and good evening. a lot happening tonight and a lot of news from joe biden and a lot of noise from donald trump. but none of it changes the bigger, bottom line. the country now has a president-elect. that's what the numbers, clearly, say. president-elect is joe biden. he won the election and president trump lost. that is the reality. and meeting, today, with his covid-advisory panel, the president-elect said so, out loud. >> this election is over. it's time to put aside the partisanship and the rhetoric that -- designed to demonize one another. >> this election is over, he said. and by any other standard, at any other time, it would be. joe biden won pennsylvania. he leads by 45,000 votes there. about the same as the president's 2016 margin of

victory in that state. he is up by 148,000 in michigan or about 15 times when the president beat hillary clinton by in michigan. biden won wisconsin by more than 20,000 votes. recount efforts rarely move the count more than a few hundred votes, either way. so, historically, this is not even close. the results were simply delayed because the ballots took longer to count. yet, today, as president-elect biden got down to work, the way election winners in both parties have always done. president trump did what no other modern-day preseident, in either party, has done under such clearcut circumstances. he refuses to accept reality and tried, without evidence, to paint his own alternate -- alternative version of an election stolen from him. no, we're not going to repeat his allegations because it just perpetuates the lies. anecdotes from people on social media is not evidence. evidence is presented in a court of law. and if the president has it, that's what he and his attorneys should do. georgia's republican lieutenant governor, when asked by cnn's

john berman about whether they are seeing widespread irregularities in voting with georgia, said this. >> my -- my office has been in close communication with the c secretary of state's office and attorney general's office. and made sure if there's any sort of systemic examples of fraud or voter disenfranchisement across the voting base, to let us know. we have not had any sort of credible incidence raised to other level, yet. and so, we'll continue to make sure the opportunity to make sure every legal ballot counted is there. but at this point, we have not seen any credible examples. >> no credible examples. no credible incidences. that's what the lieutenant governor has said. also, republican governor and republican secretary of state. lieutenant governor of a state that has been as transparent as you can hope for through this entire process. while the president tries to peddle his own alternative. again, if he has evidence, he can present it in a court of law. that is the way the system works.

not the court of public opinion. a court of law, where truth and fiction are actually determined. the president's postelection legal challenges are led by david bosse, who today we learned tested positive for coronavirus. today, we also learned housing secretary ben carson has also tested positive. carson and meadows were both at the election-night party where no masks were required and they weren't wearing them. happening as the country crosses the 10 million case mark and many of those found in just the last ten days. since the race was called on saturday, new cases have been averaging more than 100,000 a day. here is dr. fauci just a few hours ago. >> i had said, four months ago, at a senate hearing, that if we didn't get control of this, that would be conceivable that we would reach that level. and unfortunately, we have. >> the president did not get control of this. not even at the white house. twice. yet, instead of trying harder,

the president has been golfing and sulking and tweeting out false claims and conspiracy theories. which you'd be tempted to write off as just more of the same. it's just somebody being a sore loser. but he's still president, and it is still a crisis. and he, still, does have an actual job to do. and now, his administration is attempting to keep joe biden from doing what president-elects are meant to do. the general service administrator, a trump appointee, has not signed off on the election outcome. that means the biden-transition team cannot access federal office space, communication services, and money to pay staffers and fund travel for the president-elect. no access, either, to expedited security-clearance processing for the incoming national security team. and no secure, compartmented national security briefings. and, no, this is not normal. with the exception of bush/gore in 2000, the signoff has come within hours of networks calling

races, every time. l her name is emily murphy and her job is supposed to be to help the transition go smoothly, regardless of politics or loyalty to the president. she has drawn controversy before because gop oversees the lease on the trump hotel in washington. and under her leadership, the agency repeated declined to provide democrats ocuments to h democrats. so, there's that. and making it, yet, harder to have a smooth transition. the president today fired defense secretary mark esper. none of this is normal. some of it is dangerous. and the days leading up to january 20th are sure to be filled with a lot of distraction, a lot of rhetoric, and perhaps conflict. but none of it will change some simple facts. donald trump lost. joe biden won and will be the next president. with all that in mind, there is breaking news. it comes from the justice department. the attorney general of the united states purports to concern the possibility of voter

