sunday morning with us. the news continues right now. xxxx. this is cnn breaking news. hello, everyone, and thank you for joining me this sunday. i'm fredricka whitfield and we begin with sad news from the entertainment world, long time "jeopardy" host aleck trebeck has passed away. our stephanie elam looks back on his incredible life. >> reporter: alex trebeck had all of the answers on the show, "jeopardy!" with the distinct

question and answer game show. it made canadian-born trebek an instant star. >> if you are lucky enough to be part of a show that people take to heart, you are set. >> reporter: the long-time game show earned him five-time enemies, and a long time lifetime award from the emmy delegation. >> you want to do your best and you want people to recognize you for that. >> reporter: "jeopardy!" was not his only gig. the father of two and husband also hosted the geography gig. >> the river and the city of the same name. >> reporter: he was the host in 1998 and honored with a

hollywood star on the hollywood walk of fame in the same year. >> i am truly honored, and i don't deserve it, but there are other things that i have deserved and suffered with. >> reporter: in the middle of the 18th season, he made headlines when he shaved the mustache, and he told larry king that it was in a whim. >> i went in the makeup room and i went, zip, and just like what it looked like. the audience reacted wife and two kids did not even notice. >> reporter: family and fans took notice when he suffered through some health scares. there were two mild attacks. one in 2007 and another one five years later. and in 2017, surgeons removed blood clots in his brain, and then in 2018, this announcement to fans. >> i was diagnosed with stage

four pancreatic cancer. >> the prognosis is not always great, but i will fight back. >> he gave to the world vision, and uso and the national gee graphic foundation and the affable host was known for his rich television career and kept it in perspective. >> when i leave, someone young lyounger will do the show, and lit carry on. the show has a life independent of the hosts, and that does not mean they won't miss the host, but they will develop an allegiance to the new guy. that is the way it should be, because it is a quality program. >> reporter: even though the show must go on, alex trebek is going to be remember as the irreplaceable host of "jeopardy!." >> and a fixture of television of american television for decades. let's bring in brian stelter of

"reliable sources" and your reaction of what so many are feeling at this time. >> yes, this is a loss that tens the of millions of viewers will feel, because "jeopardy!" for decades has been part of american television. so much has changed, but this show didn't and trebek didn't. he was a confident and strong presence and the man who knew it all and the host with all of the answers. "jeopardy!" was always fun to watch, and also about something bigger, and the show is about something bigger. it is about facts and truth. the show is about truth, and believes in the idea of truth, and you know, you always watched "jeopardy!" and you came away smarter, because thanks to alex trebek, he made america better. >> yes, the centerpiece is that knowledge is power.

and just listening to stephanie elam's piece there where he is reflecting on the show's identity, the show's identity will still be there. it will be adaptive with a new host, but it seems hard to envision anyone else being able to fill the shoe, because, he is the identity of that show. >> and the show has been in production and he went back to work with more social distance and taping new episodes even while battling the pancreatic cancer and he lived longer even longer than the members of the production crew thought given the diagnosis in 2019. and he said that the diagnosis gave him a different perspective in life, and he wrote a memoir in summer, and he said that he feet lick a distant relative in people's home, and he was a comfo comforting, and reassuring

presence. he felt like treating everyday like a blessing. after the cancer diagnosis, he wanted to leave the world at a little bit better aband have a positive impact in world, and he certainly did achieve that. >> yes, he made an impact indeed. and alex trebek dead at the age of 80. all right. now we will turn to the 2020 election and the pressure of donald j. trump to come to grips with the defeat. a source has told cnn that first lady melania has told him to accept the loss, and also that son-in-law jared kushner has told him to concede the race, but the president is remaining defiant and using capital letters and continuing to say that the election is falsely

rigged against him. and this is all while the nation is facing a deadly pandemic, and now it is the third straight day of more than 120,000 cases. globally, the pandemic has passed another grim milestone with more than 50 million infections and counting. in the victory speech last night, president-elect joe biden pleaded to name a new coronavirus task force by tomorrow. comprised of leading scientists and experts. biden is making it clear that the pandemic is his top priority when he takes office january 20th. >> our work begins with getting covid under control. we cannot repair the economy, and restore to vitality or relish life's most precious moments and hugging our children at birthdays and graduations and the moments that matter most until we get it under control. >> we will bring in jeremy dimon

