, when we look at the big map -- and we'll are saying, no, you have it wrong. it's not 253. it's 264. not every organization is the same. we have not called arizona or the maine 2nd district. that is because we're waiting to get it right, especially with this underlying suspicion that's been injected into this all being a fraudulent thing. just because when you say it, when it's a president, it gains weight. let's do this. as we hear about these little baskets coming in, and as we start to consider the issues of what comes next, there are hard conversations that need to be had, and really the time is now. let's take a break and come back and get after it. okay, give it a try. between wisdom and curiosity, there's a bridge.

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no question that we are in an unfortunate situation because we have a sitting president who seems determined to not accept what happens in a free and fair election. how do we know that? well, without basis, he has resorted to baseless claims of fraud. so what is the state of play inside his camp if not his head? let's go to ryan nobles in washington. what are you hearing about the popularity of the idea that the election fate will be changed by really substantial litigation? >> reporter: well, there aren't too many republicans outside of the president's immediate orbit who firmly believe, chris, that there are legal options at the president's disposal that could fundamentally change the outcome of this election. but the problem is that the president isn't really listening to those folks. you know, his circle is very tight around them. most of them feed him the information that he wants to

hear. and judging just by the president's twitter feed over the past 24 hours, it is pretty clear that he is willing to continue this fight as long as it possibly takes and hold on to whatever slim hope he has of winning this election right up until the very end. and what's interesting about this posture from the president, chris, is that we saw this coming. you know, i went to a lot of these rallies over the past six months. i think i was at 23 of them, and we actually heard the president forecast this exact scenario. he often talked about what could happen on election night, that his opponent -- or that he would take a big lead and that mail-in votes, which he often tried to cast aspersions on and suggest that they were somehow fraudulently put together, would then turn the tide as the days went on. and he would often tell his supporters that if we don't know the results on election night, that means there is a problem. of course not of that is based in fact. these are all legal votes that have been counted by states across the country and will

continue to be counted. but it just gets you into the psyche of the president, this particular president, and exactly what he may or may not do over the next couple of days. maybe under normal circumstances, we would be having serious talks about a president making a phone call to his opponent and talking about the next stage. there's no conversations like that happening right now, chris, and that's why we are in the situation where we are now, waiting for all of these votes to be cast because it's pretty clear that donald trump is not going to step away from his position anytime soon. >> understood. ryan nobles, thank you very much. just to be clear, if there is proof of fraud, proof of gross, you know, misconduct or malfeasance, we should see it. we need to see it. you go to court. you try it out. we've had that happen in our election before in a major way in 2000, and claims of fraud are not unusual, but they come with proof. and absent that, we have a novel situation where our president has become part of the problem,

and that's tricky. but it's easier to understand as somebody who's watched it up close and in real time. that brings us to our next guest, olivia troye, former aide to vice president pence, key on the coronavirus task force. good to see you again. >> thanks, chris. thanks for having me tonight. >> now, when you hear the notion of the president trying to get people to motivate blind ambitions that have no basis, you do not shake your head no way because you lived it. what do people need to understand about how this president can be when faced with people saying, no, that's not true or we can't do that. how does that go in his midst? >> well, i think the president has his own reality, and i think he has told us flat out what his plan was for the past couple of months. and we are seeing it play out firsthand. and i think anyone in his immediate orbit, to be honest, is probably half panicking on it

because they knew that this is a situation we would be in should he be losing, which he is right now currently. and i think that they are probably trying to figure out how they're going to mitigate more damage. and donald trump, you can't control him. he will make his own decisions, and he will behave in the manner that he does. and there's no stopping him. i don't know anyone who is going to be able to talk him out of any of this behavior. >> and does the significance of the context matter, meaning, hey, we're talking about our democracy. we're talking about an election. it's not what numbers did we put out about the coronavirus. does the magnitude of the moment matter? >> i don't think it does because for him, it's about his reality, his re-election, and his status, and it comes down to, once again, donald trump only caring about himself and his future and his standing. and the issue with that is that's why i'm concerned. i am concerned at who will

actually have the backbone to walk into the oval office or into that residence and say, you know, the people have spoken. they have voted. it's over. it's over, and it's time to comply. >> well, we know who it probably won't be, at least for the next week or two -- mark meadows, the chief of staff, because he, we've been told, has coronavirus. wish him well. hope it doesn't spread to his family. hope he's asymptomatic and he gets back on his feet in no time. but are you surprised that people around this president keep getting sick? >> not at all. you've seen the reckless behavior. they walk around very cavalier. they know this virus is real. we've seen the number of cases increasing daily. there are people across the country that are suffering still today, people that in my family that are suffering with this virus down in texas. but they don't care. and i'm not surprised that it continues to spread inside the white house, and i think their focus is on the election. it doesn't matter who gets sick around him. donald trump doesn't care. >> now, again, we wish the chief

of staff well. i can't say it enough. why? because we don't say nice things enough in the current climate, even when someone is sick. this president is even know to wish that people will get sick again. so let's try to be better than that. now, meadows said, we can't control the virus, and i'd like your take on a day where once again we've set the worst kind of record, which is for most coronavirus cases in a day, and we're seeing hospitalizations get into dangerous territory in a lot of different places. how much of these arcs of increase that we suffer do you believe are because of a lack of planned response? >> they're absolutely a result of the failed response that we had back in the spring and the summer. we knew that which would be in this situation right now. that is why this is so unfortunate and, quite frankly, just devastating. it is horrible to watch the number of cases increase to the estonian levels that they're at right now because we talked

about it. we had conversations that we would potentially be in this situation depending on the pandemic response of this administration, and we knew that we had to be doing everything possible to get ahead of it come the fall and winter. and unfortunately due to politics, this is the situation we're in right now, and this is lives. >> so the former vp, joe biden, may be the president-elect at some point, maybe not. we'll see. but he has been taking briefings about coronavirus. what is your insider's guide of what he should be listening to and focusing on most closely in terms of getting out of the gate on the right foot? >> i think the main advice is listen to the experts. listen to the people that you have in these public health agencies and dr. fauci and those people who really understand the virus, who understand what we have been facing for the past few months, and really understand the capability and everything that we have laid out repeatedly for this president that wouldn't listen to us, and

just start to move forward on it. start to message it and start to communicate with the american public. we don't have time to lose. this is getting really bad. >> well, there's no denying that. again, another record set of the worst kind. most cases we've seen. we've had most of our worst days as we were coming up to the election. the timing could not be more suggestive. olivia troye, thank you for providing insight as always to the audience. be well. >> thank you. all right. we are in the end stage of this election, and that is good as long as we get it right and as long as once we get it right, we get it together. what is the likelihood of that happening? let's discuss next. this holiday season,

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all right. here we are with phil mattingly

at the magic wall. we've been watching. we've been waiting. we are not hesitating, but what is the state of play? our top line of where we are. >> i think the top line is more of kind of a drawback to a 30,000 foot level because i think we've been getting so in the weeds county by county. and as we wait for more vote to come in, i think it's worth taking some perspective too. we talked about kind of joe biden's ability to win the blue wall back and obviously pending pennsylvania. we talked about what happened in the southeast, what might happen in arizona as well. i think what's most fascinating about it is not that donald trump is underperforming at all. in fact, pick the state of wisconsin. joe biden, this has been called for joe biden. look at donald trump's vote, 1.61 million votes. let's flashback to 2016. he won this state and had 200,000 fewer votes. let's click over to michigan. back in 2016, 2.3 million votes. what happened?

2.6 million votes. i think one of the underappreciated, and we're all kind of figuring out what to take away from this. you go into pennsylvania in 2020. this hasn't been called yet, but donald trump currently 3.3 million votes. back in 2016, won the state, 2.9 million votes. the issue and i think one thing everyone can acknowledge right now is that president trump's turnout operation, president trump's voters, republicans came out, and they came out in waves. and there was some sense going into it that this would become some massive blue wave and, you know, all these different things. and the reality is that, one, joe biden overperformed massively what hillary clinton had in 2016 on net. but also that president trump's voters turned out. and so for those looking for a massive repudiation for president trump or what does this mean for the republican party, i think that's something people are going to have to grapple with. >> there are going to be layers of why. let's go to the popular vote. okay. so the other night -- now, this isn't done, right?

you could see biden be over 75 million at the end of it, right, and trump is now at 70 million territory. so first of all, in terms of history, we have never seen this. it is the most votes ever for somebody for president trump. and in second place is this. so it's a tricky picture. my perspective when we heard about this number is it is a spanking of donald trump. trump folk don't like that. why? all these other races had bigger gaps. we have never seen as many people come out to reject a sitting president as we did in this election, and that's what i see, all due respect to the former vp. i think this was an up and down vote on donald trump, and we've never had this many people come out to say down. spanking. however, then why did he do so well? and in terms of blue wave, this is a humongous group of people, but it can't qualify as a blue wave because it didn't continue carrying congress. you're going to have a runoff in the senate.

the democrats are going to walk away with it. they had a favorable. they didn't get it. in the house they lost seats. doesn't sound like a wave to me. >> i think once this presidential concludes, people will start to get their heads around more what happened down-ballot besides the fact democrats didn't win the senate. >> another thing, state legislatures didn't go well. >> the fact that democrats thought they were going to pick up between 5 and 15 seats in the house and they're losing seats, you talk about state legislatures, there weren't a lot of tight governors races there. on net, it's tough to figure out a straight narrative of what this all means. you know what it means at the top of the ticket right now. but what it means when you go down ballot both for democrats and republicans, republicans trying to grapple with their reality, it's going to be fascinating to watch it play out. >> harry, come on in on this. again, i see this as a spanking when you have more people come out than ever to say they don't want you as president.

>> he's an incumbent president. they rarely lose. he's losing right now. he's probably going to lose by four, five points when all the votes come in from california and new york. we can argue about whattagekt e adjective or verb, but that is a clear repudiation is. donald trump has a ton of fans but the fact of the matter is he has a ton of people who dislike him. those number of folks clearly outnumber those who really do like him. the fact he is doing considerably worse than the house republican candidates, i think is a clear sign that there was something that this key swing group in the electorate who oftentimes determines elections didn't like about him, and maybe another republican candidate might have won where donald trump lost. >> you know, this is another one too. you susan collins' senate race. sara gideon, ton of money. >> collins never led in a poll. >> never led in a poll. and look at this margin.

and now compare it to president trump. >> can i jump in on this? >> yeah. >> as much as it pains me to say this, i think harry is absolutely right. i think that this was a repudiation of the president. >> how is that different than what i said? >> chris, think about the logic in this. it wasn't a blue wave on the democrats' part. most of the republican congressional people, senate people, they won. >> mm-hmm. >> but the president did not. what does that say? the people didn't like the president's policies, his actions. they wanted him out, but they didn't necessarily want their republican local folks out. so they agree with their local folks and their policies, and what they're doing, but they don't agree with the top of the ticket. it may not be a blue wave, but it's certainly a repudiation of donald trump and his actions and his policies. there's no other way to read

that. >> i agree. i just don't know why harry gets the credit. >> because i'm better looking than you are clearly. >> because harry said it. >> i'll go with that. >> harry brought better statistics. he had the 2% difference. >> you had this many people voting. yeah, you had a lot of trump people voting. i actually think that the president did two things. he got his people to turn out. he had an enormous turnout machine with the rallies and so on, even though they were very dangerous. but also i think the democrats, because of the early voting and all of the numbers that we were reporting saying, oh, my gosh, the democrats are early voting. >> and the president going bad on early voting. >> yes. but what that served to do is to turn out both sides. i think republicans heard or the president's supporters heard the news and heard the president say, hey, listen, they're turning out in droves with this early voting. you got to goeet to the polls. i think that worked for the president again on election day. >> let's get some more mind work

on what this race means and what the president might do next if this election winds up the way it's trending right now, which would be making his opponent president-elect. anthony scaramucci joins don and me right now. anthony, on this first question of what this race means, most votes ever for the opponent, most votes ever for the incumbent. what's the message? >> well, listen, two messages. one, donald trump knows how to engage people. he's a ratings superstar, and it brought everybody to the table to vote. secondarily, more importantly, he brings us all together, a very large portion of us, the majority of us. we unified against him, which is evidenced from those voting totals. but i think this is the most important thing. when you and harry and don are talking about the stratification of voting and the splitting of the ticket, it's a reemphasis that there's absolutely no evidence of fraud because why wouldn't they just fraudulently

go through the ticket and just pick all democrats as an example? and so -- >> anthony, that is the smartest thing i've heard you say because all night i've been screaming at the television when people say, well, this is a fraud. well, if it's a fraud, if they were trying to set up, you know, republicans, why did all the democrats lose at the bottom of the ticket? >> i just said that too by the way. >> well, you didn't say it fast enough, but it was you, so it doesn't matter. >> all right. well, i don't know. maybe you guys said it, but i was running down to the studio. >> don only likes it when he says it. >> i'm saying to you guys that, like, it is so hard for me, and it's hard for me to even say this to you guys together. but i'm sad about it. like when i saw the president last night giving that press conference, it's not like i'm happy about it. of course i wanted him to lose because he's unfit to be president. he's not the right personality

to be president. but when you're watching the manifestation of that behavior, he is our president. and so you're looking at him. you're like, okay, come on. you know it's not a fraud. why are you making this stuff up right now, and why are you embarrassing yourself, your family, and the american people before the world? why don't you just do the right thing here and say, okay, listen, i lost this fair and square, and i'm going to leave. i'm going to leave peacefully. i'm going to help joe biden with the transition. if you really love the country and you believe in -- >> we're talking about donald trump here, anthony. >> yeah, i understand that. but i'm just saying to me, it's very sad, guys. i look at what's going on. >> we all agree with you, anthony, that it's sad. the reason it's sad, i think, we'll have differences of opinion on. to me, it's sad because i believe that that was a clear demonstration of why he's going to lose this election if he does. that in a moment of crisis, in a moment of need of leadership, maybe the most that's happened during this four years, he did the opposite of leadership.