fraud. under ordinary circumstances, that story would be news, without question under these circumstances, coming from this attorney general, there are plenty of questions. cnn's chief white house core spopt, jim acosta, joins us now with more. so the attorney general of the united states has taken unprecedented steps in the aftermath of the presidential election. what is he doing? >> yeah, anderson, this is going to be so 2020 i think. attorney general william barr sent a memo to federal prosecutors across the country that they should investigate any allegations of voter fraud. it is interesting to note, anderson, that in this moemo, te attorney general says, so far, there haven't been allegations that have risen to the scale that would change the outcome of the election. so at this point, it appears the attorney general is performing for an audience of one, at this point, anderson. >> despite what bill barr and the president's congressional allies are doing, are you getting any indication from within the white house that the president's beginning to accept the outcome? >> i think, beginning to,

anderson, is the key phrase there. i talked to a trump adviser earlier this evening, who said that the president is starting to see a path to losing is the way this trump adviser described it. this is based on conversations that have been going on with the president and the campaign and his team of advisers. at the same time, though, the president sees it, in his political interest, to pursue this strategy of fighting this out in the courts. fighting this out as long as possible. and part of that is because the president and his aides have, also, talked about the possibility of a resurrection run in 2024. and this is the kind of argument that they would like to take into the next four years, should the outgoing president decide to do that. and so, there are some 2020 politics going on but, also, some 2024 ones, as well. >> the president fired secretary of defense, mark esper. which there had been talk of that happening for a long time. he did it this morning. what more are you learning about that? and any other officials whose jobs may be on the chopping block? >> yeah.

i did talk to a source close to the president earlier today, who said in addition to the secretary of defense, mark esper, being fired. and the president did that basically via tweet earlier today. that there were discussions that happened before the election d regarding the fbi director, christopher wray. christopher wray's name did come up in discussions between the president and some of his top aides, in terms of officials that they would like to fire. this source i spoke with stressed that the discussion seemed to be about, you know, if the president wins re-election. it would be more difficult or more dicey, this source, said the president to fire chris rwry if there is another administration coming in because obviously, chris wray would not be in a great mood to do things helpful to the president should he be fired. but this name of christopher wray came up, anderson, along with multiple, other officials that were under discussion by the president and some of his top aides before the election.

and i think we're going to have to buckle our chin straps for the next several weeks. >> jim acosta, appreciate it. thanks. joining us now, benjamin ginsburg. he is a republican election lawyer. served as national counsel for the romney and bush campaigns in 2000 and 2012. we want to just say, again, for context. i mean, from what you have seen, do you see any widespread election fraud, at all? and how concerned are you about this move by the attorney general? >> certainly, see no widespread election fraud. what we've seen is broad and sort of baseless charges. we saw it before the election, based on no evidence from prior elections. now, we're seeing it here. and all those suits that the trump campaign and the rnc brought, before the election, now undermine the credibility of what they're saying in -- in this period. but the attorney general's actions, tonight, is unprecedented. and that is always a cause for

concern when something this unprecedented happened. and, anderson, it was yesterday or date before that jim acosta was reporting the president's dissatisfaction with his own legal team. and now, you bring in the justice department to investigate this. and that's got to raise suspicions that the apolitical nature of the justice department is being compromised, despite the lofty words of the attorney general's memorandum. >> well, mr. ginsburg, what do you say to people like, well, look. i saw -- i saw on, you know, twitter. there was a video of somebody who seemed to be checking something off. and then, i saw there's that story of a guy who brought a truck up for -- with -- with ballots in it. and then, i heard a story about a guy. you know, i mean, you must hear this all the time. what do you say to that? >> there are incidents, in every election, of some irregularities

and fraud. that's why it's very important to follow the state processes of recounts and contests and some litigation. now, the trump campaign appears reluckent reluctant to try and prove these alleged irregularities in the normal course of things. and instead, are filing a series of sort of broad generalities, very light and specific proof or evidence. and at no time, have they called into question enough votes to change the outcome in any of these states. >> so, a lot of the stuff one sees online. that's not actually making it. that's not really what -- when -- when lawyers actually have to go into court and submit something to a judge. they're not pointing to that because they feel that's not going to hold up, is that right? >> i believe that will be true. they have not, yet, reached the deadlines where they have to submit their -- their proof and a contest or a recount. so, perhaps, they'll submit what

you're seeing online. the lawyers do face sanctions if they present courts with totally unmeritorious complaints. >> ben ginsburg, as always, appreciate it. thank you. >> thank you. >> we have lost another cnn contributor but by the same token, biden has gained a senior adviser. jen is a asaki joins us now. >> great to be here, anderson. >> i want to, first, get your reaction to what ben ginsburg said about the attorney general's move at the department of justice. how concerned is the campaign about it? >> well, look, i'm on the transition side. and we're just trying to get ready to govern. but i will say we have all seen these tactics for weeks, if not months, from the trump team, even before the election. and with every day, with every effort to delay this, it's delaying us getting access to the resources we need. getting people onto agency review teams. into agencies to talk about covid and the recession and moving forward. and -- and kind of that's how we see it.