at the white housesh and what more can you tell us about the son-in-law's efforts to get the president to concede? >> two sources familiar with the matter have told caitlyn collins that jared kushner has approached the president about conceding the 2020 election, and campaign officials are disputing the story saying that jared kushner is advising the president to pursue all legal remedie remedies. so there sis a report that thos close to him that it is outcome that is clear, and very little to change it. and there are thers who are telling him to dig in, and continue to contest the election, as he is pursuing the

potential legal challenges including mark meadow, the chief of staff who is a vocal presence on that side of the debate, and the president's two sons, don jr. and eric trump who have been vocal in terms of urging the president and the allies to continue to contest the results, and the legal results. both don jr. and eric trump have said that they believe that the election is stolen from the president, and they should continue to pursue the legal challenges as well adds continuing to urcontinu continue -- ads well as urging allies and senators the and governors to challenge the outcome of the election, but so far the president and others have been making a lot of noise about the invalid returns of the

election, by they have presented almost no concrete evidence. and so joe biden by a popular vote, and commanding lead in the electoral college, he is the president-elect, and sworn in as the 46th president of the united states in january. >> and any type of legal routes that the president and his team might be taking? is there much to be taked as far as details that are revealed and what wrongdoings there may have been in the counting of the votes? >> yeah, look. it is unclear what kind of actual evidence that was gived by rudy giuliani who said tweet me examples of what you think of the voter fraud while i try to prove it in court, which is kind of the campaign's legal strategy

is putting the cart before the horse in terms of making the allegations. they will come up with the evidence later, but in talking with the republicans in washington, a growing frustration with that approach. and essentially some republicans are starting to say to the campaign, put up or shut up. because, obviously, this is casting a pal on the results of the election, and that is the goal it seems between the president, and the allies. kate benefits following the first lady, and what is she saying to the president if anything about conceding? >> it sounds like the first lady is leaning to the growing chorus as our caitlyn collins is reporting, and according to the source that he has lost the election and it is time to acknowledge that, and anything in short of this conceding and the calling off of the legal battle is yet to be known.

but this is a first lady who is going to give her opinion, and she is one of the closest advisers, and people forget how influential she is to the president, and he has said it, too. and looking back on the election when the first lady was on the campaign trail, she was just as fiery and support of the rhetoric, and calling it a russia hoax, and using same language as he was. so this moment happening in the white house, and she tweeted once about being your best initiative. but behind the scenes, it is appearing that the first lady is telling the president that he has lost, and accept it. >> it is 24 hours since the race has been called, and we appreciate it. >> this is just in, former

president george bush has called joe biden and kamala harris to congratulate them on their victory, and he is one of the few publicly congratulating them. we go to the headquarters where we will find jessica dean from delaware with more on this. jessica? >> well, good afternoon to you, fred. that is right, george w. bush, the only living republican president with this public statement. i want to read you this part of it. i extend to you my warm congratulations for the patriot speech last night. i also called kamala harris about her election to the vice presidency. even though we have difference, joe biden is one to unify and lead our country. the president-elect reiterated that while he had differences,

he supported him to lead our country. that statement coming from george w. bush who added that it is fundamentally a fair election, and the outcome of the election is clear. as we heard from jeremy diamond, that is in shark contrast from conceding the race, and as you mentioned, fred, we are 24 hours out, and it has not happened, and former president george w. bush offering congratulations to joe biden and kamala harris. >> thank you, jessica dean in wilmington, delaware. still ahead, another record setting day for the coronavirus, and pandemic as the u.s. is seeing 126 new cases. the president-elect biden, he is planning to introduce his own task force.

will that be enough? the state of georgia is going to hang in the battle as they hang in the balance of the senate, and could two long-term seats turn blue? and the historic victory as kamala harris becomes the first woman and the first woman of color to be elected as vice president. with this seal, this restaurant is committing to higher levels of cleanliness. ♪ ♪