and he put people in a bad place. he insulted the entire country on a basis that matters most, which is our sense of integrity of the process that matters most. and that's why i worry about what he'll do next. do you believe that donald trump has the ability to blow everything up just to give himself a sense of satisfaction? >> mm-hmm. >> 100 percent i do, and i would ask every viewer or listener to look at the neurodegree from nazi germany. hitler said, if i'm not running it, i want to destroy the whole thing. i'm not comparing him to hitler. i'm just telling you that people that have tendencies and personality times like him have a tendency for neilism. if he doesn't have a someone to

say, hey, you lost. don't be the sore loser. america is not about sore losers, okay? america is about a peaceful transfer of power and leave professionally. now, if he's not capable of doing that, there isn't any more evidence that i can tell anybody in the world that he should not be president because the president of the united states has to, guys, has to be capable of doing that. and that's the thing that makes me sad. >> never seen him do it now or before. don's been covering him for a while now. you've known him a long time. i've known him a long time. i would argue, and i think the atlantic has a piece out right now about it, don, that he has never had to take it -- people talk about his bankruptcies. he got bailed out every time by someone else. don, what's your take? >> two things, anthony, if you will. you know the people around him. anybody around him can tell him the truth, and would he listen? >> yeah, sure. ivanka can tell him the truth.ln

able to, in a very delicate way, tell him the truth. steve schwartzman, the ceo of blackstone could tell him the truth. >> will he listen? >> dick cheney could pick up the phone and tell him the truth. i mean there's a lot of people that could tell him the truth. is he going to listen to the truth? that i don't know. i think chris is really hammering the right point that he's not used to this, so he's not handling it well. he should capitulate. guys, come on. look at the numbers. the numbers are there. he is losing by more than he beat secretary clinton. that's just facts. and she was a gentle person and conceded. >> and so this is the second part, and as much as it pains me, i think chris is right about his last point. this is the thing. more than just donald trump is what he's saying and what his behavior is having a terrible effect, i think, on the people who support him, on his base,

because what they're having to deal with right now, sadly -- and i'm not saying this to be condescending -- is that it's almost like they're -- how do i say this because i really don't want to be insulting. it's as if -- >> he's the wrong messenger for their message. >> it's not even he's the wrong messenger. it's as if they have -- they're going through an involuntary programming, deprogramming, right? so they were on this sugar high where many of them -- not all of them, so don't get it wrong, everyone. many of them were on this sugar high really about bigotry in a way, about conducting themselves in ways the president conducts himself, that it was okay to be nasty to people in public. it was okay to be superior. it was okay to say nasty things. it was okay to threaten people. it was okay to shut off bridges. it is okay to yell at people and call them fake news. all of those things were okay. then all of a sudden overnight,

what they believed, the world that they were living in, has come crashing down. it wasn't real when they were living it, and it's not real now. so all of a sudden the mask is being pulled back, and they are being involuntarily programmed right now, and they're going to -- how are they going to deal with that because he's not telling them, hey, we need to accept it. he is trying to convince them, continue to convince them that the world that they were living in was real. and i mean all of the terrible things that he taught them, not the good things that they were doing, because i think the good things, people should want to come together, right? people should want to live with all kinds of people. but the terrible things that he did, they were not okay. and now they're going to have to live in a world where people are going to say, you know, it wasn't okay, and maybe you should not have been following this guy before and all of his madness and making excuses for him. >> well, i mean, this is what i

would say, is that in our lifetimes, we have never seen this. so therefore the people that are living in the united states have never seen this. and hopefully when they see the data and they recognize there's no fraud in the data or de minimis fraud as we found out. it's very de minimis, if any. they'll say, okay, this was a fair and square election just like we see our sporting contests, just like we see things that happen in our lives when pursuing jobs or other things. he lost. and vice president biden won. and so therefore i think if he stays in the position that he's in, he's going to sour those people, and it may break up that ice that you're talking about, don. and that's going to be very bad for everybody. the best thing to do here is to admit it. and, you know, we've all seen a sore loser in our lives, but we've really never seen an american president that's a sore loser. there's three incumbent

presidents that have lost the second-term election, the incumbency in the last 80 years, since world war ii. >> right. >> and they've handled it as gentle people. >> yeah. >> and unfortunately he's not. it's jimmy carter, george herbert walker bush. and now it's donald j. trump. what are you doing? somebody's got to get to him and say look at the math, look at the numbers. be the guy that everybody wants you to be. >> anthony -- >> before you get to the break, chris, let me say this. i think it's important for democrats and for people who this president has demonized. i think it's incumbent upon them to take the high road, to take the high ground here and not engage, not gloat, and to truly want to work with the other side. i know it's going to be hard. i know it's tough because they've been so terrible with the bigotry and with all the screaming and yelling and the

behavior. but i think you're just going to have to be -- if you're a christian, you're going to have to do what the bible tells you. and you're going to have to be the bigger person in all of this if we're going to come together. if not, do your thing. but that's all i'm saying. >> look, i'm digging the conversation. anthony, do me a favor. >> let's take a break, and when we come back, we'll continue this conversation. anthony, can you stay for another block? >> yeah. no, please. i would love to stay. absolutely. >> thank you very much. stay with cnn.

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back, now, with anthony scaramucci, and we're talking about -- i want to talk about -- what this transition is going to be like, and if anthony can give us any idea of what is happening behind the scenes, at the white house right now. and what might happen, over the next 75 days or so. >> well, i may get some people in trouble because i still have friends in the white house. there are five or six senior people in the white house that are ready to accept the peaceful transfer of power, and they're going to work very closely with the biden administration. unfortunately, the president of the united states is not one of those people. but i think there are some very smart people who are saying, okay, the people have spoken and it's our responsibility to make sure that this transition is done in a way that's seamless and that the integrity of what

the government needs to do in terms of functionality takes place. so, you may not ever see the president concede. but you will see members of the white house to make things work. the obama administration, when president trump won four years ago, they were open arms to him, whatever their opposition was. >> i wonder how much help biden people are going to want from this administration, given its track record on how it handles things. but let me ask, do you think if president trump does not win this election, do you think he'll go to the inauguration of joe biden? >> great question. >> thanks, don. >> so, everybody -- everybody around him says no. everybody says that he will not do that, and that he's going to break every norm and he's going to break every tradition. and he hasn't gotten along with past presidents. he didn't go to john mccain's

funeral. he didn't go to george herbert walker bush's funeral. i actually think, guys, it's in his best interest to do so. and since he always acts in what he thinks is his best from, i'm going to make the bet that he does it. let's presume that he's innocent, because that's our rule of law to do that. but i think it would be in his best interest to cooperate with everybody, to see if he can disentangle himself from all these different things around. you heard from deutsche bank, today, they are looking for 3 to $400 million from him right after the presidency. it would be, be a gentleman, go to that inauguration, do everything you can to help yourself disentangle yourself from the problems that you're in. so, i hope that he will do that but i'm in the contrarian view right now based on my

conversations with people inside the system. >> so they're going to go? or not going to go? >> i'm saying he's going to but everybody else is saying he's not going to go. >> i think he is going to go. i agree with you. but for me, i think he likes to -- he likes the ratings. he knows people are going to be watching and maybe, somehow, it's his last time to create a spectacle, of some sort. but i got a question for you. it's probably not as good as chris's because i thought that was a great question, obviously. when you look at mark meadows and staffers and when you look at all the other people who have succumb to covid and, listen, it can happen to any of us. but an administration hasn't taken it seriously enough, who is going to be there to even help in the transition? and are the biden folks going to want to go there with the pandemic and an administration that hasn't taken it seriously? >> well, listen. you know, i can only speak about

the past transition. it was very valuable to talk to people inside the obama administration about what was going on, and where the baton had to get transferred. and so, someone like larry kudlow's an example. he's already signalled he's an advocate for a peaceful transfer of power and i believe him. and there are other people. mark meadows is sick. he will likely, hopefully, get better prior to that. i remember mark as being a very honorable guy. you guys may remember from psych 101, the milgram experiment where an authoritarian leader sort of makes you do things you don't want to do. and i think mark is a victim of that, and i think he'll pull himself back together. >> come on. >> you don't agree with that? >> there's the chris i know. tell him, chris. >> these are grown-ups.

this isn't stockholm syndrome. this isn't prisoner's dilemma. >> why are all these people following this path then, chris? >> come on. it's power and proximity to power. anthony. look. anthony and i are friends, and i have to tell you. i've told you this before. you did something that is almost unheard of in politics, which is that you understood what you were doing was wrong. you thought it was the right thing but you realized it was wrong because of who you were doing it for and you changed. it's rare, in this business, because everybody makes their own choice and they're going to have to own it. we got to jump. we have to take a break. anthony, get some sleep. we'll be right back. >> i'm not even going to respond to that. i'm going to leave it right there. >> no more mooch. between ideas and inspiration, trauma and treatment.

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continuing coverage election night in america. chris cuomo. don lemon. here we are waiting for the final votes to be counted so a winner can be declared and we can start dealing with the worst medical emergency, in a generation. the trending is joe biden may well be the next president-elect. don lemon. >> yeah. and we have to tell you. we feel like you feel at home. if i have any more sugar and any more coffee, we don't know what's going to happen. we know you've been up for days, we have, too. we know you're feeling anxious. we want this to be over but we're going to take you through it. we promise we'll get you through it and soon, sometime soon, the race will be called. the former vice president addressed the american people. he said he is confident that he is going to win the election. that is what he believes but he's asking for everyone to be patient. >> it's hard to be patient when you are suffering from a pandemic. we just learned the president's chief of staff, mark meadows,

has it. the man who said we cannot control the virus. certainly, can't control it in the white house. yet, we have to be certain because of this atmosphere of doubt that was put out as a fog of toxicity by this president. so, what does that mean? it means it is time for a key race alert. pennsylvania. 20 electoral votes. could biden pad that with what we think is remaining? yes. will he? we'll see. georgia, 16 electoral votes. 4,430 votes, on our watch, here in the early-morning hours. joe biden actually gained 30 votes on that lead. the batches are very small, but they still matter. arizona. 11 electoral votes. 29,861. for joe biden, he's been in the opposite dynamic, here. he has been losing a lead cushion to donald trump, who is

over-performing in the all-important maricopa county. will the president catch him? it does not look that way but we're not sure, so we keep watching. cnn has not called arizona, for that reason. nevada. six electoral votes. it seems, actually, a little safer for joe biden, certainly, than arizona. why? the way the votes are trending. okay. so, that's what we have. all right? everybody wants to know what's going to happen so how do we analyze it? look. where are the rest of the votes in pennsylvania? where do we expect them? what could they mean? kristen holmes at the voting desk. >> hello, chris. yes, let's talk about what votes are still missing in pennsylvania. it's all about when are they going to come in, and what are they going to look like? so right now, currently, there are 89,000 outstanding ballots. 101,000 of these are provisional

ballots. we talked about these a little last night. these are ballots, people showed up, it wasn't clear if they were eligible to vote. so they have to go through a whole other process. i spoke to an official tonight who said this process can take between anywhere between 1 and 20 minutes. now, let's look at the two biggest counties. philadelphia, of course. approximately 38,000 ballots left to count. 15 to 20,000 of those are the provisional ballots. now, the other 20 to 25,000 of them are mail-in ballots. we know how those have been skewing but here is the catch with these mail-in ballots. they're not all just going through the system. some are basically at the bottom of the barrel here that are left. they have issues. they might have to go to committee for review. so, again, another time-consuming process. now, allegheny county. that is the pittsburgh area.

35,000 ballots left. that includes mail-in ballots and provisionals. there was a big issue there, misprinting ballots. now, bucks county. this is a suburb of philadelphia. democratic stronghold, right now. they still need to review 2,000 damaged ballots and 6,700 provisional ballots here. so, all of this is going to take time. remember, what we have talked about over and over again. we are at the end of the road here when all of this is a process. when it comes to the damaged ballots that need review, election commissions have bipartisan groups of people who have to really go through, ballot by ballot, to see what the voter intent was, to see what the problem is. again, time consuming. people urging patience on this. and then, we have the last, three other big counties we have been watching.

luzerne county. as we talked about, even if they are coming from a very red area, they're mail-in ballots so there is a chance many of these ballots could skew democratic, as we have seen throughout the state. 10,000 plus ballots there. and chester county, 2,300 ballots. so, again, some of this is going to take a lot of time but we are still waiting for some of those big waves of numbers, particularly from the big counties. chris. >> and the reason that matters, obviously, is not just for the basic, which is the outcome. but the amount. can joe biden not just win in pennsylvania, thereby securing his win, but get outside the automatic-recount zone? we'll see. we'll see. thank you very much for that. very helpful. cnn's alexandra field is in pittsburgh. take us a little deeper in there, alex. what do we know about the state of play and the count? >> look.

it requires more patience, chris. kristen was walking you through all the reasons this could be a slow process here in pittsburgh. particularly, we know this last batch of ballots will take a lot of time. they've got to review them by hand. these are ballots that were incorrectly sent out. they want to make sure they don't have any duplicates. all of this is happening, of course, under intense spotlight because we know the whole election could come down to what happens in pennsylvania, with a relatively small number of votes. but, put the spotlight aside. the fact is that, in every precinct, in every state across the country, you have got to do what it takes, when electing an american president, to protect the integrity of the president. that means, like what i saw in pittsburgh today, you have got poll watchers from both campaigns. you've got the media. we were able to shoot video of this process. it's got to be carefully done. it's got to be carefully watched. what is different, chris, this year, is that you don't only

have to protect the integrity of the process, you also have to defend the integrity of the process. that's why they've got to be so methodical and they've got to be so vociferous about the efforts they are undertaking to get this big job done, as long as it takes. that is, of course, because you have a president in the white house, who has spent months making baseless claims, attempted at discrediting the outcome of this election, even before we have the election. this is a president who called for counting votes to stop across the country while that is still underway. right here, you have a governor and secretary of state who have said there have not been any widespread irregularities or problems. just that this is a slow-going process in order to do everything that needs to be done. even so, you have got republican state leaders calling on the governor to implement immediate audit of the ongoing count.

to bolster confidence in this process, confidence that probably has only been eroded, if it has been, because of the baseless claims we have been hearing, chris. >> alexandra, thank you very much. appreciate that report. let's go over to phil mattingly at the magic wall. you know, on one level, why should it be surprising that, even here in the last moments of an election, we have this president continuing the battle of him being offensive to what we believe to be true? so, that was really good what kristen took us through in pennsylvania in terms of where we are waiting for those votes. is there a chance that joe biden not just wins pennsylvania but gets outside that .5% margin? >> yes. >> really? >> yes, and it actually seems likely. i'm going to walk you through why. first off, philadelphia. right now, we know they've got a little north of 20,000 outstanding votes that need to be counted and tabulated. they're all mail in. what we have seen out of the

count of philadelphia, the city, as these votes have come in has been 85 to 88% for joe biden. it is going bigger, joe biden, in this city. it will be going bigger joe biden. it's about 20,000 there as well. one other thing. i am fascinated by this and harry might have some thoughts on this, too. right here. you see the top-line turnout in philadelphia and we know they have got somewhere between 30 and 40,000 votes still outstanding. take a look back to 2016 in philadelphia. hillary clinton had 584,000 votes in philadelphia. it did okay. milwaukee and detroit, back in 2016, fell off and that's in large part why hillary clinton lost those states. but it's the same trend we have seen over the rest of the country. the idea that turnout in the

biggest democratic stronghold in the biggest county in the state is at or maybe even slightly below what hillary clinton had in 2016. >> this is up. >> this is up. so i'm just saying i want to watch that. i don't know what it means. it just -- it doesn't track. if you go to wayne county, where detroit is, turnout was up. >> okay. demographics. could it be what the president suggests, which is i've done better among blacks and latinos and latinx people than any republican, ever? >> hold on. hold on. look. there's no doubt that president trump has done better, if you look across the country, right? sometimes, it differs a little bit with nonwhite voters or voters of color. but if you look at the individual wards on the philadelphia county board of elections website or the equivalent of that. you do seem to see the areas that are most pro-democratic, that's where, right now, it seems the most votes are in.