>> so, i mean, are you being paid on the transition? because the gsa hasn't signed off on this, and it says staffers. i mean, it makes it hard to like hire people. it makes it hard. what does not, you know, having that signoff, what does that actually mean in a nu nuts-and-bolts way? >> well, there's certainly a money part of it and that's something that, of course, does have an impact. but we are also talking about trying to fill 4,000 political-appointment jobs. we are talking about national security officials, having access to classified information, as you were talking about earlier in your show. access to skiffs who may have left the trump administration, who want to roll up their sleeves and get to work preparing for joe biden and kamala harris to govern. we're going to announce those in the coming days. and they won't even be able to get into the agencies to do the work until ascertainment

happens. so there are all sorts of impacts, anderson, and it's dangerous. history tells us that. even in the 9/11 commission report, they talked about the delay and impact of delay on continuing to govern. >> cnn has reporting that the biden team thinks it might have to play things a little tougher. what would that actually mean? >> well, look, i think over the last couple of days, we've really wanted to give some space. even though it's longer -- it's a longer delay than we've seen, historically, because the outcome was clear, as of saturday, as everybody, you included at cnn, you know, can confirm. given, it was days of waiting for the outcome to come. but it's clear now. there's no mathematical path forward, for trump. and we are obviously trying to get our job and get our -- get our jobs going here. you know, i think there's -- we're not -- there's a bunch of things that we can -- we can do moving forward. we're not going to take any options off the table. that can include direct engagement with the administrator. it can include more public advocacy for -- for what the

importance is of getting this done. the impact on national security. the impact at a time where we're facing a global pandemic. and our officials can't even get into these agencies and work with people who have been working on covid. our preference here, anderson, is for the gsa administrator just to sign the document, as it's been happening for 60 years. and we can all move on and joe biden can proceed to preparing to govern. but we are also prepared with a range of options, if that isn't the case. >> yeah. i mean, given that we are in a pandemic and joe biden has won the election. i mean, even if the president wants to pursue things in court, which is absolutely his right, there's no reason that those two things can't happen. that the transition can start, and the president can, also, move things to the court. >> that's absolutely true. and factually, as any lawyer or historian will tell you. there there have been many times throughout history where there's been recounts, where there has

been litigation, where the election has still been ascertained. the president coming in, president-elect, and his team can get prepared to govern. that's just what we fully expect and what we are hoping for at this point. >> i want to read you something, who worked for five presidential campaigns tweeted. he said, if trump will not release legal transition funds, there's no reason for the house to approve post-presidency funds for trump and his family. does he have a point? is that something they actually have say over? >> that's a great question. look. i think that there are democrats, and i hope some republicans, i hope, on that -- on the hill. on the house and senate side. who are going to start to be more and more outraged by the delay here. because we're all trying to address the same crises. but, again, our hope here is not to escalate. you know, joe biden wants to start talking to republicans and democrats in the house and senate. to governors, to mayors. he doesn't want to be bogged do. none of us want to be bogged

down by a verbal fight with the gsa administrator or the white house. wae we want to get to work. >> thank you. >> cnn senior political commentator, david axelrod. and cnn political analyst, gloria borger. david, you were part of the obama administration, 2008. saw, firsthand, how it is supposed to work. how much does that hurt america? >> well, it's enormously disruptive. it was interesting to see jen reference the year 2000. when the gore -- when the gore/bush race went into overtime and it delayed the transition. and it was cited in the 9/11 report as one of the things that impeded the administration, the new administration, in getting to work on some national security issues. there are real consequences to this. this is incredibly subversive.

