may they rest in peace and may their memories be a blessing. thanks very much for watching. i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." "erin burnett outfront" starts right now. "outfront" next, breaking news, the u.s. just reaching a grim and once unfathomable milestone. 250,000 americans are dead of coronavirus, as the president blocks the biden administration from talking to health officials. trump's admiral brad noir yes, sir is my guest. and he is demanding a recount in two wisconsin counties where his margin of loss is more than 50,000 counts. thinks he'll turn that around with a recount? the top election officials are "outfront." and 70% believe the president did not win because of voter

fraud. let's go "outfront." good evening, i'm erin burnett. 250,000 americans dead of the coronavirus, the united states crossing that grim milestone tonight, and admiral brett giroir is sounding the alarm. >> hospitalizations are going up 25% week over week, deaths are going up by 25% week over week, and this is not going in the right direction. we are at an absolutely critical dangerous point. >> i'm going to speak to admiral giroir in a moment. he is sounding the alarm. hospitalizations are at a record. more than 76,000 americans tonight are in the hospital because of coronavirus and deaths are surging. 1,700 americans died of the virus just yesterday. tonight, the nation's largest school district, new york city, is again closing schools indefinitely. and yet, president trump is actively handicapping america's response to the pandemic. trump's health and human services secretary, alex azar, saying today that his agency will not work with joe biden's

team until the gsa -- the general services administration -- makes the determination that biden is the president-elect. the person who makes that call is a trump appointee. she is blocking it because the president is not signing off on it. and sources tell cnn that some hhs staffers have been ordered to not just ignore, but to report anyone from the biden transition team if they even try to contact the agency, to report anyone trying to support a peaceful transition of power, someone trying to figure out what the heck is going on with the response to a pandemic that has claimed 250,000 american lives. this is not a sick joke. it's reality. yes, it is wrong, and it is despicable, but trump is doing it. and today, president-elect joe biden says that because he's not allowed to coordinate with giroir and his colleagues, it will delay the distribution of life-saving vaccines. >> soon, we're going to be behind by weeks or months being able to put together the whole initiative relating to the

biggest promise we have with two drug companies. so i just want to tell you that that is the only slowdown right now that we have. >> okay. this is wrong that it's happening, and it is all the doing of -- let me say it -- a person who is delusional, who is perverting power. now, president-elect joe biden is meeting with health care workers to try to reinvent the wheel, and he showed something today that wouldn't be out of the ordinary, except for it is in this case, because we have not seen it once from president trump, not once. biden today did something every single one of us has done during this tragic and painful year -- he wiped away a tear. >> we need to act now. we need to act quickly to protect our health care workers so that we can save as many lives as possible. thank you. >> mary --

>> i'm sorry i'm so emotional. >> no. >> it's just -- >> you got me emotional. >> nurse mary turner will also join me live later this hour. meanwhile, trump has not held an official covid-related event in more than a month. instead, we know what he's been doing -- no public events. that's what they put out every night with the agenda for tomorrow -- no public events. that's what we got for tomorrow for the white house. it is the 11th day since the election with no public events on the president's schedule. the only thing that he's doing publicly is tweeting a diarrhea of lies about the election, including one today that, honestly, at this point, i mean -- i mean, this is not stable. "i won the election" in all caps. now, how can he be living in a false world like this? well, there is a reason, and it is because there are still people around him who are feeding his insatiable, in fact, his repatious hunger for affirmation. >> the president believes it,

and so too, do many others, that if every legal vote is counted, he will remain president. he's left an infrastructure in place where covid westboucan be handled. we believe we can do so moving forward in a second trump administration. >> arlette saenz is with president-elect joe biden in wilmington, delaware. kaitlan collins is "outfront" live outside the white house. let me begin with you, arlette. at first, team biden seemed sangin about this, don't worry about it, it will be okay. now clearly we are seeing it, much more impatience with this lack of transition because they feel it's setting them behind. >> reporter: well, erin, president-elect joe biden's team with each passing day believes that it becomes more important for this ascertainment and this official transition process to get under way. and you heard that directly from biden himself earlier, when he met with frontline health care workers and he talked about this entire holdup and how it's complicating their long-term planning positions. without access to basic

information from the federal government related to data and even the covid-19 distribution plans. biden has said that without access to those plans, they could be delayed in their own distribution of proposals, possibly weeks and possibly months. so, you are constantly hearing them keeping up this pressure on the trump administration to start cooperating with them. but for the most part right now, it seems like there isn't any inches or movement towards that happening at all. and while biden is battling with this lack of access to basic information from the trump administration, he's also starting to acknowledge publicly some of the political realities that he could face when he takes office and potentially is dealing with a divided congress. in a call earlier today, a private call with supporters, he talked about how he expects to face some real brick walls in the senate, if republicans hold on to their majority. biden has often expressed this

hope that republicans will come around and work with him in the long term, but he is acknowledging that in the immediate aftermath, when he takes office, he is expecting some road blocks being put up. it could come with his cabinet no, ma' nominees or legislative agenda, but these are things biden is working through as he makes to clear that even without the trump administration's help right now, he is still plowing forward with his transition process. >> arlette, thank you very much. i want to go to kaitlan now at the white house. kaitlan, obviously, still no sign from the president that he's going to do anything here to have a transition, right? i mean, he's still tweeting in all caps that he won. >> reporter: yeah, no sign from the president. but one thing that is notable is you're starting to hear his allies on capitol hill creep a little bit closer, just a little, to saying that this transition should start taking place, with people like lindsey graham saying earlier he does believe that biden should start to get those intelligence briefings, though of course, that's a far cry from what a