to me, is an indication there are votes to be counted in the most pro-democratic areas. and to the point phil is making, i would be really surprised if we don't end up out of the .5 percentage point margin to not have the recount you are talking about, chris. >> i'm just really interested to see how it ends up because it doesn't track with where milwaukee is. doesn't track with where wayne is. montgomery county has gone bigger in the mail-in ballots. move over to bucks county which we actually got a decent chunk, decent batch of today. you see a little bit of a narrower margin here, however, mail-in ballots here were coming in 60% plus for joe biden. let's look where he sits. he is sitting right at it. the vote that's outstanding. the bulk of the vote that's outstanding is coming from

philadelphia. it's coming from montgomery. it's coming from bucks. all of those have come in big for him. if you wonder why harry and i have been banging the drum the last couple days, it's purely outstanding the rate at which it's coming in for joe biden. >> as we go to break, if the president is going to come for the legitimacy of the vote, pennsylvania's going to be where he did it, not just because it's what beat him but the democrats in charge here. so if one of the tools can be taken away from what may very well be an unfair attack by him. that's important because you don't get a recount. please, stay with cnn. ever since darrell's family started using gain flings,

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the vast majority of almost 150 -- 150 million americans that voted. they want to get the vitriol out of our politics. we're certainly not going to agree on a lot of issues, but at least we can agree to be civil with one another. let's put the anger and demonization behind us. it's time to come together, as a nation, to heal. it's not going to be easy.

we have to try. my responsibility, as president, will be to represent the whole nation. and i want you to know, that i'll work as hard for those who voted against me, as those who voted for me. that's the job. that's the job. >> joe biden, tonight. is that a preview of what he might say in his first address to the country, as president-elect, if he is given that opportunity by you? let's bring in mj lee in wilmington, delaware. thank you for joining, my fri d friend, in these late hours. but everybody's waiting. what do you hear about what this man would see as his primary point of focus, if he had to address the nation as president-elect? >> well, chris, obviously, biden and his campaign. they had hoped that the race might be called on friday. that, obviously, did not happen. and right now, they are in a bit of a holding pattern until they

can actually get past the 270-electoral-vote threshold. but, yeah, in terms of what a biden victory speech might sound like if it happens, we have basically been getting calls all week when we have heard from the former vice president, including when he spoke here in wilmington. we saw him really go out of his way to make an appeal to people who don't support him, don't support his candidacy, and to people who clearly supported presiden we just heard, in that sound bite that you played, him saying that my opponents are not my enemies. promising that he would work just as hard for those who don't support him as for the people who do support him. and when i was talking to a biden aide, shortly after they gave that speech, they said, yeah, you can definitely expect the tone of national unity and the message of healing and bringing the country together.

we, definitely, can expect the former vice president to continue talking about those themes, regardless of where we are in the vote-counting process. regardless of whether the race has been called or not. and this shouldn't be surprising to anybody, right? i mean, this is sort of the major crux of his candidacy and has been, from day one. as you know, biden, himself, has publicly said, many times, one of the major reasons, driving factors, for why he got into this race in the first place was seeing what happened in charlottesville in 2017. and just feeling like, watching those images, made him feel like this is a moment of crisis for this country and i want to play a role in sort of bringing the country back together. so, that is just i think a big clue as to what we are probably likely to hear, again, if and when there is a victory speech from biden. and just in terms of the holding

pattern, what that might look like, saturday, here in wilmington. we know he's been spending time with family and senior advisers and just watching these vote tallies coming in slowly. we also know, as we reported in the last hour, aides are saying he will continue the behind-the-scenes work related to covid-19 that likely includes the meetings and briefings he's had with public-health officials. because as you know, as we are still waiting for results to come in, the pandemic is still raging across the country. chris. >> mj lee, thank you very much. let's take it to the better minds. i have cnn's nia malika henderson, harry enten, and alex burns. it's got to be a function of what the mandate is, so if there is a win for joe biden, what does it mean that he was asked to do? >> you know, i think people were asking for a return to normalcy.

turning away from the chaos. getting some calm in the white house. and you saw that, tonight. just him being a normal president. being a normal, public figure. you know, i think some of his lines about unity and healing, that's probably going to be a tall order. but hearing someone, again, talk in that way, i think is what americans wanted and is such a departure from the divisiveness of this president. i think the line where he says we may be opponents by we are not enemies. we're americans. i mean, for donald trump. >> us and them. >> yeah, it's us and them. sort of divisiveness. so, i think that's the main thing. in terms of a mandate in policy, very hard to see what he is going to be able to get done, given the fact that he is likely not to have a senate. we don't know, yet, if mitch mcconnell's still going to be in charge there but it's likely. so all of the sort of big plans

he has i think they'll likely be stymied by a republican senate. >> let's play a little for the sake of argument. or, is the mandate, we had this many people come out, maybe 76 million, maybe 77 million for biden because we hate this guy and we don't like the people who follow him and it's got to be stomped down and that's what you have to be, joe. you got to be fighting joe and we don't want to get along with bigots. because there is a big part of that on the left, right? i mean, there was a lot of animus towards who follows trump and what trump's message is. >> that would not be who joe biden is. >> they picked the wrong guy if they wanted a vengeance guy. >> that's right. this is a continuation of who joe biden was on the campaign trail. i'm going to bring folks together. i'm going to act presidential. i'm going to be opposite of the

current president. >> you know what, alex? what about this take, just for a third, you know, slice at it? what if the message is very little of this and, literally, he's rolling up his sleeves. i know what to do here because when i came in with my friend, barack, the economy was in the deepest hole we had seen, you know, in decades. we got a big problem. i know how to deal with it. you know, let's get after this together and just go right into it at the pandemic. >> i think that's exactly what the mandate is. you don't elect a president in the middle of a national crisis like this one to do any job, except deal with the national crisis. now, you may like other things he campaigned on. you may want to see him pursue a broader agenda and there's considerable evidence voters do want to see issues like climate, deeper reforms to the economy. but while we are not in a

liter literal war with the coronavirus, i think a lot of people feel their lives are under siege. and the gage of his presidency is whether, a year from now or two years from now, we say they approved a vaccine, distributed it safely. and just normal in the sense that you can have thanksgiving, again, right? or see your grandparents or your grandchildren. that you alluded to in the first term, coming into office in the middle of a global economic crisis certainly informs his thinking that there are plenty of democrats that are very, very proud of the broad agenda the obama administration pursued. affordable care act, most of all. but there are a lot of democrats who acknowledged they moved on from talking about the economy, far too soon. they were elected in the middle of a deep recession, and they probably should have kept their eyes on that ball longer than

they did. >> there is a big moment in history coming. and we've lived through them, before. so let's get a little context from where we are right now and it will kind of give us a focus on where we need to be. so we'll get after that, right after this. did you know prilosec otc can stop frequent heartburn before it begins? prilosec otc uses a unique delayed-release formula that works to turn down acid production, blocking heartburn at the source. with just one pill a day, you get 24-hour heartburn protection. take the prilosec otc two-week challenge. and see the difference for yourself. prilosec otc, 1 pill a day, 24 hours, zero heartburn. i will send out an army to find you in the middle of the darkest night it's true, i will rescue you

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when all the votes are counted, it looks more and more like joe biden will be the president-elect. it's not over, yet, though. the president's talking about voter fraud and on and on and on. so let's get some context, right? and what this means in history, for this moment in history. we can always learn something

from history, right? good to see you. >> great seeing you, don. >> the president's lying. he is resorting to poll watchers and fraud and all this stuff. how dangerous is this information at a critical time, like this? >> well, we had a tradition in this country that no presidential candidate declared victory, until his opponent had conceded. that is a time-honored tradition. normally, what would happen is newspapers in that era, or now television networks, would declare a victor. then, the losing candidate, in the old days, would go on television and concede. and then, the president-elect would appear before the mane people and proclaim victory. that's the way it's always been.

we are looking at a situation where that's unlikely to be the scenario. the president has already made clear that he thinks this entire election has, somehow, been the -- has -- has been the victim of a conspiracy, of some kind of huge fraud. he has not, in the course of his four years, shown a willingness to admit error. he usually doubles down. and so, we face the unfortunate likelihood that president trump will force president-elect biden to declare victory before a concession and that's an unfortunate norm busting. why does it matter? it matters because 70 million plus americans voted for president trump. in our history, the losing candidate turns to the american people and says the people have

spoken. i want you. it was a tough election. we tried hard. we are sad. but now, we have got to hope for the best for our country. >> it's not too late? you don't think he's going to do it? >> no, i don't think he's going to do it because it would mean some president, other than donald j. trump, could be good at the job. and my fear is that president trump will not help president -- a president-elect biden combat the coronavirus. we need, both, the president and the president-elect, in the next few months, to work together to attack this public-health crisis. and to not send mixed messages. and i worry that, as part of his warfare against this outcome, president trump will not be the good loser that his predecessors have, without exception being.

>> tim, you worry. i just don't think it's -- it's going to happen. it may be up to some folks on the transition team to maybe do it for this president. i don't think you'll see this president do it. i just don't think it's in him because he has been lying to us, for years. has that damaged the country's ability to -- to really trust the truth? so trust facts? to trust science? that the system is actually working? >> well, don, i agree with you. i -- i -- i -- i fear for the scenario i just laid out. i believe that vice -- that the former vice president has an opportunity to speak to a much broader group of americans. i know he'll speak to all americans. but i think he has an opportunity to speak to a much broader group, that includes people who voted for trump, at least in 2016. i'll leave it to harry, once all the votes are in. but i have a feeling people were ticket-splitters.

that, there were people who voted for biden for president. but a republican, in their local, congressional district. and that means, you have people who are republicans, even trumpists, to some extent, who are willing to work with biden. and if president-elect biden finds the right language, i think he can work with those people and show them, through success, that science can be helpful. but you don't lecture them. you don't treat them like students. >> but who are you talking about when you say that? are you talking about his supporters? are you talking about people in government? >> i'm talking -- no, i'm talk -- the -- the audience are those people in the blue-wall states, who voted for trump in 2016 and, probably, voted for biden in 2020. those people are persuadable. the ones who are carrying this

message are going to be members of the biden team. i just worry that if we -- if we come at it this way and say you all don't understand climate change. you don't accept science. and give people the sense that we who worry about climate change think they're stupid, that we're going to find ourselves in warfare, again, cultural-entrenched warfare. and i think biden has the ability to end of of the trench warfare. i'm talking issues like public health. >> it's tough but i think people have to be open to that. and how can you -- when you -- when you -- when someone doesn't believe the truth, it's really -- or what you're saying has any credence, it's really -- that's going to be a tough sell, to try to tell people, who don't believe in science. who haven't believed in facts,

for quite some time, that one plus one equals two and that they need to wear masks. i think, it is an uphill climb for him if he becomes president. tim, it's good to see you. you be safe, my friend, and i will talk to you soon. we have to remember, even when we are talking about these issues, we are talking about policies and what happens if there is a joe biden presidency. the numbers are still coming in and we still have to figure out where we are, in this election, and where the numbers are. and if joe biden is, indeed, to become president, where is he going to pick up the numbers to get him to 270? we're tracking the information, especially out of georgia and arizona. don't go anywhere. this is cnn.

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all right. we're discussing how we got

where we are. and it's going to be important, it's going to be more important, moving forward. one of the conversations we will have is were the polls off again in if so, why? one of the things we can look at here is texas. supposed to be, oh, maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe. donald trump, if you take a look, he is up 52-46, he's up. that's a pretty good whooping. so why now this battle to the finish in georgia? >> the beauty of this wonderful machine right here is we can start trying to put some stuff together. one thing i'm going to do, i'm going to put full county mode. so where did president trump overperform by 5% or more? harris county, home of houston, surged in its turnout. same with dallas county, as

well. all you need to do is look right here. that area, right there, all of which or so many counties you see are over performed. this is for democrats, they knew they would get the turnout. they needed to ensure latinos came out near the border. even where trump lost, these are primarily latino voters. >> so, why? the president had been demonizing, by extension, latinos when he was talking about how people coming across the border, illegally, are rapists and murderers and all that other stuff. why didn't that resonate? >> well, we're going to have to wait and see. one, i think a good lesson -- a good lesson -- go ahead. >> president trump had a -- >> you have to work on your let

me get in here skills. >> heres is the thing. he made a real play for them. also, they are much more culturally conservative than i think they're given credit for. they're not homogenous. we do see differences, right, hispanic population in california. we see differences from hispanic population in texas. mexicans, versus cubans, we see different things. a real shift of that vote. look at the county down in texas. i believe i have it up here. i believe it was starr county. if you pull it up on there, it's in the southern part of that state. what you would essentially see is a 60-point margin i believe hillary clinton won by in 2016 switched and joe biden won that county by just five points. that's a 55-point shift in one county. >> but why?

>> this is demographic layers. where you see a deeper shade is a higher percentage of hispanic population. i drew the lines where you see the over performance of trump by 5%. huge grouping of counties all right here. >> wait, hold on one second. did you say something, in the control room? oh, i thought he said we have breaking, as in news. we have to go to break. yeah. i'm just trying to make sure that i'm using the right context of break when i use it. finish your point, please, phil. and then we will go to commercial. >> what was the difference between georgia and texas? pull this out. go away. we got to go to break. go away. >> it worked. >> it worked. pull this out. why did -- why did joe biden win georgia or why is he leading in georgia right now? right here, right here, the deeper shade is the higher percentage of african-american population. joe biden crushed with african-american population in the key, key areas of georgia. joe biden is potentially on the

verge of winning georgia. joe biden, in texas, under performed in a key demographic he had to perform. that is the difference between georgia and texas as we have it right now. data that we have right now based on demographics makes very clear he fell short with one and crushed with the other. >> great explanation and thank you. and, harry, thank you for the context. let's go to break. i think there is a deeper conversation about what worked, what didn't, and why, so we'll look at that, right after this. between ideas and inspiration, trauma and treatment. gained a couple of more pounds. that's good for the babies. between the moments that make us who we are, and keeping them safe, private and secure, there's webex. ♪ ♪

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all right. we have movement on our watch. in the last few minutes, joe biden's lead in georgia grew again by 64%. that means, key race alert. all right. what does 64% mean when the margin is this small? it means you go from 4,000 plus to 7,248 votes in the all-important state of georgia. why? well, if biden secures georgia, there is no route for the president donald trump to win this election through the electoral college. still, a little bit of vote could come in but this is very important, for the reason that we just stated. and one more. let's go to phil mattingly at the magic wall. the other reason, which you gave this morning, is it would be good for him to recount safe. but the higher this gets, the more likely, what? >> the more likely that it holds. if he comes into a recount with

a 7,000-vote lead, again, it would take a catastrophic failure in counting for that to, somehow, be flipped. it doesn't mean it won't happen. but i'm just saying, right now, him being at 4,000 is a comfortable case to be in a recount. joe biden, at 7,000, is a much more comfortable place. fulton county, largest county in the state. joe biden pulled in 3,915 votes. donald trump pulled in 1,097. work on the handwriting a little bit. >> just the 9s. >> percentage wise, joe biden getting 76.1%. man, this is going very, very poorly. let me go ahead and do this. here's what matters. >> well done. well done. >> what joe biden netted out of fulton county, if i did the math right, 2,818 votes, which

brought him from where he was sitting, to 7,248. now, we knew, in terms of the universe of outstanding votes, that we were looking at military ballots that were coming in. we were looking at provisional ballots which were coming in as well. fulton reported a decent grouping of those, largest county in the state of georgia, i think about 10% of the population. what's the difference between texas and georgia? why is joe biden potentially on the verge of turning georgia blue when he fell short in texas, when democrats thought there was a real chance there? in both states, the suburban vote, the college-educated and above vote for white voters came out here. black voters in the state of georgia came out in a huge, huge way. you can thank stacey abrams for that from her governor run back in 2018 that fell just short. but in counties, like fulton county, across the state, the

margins are coming in so big, so big, for vice president biden. and this is another one where we are looking at the margin here. obviously, this is a huge margin. joe biden outperformed the batch of vote we just got in. >> harry, do we have any insight into whether or not military ballots played a role here? >> i'm not sure but i do want to note phil is not the one with the worst handwriting on this set. mine is far worse than that. right now, the lead for joe biden, georgia, is 7,248 votes. and just to give you some context. florida, 2000, which of course is the most famous sort of recount of all time. heading into the initial count in that particular race, the margin was -- so this is a very large margin, especially given there are far fewer votes cast in this election than there was in florida in 2000. >> d lemon. >> i was supposed to get a panel

ready. >> i'm sorry, don. >> you guys are doing a great job. i'll say is, harry -- >> yes, don? >> harry, would be very proud of you except for your handwriting. >> may he rest in peace. >> chris, we got a lot to talk about. you saw what happened in georgia. could that happen in pennsylvania? could it happen in arizona? we don't know. that's why we are here for you. we will have some key race -- key race alert. how could i forget that? coming up on the other side of the break.