and it's not the way it's supposed to work. not only is the president, what we see right now is, not only is the president preventing the new team from working. he's firing the old team. particularly, in national security -- in national security realm. i think it exposes the country to great danger, and it definitely makes the job of the new administration more difficult. and this is an administration that is going to have to take office in the midst of a national crisis. a national pandemic and seek nomno economic crisis that's resulted from it. it is a very, very subversive act on the part of this president. >> gloria, president trump obstructing the transition and denying, you know, the votes of the american people. and not just the popular vote but the electoral, you know, college. enough votes in the -- in enough states to win the presidency, which is how he had won the presidency. while, president-elect biden is focusing on putting together national strategy to combat the pandemic.

i mean, the difference could not be more stark. i guess, the endgame here for the president is setting up his post, you know, white house life of grievance and, you know, being, you know, a rush-limbaugh-type figure, i suppose. and being a king maker in the republican party. wants basically still have to pledge allegiance to him for the next four years. that's the only reason i can see him doing this. it's ss it's certainly not for the good of the country, if you are pursuing stuff in court, why not let the transition team money to do the job they were elected to do? >> because you are petty and you're small and full of grievance, as you point out. and you're not yet, in your heart of hearts, you haven't kind of accepted the fact that you have lost. and what you see among republicans, most of them, except for a handful or so. are those who are enabling donald trump the way they have enable donald trump the last

four years. and what mitch mcconnell is doing as the leader of the enablers. which he did today. he came out and sort of said, i know, let the votes -- let these court cases proceed. et cetera. et cetera. you have to think mcconnell is thinking about the game and john knows more about that than anybody. is he thinking this is a way to motivate the base of the republican party? those voters in georgia, who might think that the democrats tried to steal-l the election. even if they didn't succeed, they tried to steal the election. and maybe, he'll get voters out to get those two seats in georgia. i mean, who knows? but for the president, it's all about himself. and for these republicans, it's all about themselves because they're so fareed of donald trump, moft of them. and he's going to be around for a while, even if he is not president of the united states. and he has an awful lot of power with republican voters. >> he still has power and 70 days left in office. he fired defense secretary. sounds like, chris wray of the fbi, you know, may be on the

chopping block. cia director, rortdedly, on thin ice. fauci. the president is actually supposed to continue working until january 20th. not just settling scores and brooding and spreading lies about the election. how do you see this playing out? >> well, he is blatantly transparent about who he is and he has always been that way. now, we are seeing it play out, as gloria noted. lock. it is petty. he is taking it out on his own team because they would not do his bidding. secretary esper got upset being used for that march over to the church. christopher wray said publicly, several times, russia was interfering in the election. president doesn't like that. so, now, look, you're going to have this domino effect of trump grievances across the government. but the president's never respected the government, let alone the national security agencies, where he's been at war with the intelligence agency from the beginning. they know the agencies.

jen knows where the buildings are. they know where the conference rooms are. they even know where the bathrooms are. but especially when it comes to the pandemic, you need access to critical information. what data does the government have about its problems? what is being done now? if we have a plan to do it the same, great. if we're going to do something differently, we need the numbers, we need the people, we need the charts and the graphs. there are 100,000 americans, more than 120,000 americans, getting infected every day. so especially, on the pan ddemi it's just reckless and dangerous. one quick point. sorry to ramble. about the point gloria made about mitch mcconnell. look. want to show you something. this is kentucky. right? mitch mcconnell was easily re-elected. he's not up for six years. he actually has leeway now. but he got 70 something, almost 80,000 votes fewer than the president in his home state. this is about power. mitch mcconnell likes being the majority leader. if the democrats win these two assets, the two senate seats down in georgia, mitch mcconnell is the minority leader. this is about power as gloria

noted so the running up his flagpole of grievances about fraud. just two words. prove it. prove it. show it or else go away. >> and, john, the election has been decided. they are still counting votes. we still have states without a projected winner. where does that stand? >> here's -- here's how the race looks. let me come back to the presidential race here and here is how it looks if you look at the full map. trump leading in new york. biden in georgia. biden out in arizona. but if you take it off, you see the gray on the map, those are states we haven't called yet. north carolina. they are still counting some votes here but the president leading pretty comfortably. they would wish late votes would bring them back but don't expect that to happen. down in georgia, joe biden's actually increased his lead. only 11,414. you have those two republican senates complaining about the secretary of state. why? because the republican sec retay of state did their job.