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100,000. dr. gigi elbuhoumy is a medical liaison for the white house medical unit, and works at the white house. doctor, good to have you. >> thank you. >> the president is getting to work to announce that a coronavirus approach is going to be announced, and if you were looking for a new approach, what would it look like and what does it need to entail? >> well, first of all, to have a president-elect that is going to validate all of the front line health care workers to not attack and say that people are profiting, and to acknowledge the hard work and sacrifices is going to do a lot for the morale. and two, there is a playbook. and it is the pandemic playbook

that was handed from the obama/biden administration to the current administration. so simply dusting it off, and updating it, and tailoring it is going to be important. i know because of the prescription medicine initiative that obama had started and being part of the health equities system that it is holistic, and we are in a four-alarm fire, and we need to not only get everybody to stop the fire, stop it from spreading, but we need to figure out what caused the fire in the first place. we have to all hands on deck. >> so you are seeing the playbook that was already developed but not used in the trump years. so, let's talk about what was happening in the short term, and

president trump will remain in office for 73 days before joe biden's en aug ratioinauguratio with no national strategy right now, what could happen in the next 73 days, what are you believing will happen? >> we are seeing it already. quantum leap of covid. there are local and state initiatives happening. so we at the rodham institute are comprising the four historically black medical schools as well as labor unions and teacher unions, et cetera, to begin to educate the african-american community not only about covid, and not only about the future of vaccines, but about the importance of getting vaccinated against the flu right now. so there a lot of work happening

on the grassroots level and the local and the state level. i think that the optimism of having an administration that uses science and data and facts is refreshing and i think that will help to invigorate the public health community. >> you are sounding like you are relieved about the potential in the days ahead. >> i am relieved on so many levels that i won't hide it from you. i think that it comes to the health, that we have to have the appreciati appreciation, and with i ha appreciation, and i know it from the other initiatives and i know it from the moonshot campaign against cancer that has been launched previously from joe biden, and to have an initiative and approach which takes into consideration how people, and especially the people of color

are living in household where is food is an issue, and other chronic diseases such as diabetes impact on covid, but also how the pandemic is impacting noncovid case. there is a 30% drop of new cancer diagnosis, and so to have a strategy that is holistic in nature is crucial. >> thank you, dr. gigi, we appreciate your time. >> thank you very much. hear what the president's personal attorney rudy giuliani has to say about voter fraud. e. like our sambucus - made from elderberries grown and picked at their prime.

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this is the cnn. more people get their news from cnn more than any other news source. cnn is learning at two members of president trump's family are urging him to come to terms with losing his bid for re-election. a source tells cnn that first lady melania trump is urging him to privately accept the result, and his son-in-law jared curb mer is approaching the president about coing that. but in tone, the trump team is defiant as ever with the lawyer rudy giuliani vowing to fight on. >> obviously, he is not going to concede when 600,000 ballots are in question. >> these are lawsuits starting

monday. >> and joining us is mike is a l -- mike cillizza from politico, and brittany webber, and so, brittany, let me begin with you, naming biden a member of the task force, and going to church and filing lawsuits, and today, he was on the golf course. sot what is this disconnect tell you about the approach of the two two candidates and the transition or not? >> well, fred, it is a stunning split screen, right? it basically says that biden campaign or biden himself are not waiting to concede for anyone to begin their website.

they have a website for the transition team, and a twitter account to announce incremental updates of joe biden's campaign, and the advisors are telling me that they want to hit ground running when it comes to figures that the united states is hitting really grave numbers everyday where we are seeing the swells in major cities and rural areas and the biden campaign wants him to be out there for the millions of voters to be a fixer, and i can heal for democrats and republicans, too. republicans are responding at the high levels looking at george w. bush's statement that came out a few minutes ago. >> george w. bush coming out as recognizing biden as the president. but only a couple of senators on

the hill have done that. this is utah mitt romney as president this morning. >> i understand why the president wants to keep on fighting, but i do believe however, it is destructive to the claim widespread corruption there is not evidence of it at this stage. you have the whole world watching. >> and now you have lisa murkowski and others offering congratulations to senator elect biden. what do you do when the race is too close to call? >> it is republicans who have stuck with trump the last four years, and see that in 2016, and in 2020 when he is on the