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welcome back to cnn's live coverage "election night in america," continued. chris cuomo, don lemon, on the case, with a good team here at 3:00 a.m., eastern, on this saturday. and we have had news, on our watch, don. >> that's right. that's right. we have breaking news. well, you said -- you said election night. this is really election week. and during election week, in these hours right now, we're getting new numbers, by the minute, right? we just got some numbers in

georgia that increases joe biden's lead. we'll see what -- what the rest of it, what it all means for joe biden and for the president. the votes, overall, we're going to talk about. and guess what? this is all happening in the middle of a pandemic. we've got a lot of folks at the white house, shouldn't say a lot, but a number of folks at the white house who have now tested positive for the coronavirus. but the numbers are coming in, chris, and right now i'm going to steal your thunder because, you have a key race alert. >> true. all right. here it is. georgia. we had a very significant occurrence. 64% increase, in biden's lead. 7,248. now, i know the temptation. 64%. it's only 7,000 -- ah, ah, remember the context. first, it was 4,000-plus votes. now, it's 7,000. win, but what? win, in a way that is recount safe because they are well within the recount margin.

so, a 7,248-vote lead over donald trump for joe biden. go find a recount that wasn't a product of something that was huge, that we would be well aware of by now, especially in a republican-run state. you don't find them. so, this margin could be very significant. pennsylvania, 20 electoral votes. 28,833 votes separate the two men. there is, still, vote coming in. and we will be watching because the moment that pennsylvania is called for joe biden, if it is, is the moment that we have a new president-elect. arizona. 11 lek tofelectoral votes. donald trump has been gaining ground on joe biden. are there enough votes for him to make up enough ground? we don't know. we'll check in. nevada. six electoral votes. very important state of the race, there. we're expecting some change in that 22,000-vote margin for joe biden. in fact, we're going to discuss

that right now. why? because pennsylvania is the one and done for joe biden. if he wins that state, it is dispositive. he gets to 270 electoral votes. however, it's not his only route. if he wins nevada and arizona, he also receives exactly 270 electoral votes. so, we got reporters with the latest on count there. stephanie elam is in arizona. but we'll start with dan simon, next door, in vegas, where it is just after midnight. thank you for being with us, my friend. what is the state of play, by you? >> well, hi, chris. we are standing in front of a darkened election center here in clark county. no more votes being counted tonight. but earlier this evening, we did see a number of people in line, who were here just to make sure that their ballots are, in fact, being counted. election officials ahad contactd these folks to see their i.d.s to make sure they are, in fact,

legitimate voters. and the deadline was tonight. joe biden, doubling his previous lead and from what we are told, about 124,500 ballots remain to be counted here in the state of nevada. now, there have been questions as to why things are taking so long in the state. and when you press election officials on this issue, they just tell you they want to ensure accuracy. but of those ballots, 90% of them are here in clark county which, of course, includes las vegas and the surrounding suburbs. we did see trump supporters making a bunch of noise of widespread voter fraud. lost in court today in nevada to have the counting stopped. >> dan simon, thank you very much for being on the job, brother. appreciate it.

stephanie elam, good to see you once more, my friend. arizona. this, a very, very important state. what do we know about the state of play? >> right. and it's different than what we've seen in some of the other states, chris, when you talk about how we have seen biden surging from behind and gaining more votes coming his way. well, it's different here. we've seen president trump has been able to claw back some territory each time we have seen some of the most recent numbers come in. but just to give you an idea where we stand, statewide, they are saying there are some 173,000 ballots left to be counted. of those, 92,000 of them are here in maricopa county, obviously the most populous county in the state. this is where phoenix is. they are saying, after that, they will have the provisional ballots which usually take more time to go through. that will be what will be left here. so they're hoping to get through

that this weekend wech. we expect to get two downloads of tallies later in the day. i can tell you, though, here outside of the center where they are doing this tabulation. that, we have seen protests happening here throughout the day. it started to just drizzle here in phoenix, which sounds odd to me because i've never had it rain here when i've been here. but they've been protesting in what is called their free-speech zone, with their flags. making sure they're saying every vote counts. the county actually coming out and putting out signs with qr codes so that people can scan and actually watch to see that democracy, in action. and showing ballot tabulators in there doing their jobs to count all the votes to make sure they have the numbers. but when you look at the numbers here, you have biden with 50% of the votes in maricopa county and trump at 48%. so, very, very close. if there were to be an issue or if they wanted to do a recount, it would be automatic if it were

within about .1% here in arizona but right now it's about 1%, chris. >> stephanie elam. thank you. i hope it doesn't rain too much, too soon. all right. so what is the state of play? 270 lek tofelectoral votes. that's the goal, right? phil mattingly at the magic wall. amazing, still late, they are working so hard not just to report it like dan and stephanie but many of them volunteers, ameri-cans, for our democracy. once again, we have a move. what impresses you? >> look. we know what we are looking at right now. we're looking at pennsylvania, georgia, we're looking out west to arizona and nevada. we are expecting results from all these states, at some point. and i think, the question right now is less if joe biden's going to get to 270 electoral votes, s

he's got so many different pathways to do it but can he actually extend on the 270-plus? where is georgia going to end up because georgia is in recount territory. so the issue for the biden campaign is can you carry a sizeable lead, all things considered, into any kind of recount that makes it, as you noted, fairly safe? and we just saw a vote come in. and i'm not -- i'm not going to put my numbers down with my fingers anymore for anybody who is watching right now. but what we just saw is the ballots come in from fulton county, largest county in the state. obviously, home to atlanta. this has been a big county for joe biden throughout the course of the election. we knew it would but putting up the margins he needs to do. addi adding 2,800 votes to his total. he's been doing better on net in this county. so why is he doing that? harry, i want you to jump in on this one. because what -- the batch of

votes that we just got. okay. everybody's trying to figure out how many votes are still outstanding. the batch of votes we just got are what i believe is the remainder of outstanding absentee ballots for fulton county, which was a minimum amount. and provisional ballots, of which we believe they had about 14,000. harry, now that we know biden's lead, if you include military, there are a lot of theories, what does this mean? this might lean republican. this might lean democrat. what's your sense? >> what's the score right now? joe biden's at 62% of the vote. of the provisional ballots, the first batch we just got from fulton county, joe biden pulled in 73.5 of those votes. so these provisionals, as they sort of come in, i don't think they're going to be republican-leaning, at all. they'll probably be more representative of the county as a whole and, therefore, the state as a whole.

right now, if you are joe biden, that's good news for you because if they are representative of the state as a whole, counties as a whole, he's in the lead, right? both, in the state of georgia as well as the state of pennsylvania. so if the provisional ballots are starting to match what looks like the vote count in those areas, joe biden's lead, if anything, may, in fact, expand a little bit. >> 14,000 provisional ballots, we believe, are to be counted. i want to, also, talk about arizona and nevada and what we learned, if you don't mind. but before we move on from georgia all the way because it's 3:10 in the morning in the east. let me ask you this. name the song that the line "granny does your dog bite, no, child, no," in reference to georgia. >> we have been doing a lot of math. there is literally zero-percent chance i ever had an opportunity to answer that question. >> tell 'em. of course, it is. >> i googled it.

i had it right here. >> lou got it. >> but that's not fair. he knows so much more about music than i do. >> never gets any credit and coverage. the only thing we get anything right is because of our producers and our crew. lou knows everything about music, all the time. we keep him in dark because he's too handsome. let's talk about arizona fast and you can thank lou later for bailing you out with the mask on. so what will we learn about what we have to come? >> we saw, over the course of the last 24 hours, joe biden's margin continue to narrow. why did it continue to narrow? where the vote was coming in. you see the red here. there are very conservative counties in the state of arizona. however, the vast -- not the vast majority -- more than half of the votes that are outstanding right now come from here. it's maricopa county. i think the thing harry and i have been watching like hawks as batches come in from maricopa is not whether or not joe biden wins that batch or donald trump wins that batch.

but, if donald trump wins that batch by a certain percentage. if donald trump is winning any of the batches that comes through, he needs to be doing it by about 55 to 56%. and what happened yesterday, even as he was picking up votes and narrowing the margin, he was beating joe biden by about 51%. check me on that. >> yeah. yeah. generally, in the low 50s. basically, what phil is getting at is, although he was beating former vice president joe biden, he wasn't beating him by the margins necessary given the votes that are outstanding to close the gap and ultimately go into the lead. >> also, in arizona, as a function of the story of our country is the change of who we look like and the diversity. but, it's also about diversity within diversity. here's how. maricopa county is a big county. trump won it last time. why is biden winning it, this time, as phil has explained so many times excellently?

it's because you have an increase in latino population that is playing democratic. here, the fastest-growing group in america, latinos. along the border, suggestively, people coming from mexico, where would they be? along the boarrder. and yet, they voted for trump, why? because they don't identify that way. think we're talking illegal immigrants. it's not us. went a different way. you have the black vote. it's different. not all minorities are the same. part of the understanding of the diversification of who we are. so, what do we expect in terms of, when this is all done, do we believe, given the trends, that joe biden can hold and can't be caught? >> so the feeling on the ground right now, and i have talked to both republicans and democrats on the ground. based on what we saw in the

batches that came out yesterday, exactly what harry was talking about. that joe biden is in a more comfortable position today than he was yesterday. we will see. there is more vote to come from maricopa and obviously that's the crucial element here. but if you are in one campaign or the other, you are feeling more comfortable about the state of play in arizona if you are the biden campaign, than if you are in the trump campaign. >> i agree, 100%. the other thing in terms of why arizona shifted to the left is the culturally upscale suburbs. there are a lot of them in phoenix, in the suburbs of phoenix. it's a big part of the reason why joe biden is ahead by a point right now in arizona, not behind by a point. >> if you want to see the shift. >> no, i do but i can't. i got to go to break. >> 2016. 2020. that's the shift. >> boy, that was fast, philly. >> we're going to go to break. when we come back, we'll take a look what's happening in georgia and what that means about what might happen in the rest of this

country. stay with cnn.

we're going to win this race. just look at what has happened since yesterday. 24 hours. we were behind in georgia. now, we're ahead. and we're going to win that state. 24 hours ago, we were behind in pennsylvania and we are going to win pennsylvania. and now, we're ahead but we're winning in arizona, we're winning in nevada. and, in fact, our lead just doubled in nevada. we're on track to over 300 electoral votes, electoral-college votes. and look at the national numbers. we're going to win this race with a clear majority of the nation behind us. we have gotten over 74 million votes. let me repeat that. 74 million votes. that's more than any

presidential ticket has ever gotten, in the history of the united states of america. >> well, i mean, listen. it's no doubt that he is exhausted. imagine being -- how we feel and joe biden and the stress that he's dealing with right now. even t-- joe biden not giving a victory speech but as close as you can come to giving a victory speech. president trump, though, has said before that he isn't a good loser. definitely, not winning right now. so, what's happening if he does lose this race? so, let's talk. nia malika henderson, john avlon, margaret hoover. so good to see all of you. so we have one person saying we need to come together, it's time to do this. we have another person saying it's rigged. they are stealing the election. the longer this goes on, this limbo of who is winning, who is not winning, there are a lot of

things that can take root and i think disinformation is one of them. >> i think that's danger that we are in. it is absolutely appropriate for everyone to make sure they are getting the math right with the projections. there is too much at stake. with that said, the trends have been clear for a long time. easily, getting into a day, into two, now. we got these separate ecosystems. you got a hyperpartisan ecosystem that is feeding people disinformation consistent with the president's -- right. that the only way he could lose the election is if there is massive fraud. there's no massive fraud. ben ginsburg will tell you that. but it's very dangerous. there is no equivalence. but that message is being seeded in people's heads and will make this election seem illegitimate to just under half the country.

>> margaret, let me -- i am looking for a friend's text because one friend said, look, don, i know you guys don't want to call it but i am aud mom and have a calculator and i balance my checkbook and you keep saying the math is not there. but if i'm doing this math, you know, a blind person can see what's happening here. that's what one friend said. another said to me -- just give me two seconds. my other friend says -- it says getting somewhat scandalous that you're not calling the race. wt -- you know what was the thing. >> you know, you're going to be ahead of the states. i mean, once the state's s secretary of state in pennsylvania says they're all counted, here it is. then, i think it's appropriate for a news organization to do it. but makes sense to me. shouldn't we wait until at least -- >> folks, we are talking about the sentiment of people at home. and you brought up a very good question that was on another

network. what are you telling your friends? i'm telling my friends it's over but the networks won't call it, officially. but go on. >> that's right. i mean, we all know that this is trending a certain way. we are going to see president-elect joe biden, within a certain period of time. but it isn't appropriate to call anything before the states, themselves, have said, you know? we have done a really good job, i think, of saying this is going to take a really long time to count. so why are we so surprised this is taking a long time to count? >> because people are impatient, right? >> but i do think presidential elections have been called, before, with counting still to happen. >> do you think the polling was so wrong, like, oh, no, no. it's almost people wherefore afra were afraid to say, even with the polling, i don't know, 2016. >> even if i tell them

president-elect biden is for sure going to happen. they're like are you sure? what about these court cases? listen. i think the big problem that we have right now is we have a president who seeded the ground here with lies about it being rigged. he started that, weeks ago. and his followers have picked up on these lies. he now can't back out of these lies and he can't concede. that is what's missing from this. it's the lack of concession. that's why we're here. >> nia, we see it when there are folks, diehard supporters, they wait on the president's messaging to figure out what they should say. and what they should believe and we know that because we have one group saying stop the vote, stop the count, stop the count. and we have another group saying keep counting, keep counting all the votes. >> right, which is his mixed messaging. >> if he says this is rigged, if he says it's being stolen, they're going to believe that. the longer this goes on,

doesn't -- >> oh, totally. totally. but it's taken root long before this time. he's been saying for weeks and weeks and weeks. you can talk about mitch mcconnell, whatever prominent republican you would want to come out, it's not going to work. >> i got to go. so, then, what do we do? what do we do? because people don't know what to believe. >> look. there is a difference between facts and fanaticism. we need to take it very seriously. >> you guys are going to be here with us for quite some time so we will continue our conversation throughout the hours here on cnn. meantime, what are we talking about? vote count. we are looking in georgia. we're looking in pennsylvania. we're looking at arizona. we're looking at nevada. who knows where we are going to get the next round of votes coming in. but the big thing is when are we going to have that critical projection? we shall see. stay tuned.