in georgia, the vice president lead since -- joe biden, president-elect, now i should call him. this lead's gone up about 4,000 since saturday. you come out to arizona. this is one place biden's lead is actually shrinking a little bit. biden is still ahead. most of the data, people still think he will win. but this is worth watching but he doesn't need it. if, somehow, the president came back and took arizona, joe biden is still well over the threshold, anderson, of 270 electoral votes. we have projected nevada. and that has gone up 13,000 over the weekend. so in all but arizona, for all these complaints about why you are counting votes. all but arizona and even in arizona, they are counting legally-cast votes and in three of those four states, pennsylvania, nevada, and georgia, joe biden's lead keeps growing. >> david, in the mid-90s, i was in kinshasa.

and the dictator finally fled the country and rebels were moving to take the capital. his son drove around in a pickup truck with a machine gun, and settling scores with people he felt had not been supportive enough. thankfully, hasn't come to that here. but i can't believe we're in a situation where a -- you know, a transfer of power is not -- we're -- we're -- i can't believe we are in this situation here. it just seems so petty. and i -- i know it's about georgia and i know it's about setting up grievance politics that will, perhaps, allow him to run in four years again. and give him a tv career. but, you know, we're in a pandemic. and people's lives and -- and even if you don't think joe biden is going to become the president, i don't understand why you wouldn't allow the transition funds, you know, to -- to be given to at least start that process. so that, if, in fact, you know, the courts decide, as it seems they would, that there's not enough evidence. this thing can continue and more people won't die because of it.

>> anderson, i share your feelings about this. but i don't know what, about the four years, would have persuaded you that it would have ended any other way. i mean, this president has su u subjugated the institutions of our democracy and fundamental norms of our democracy to his political interests, for -- throughout the four years. and it was very clear in the months leading up to the election, that if he did not win, that he was going to claim fraud. and yes, it is a way of leveraging or launching into the next phase of his career. but let's not make any mistake about this. he got -- he got over 70 million votes. he has still the dominant voice in the republican party. and beyond helping, keeping him onboard to help winning -- to help win these senate seats. these people are afraid of him. these republicans are afraid that he will turn on them. >> yeah. it's about placating him. and he -- he can't admit to himself that he got fired. he's the guy who fires people.

>> gloria borger, david axelrod, thanks so much. up next, cindy mccain and what her late husband, senator john mccain, would make of it. later, big news about a covid vaccine that seems to work. worked very well. we are going to take a look at the details of it, when might it be available? and more importantly, when could it actually make a difference? big night ahead on "360." of us. our own hopes and dreams. we'll pass many milestones. moments that define you. and drive you. to achieve even more. so, celebrate every one. because success isn't just about where you want to get to. it's also about how you get there the all new 2021 cadillac escalade. never stop arriving. or psoriatic arthritis, little things can become your big moment.

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given all the breaking news, it's easy to lose sight of the history being made, whether it's the first moderate incumbent to refuse the outcome. also, joining us now member of the bipartisan biden/harris transition advisory team, cindy mccain, wife of john mccain. thanks for joining us. how do you feel about the results? and how do you think john mccain would -- would feel about his friend, joe biden, becoming president-elect? >> well, obviously, i am pleased with the result. this is -- it's not going in the right direction, it's gone the right direction. and i just hope that, with -- with all that's going on and with the difficulties that this white house is having, that -- that the president -- president stays on the right side of history, with all of this. i think my husband would be very pleased. as you know, we were good friends and -- with the bidens. and i -- i just know he's looking down going, you did the

right thing. and i'm -- i -- i'm so happy to be here. and i'm very honored to be part of the transition. >> you know washington, you know, and politics better than just about anybody. does, you know, joe biden -- president-elect biden, excuse me -- talks about reaching out. about, you know, getting things done with both sides of the aisle. it's -- it's a notion that, you know, had a lot of currency in the past. it -- it doesn't get talked about a lot, now. but i think it's where most americans are. and it just seems like that's going to be a really, really difficult thing. do you think actual -- that is actually possible, in this day and age? >> i do. i really do. i would not have supported vice president biden if i had thought that biden thought anything but that. most of all, look. we had experiences of family, and of course, my husband did with him. working directly across the aisle with each other. disagreeing a lot but they were

able to get things done because they did it for the good of the country. that's the difference in president-elect biden with regards to this white house. they -- i believe they can get things done. and i also think they're going to heal the country by working that way. and it's, of course, what we all want. this has been such a bitter divide these last few years that it's time that we -- we heal this. >> i mean, your -- your husband was as tough as anybody. but he was also an incredible patriot. and gracious about the people he was running against. we know -- i remember, you know, him standing -- a lady stood up in a town hall he was having when he was running and said something about president obama. and -- and, you know, he said, you know, no, he's a very fine person. he -- he spoke about president obama during his concession speech in 2008. and i just want to play a part of that. >> senator obama and i have had and argued our differences and he has prevailed.