ballots, there is strong republican turnout, and despite the evidence, remaining loyal and basically caring more about the hard feelings, and letting him get to the place that everyone knows that he is going to eventually get to and that he has lost this and there is nothing that he can do about it, and so it is a lot of the republicans caring more about donald trump's bruised feelings and ego rather than stepping up to help the country move past this and put to rest any of these doubts that the white house, and frankly a number of republicans have sewn for the last few weeks. so i guess that it could be a lot worse frankly, and you could have a lot of republican senators echoing the things that rudy giuliani and another example, newt gingrich have been saying. i thought that it would be

worse, and more people would follow trump down the path, but it is the die-had rders at this point like giuliani, and others and even fox news who is a clean end at this point, they have proved to be a democracy, and for the most part, that he have called the race for biden. and even the more fierily commentators have started to accept reality. more will come on board, wibut they are giving into trump's hard feelings for the next few days. >> the message, sebrina, is from biden last night that i want to be a president for everybody, and yes, am a democrat, through and through, but am a president for everyone, and no red states or blue states, and kamala

harris may saying that i am the first, but i am not the last. covering politics for long time, and covering the white house, and what is this is going to be like for you, and camera harris representing so many firsts, first woman vice president, and first indian woman, and the first to be ibl to rise to this level, -- to be able to rise to this level, and being the most influential woman to rise to this power, and what is that like for you personally? >> well, look, it is a hiser toic moment in this country. and when vice president kamala harris is inaugurated in january, she is going to be the highest ranked woman in u.s. history, and we have a reckoning of the pandemic, and what that has exposed is the lack of diversity of the government across multiple industries, and

so it is hard to overstate what it is going the mean having a black woman and woman of indian decent as a sitting vice president. there were a number of girls watching her last night, and they saw what could be possible. that means a lot for future generation, and lot of boys watching across the country to continue to fight a great deal of sexism and misogyny that they could be aspiring. >> and it is not only, the same for barack obama, that inspiring boys and girls for something for

f us, and what is this is going to be like covering a woman who is of african-american and indian decent while covering politics? >> well, it is a stunning thing, and like you were saying that reputation both in the folks, the kinds of the reporters who are covering the administration. i hope, and i will expect to hope to see more people of color in the briefing room and i will have a big smile on my face not only because hitting history quotas is important to do that and because of bringing in coverage is going to better view the readers and subscribers and i was having this conversation with cory booker, and ayanna pressly about the nomination, and there is a two-pronged thought. the first is emotional, and cory booker was telling me that

seeing his friend up there, and it was like the voices of the an ses continually left out of the conversation up to now, and that you have to work twice as hard to get to the conversation, but not the beginning to the end of forming policy that she can, kamala harris has passed legislation about fibroid that affects the african xhucommunit disproportionate, and expects to have a voice on that at the table. >> and ryan, not to dismiss you, but your voice at this historic moment. >> and sebrina is making a good

point about the press corps as well. so our newsrooms can do a whole lot better at diversity and the white house and the campaign, and it is a good sign of the white house briefing room, and so it is unlike previous administrations. i interviewed stacy abrams in georgia and she is making the point that not only that biden chose kamala harris, but that all of the finalists were women of color, and i did not think of it, but how important it was to leader abrams that she had a

meeting with the vice president biden of the type of leader that she would like to see. >> and i don't mean to cut you off, but we are unrunning up to a hard break. and so, thank you all very much. at university of phoenix, students with relevant life experience and eligible transfer credits save on average $11k and 1 year off their undergrad degree. see how much you can save.