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joe biden's lead keeps expanding, on our watch. that means one thing. key race alert. all right. in georgia, we have seen a significant move. why? joe biden may be out of recount-concern range in georgia. the big line is without it, donald trump does not have a path to win this election through the electoral college. the lead now 7,248 votes. they are coming in smaller batches but this last one gave a big percentage increase for biden. over 60%. let's go to kristen holmes, right now, at the voting desk for some perspective on what we're watching and what we can, still, expect to see. hello. >> hello. well, let's talk about recounts

because you just mentioned it and there are two states within that margin right now. and georgia is still one of them. on top of that, the secretary of state in georgia, a republican, has already said there is going to be a recount. let's go over the rules what that would look like. in georgia, there is no automatic recount. so candidates can request a recount if the margin of victory is .5% or less. still, obviously, within that margin for a recount. again, the secretary of state has already said that there is going to be a recount. but i want to point something out here. there is a history of recounts in this country not having flipped the winner, in years. okay. so, georgia, in particular. the last two recounts they had. one was for a judicial recount. it was a statewide judge in 2004. the margin was 400 votes. so, clearly, this is a much

larger margin. the other was in 2017. the atlanta mayoral race. key sha lan keisha lance bottoms, who, of course, we know. the opponent got no more votes there. so again, recounts have a long history of not flipping the winner. anywa now, of course, it is possible. but still, unlikely. the other one i want to look at is pennsylvania. democrats in the state, they say by the end of the day, there will not be room for a recount, the margin will be so large. the difference of .5% or less is when it triggers autom the margin, of course, as we know, biden is ahead by 28-29,000 votes. .4, so still falling within that recount range. something to keep an eye on. but i think it should be noted

there are rare times in history that this actually makes a difference. and donald trump has said they're going to ask for a recount in wisconsin, too. that's a 20,000-vote margin. even former governor scott walker who was a big fan of donald trump's said that was a very heavy lift to try to flip that. chris. >> kristen, thank you very much. very helpful. appreciate it. let's take that insight to phil mattingly at the magic wall. why does this issue matter? well, in georgia, donald trump doesn't have a massive-fraud narrative that is helpful. the secretary of state. the governor. if there had been gross fraud, you think they would know and be very anxious to blow the horn there. so this -- this range of vote should be okay, even with a recount. because you don't see recounts, as kristen pointed out and you have as well, change the game. pennsylvania is a more important recount play because it is

vulnerable to political optics. perception is often reality or, too often reality in politics. trump identified it early on for his fugazy, fraud theory. and they have those ballots that they extended three days to accept, as long as marked by election day. that's been part of the court battle there involving the attorney general. and if he can get out of automatic-recount range there, then it would make it harder for the president to press the case, falsely, in pennsylvania. fair analysis? >> fair analysis. >> make better points. >> i agree with that. it pains me to say that. >> i don't know why. something about my face. >> what i want to actually -- because we have the new vote here. what i think is so fascinating is just the state of georgia, generally. because if you flash back 36 years ago, and by that i mean tuesday, tuesday night. we've seen this progression mostly in pennsylvania and the

midwest. with georgia, too, there was a point tuesday night going into wednesday, at midnight, people were basically not paying attention to georgia anymore. it was doing exactly what republicans said it would do. it was a pipe dream for democrats. and it's just fascinating to watch the progression as absentee balt absentee ballots came in. 71,000. 18,000. through and through and through, we saw a similar thing. georgia absolutely has and i think why that matters, why the progression matters is, one, it shows a very clear trend line. a trend line that has not been thrown off track for the better part of 36 hours. a trendline that has added 800 votes to joe biden's margin. and what does that mean, given how small the universe of that vote actually is? it looks joe biden is very much on track -- yes, harry.

>> thank you, phil. look, i think what is so interesting about all of this is, before the election, we were warning viewers, right, especially in the northern, battleground states. it's going to take some time. and don't be surprised if biden moves the margin in his direction. even in a state like georgia. those of us who have been watchi watching georgia politics for a long time know fulton county take a long time to count their votes. everything follows the pattern we saw before the election and, therefore, everything seems to be -- you know, look. elections are oftentimes a messy thing. and that's something i want to say over and over and over again. >> can i say something about recount, please? went through a number of examples. if you want to put more perspective over where georgia sits right now. we will see what happens the next couple hours but joe biden ahead, you know, let's go back to 2016. and let's go to michigan. and donald trump -- joe biden

right now is closer to where donald trump was in michigan, where nobody really questioned where this -- they went through the process. hillary clinton's campaign tried to pursue avenues here in michigan but nobody really questioned the validity. this was just put into the column as breaking through the blue wall and that was it. it was something democrats needed to find a way to come back from. right now, joe biden is a lot closer at this point. >> and he'd be closer to the same electoral delivery, also, which trump called a landslide. >> yeah. 306. if you give joe biden pennsylvania, give him arizona, and you give him nevada, guess what? >> same. >> 306 electoral votes. >> there you go. thank you very much. let's go to break. when we come back, we will take you through what we're seeing. let's do it, together. stay with cnn.

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♪ heart monitors that let your doctor watch over you, just like you watch over your best friend. another life-changing technology from abbott, so you don't wait for life. you live it. welcome back to our continuing coverage. joe biden says voters have given him a, quote, mandate for action but is stopping short of claiming victory. how does biden negotiate this period, not just now, if he is lucky enough to be gifted with your votes to become president-elect, he's got a couple of months here before an

inauguration. what does he do, especially with a recalcitrant trump? let's bring in laura lopez, toluse olorunnipa, and professor ron brownstein. it's good to have you all. so, laura, what he said tonight. what is the right line for joe biden to walk, in terms of messaging, right now? >> well, i think that what he said tonight is the option that he thinks he has, which is not declaring victory. again, telling people to be patient. but also, showing that he -- or articulating that he thinks he has a mandate, which is to, you know, work with democrats and potentially -- we don't know the makeup of the senate, yet. and we may not know for a few months. but he thinks that he has a mandate to get the country on a different track. one that focuses, clearly, more on science-based steps to address coronavirus, which was a

big part of his campaign, and address other policy issues that he spoke about. now, how he handles dealing with democrats in this moment, especially as there is a lot of introspection in this party given the way the election turned out because a lot of democrats, on the one hand, are clearly very happy he is about to win the presidency. they are also very frustrated by losses in the house, as well as not being able to fully get a mandate in the senate. >> ah. ron, is the message this country is center-left and right. stay center. you go too far, you're going to lose. same thing if you go too far on the right. is that the message for the party? >> i think the message is that the country is really, really divided. and there are separate realities of what america wants. if you look in the big metros, i mean, the margins that biden ran up were astonishing.

in the atlanta metro, he won by 6. the big five counties in texas you were talking about before. the border disappointed enormously but he won the big counties. hillary, by 611. democrats simply could not break into trump country, hardly, at all. i mean, a few blue-collar counties where biden did better. but, by and large, republicans remain dominant outside of the metros. so you are left with the situation where democrats are consolidating control of sort of big population septembecenters country. although, those voters as you note tend to be more centrist. on the other hand, they are

almost completely shut out. and i think become even more recalcitrant because they are kind of more reliant on trump company for that i eveir victor whether you are lindsey graham or joni ernst. from that conservative-media ecosystem. >> toluse, say what you want in the pandemic. and then, if you are gifted with mandate of being president-elect, just go ahead with the mandate and agencies on the task force. >> yeah. the biggest challenge facing the country, and something he can bring both sides together on. no one wants thousands of americans to be dying, every day. it's not as much of an issue, ail though president trump has

made mask wearing highly political, that's not something they want. they don't want hundreds of americans dying because we haven't gotten this pandemic under control. even though there are going to be fights over policy, there are going to be fights with joe biden trying to figure out how to bring together his base, the activist base, every advantage he may have, he's going to have to work on that. but in the meantime in the weeks ahead, he is going to really have to focus on this pandemic. try to show the country he is getting his arms around it because if we are getting 100,000 people infected a day, weeks and weeks into his administration, it's really his biggest challenge. otherwise, it's going to be hard for him to put forward any kind of major, policy agenda with the country sort of racked with this pandemic.

>> laura, what's our sense with joe biden? is he going to be looking to make deals in the senate? or is he going to some some van guard agent for change? >> well, we have heard a bit of both from him throughout the campaign. one of his biggest talking points was i'm someone who has always worked across the aisle. i am someone who knows how to work in a bipartisan way. i am the one who went to the hill when obama needed me to work with republicans. but then, there was also talk of this could biden be this fdr-esque president once he finally came into office? i think they are recalculating that a bit, given the makeup of congress that we may very well see. because as toluse was saying, especially since he is coming in with a pandemic, with an economy trying to recover. and so, there is a lot on the table that he has to get to,

first. before he can even address big issues like climate change or police reform or immigration reform. >> well, thanks to the pandemic and tax cut and the deficit spending of what used to be a conservative fiscal base for the right, donald trump changed all that. he doesn't have the money to be fdr. we got to jump. ron, laura, toluse, appreciate you. we saw a shift in the middle of the night, once again. why? because we have the best of us, ameri-cans busting their butts to safeguard our democracy. we have the latest. stay with cnn. of brain performance. memory, focus, accuracy, learning, and concentration. try our new gummies for 30 days and see the difference.

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you know, the turnout in this election, breathtaking, really. the popular vote can, also, tell us a whole lot about what people want in this country. it is 3:54 a.m. eastern time. it's time for a coast-to-coast look. so, look at that. there is the popular vote. imagine how many people voted in this country.

74 million for joe biden. 70 million for donald trump. this is the most people have turned out in this country for any candidate, any two candidates, in the history of america. that is our alert at this hour, 3:54 a.m. eastern time. joe biden isn't ready to claim victory but the numbers will make the decision for both of them. and they continue to flow in, early, this saturday morning. forget what day it is? it is saturday, by the way. a report from the states that matter, the ones that matter most, they're next.

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welcome back, friends, to cnn's breaking news coverage. election night/week in america continues. >> month, year. >> however long it takes to get it straight. it is 4:00 a.m. eastern on saturday and we've seen changes once again on our watch. joe biden is getting closer to the privilege of being president elect of these united states, d. lemon. >> yeah. what a title. it's kind of joking around, but it's true. this week has felt long and short at the same time. because it feels like one long day. the former vice president who wants to be president-elect and ultimately president keeps getting padded making it more and more likely that president donald j. trump can catch up. he keeps telling us on twitter how mad he is, rage tweeting,

and we hear that he is hurt and his legal team is having a lack of impact. >> what he hasn't been, which is what we're not showing you any of the specific language, is compelling. he has offered no proof to stake the claim that we should doubt our own democracy. where does the vote stand? georgia, 16 electoral votes. we now see what don was telling you. in georgia, the gap between biden and trump is now 7,248 votes. we saw it jump 64% in the last batch. biden and trump separated by 20,833 votes. the test in pennsylvania, one

and done. abide ng wins it, he's president elect. can he get his margin of victory above the recount amount of .5%? why? because if he does, then donald trump has one less tool to create drama about an election that hasn't warranted any yet in terms of questioning the count. let's do more. arizona. 11 electoral votes. arizona has biden up by 29,861 votes. biden is fighting to keep a lead here, not to catch trump or exceed trump, it's the opposite. trump is catching him. enough votes to meet or beat? we don't know. probably not, but we're watching closely. nevada, six electoral votes, if biden is able to win nevada and arizona, he also gets to 270. so we're watching this closely. he is now 22,657 votes ahead. look at the map.

253-213. why is it 253? because we have not projected arizona and, therefore, it is there. everybody does it the way they want to do it. let's get some insight into the state of play in each race. biden's lead, why? since 1992, you haven't seen a democrat take it. if he wins there, it will be the first time in 29 years a democrat has done so. let's start this block with nick in atlanta. what is it looking like now? >> good morning. we know the tabulations of mail-in votes had stopped here in georgia, but they had about 20,000 provisional votes to get through. overnight, that widened joe biden's lead to 2,748 votes in the unofficial tally.

later today, gwinnett county are expecting to get through 1500 provisional ballots. but because they are provisional, that may not go into the overall tabulation. all signs, guys, point to a runoff in georgia, not just in the presidential election, but not just one, but two senate races in georgia. that means georgia could be at the center of the political universe through early next year. georgia is still very much in the spotlight here. >> and one of the curious aspects of this election, biden turns ruby red but the two senate races are going into a runoff. very interesting. thank you very much. let's now check in with m.j. lee. she is in front of biden

headquarters which is the place that biden has reserved to celebrate if he wins the election. will he get to do that? we'll see. what is the word out of the camp? >> it is word underscoring what a huge political feat this would be if he were to win georgia. as you pointed out a couple of times, a democratic presidential candidate hadn't won georgia since 1992. how did the biden campaign get there? think decided to go all in on the state in the final weeks of the campaign. joe biden himself went there and campaigned in georgia one week before election day. his running mate was dispatched to go there before election day and former president barack

obama spent the monday before election day campaigning in atlanta. so, clearly, this was a purposeful decision by the campaign which saw that they actually had a real chance at taking this state. and what would that mean ultimately for biden if he were to win georgia? it would mean that he is expanding the map, that they saw multiple paths to getting to 270. and they wanted the extra bonus padding from states like texas or georgia, for example. texas has, of course, already been called for trump. if he is victorious for georgia, it would be a huge political accomplishment and it would mean for him that he basically gets a cherry on top of the blue wall states that he is hoping to build, as well. he already has michigan and wisconsin. obviously, we know that the final price for him there is pennsylvania. m.j., thank you very much at the

magic wall with the one and only phil mattingly. what does georgia mean for us at this point in terms of seeing the election come to a solution? >> there's no pathway for grand jury tru-- georgia/trump. if it goes to a recount, it would give biden a bit of a cushion there. the democrats have been eyeing georgia. they thought they had a shot in the 2018 race. but the difference in georgia, particularly in the democratic counties from 2016 to now, there is always a lot of talk, can somebody flip a county. what president trump did in 2016 was astounding in terms of how many counties barack obama won in 2012. that is not the model for joe biden this time around and it hasn't been in the strong holds of georgia. take a look right here.