no doubt, many of those differences remain. these are difficult times for our country, and i pledge to him, tonight, to do all in my power to help him lead us through the many challenges we face. i urge all americans -- [ applause ] i urge all americans, who supported me, to join me in not just congratulating him but offering our next president, our good will and earnest effort to find ways to come together. >> just -- i mean, just listening to him. it's just a reminder of the way the republican party used to be, of viewing, you know, the country and the institutions as important. and -- and it's jurist -- i mea it's sad for many reasons, hearing his voice tonight and the -- and the dignity of what he said. >> well, for that reason, i'm -- i'm very grateful that you did

replay that because i think that was a very important speech. because it was a concession speech. but the manner in which it was given. i -- i really, truly, hope that, like i said, that this president stays on the right side of history. but also, with all that said, does what's right for the country. the fact that -- that vice president biden -- president-elect biden is now putting the pandemic first. it's the first issue he is working on because it's the most important issue right now. we're in a lot of trouble. and -- and the disruption that's occurring and continues to occur within the white house, only serves to make the rest of us who did vote for -- for vice president biden know that we did the right thing. and i, also, want to thank you for playing that clip. i love hearing my husband's voice. i don't hear it very often. thank you. >> yeah. i always found it hard. like, after my brother died and after my mom died, to hear --

for a while, i found it really hard to hear their voices. my brother's voice, there's only one recording of his voice. but with my mom, especially. but now, i love -- i've made a lot of recordings with her the last week of her life. and i love hearing her voice and replaying those conversations. >> yeah. i love it. i do. i understand. >> yeah. there's a lot of people who feel like the republican party has fundamentally changed and shifted, over the last four years, under president trump. i mean, there were shifts going on long before that. but i mean, a real shift. you know, people called the party of trump. obviously, you know, your husband's friend, senator lindsey graham, has -- has had a change in how he's been acting and what he's been saying. i'm wondering what you think senator mccain would make of this transition, just in general, of the republican party? i mean, attacking the fundamentals of our election system. and -- and -- and what happened to his friend, lindsey graham. >> well, i -- i should begin

with the issue, itself, of the election. i know that my husband -- my husband would abide by the process, which is one thing that he, as you know, he spoke a great deal about. and -- and also, encourage arizona to get the results in. let's move on with this. it is time. but to do it, follow the process, make sure we count every vote. with that said, lindsey graham's a member of my family. i mean, i -- i love him to death. i certainly have disagreed with some things. but -- but you won't get a harsh word out of me because i love him too much. he is a good friend. >> well, that's a great thing about families in this country is we all got family members who totally disagree with us. and we are all still able to get around a table and overcome that. yeah. finally, i just have to point this out. your late mother-in-law, roberta mccain was laid to rest today. what a remarkable life. 108 years old. just extraordinary.

our condolences, obviously, to your entire family. but i mean, 108 years old. what a life she led. >> she was a remarkable woman. when i first came to washington, she was -- she was my mentor. she was -- she guided me through the pituitafalls of washington,. and also navy life because my husband was still in the navy, at that time. se -- she saw history from -- from, you know, from the very beginning to the very end. i mean, she saw a whole lot of what occurred and transformed the united states of america. and she, also, was not afraid to speak her mind, which made her a -- a remarkable woman for that era. we -- she's sorely missed and i can't tell you. she was the most gracious person i ever knew, and someone i love with all my heart and we will all miss her. >> and to have had her in your life for so long is a remarkable thing. >> 108, i know. >> yeah. cindy mccain, it's really a pleasure always to talk to you. thank you. >> thank you. thank you. >> among world leaders, mayor of