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serious allergic reactions may occur. i just look and feel better. i got real relief with cosentyx. watch me! feel real relief. ask your rheumatologist about cosentyx. runoff elections for two crucial seats are going to be essential for the chamber heading into the january elections after the gop incumbents in georgia failed to get 50% on election day. democrats are coni if dent to win both seats which would result in the eventually split senate with vice president elect kamala harris as the tiebreaker. joining me now is congresswoman elect nakeemah williams who is holding a seat for john lewis

since his death. thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me, and wonderful to join the conversation. >> how confident about these two runoff elections which could very much change the dynamics that could change the senate. >> and people tell me that they are not turns out for runoffs, and also that democrats will not turn blue in georgia, but we are doing that, and that women are not a good chair norm, but i am here. and so we are doing the work on the ground. we are going to continue to build on what stacey abrams made possible in the state, and we know that we can win for democrats. >> you are wearing the pink and green and alpha alpha kappa is the vice president elect kamala harris, and what was going through your mind last night

listening to the speech and talking about the possibilities, and she says that she is not going to be the last. >> she is not going to be the last. i am thinking of the doors that she is opening up for so many people who realize the doors that are opening up. i am a congresswoman alike, and it moved me to know that anything is possible as a black woman in this country, and shi shi is an hbcu college, and i have to shout out to my college who made me, and opening up the doors that opened up so many doors in the communities that showed us what is possible in the country. >> i am a howard alum, and i get you on that. and one of the things that she said in reference to congressman john lieu, which aewilewis, and democracy not a state but an

act. before john lewis passed he wrote, democracy is not a state, but an act. and what he meant is that america's democracy is not guarant guaranteed. it is only as strong as the willingness to fight for it. >> how do you see yourself fighting for democracy for all? >> we are fighting here inda ga by coming out to fight for the vote when the votes came out from the fifth district congressional district, i felt that john lewis was speak to us, and doing the happy dance in heaven knowing that we are deciding the presidency, and we have the option right here by using our voice to decide the balance of the united states senate. we are showing up in force, and black women are the power of the office, and we will deliver on january 5th. >> and you are swearing in 56

days away, and counting, and you will be doing the happy dance, too. congratulations congresswoman nikema williams, and we will be right back. our trust has been broken in our leaders and in our institution, and even with some of our friends. and we are hurting.

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president trump is still refusing to accept his loss and appears to be preparing a legal war against the election results. but the loss is a culmination of decisions made by trump as he appeared convinced the formula that won him the white house in 2016 would work again. cnn's kevin liptak joins me now with his reporting. was there anyone trying to convince him that the 2016 strategy may not work? >> reporter: there were certainly many people advising him through the course of this campaign.

as it was looking more and more likely that the president was going to look, we started to ask him where they think this all went wrong. of course, the president still believes he could win there, and there are plenty of people supporting him in his legal fight, but there are also plenty of people who say this is lost, and they're starting to identify some areas where they think the president went wrong. the biggest one, the biggest thing that people say the president did wrong was this pattern of self-destructive behavior over the course of the last year, focused primary on the coronavirus. plenty of people still look back to the april press conference when the president suggested ingesting disinfectant and night as sort of the moment that the president didn't get it, he didn't understand this was a once in a generation health crisis, that he needed to focus on it, act presidential around, even at the same time that the president was sort of ignoring

the crisis, downplaying it, he was berating his campaign advisers. he believed they weren't doing a good enough job to improve his standing, even as he sort of refused their advice to do things like wear a mask in public, and adapt a more presidential air. the other thing that people identified around the president was his inability to adjust the campaign to the moment, inability to switch from being an upstarred challenger to become the incumbent president. you saw most notably in these rallies when the president aired all of these grievances instead of focusing on his accomplishments. the last thing people identified was his inability to recognize he could lose. he went into election night believes he would win. advisers presented him with data that showed him winning, so by the time, you know, today rolls around, i think you can see why it's so hard for him now to grasp he will not be president in january e. fredricka.

>> i have a feeling he might be wearing earplugs, because we can still hear the jubilation right outside the white house there. >> reporter: certainly. it's an exciting scene. this is right outside st. john's church where he staged that ma li sfo ma lined photo op. much different scene from them. >> thank you for that perspective as well. we appreciate it. we'll be right back. when being a fan on a budget gets tough... ...our agents do the legwork,... ...so saving on auto insurance is... easy usaa. what you're made of, we're made for. in a whole new way. now roomba vacuums exactly where you need it, and offers personalized

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