this is the fulcrum of the areas, tlaevenatlanta, the metr states. we'll start with fulton county,. flashback to 2016, three points higher. move over to gwinnett. 58-40. look at dekalb, should be 3 points higher. the points here and three points there, is that enough? the answer is yes. these are huge jumps in the metro areas of atlanta. you look at georgia 2020, that's the difference. president trump was looking at the numbers regardless of what

they were saying publicly. his people turned out. 2 million votes back in 2016 and 2020. he's already at 2.4 million. and yet joe biden has a real pathway to win rights now depending on how the recount turns out because they turned out their people in their strong holds at a level which has never been seen before. that is always the question for democrats, can you turn out, can you get your people to vote? that was the pathway in georgia. if you look at the margins, they met and exceeded what you needed to see there. >> what i'm so interested about georgia, you know, we're hitting on it right now, but there are going to probably be two runoffs

for senate control in early january. there's the special senate election as well as the regularly scheduled one. and i think one of the key questions that i have is whether or not these voters that you're talking about who turned out for this election, will they, again, turn out in early january? if they do, then they get the majority of the united states senate. but i think it's a very big question. i'm interested in your thoughts on that, bill 49.8 to 47.9. now let's look at where vice president biden is. doing better. you see this with warnock, as well. they need to match biden and they need to do better than

biden. the dynamics of what this race is going to be, there will be more money than you can even imagine dumped into these races. these will be with two candidates in the special election. these two races will determine who has the majority in the senate. the amount of money that comes in here but also what is the interest for vote erts? are the voters here after they may have helped elect the president of the united states going the care about a 50/50 senate? i think that's right. are these college educated white voters in the atlantic suburbs who shifted so significantly against donald trump, was it more of a anti-trump movement or a pro democratic turnout?

if these are real democratic voters, i think it's a real potential for a real race down there in the senate races that we simply haven't seen in a long time. the interesting element, my day job is on capitol hill. in talking to senate republican operatives, they feel like they're going to be in very good shape here. they feel like they're going to have more money than anybody and their voters will understand the stakes here, particularly if joe biden is president. i'm very intrigued whether or not the democrats, to your point, will also understand the stakes. in covering the united states senate, 50/50 with a democratic president, you have the majority. are you going to be able to pass medicare for all? no. but the difference in 50/50 versus 51/49 with mitch mcconnell is the senate majority leader, it means a lot. >> could mean whether or not joe

biden spends a lot of his time being investigated. >> that is a crucial point. you know who would be the committee chairman? >> who? >> ron johnson, a top ally of president trump, was doing a lot of the hunter biden investigations, as well. chairman mesneships, if you control both chambers, all of a sudden chairmanships in committees with sa seubpoenashi. >> that drishlly, a runoff doesn't get the same enthusiasm. >> correct. >> as the preceding election. that is, i would suppose, a bigger problem for the democrats because they're trying to break culture more in georgia so they have more work to do. >> 2008 barack obama came very

close to winning georgia. what you essentially saw was something along the lines of a 14, 15, 15 point margin. will you see the same thing here come early january with senate control potentially in the balance as well as the fact that you have an african-american candidate running in that race? and in louisiana, for example, you actually see them rising a percentage of the electorate. so it's not something that's locked in necessarily. >> if joe biden wins the presidency, these two runoffs, how much captain does he expend? president trump went nowhere near that race and part of the reason why is if you're a newly

elected president, you don't want the first thing that you do before you're even inaugural rated to lose a special election, right? so for joe biden, the pressure is on him more because this could be a state that he wins. so how much capital do you expend -- >> well, does mcconnell do to him what he does to obama which is come out and say i am going to live to oppose? if that's the play, he might as well. >> here is the risk. you go all in and you lose and you are a weakened president. >> there's a push dynamic to figure in, which is the pandemic. >> that is also true. joe biden, of course, is very hesitant to go on the campaign trail. joe biden always said i am a democrat running in the primary.

he's all about building that infrastructure. >> i think the pandemic helps him, to harry's point about him being reluctant. everything that joe biden does -- even if trump wins. i know that's becoming less likely. one, we don't know. two, i also don't care. we have to get to a better place for the pandemic. you know with trump you have built in animus against the pandemic. he doesn't want to acknowledge it and keeps saying it's a hoax. if biden is all in on the pandemic, and i don't know why he wouldn't be, it makes it easier to say, i need these guys because this congress wouldn't gets it done. they wouldn't pass another big. i need to have more control. i think there's a lot of leverage with him. you're right, if he loses, he looks weak but he has that he's

doing something on something. that is a good problem for him to have because it means he's president-elect. >> yeah. he'll take that. but you walk in the door and you're dealing with a public health crisis, dealing with an economic crisis and then you have a real political riddle trying to figure out what he's going to do. it's an interesting dynamic, i think. >> we'll see. there will be a lot of interesting dynamics. how about if joe biden is gifted by you with the mandate of being your president, how about the next couple of months with trump there? what can he get done in a pandemic that the sitting president doesn't want to acknowledge exists. our fellow citizens are busting their homps to get this election finished. please stay tuned to cnn. nah. ♪ introducing the all new chevy trailblazer. here? nope.

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so we know the president has been watching a lot of election tv and likely state tv where he is spriegingurprisingly getting what he wants to hear from some.

hello once again. >> good morning. >> good morning. >> good morning america. >> that's where i want to start. i want to start with good morning, right? i got off early or late and he watched state tv's morning television show and i thought i was watching an snl skit. my question is have they become more moderate. but this is some of the pro trump propaganda. among some of their anchors, some of them, they're start to go sound a little resigned. watch this. >> it seems inevitable, whether it's pennsylvania, arizona, georgia, nevada, if he gets them all, he ends up with 306 electoral votes which is exactly what donald trump had in 2016. it seems inevitable in this

initial vote count that joe biden is going to win. >> the trump campaign wanted to have their poll watchers there and they're being asked to provide evidence for something they weren't able to participate or be able to see. that is something they would say needs to be rectified. >> that's not true. it's just not true. the election poll watchers, they are called canvas watchers, republicans have been in this room, in that room where they are supposed to be standing alongside with the democrats. there is a specific segregated penned off area for the democratic watches and the republican watchers so the claim from the trump campaign and the president about that is not true. it is false. >> the trump supporters in this country are having a difficult time processing what's been happen over the last three days.

at this point, the president needs to win at least three recounts to get to 270 or tie the at 269. it's a tough, uphill battle. >> to all you patriots who supported president trump, stand tall and be proud of your efforts and his. it was all worth it. we all helps reshape the national conversation. we don't have time to bury our heads in crying towels. >> wow. margaret receipt, i'm going to come to you because you used to work there. the guy that said that's not true, i was his p.a. back in the early '90s. >> what you saw there is the heart -- >> the other guy you said has

taken truth serum -- >> by the way, he used to produce my segment on o'reiley news. so what you see there is the split on fox news. you see reporters saying, you know, calling it like it is, saying, you know, this is very clear that joe bidesen is on his way and the reporter saying there are republican and democratic poll watchers right here behind me. so don't even feed this disinformation. but what dana perino said and what some of those other anchors -- i was surprised how many of them are gently trying to take their viewers to the truth. >> i think it was like involuntary deprogramming that they're going through right now. and i don't mean that in a condescending way and they're trying to say, okay, listen -- >> to the extent they are continuing to foster this

disinformation, what is the difference between that language and russia today? there is no difference. they are doing the russian's job for them by spreading this disinformation. >> those folks have always spouted donald trump's talking points. they are starting to cut ties. you see some of the new york post sort of language. so we'll see. but it also seems like they were talking to dtd downtown onald t. so that was interesting to see those folks kind of say, hey, it might be over. >> chris, you and i talk about this all the time, but i want john to get in first. not everybody is doing it because i think the two, tucker and hannity, have they -- they haven't come this far. >> no.

>> i gather handy was saying there should be a redo. this is a sick system that has been set up. they about this. we're asking how much are they playing to the audience of one, right? and the other thing is, donald trump has said repeatedly that the only way he could lose this election is if there's fraud. >> do they even know how to push back any more? >> no. the muscle memory of telling the president the truth inside his white house has been completely atrophied. so we are seeing a age of disinformation and they're trying to walk the difficult days of saying, hey, facts do

matter. >> i don't like a lot of what i'm hearing. i worked with eric shawn. he has always been the real deal. the idea of -- >> well, we gave revrick shawn his due. >> give me a second, brother. i'm about to come heavy, but here it comes. the idea that they're muscled atrophied make no excuses for people who made a definite choice to turn on journalism, demonize other human beings with families and do it to cotton favor with this president. this is a time where people will be remembered and the media should muscle up and remind everybody of what happened. and no forgiveness. there's no reason to frost over anything that happened. >> i think we're all agreeing.

>> no one has had a change of heart. they're all just playing to strength and now running from weakness. >> there absolutely should be accountability. whatever muscle memory language is being used, i think we're fundamentally saying the same thing. there has been an effort to sucked up to people in power and there needs to be, especially at this moment, right now you have a handful of republicans who are telling the president that this is un-american to question the integrity of the election process. mitt romney has made some noises. >> not enough, john. >> and too late. >> not nearly enough. >> let me finish. >> hold on. no, no, no, no, no. it's always wrapped in the every vote should be counted. that is not where you start. you start with the president is putting out b.s. he's lying to you.

>> and there is a lot of disingenuous b.s. the people who right now are pouring flames on conspiracy tierries to empower the approximated president's worst impulses -- who is doing it? >> we can start naming names. newt gingrich has done it -- >> great, but where are they being allowed to do it? who is putting it out there? >> social media and fox news. >> that's the point. and, look, the white house pretty release. they're the same thing. you know what i mean? you hear laura ingram coining the phrase, shut up and dribble.

we know what that was about. they can say this show is not supposed to be considered a credible news source. this has been a unique time. the media takes a time of hits. i would argue deservedly so. but you have to start figuring out what your standards are and you have to reward what goes right and we have to go over those who do it wrong. let's play both sides of whatever the latest controversy is and then you're in it until everybody feels like a victim. >> have you not watching your show or my show? that doesn't apply. >> listen, with all due respect to you guys, there are difference levels of being in the cruicible during this time.

i'm just saying that this is a period that needs to be remembered for what people did and what they didn't do. >> you and i are central fun, but this is about me and you, what their viewers -- the disinformation. >> they lie to their viewers. they tell the viewers that the people telling them the truth are liars and they do it to benefit donald trump. now they have to own it and be held to account. not by us. by people, regular people. not media people. >> you know margaret worked there. go ahead. >> what with i love to hear are the honest voices who are calling it like it is. chris wallace, who is the producer, your friend? >> eric shawn. >> i mean, that does speak volumes, but it drives -- look,

it's deeply inresponsible for some of those anchors to be saying, well, shouldn't we by looking into the fact that there aren't poll watches behind you? and eric looked at her and saz, but there are. but the viewers, downtown dlt's voters are more inclined to believe the conspiracy and to believe the fraught and to believe that it isn't fair. >> chris, i know we like to say there are some straight shooters over there and stiemsz i wonder how true that is. but sometimes it's a wink and a nod and you're like, wait a minute, are they really being straight shooters? i used to watch a lot of fox news and i cannot watch any

more. the straightest shooter i know there is neal cavudo. the way that they present it and produce it is not necessarily down the middle. and i'm not sure how much credit we can give for there are some people there who are these straight shooters. >> yor disagree with ti don't d bigger assessment. i'm saying that i think it's really important. you know the expression nothing changes if nothing changes. >> yeah. >> we just lived through a really uniquely ugly period. lives were changed by this. >> we're still living through it. >> i know. that's my point. if you want to get out of it, do you think joe biden coming in is going to magically change this dynamic? >> no. >> but you know what? the longer this goes on, what is happening right now is that the

trump campaign and all of these, our foreign adversaries is using this time of uncertainty to acknowledge state and mix it up and increase instability in this country. >> the reason i think it's important is not just because the person who is on the screen, it's also the way it is produced and presented. >> and what they focus on over and over and over. >> because it used to be -- what was it that i used to -- acorn, which was the first antifa, right? >> and the portland riots, yes. >> there you go. let's hope that changes. let's hope that their viewers start to get some straight information and let's hope the president who is watching can get it, as well. so we've got a lot to talk about. we have to talk about mail-in ballots, provisional ballots, we have to talk about where everybody is now. we have to focus on the key

battleground states that are going to make the difference in this election. it's moving day. and while her friends

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what when a time in america, huh? it's 4:39 in the morning in the east. and i know that we have super amounts of people watching that we normally never would because everybody is on the same page right now. who is going to lead us? when will we know? good. what can we do with this momentum once we pick this president and what can we get done if everybody is together? part of answering it is getting through the election.

so let's get back to what we know about the state of play which really is all about mail-in ballots i would say specifically in pennsylvania. the postal service, everybody wants to talk about what was wrong with this process. how about the fact that we had these weird things happen at the usps when we needed them at their most hyper efficient? so the usps has been getting grilled in court over delivering and not delivering ballots in morning. kristin holmes at the voting desk, what do we know? >> good morning, chris. so let's talk about how we have this data. a data from federal court filings and that is because in the last five days leading up to the election, the postal service every day reported slower and slower times at processing ballots which isn't great when you're in the middle of an election. so let's talk about what they

found. they reported that in pennsylvania, a critical swing state, there were 2,927 ballots that were processed by the postal service on thursday. this is all part of the sweeps that were ordered by a judge. the big question is whether or not these votes are going to count. we do not know right now when they were post masked. if they were postmarked on election day, they could count. the trump campaign is likely to bring this to the supreme court to challenge these ballots. raising a lot of questions why these 3,000 ballots weren't delivered on time. we have been talking about as you said for months the issues with the postal service, these changes implemented by lewis dejoy that slowed down the service that then the postal service told us time and time again was going to be fixed by the election. then in the last five days,

critical 250i78ing, a lot of slowdowns. philadelphia metro district, 763 ballots from there. western pennsylvania, 828. and 1300 from central pennsylvania. as we have been talking about for the last four days, most of the mail-in ballots that we have seen in pennsylvania tend to skew democratic. i do want to give you the big number out of nevada, too, because there were -- excuse me, did i say nevada? i mean nevada. let's go with that. this is the big number. this is what was found in a processing facility on thursday. 1270 ballots there. again, unclear if these are going to count. if they were in by friday, that might count in that election.

they are being very careful. but this is raising all sorts of questions about the postal service. i talked about this on air probably on thursday which we were -- oh, no, it was monday when we were starting to see that slowdown just before the election. and i got some pushback. i heard from people at the postal service saying, well, the number of ballots had really decreased. but that doesn't really line up with the fact that their processing times were slower. just because there's less ballots doesn't mean you should slow down in processing them. >> very well done. thank you very much. i appreciate it. it really makes a difference to get the depth of understanding of what's happening here. you worry about are you ceding misinformation when the usps is really a shame at this point. we have to get that right. stay right there, everybody.