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leaders continue to react positively to the election of joe biden and kamala harris and the defeat of president trump. london's mayor, sadiq khan, called it a well-deserved win. on air force one just before he landed in london back in june 2019. >> the president tweeted this in reference to the mayor. he is a stone-cold loser,

president trump wrote, who should focus on crime in london, not me. trump added, khan reminds me very much of our dumb, incompetent mayor of new york city, de blasio. i am looking very much forward to my visit. landing now. i spoke with mayor sadiq khan just before airtime. >> mayor khan, thanks so much for joining. you and president trump have been critical of each other during his term. he's attacked you and your city. you were critical of the muslim ban. what do you think his -- his defeat says to the world? >> well, what you're seeing, anderson, is a big smile. i think what it shows, actually, is that hope can overcome -- unity is much more important and succeeds over division. >> you reached out, welcoming president-elect biden. have you spoken to him, directly? >> no, we haven't but we're in close contact with the biden team. and we're just -- that him and

kamala harris did so well on tuesday. many of us have been glued to our sets, watching john king he's magic wall. seeing the developments in america. and many of us were rooting for biden. it's no secret. but also, one of the things i'm not sure if your viewers, in america, realize. is that, you know, when america sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold. and the embodiment of your country, as your president, you set the tone. and you set the tone in bad times and also, for many of us, have been bad time ts but also for good times when the president-elect talks about hope. talks about unity. talks about love. talks about time for healing. talks about internationalism, tolerance, anti-racism. these things really inspire those of us, not just in london but, just in my country, but around the globe. and i speak as somebody who is of islamic faith and who really

has felt under attack, not just personally but for fellow followers of islam over the last four years because of the things the president has said and done. >> it is a positive term that means happy, excited, correct? i think. >> absolutely. over the moon, happy, inspired. all those things as, hopefully, you can see from the smile on my face. >> what difference does the person at the top make? because i mean, you know, republicans have actually gained more seats in -- in the house. they maintain control of the senate. obviously, of the court, supreme court, as well. conservative justices. but just from an international perspective, what's your belief about the important role of the president of the united states on the world stage? >> one of the, i think, things that i'm not sure all americans realize is the ripple effects of what your president says and

does. many of us, not simply because of politicians that are american, because of your culture, your film, your music, but also when your president speaks, we listen. so when a president of the usa, the beacon of freedom and democracy, talks about separating children from their parents because they happen to be mexican. talks about batting people from certain countries because they happen to be islamic-majority countries. talks about taking away funding for clinics because they allow women to choose what they do with their bodies. has policies that are anti-the-lgbtq plus community. when the president of the usa has equivalence with anti-racist campaigns in charlottesville, with the ku klux klan, those things are heard and felt by people across the globe. and certainly, there is a very good reason why many of us, across the globe, have been glued to cnn since tuesday.

because who wins this election, who becomes the president, matters. >> have you ever run against somebody who refuses to acknowledge the results of an election? and refuses to concede? because i -- this is sort of uncharted territory in the united states. a and, you know, obviously, it's unclear how this plays out. i mean, the end -- end result is clear. how we get to that end result is not. >> you know, when i was younger, my coaches and my teachers always taught me to be magnanimous in victory and dignified in defeat. and it's a lesson i took with me, when i became a lawyer. and now, a politician. we find it quite remarkable, i've got to tell you, as democrats with a small d sense, as people believe in the ballot box and elections. for the loser not to be dignified and accept defeat. many of us looked in marvel at the letter president bush wrote president clinton. many of us were just in awe of

al gore's humility in the year 2000. and you will note, and you've been reporting this, about some of the defeated candidates in the past who have shown their grace and their class by accepting defeat. but let me ask a rhetorical question. is anybody surprised? >> mayor khan, appreciate your time. by the way, we're keeping john king over here. >> take care. >> thank you very much. >> just ahead. a member of president-elect biden's coronavirus advisory board for his transition joins us. he, along with dr. sanjay gupta, who spoke with the ceo of pharmaceutical company, pfizer, today. we will discuss the company's big announcement on its vaccine, and when americans may finally have access to it.

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just a short time ago, dr. anthony fauci put an explanation from the news from pfizer today. he suggested we could be potentially weeks away from

initial distribution of a vaccine. >> you have to go through the hoops of making sure all the eyes are dotted and the ts are crossed about the safety and the regulatory aspects of it. but we will be giving vaccines very likely by the end of this year. that is good news. >> specifically he said a vaccine could be ready as early as the end of this month or into december. he was also quick to point out that while there is light at the end of the tunnel, we cannot give up on public health measures like masks and social distancing. today the couple crossed a 10 million case mark. on saturday the nation recorded the most cases since the pandemic began. more than 128,000 in one day. chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta joins me and the director of the center for infectious disease. from the university of minnesota, today, he was named a member of president-elect joe biden's advisory board. i want to play a sound bite. >> 90% is a game changer. 90%, now you are hoping to have

a tool in your war against this pandemic that would be significantly effective. how long this protection will last is that we don't know right now but it is hart of objectively starting. we will follow up. they are part of this study for two years and during this, we will be looking also at the durability of the new responses. >> so talk about this. put it into perspective. >> well, it is very interesting. this is early interim data. there is still more data coming. but they were bullish enough that they would do these interviews and talk about. but let's look at the numbers. the trial has been going on since 44,000 people were enrolled in the trial. half get placebo. half get the vaccine and they

see which are more likely to get infected. what you find are 99% of the infections that occurred were in the placebo group. so that was pretty good evidence that this seems to be doing something, this vaccines seems to be effective at reducing or preventing infections. what we don't know for certain is if you think about it 80% of people who get this infection do well. they have minimal or no symptoms. they're saying this is 90% effective. but does it work in people who are vulnerable? does it prevent people from getting significant disease? that is something we don't know yet. >> is it a one time shot. >> we don't know how long it lasts. right. that's the other thing. we don't know how long it necessarily lasts. i can tell you he was eluding to this idea it was a yearly thing or not a one time thing. keep in mind, we are talking two shots overall to start with. >> okay.

on the day where the country surpassed ten million cases, do you think the pfizer news is a game changer? is this a game changer? >> well, i think sanjay really summed it up very well. we still have major questions left. if you are preventing 90% of mild illness, that's one thing. versus 90% of the severe illness. the severe illnesses, we really need to wait to get that information. but the initial results are hopeful in the sense that we can make a vaccine and have some impact. but i think we still have answers that we have to get before we can make a full assessment of the impact that this vaccine will have. >> when do you think we get these answers? >> well, unfortunately far too late. what i mean by that is as we came into the segment of what's happening right now, i mean, we are watching cases increase substantially in this country far beyond what most people ever thought could happen. it will not surprise me if in the next weeks if we see over 200,000 new cases a day. this vaccine will not be

available well into the first quarter of next year. and then second and third quarter for many people in this country. so for the interim period until we get to a vaccine available for all, we really have to deal with what's happening right now, and that by itself is really going to be a challenge. >> sanjay, i know you asked the ceo about the timing of the release of this information. some people say, why did they wait until after the election? >> right. you know, and he was pretty clear about this, you know, saying this was a -- that science dictated the release of the information. you may remember they thought that they were going to release information earlier. >> right. they talked about the end of october. >> yeah. right. and what sort of happened, anderson, is you are counting on a certain number of people becoming infected in this trial in order to, you know, draw some statistical significance and they didn't have enough people

who had become infected. then you had this obvious surge in cases that we have seen over the past few weeks and more people got infected. so 94 people were infected out of 44,000. just again put it in perspective here in terms of the types of numbers we're looking at. but that's what dictated the timing of when this interim data was released. >> professor, you were named to the biden-harris transition coronavirus advisory board. how confident are you about the president-elect's ability to improve the government's handling of the pandemic? >> well, i'm very encouraged by the entire activity in the sense of the topics they are coverings, the priorities they're making, the emphasis. this is the very first thing that the new vice president harris put forward as their priority, was this very issue. so i think that we expect to see even in the interim before he actually takes office of the potential to do a lot of good helping direct states out here in terms of priority. so i'm very optimistic that this will be a game changer.

>> i appreciate it. thank you. i want to leave you with one last note about someone who somehow made me and tens of millions of people feel smarter even as his questions or to be more accurate, his answers maybe did the opposite. alex trebek died this weekend of pancreatic cancer. as host of "jeopardy," he brought decades of fun and excitement and the joy of knowledge to our lives. he hosted "jeopardy" since 1984. he was trusted and loved by all of us and he faced this last difficult chapter of his life with tremendous courage and remarkable grace. in so doing, he gave strength to many people around the world facing challenges of their own. i started watching "jeopardy" in high school. getting to compete on the show several times and meet alex trebek was amazing. even when cheech marin crushed me on the show.