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let's take the issues of the moment to some power players. ron, i start with you. what is the most critical question, other than the observe one which is who is going to be our next president, once that decision is made, what is the nxz next thing to worry about? >> who is going to control the senate. mitch mcconnell famously said my principle legislative goal is to make barack obama a one-term president. i do not think he will behave any differently if he has the

leverage this time. chris, in 2016, every senate race went the same way as the presidential race in that state. in 2020, every senate race went the same way again as the presidential race. that is a problem for democrats because there are slightly more states that lean republican than democratic at the senate level. so these contests in georgia are emblematic of the challenges they face. to get a senate majority, they have two win two seats in a state where they have not won a state race in 20 years. it gives you an indication of the challenge they face in building senate majorities, but the stakes could not be higher and i would be shocked if biden

is not all in on trying to make that happen. >> laura, another take on what the urgent issue becomes once we know who the president is, why isn't it the pandemic and that biden is going to have two months, if he win these election, between being president-elect and being nau h ininaugural rated. he has to jump into it yesterday if he wins that election. and what does that look like with trump? >> we've already started to see a little bit of what that looks like in that biden is already meeting with experts, health experts, doctors, scientists, to tell the country, look, i'm going be on this as soon as i possibly can be and i'm going on move in a very different direction than trump. that being said, you made a good

point which is that president trump will still be in office beyond early this month. and what he does is questionable. so far, he has not talked about coronavirus for a very long time. and we know cases are on the rise across the country, that americans are continue to go die and we aren't seeing any real action being taken by the current president to address those issues. >> what are people missing right now? everybody is watching television like a gazillion hours a day for an obvious reason. who wins. what do you think we're losing sight of right now? >> that's it. that's a really good question. we talk a lot about the pandemic and the fact that a lot of people are stick and a lot of people are in the hospital. we still have millions of jobs that were not brought back months ago and i think that

story is starting to get missed. people look at the stock market. the stock market has done well in the past week. a lot of investors are happy that we may have a new government, we may have even a split government. but when it comes to lower wage workers, there is a lot of hurt out there. i'm a floridan. just passed a $15 minimum wage that will kick in over the coming years. and it really goes to show this is a state that voted for trump, voted for republicans up and down the ballot. with so many people out of work, so many people struggling, virtual school with trying to get back to school and trying to get jobs for themselves, so as we're talking about this election and, you know, the fight over voter fraud and the fact that so many people were

stick because of the pandemic, some of the eviction protections that were in place are starting to fade away and there are a lot of people in for a lot of hurt. if we have a split government, that may not allow there to be a major stimulus package. so that is a big issue that's going to be facing whoever is in power on january 20th. >> they're going to have a hard time justifying that tax cut. that's an easy conversation about media memory, but we have to remember what these lawmakers did during this period, also. but i have to jump to break. thank you to each and all. appreciate it. we'll be right back.

all right. here's an update. joe biden is knocking on the door of 270 electoral votes. let's see. it's 4:55 in the morning. you know what we need? a key race alert. all right. i want you to stay right there with us because we'll read these

numbers and you'll understand where we are. georgia, biden ahead 7,248 votes. nevada, 22,657. pennsylvania, 28,833. arizona, 29,861. right now, all blue for biden. will it change? it has before on our watch. so stay right there. more to come on election night in america continued, next. neuriva has clinically proven ingredients that fuel 5 indicators of brain performance. memory, focus, accuracy, learning, and concentration. try our new gummies for 30 days and see the difference.

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good morning. welcome back to cnn's breaking news coverage election night in america continued. chris cuomo, don lemon here with you at 5:00 a.m. in the east. saturday morning. but it is now just absorbed into a period we all know as waiting for the election to end. but joe biden is moving in the right direction, but it's not over. this is about math. and method. and we are watching, don, and we've had changes on our watch. >> we certainly have. if you didn't say what day of the week it is, i don't think many people would have known because i feel like you, america, have been glued to the television, sitting in this chair it feels like for months. but it's only been a week, four or five days, additional votes coming in, in georgia, right, chris? in pennsylvania. and we heard from him, joe biden, in a late night friday

address expressing confidence and unity. the democratic nominee said we don't have any more sometime to waste on partisan warfare. we'll 53 to shave to see if tha sticks. and there are too many things to tackle like covid and then he stopped short saying where this race stands. >> the one thing that's immutable is he's right about we're in the middle of a pandemic. the only numbers more impressive than the turnout in the election is the turnout in the virus. the number of cases and hospitalizations, people losing. >> both record-setting. >> worst ever. we have no time to waste. let's get on with what we know that's election, my brother. and have a key race alert. georgia, 16 electoral votes, 7248 separate the men.

very important for biden to win, why? because if it goes to biden, trump does not have a path to the electoral college. and can biden hold on to pennsylvania? if so, he is the next president-elect. if he moves that number up, he can move up out automatic recount zone a much better glide path to victory. arizona, 11 electoral votes, 21,861 votes separate the two. the question is, can biden hold off trump. arizona an interesting look at this race and our country. nevada, six electoral votes, 22,657 votes separating the two candidates. this has been fairly stable for biden. does it matter? in combination with arizona, yes, why? if biden wins, arizona and

nevada, he is the next president-elect. let's look at the big map, no change, you know why? we haven't called anything. the white spaces are the places we're looking at. i know organizations have a different number for biden and trump. we don't all call it the same way. everybody does it their own way, you can judge. we just don't want to get it wrong. preparations for a potential biden administration are under way. but the key is not in the rush figuring that might soon be on their way to washington. why? let's catch up with mj lee in delaware, at the biden campaign, at the place they're supposed to be holding the celebration, if they have one. mj, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, chris. well, the biden campaign is certainly waiting for that official call hoping they can eventually get over that 270 electoral vote threshold. and 53 very much expect to get there.

but it is worth pointing out, even while we don't want to get ahead of ourselves, you're right, preparations for a would-be biden administration has been in place for a number of months now. a biden transition team have been working earlier this summer doing everything a transition team would do. we are talking about things like, you know, coming up with a list of personnel appointment. thinking about people biden might put in top administration positions. researching policy implementation. and also just thinking about different executive orders that a president biden might put in place in the earliest days of the presidency. but what cnn has been told by multiple sources heading into election day is that, yes, biden has been kept informed of some of the major work that the transition team has been doing but that he is superstitious. and that he is not inclined to make any major decisions on the transition fund until he knows for sure that he is the winner.

also, he has said, and we know this because he has talked about this publicly that he would like to have a cabinet that looks like the country. so we're talking about, you know, geographical diversity, racial diversity. he obviously has been very vocal about wanting women in top positions. this comment seems especially notable given what we heard from biden himself last night in wilmington. when he said he wants to be a president that represents all of america. so, not just people who supported him in this election. but people who also did not support him as well. chris. >> all right, mj, thank you very much. for a study in contrast, let's go to ryan nobles in washington, d.c. tracking the trump campaign and administration. ryan, where do you think we are in the chaos meter in terms of the president's desire to blow it all up if the election doesn't go his way? >> reporter: chris, good

question, on a scale of 1 to 10, we're on an 8 or 9 range. because of what we're seeing on his twitter feed. the big question is when will we here from president trump. he has nothing scheduled publicly today at all. that's rare for the president. we haven't seen or heard from him since that speech he gave in the briefing room shortly after the election results started rolling in where he made a number of baseless claims about the vote count. and suggested that somehow the election was being stolen from him. meanwhile, the president is still trying to figure out what his next move is. he does have a team of lawyers across the country. he's promised lawsuits in all of these key battlegrounds. and there's no indication that he or his team is planning to back away from that in any way, shape or form. there's also the option of recount. and it's clear his team is ready to move forward with recounts in the states where that will be available for them. what's interesting for the president, it's rare for him to

go too long without responding to a political opponent. of course, it is the former vice president giving the last word after that speech. even though the former vice president never mentioned trump by name, he certainly alluded to the fact that the president has yet to make note of the reality of the race at this point. and that's something that president trump normally would just not allow to go unanswered. then there's also the broader point about the practical implications of governing. and no matter what the outcome is of this race, president trump is still the president of the united states, and will be for 70 or so more days. and the coronavirus is still a real and growing threat to his country. and it's one growing right in the white house behind me. the president's chief of staff mark meadows testing positive for coronavirus. meadows have been seen on a number of occasions in the past week, around staff, in close contact without wearing a mask.

he was at the trump campaign headquarters on tuesday morning, the day of the election. then at the election night party at the white house, meadows was once again there without a mask. we're also told by sources in the white house that meadows has been in and out of the west wing, and the residence, without a mask on. so, there are two serious realities that the president is dealing with this morning, the fact that his political future is slipping away and the fact that he still has a major responsibility and still governing this country for the next couple of months. chris. >> ryan, thank you very much. mj. 20 electoral votes in biden wins he's the neck president-elect. let's go to kristen holmes at the voting desk. good morning again, what are we looking at? >> good morning, chris, let's talk about what is left to count everything. because as you have said, you now, this has been lasting for four days and everyone is ready to see some sort of finale here. so the big question, of course,

we see biden leading in all of these states and whether or not president trump can catch up. if we start in pennsylvania, right now, the margin is 29,000 votes. what's left to count? there are 89,000 ballots and 101 provisional ballots. we have talked about those. it's going to be a slower process. when we get to the ballots, 89,000 outstanding ballots, a lot of those are up for review. a group of people have to decide what the voter intent is. they have to scan them, check your rips or tears, some of them are counted by hand. the other part is these provisional ballots. now, these take longer for a different reason. they are essentially put aside when a voter comes in. and if they had a name change or weren't listed on the voter rolls in that precinct. it can take one to 20 minutes to

process one single provisional ballots, depending on how much information they had to to find. let's look at georgia. where it's looking slimmer, 7,248 votes. 4,000 ballots plus, give or take. that's what's left there. and 13,000 provisional ballots. we got our first batch of provisional ballots this morning. that is what widened the margin giving biden a bigger lead there. again, watching that area closely. arizona, now, there's a lot more left in arizona, we're about 29,861 as the difference between the two candidates and there's a lot still outstanding. there's 126,000 ballots that need to be processed, as well as 47,000 provisional ballots. marricopa county, one that phil loves talking about, they're going to have an update at 12:00 eastern. we expect a lot of numbers out

of that. lastly, nevada, 1445 ballots left, and this is still close, there is room for growth here, in terms of president trump catching up with former vice president joe biden. if we add up the provisional ballots and the regular ballots, there's about 200,000 ballots that are outstanding. now, where they're coming from and where we're looking at in terms of bail n ballots, we are expecting to see a lot of them skew democratic. but again, looking at the margins here. we do expect an update in a few hours, 11:00 a.m. a lot of people are hoping to see a bigger wave out of nevada -- nevada, said it right that time. it has been a long go of it from that state, chris. >> you have nothing to apologize for. it is amazing how much information and insight you've been able to own especially on these hours. so, thank you. one quick thing, in georgia, the military ballots, the president

said, hey, what happened to them? isn't it the truth and the truth that the president should know as president that the military ballots, maybe 1,000 of them, they were sent out. they only get september back in if the particular recipient wants to do that, right? >> right. and the idea that there's some kind of large margin of missing military ballots is just silly. i mean, we know that. we know that they go out. and people don't choose to send them in. or they come in later than election day. and there is room for that. that's not illegal. there's often a time period in which military ballots are allowed to be kept. because we have service men and women serving across the world and it takes time to get that ballot back. you know, i was reading through some of these stories what our servicemen and women go through in order to cast a ballot, and some of it is incredible. they're going at enormous speed at bases in remote parts of the

world to make sure the votes count. and our system allows for extra time because they know that these military men and women are going through this process. so, the idea that there's 1,000 military votes missing in the ether, it's not true. >> thank you very much, kristen. appreciate that insight. let's go to phil mattingly at the magic wall. the president is the one who said that military ballots shouldn't be counted when he said everything after election day can't count. many of those ballots come in after election day because of what kristen was just describing. and that kind of hard work and value of the franchise, when you talk to veterans and you when except what you can do for them, they say vote. so once again suggesting where did they go, he is pushing fraud. he didn't have real proof. you know what he'd be doing, not tweeting, he'd be in court. and your obsession with maricopa

county which we'll talk about here, what is the statement here? >> it's a clarifying day. this day -- >> this day being saturday. >> this day being saturday. >> saturday sis a big day? >> saturday say lughuge day. kristen told you what is outstanding. the reality when you go through things, pennsylvania. >> uh-oh, here we go. >> georgia, arizona, nevada. look at them now. they're all blue, joe biden holds leads in all of them. the big question is, can he hold on to the leads, when you look at the trend, when you look at where that outstanding vote sits. you start to get clarity. clarity that should be made concrete throughout the course of the day. you talk about pennsylvania right now, this is the ball game, 20 electoral votes, joe biden has 253. 20 to 253, math majors, unite, that is over, 270. where are you looking right now? the story of pennsylvania is not

trying to flip a bunch of counties, the story in pennsylvania is running up strongholds. what we've seen over the last 24 hours, joe biden as he eliminateded a very large president trump lead is running up margins via strongholds via mail which is mostly democratic. you look at southwest pennsylvania and in philadelphia in the suburbs, ballots have gone even higher margins that joe biden is winning those counties where it stands. one of the biggest places outstanding, allegheny county, home of pittsburgh, 30,000 ballots outstanding there. allegheny county has been coupling in at 77%, 78% for jobe biden over the course of the last 24 hours. look at what the margin is all around. that means what's coming in is only coming in with joe biden's total. >> question, this is something that a lot of people are laboring under a

misapprehension. >> yeah. >> even though the president put out there even though he knows the answer, boy, i don't know, i was winning by 600,000 votes and all of a sudden it starts to disappear as if there was something mysterious. what is the obvious answer as to why the race went this way? the key term we heard was mirage. what happened? >> president trump's outcome was huge. they focused on output. they got what they wanted. the problem was democrats did also. they voted via mail. president trump spotold his supporters to vote in person. so in states like michigan, they're required to count their ballots after election day votes. election day votes is what we saw first. president trump ran up huge

margins. and then you've seen it chalk down. it's in counties where president trump is winning by a significant margin. you talk about clarity or getting clarifying moments is in trump's strongest counts eycoun. joe biden is still winning. what it underscores, in pennsylvania, when you look at what's outscanning and what's coming in, even the reddest counties, joe biden is gaining votes. when you look at what's outstanding and what's happened in the last 24 hours only room for joe biden to grow in the course of the last 24 hours. >> all right. let's take a look at what we learned. but first a break. when we come back, the latest on the state of play in the biggest election in a long time. stay with cnn. good morning. vels of cleanlines. ♪ ♪

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their fundamental right to have their voice heard. and what's becoming clear each hour is that record number of americans of all races, faith, religions, chose change over more of the same. they've given us a mandate for action. >> well, a mandate for action with us nia henderson, john avlon. nia, i said to you earlier, this is going to be a big job if indeed it is going that way for a president-elect joe biden because he has to gain people. he's going to be the president for everyone. including the people that didn't support him. >> yeah. >> so, how does he get those people to come over, because we're so divided? that's why i think it's a huge job for him. >> well, i think he has to improve people's lives. america right now is going through a terrible health

crisis, pandemic. we're getting 1,000 deaths a day. record number of cases a day. and then this horrible economic crisis as well as a result of the pandemic. so, i think that's what he has to do. a lot of presidents come into offices, come into office saying they're going to be the repairer of the breach. they're going to unify the country. it's incredibly difficult to do because there are vast policy differences between the two sides. but in tone, the way he keeps talking about i'm not going to be the president of blue america, i'm go to be the president of all. i think that's important to see. on trump's side, not only followers, mitch mcconnell is likely to be the senate majority leader, is he going to come in saying he wants to block everything that joe biden wants to do in the way that he did for barack obama. >> for barack obama as president. >> wanted to make joe biden a

one-term vice president, right? >> yeah. >> what does it look like? -- does it look like under a possible -- >> look, it's continuity without contrast. biden running in traditional role of the president. it's a duty of care. i'll be a democrat, proud american first for everyone. donald trump doubled down in divisiveness and playing to the base. we have a mandate, joe biden got more votes than anyone who has ever run for president. even at this point, by a lot. so it's a big biden win, even if it's lower than the expectations set. what you've got to do, you've got to go in and make good to that promise. reach out in good faith to people who have shown bad faith. but what lyndon johnson did when southern governors came into his office, he said, do you want to be known as someone who hated or someone who built? let's bring up a couple things, infrastructure, a stimulus bill for covid. maybe immigration reform.

bills like lindsey graham said, let's put them forward and get the business done. i got a sneaking decision that joe biden has been a figure they focus on less. >> the posture that mitch mcconnell takes is going to be everything, right? i think so much comes down to the innerpersonal relationships that joe biden has felt for decades in the senate. and that has translated for lyndon baines johnson, and also the most successful presidents. i think you see that in how bernie sanders came over. and came over for joe biden in this election. joe biden has something that's agreeable. people like him. people want to work with him. we'll have to see what mitch mcconnell does. one case about the mandate. there's a quibble that joe biden has a sleeping mandate. if republicans held the senate,

picked up seats in the house, held their state legislatures and flipped some, there's a center-right mandate or at least a centrist mandate. we can quibble over what a mandate is but it's not a blue mandate. >> do you think we're more or less divided than barack obama's administration? >> i think there's no question that our country, our culture is dividede emore. but there was something -- i know my husband is going to jump down my throat, there which something about barack obama only being in the senate two years. >> i understand that, but joe biden was there -- >> -- to bridge that divide, right? >> and he was the only one that could do it. >> what makes you think he can do it, we're more divided as a country than then? >> the only time -- remember when the government was shut down, and the government couldn't reach a deal.

who did they send in? joe biden and mitch mcconnell to negotiate. to end the freeze in the government. joe biden is the one who is -- he's the one that ripped the votes for the affordable care act. >> so it was barack obama more than joe biden? >> oh, yes. >> there are many reasons for that. >> one of those is race. lyndon johnson had to deal with the john burks of the world. what we're dealing with, we can see the trend, the race has not been declared, but this creates a window for disinformation. and the president trying to stoke the fears and flames. he would rather ruin if he cannot rule. that is very clear. and that will cast a pall on this election. and biden has to make good. >> quickly, let's have a -- >> it's pie in the sky.

>> i think it's pie in the sky. i love you guys but i think it's pie in the sky. >> yeah, joe biden, he's a democrat. you know, mitch mcconnell -- >> he's a democrat, a socialist. he's too far to the left in this politics -- >> are you kidding, mitch mcconnell has to get two more people elected to the senate in the next month and a half. what's he going to do? be on his best behavior. >> no, he's going to want to say we want these people in the senate to stop joe biden's agenda. >> but we have to pass a budget, we have to pass another stimulus bill. >> and we have to go to the break, otherwise, chris won't be able to do his key race alert. >> yes. >> so, we're going -- we just talked about what it would look like, with biden closing in on the presidency. nothing is certain yet. i know it's been like that for a vial, 253 to 213. i promise you at some point, it's going to change. hang on.

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all right, as we're working through the permutations and commendations, we come up with this suggestion, what it joe biden's lead collapses in pennsylvania and in georgia, then what? then we still have a path for biden. it is trump pinned in by georgia. 17 electorate votes by arizona and nevada would be enough. that's why as phil mattingly

told you once, today, saturday is a big day, because there are too many states getting too close to critical mass that can call this election. let's check in with the teams in key spots, dan simon in las vegas, but stephanie elam. how are we doing? the rain stopped? >> reporter: the rain stopped. chris, you're acting like saturday is say far away day. it's not. we're here on saturday. what we're looking at here, we're going to cast more ballots. the state overall has 173,000 ballots left to count. of those, 92,000 are here in maricopa county where phoenix is, the most populous in the state. we also know we're expected to see two drops of numbers one coming at 9:00 a.m. local time, mountain time here. and one at 7:00 p.m. local time here today. we're expecting to katie hobbs

and the secretary of state here, they're expecting to get the ballots this weekend. then all that is left will be those provisional ballots, which will take more time, as you heard kristen explaining why. those take more time to work through and throughout next week. we have been saying that trump has been falling back some games against joe biden. however, it's not been enough to overtake him. right now, if you take a look at the numbers here in maricopa county, biden has 57%. biden is leading by less than 30,000 votes or 1%. obviously, as we get closer and closer to finding out who the president will be, this is what people want to know, is arizona going to go blue for the first time in many, many years. >> thank you very much, stephanie. i only mark time by meals. for me it's only known as breakfast right now. let's check in with dan simon. he's in las vegas. a very important place to be because that's where the vote is going to come in last in nevada.

because that's where most of the vote is. how's it going? >> reporter: it's going okay, chris. the next batch of results expected around noon eastern time. so it will be interesting to see what those results look like. and whether or not cnn and other news organizations will be able to make a projection on this race. i can tell you that right now, joe biden currently has a 22,000-vote lead. but still a lot of ballots are outstanding. the majority of them here in clark county which, of course, encompasses las vegas and the surrounding area. 124500 ballots remaining. we'll get this count at noon eastern time. the other thing i think we can expect to see, chris are more trump supporters. they came out in force friday night making these baseless allegations of voter fraud. no reason to think that they won't be back again on saturday night. chris. >> dan, thank you very much. appreciate it. a little demonstration of state

of play. let's see how it looks on the magic wall with phil mattingly. all right, so, we know we're getting close. we know that close can defined as can biden hold a lead in a way that won't matter no matter the ballots that come in. the line is -- >> two states. maricopa county, largest county in the state. 60% of the population. we see joe biden has a lead. the bulk, or half of the outstanding vote in arizona comes from here. president trump going into this day, going into the outstanding vote that remains needs to win 54% to 55% of the ballots in this county. when you look at the margin right now that's an uphill climb. that's a climb in several batches, he's starting to fall off. making democrats that arizona will stay in their hands -- or actually flip to their stands compared to 2016. the big question is will that

maintain? can joe biden put arizona in the democratic column? counting through nevada, clark county, home of las vegas. 72% of the voting population lives here, it's the same deal, acce except wider margins. democrats are right on the verge right now. the bulk of the vote will be coming from clark county. the last drop, batch of votes from clark county, that were tabulated and released, joe biden had the edge. at the holds the edge or matches this or does worse than this, president trump needs to win 55% or 56% of the outstanding ballots to have a chance to catch up. another state, democrats feel comfortable here because of the composition of the state, as it currently stands, arizona and nevada we should have clarity where it's going and if it can be called. if joe biden wins arizona or nevada, that's 270. regardless of what happens. regardless of the recount in

georgia, 270, just these states. >> one thing that's interesting to me is not just the what but the why. you go to as az, it's a close race now, but fellows as you were saying it's more likely than not that the lead is going to hold up in arizona. the why -- derrick archer a former data analyst with the secretary of state's office in arizona he since left that position, he said, quote, just so we're clear, the cindy mccaimccain s are on the cusp of giving the vote to joe biden. there are women very upset with the president of the united states, perhaps for the same reasons that cindy mccain was upset with the president of the united states just attitude who traditionally voted republican. that type of small difference that movement in that block, at this point is making a difference in less than a 30,000-vote difference. >> question, question, all right, here we are 5:40 in the

morning. day six or seven, imagine what the electorate looks like in this country. instead of two parties a binary system, you have four or five so that the cindy mccains of the world and other demographics that don't like the box that they're put in with democrats and republicans are increasingly saying independents, that's why so much of the electorate is identifying as independent, because you have that party, and you add that our congress pass term limits in the house and senate, how different do you think politics looks in america. >> i didn't think we were going to get into this conversation until day 123. i think about this all the time -- you think about it, yes, it would be a very different motel. >> right, we would not be here? >> it's the truth. >> we would not be here. >> but we are here. >> and we're living in it now and trying to figure out how to get better.

right, hairry, right, phil? when we come back, we'll look at what is coming in and why today could be the day. get 25% off everything. and find one of a kind deals at the early black friday sale. shop online with a virtual consultant. zales. the diamond store. 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.

tremfya®. uncover clearer skin that can last. [what's this?] oh, are we kicking karly out? we live with at&t. it was a lapse in judgment. at&t, we called this house meeting because you advertise gig-speed internet, but we can't sign up for that here. yeah, but i'm just like warming up to those speeds. you've lived here two years. the personal attacks aren't helping, karly. don't you have like a hot pilates class to get to or something? [ muffled scream ] stop living with at&t. xfinity can deliver gig to the most homes.

well, here is something that is very common sense, but you haven't heard in a long sometime. joe biden says, as president, he would want to push this message. we have to put the anger and demonization behind us. and he urges that what we need is to come together and face our common challenge. pretty common sense. haven't heard it in a long time. will it resonaty we'll see. this race keeps moving in his favor. he is is not there yet. what are we looking at? let's be -- into this conversation now with laura barron lopez, toluse olorunnipa and ron brownstein.

toluse, i'll start with you, you got an election with not legitimately, but illegitimately. how tough of a tank is joe biden faced with if gifted with the opportunity to be our next president? >> it's an incredibly difficult task, in part, because the person he's taking over from, the incumbent, president trump is not leaving gracefully. he's not someone who is going to hand over the reins of power saying i wish you the best for the country. i hope you do well. he is going down fighting and he is willing to take down the democracy of the country with him. and he has a great amount of sway over his voters, over republican lawmakers. and we've already seen pressure put down republican lawmakers to fall in this line this week. instead of saying, let's welcome in a new president-elect. let's try to get things working for the country. they're all lining up behind donald trump to say that election was fraudulent. joe biden is is not a legitimate president-elect. and, you know, the election was

stolen from him. and trying to govern in that kind of environment where half of the country, or half of the lawmakers who are going to be leading in washington believe alternative facts or try to push alternative facts. it's going to be very difficult for joe biden to even get off the ground. he has a very uphill task in terms of trying to bring the two sides together. i don't envy him at all because it will be very difficult to, with president trump continuing to be a force in his party, continuing to lead his party, maybe continuing to hold rallies around the country against this presidency. it's going to be a very difficult task for him to try to do what he said he was going to do in terms of restoring the souls of america. he definitely has a very uphill tank with that. >> it is an interesting theory. laura, a lot of people are operating on this chop off the head and the snake is dead idea. but, no, you had the head of the rnc call a press conference to talk about how there's fraud.

when asked for proof, oh, yeah, i've been told to hold off on it. come on, talk about enough is enough. what's the reality for biden? maybe the problem isn't trump it's going to be that whole party that's invested in a culture of opposition. it's worked for too long. >> that's right, so far as toluse has said, we have not seen any major indication or a big variety of republicans coming out in force against the president and against his baseless claims of voter fraud. instead, you're seeing more of them fall in line. you're seeing senator ron johnson of wisconsin say that half of the american public is not going to accept the election results. and saying, look, i'm not saying alleging voter fraud. but there are some irregulari irregularities in the same breath. and he also has no evidence like the rnc chairwoman. it's spurred a little bit of opposition within the republican

party but, again, you're not seeing it writ large across the county. there was a republican in michigan that came out against the rnc chairwoman's comments said she was very disturbed as a republican by the fact this was happening and that the accusations were being made with no evidence whatsoever. i talked to former republicans who are not in elected office. and they've told me that they aren't convinced that the party is going to actually make a turn away from quote/unquote trumpism or what they've turned into as trump as the president. so i think it's a very long road for republicans, on whether or not they decide they want to change course. or they want to continue in the vein of trump and push forward candidates that try to imitate his policies and politics. >> ron, is this the right road for them? >> laura, he's the road that they're going to be on. what happened with the election,

trench between metro and nonmetro america got deeper. and the republican party, even the candidates who won were more dependent on kind of trump country for their victories. other than suisan collins, it wasn't like that the senators build different coalitions. and thom tillis ran differently in raleigh and durham, he was gent dependent on trump. and i think president biden, if he is president biden, has a very difficult task to get republicans to come along on almost anything. the party is now defined as you say by opposition. but also by viewing kind of blue america, trump has conditioned them to vee blue america as a threat. it's agenda to the threat of america they have known. and all of that is really challenging. on the other hand, they are talking to a minority of the country. democrats have won the popular vote in seven out of eight. the problem is republicans who

wanted a different direction, chris, who said we're heading into a basically democratic cul-de-sac. and the magnitude of the vote that trump was able to turn out, i think it's harder to make a case inside of the republican party for finding a different direction. that's why this georgia senate runoffs are so critical to what the next couple years look like for joe biden, assuming he wins. >> boy, oh, boy, as complicated as this sounds, at the end of the day, the questions are fundamental? who are we? what do we want? how do we speak to one another? what matters most? we don't have the answer it's and i don't know that this election provided it. all right. thank you, everybody. appreciate it. this could be the day. why? there's just not enough vote left in too many places. and the people processing them are doing such a damn good job. we're watching all of the key places this morning from philly to phoenix. right back.

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just to string people along, and i think people should also realize we're not doing this just to string you along. as soon as we know who is the projected winner, we will project it, right? this is not about ratings. we just don't know. the math just isn't there yet. so, it's frustrating, i understand for people at home. they're ready for us to reach the finish line. >> i mean, look, they've been abused, they've have every right. everything is so ugly, so toxic, so much lying, so much fighting. is today the day? no, today is not the day. even if the election gets decided, we're still nowhere. we're in the middle of a pandemic. >> but i will say this, i will say this, we are, i think, for good reason, there's probably a time in the not too distant past, that we would have projected a winner already. i think with journalism under attack, news networks and all that, i think it's more important for us to be more careful at this moment.

i think maybe if we in a different time there would be a projection. but there's so much at stake. this is a presidential election. >> i'm with you. it matters a lot. the process is a positive one for us. people are together, they're watching. we're all looking for things. we're valuing facts. we're looking for truth. this is a good step no matter what direction it takes you us. >> what do you say we do>> mayb. don't go anywhere, the team will continue, alisyn camerota, john berman, you can be do better than, right? next. door bell: hello but fitbit makes you smart about your health. this isn't some phone on your wrist. it's a way to help manage stress... keep your heart strong... and detect potential signs of illness. it's more than a smartwatch.