full-on transition would look like, but the president has resisted those efforts so far. but what we're learning tonight, erin, that's new and notable, is that there are current and former trump administration officials who have been reaching out to people they believe are going to be in the biden administration or are on the biden transition team, to try to start to get those conversations going. and senator chris coons, a democrat who's been working with biden, earlier confirmed this reporting from my cnn colleagues and said there haven't been substantive discussions, but there have been talks because officials do realize the damage it could cause, so they're trying to reach out to them. but we haven't heard from the president on this at all. he hasn't taken our questions in over two weeks. so we haven't seen the president since on friday, and the white house insists he's still working, still focused on coronavirus. but erin, we should note, the president hasn't attended a task force meeting in five months, even though they've had one held in just that last week. so that gives you an idea. we're told by sources he's much

more consumed about the state of the election and contesting the result than he is with the pandemic surging across the country. >> i guess his actions certainly show that to be the case. kaitlan, thank you very much. and there are, you know, plenty inside the trump administration right now doing everything they can to try to do the right thing in this moment of crisis. one of them is the assistant secretary for health in the department of health and human services, admiral brett giroir, also the coronavirus testing czar for the trump administration. admiral, i don't know when you mic'd in and could hear here, but i played you a moment ago when you said this country is in an absolutely dangerous situation. you referred to hospitalizations and deaths up 25% over the past week. this is bad. can it get even worse? >> so, thank you so much for having me on. i want to start with one positive note, and that is, the end of the pandemic is in sight with the vaccines. we have two, apparently, highly effective vaccines that are safe and work in elderly. this is going to be our end game, and we're so excited.

that being said, this will get worse. we have had 1 million cases documented over the past week. our rate of rise is higher than it even was in the summer. we have hospitalizations going up 25% week over week. unfortunately, mortality going up. your chances of surviving are much better now than they were even a few months ago because of the great health care workers and new therapies, but there are so many more cases that we have, that deaths are going up. and unfortunately, we do anticipate this to continue, at least for the next couple of weeks. but as you've heard so many times before, we know how to fix this. we've done it in arizona, in texas, in florida, across the south. they have done it in the uk and in france, and it's all about absolute adherence to wearing a mask, avoiding crowds, and yes, we can keep the economy open,

but we're going to have to diminish indoor places like indoor dining and restaurants. we're going to have to do hygiene. if we do these things, we can flatten it, just like they've done in the uk and in france. >> so, let me ask you, though, when you talk about that things can get worse -- and i'd just like to put it in the context of, none of the deaths that are happening right now are necessary, right? this all could have been prevented. you have a vaccine coming. if everybody was able to do all of the things you just said, you could prevent it. and yet you're going to be having 1,000 to 2,000 people a day die. it is a great tragedy. yet, we're eight days away from thanksgiving. aaa says 50 million americans are still going to possibly travel by car and plane. united airlines says they're going to have the busiest week since the pandemic began. they want to add 1,400 additional flights in the united states for the demand for next week. how much does that worry you, based on what you're seeing? >> it does worry me quite a bit,

erin. again, people, i understand, miss their relatives. this has been a stressful time. we support individuals making those decisions, but you really have to think about this. my wife and i made the decision. i would love to see my mother, her mother, but we're just not going to go back because i don't want to risk them from my being traveling and going to them. but the cdc, if i just ask your readers -- your readers -- your listeners, your viewers, to google "cdc holiday gatherings," there are many good suggestions how you can make safer choices. try to keep the gatherings within your household or a couple of households that adhere to the rules. try to have good ventilation. yes, you may need to mask indoors. that's very, very important. and the last thing i would say is, i know there's a rush to testing now, but if you're tested negative today, that doesn't mean you're going to be negative tomorrow or next week. that does not give you a free pass to avoid all the mitigation. you could still be highly

infectious next week and really endanger your family. >> so, an administration official tells us, admiral that hhs staffers had been informed that if anyone from biden's team contacts them, they are not to communicate with them. they have to instead alert the deputy surgeon general of the communication, because the gsa has not approved any of this happening. they have not approved a transition to actually occur. have you been given any such warning? >> so, i haven't. and let me clarify this, because i think this was taken a little bit out of context. the deputy surgeon general, dr. erica schwartz, is the transition official for hhs. there is a presidential transition team, which are career officials, one per agency. it is just the rule, and she has been told this rule and she transmitted it. she is the most loyal, selfless person, you know, for public health. the rule is, if someone from the

biden transition team contacts one of those on the presidential transition team, the official person for each agency, they are supposed to notify dr. schwartz, admiral schwartz, and she's supposed to tell the gsa. that's the rule until there is ascertainment. i don't make the rules. we all want to be transparent. we all want to transmit public health, but it's not quite as ominous as you suggested it was. >> right, and i understand, and i'm not trying to say that she is doing anything nefarious, right? i mean, there's conversations that should be happening that aren't happening. the reason they're not happening is there's a person, and that person's president trump, and he's not allowing it to happen, so i'm not trying to put the blame or aspersions on anyone else. but since you're not able to have these conversations, right, biden is saying that this could delay the vaccine, they're not able to coordinate, that this could have real costs. so, as someone who has helped lead this fight since it began, as you have, admiral, if there is one thing you would want to tell them right now, that you can't, because you're not

allowed to have the conversation, what would it be? >> that's a very good question, erin. i'm going to tell you that, you know, when the time is said, we are, of course, going to be as transparent, as open as possible. i would say one thing, though, is that i understand early discussions are better than later discussions. this is a historic pandemic, and we all need to be on the same page. i am not arguing with that at all. i do want to reassure the american people, though, that there is going to be no delay in vaccine distribution. this is an incredibly well-oiled plan. we have two vaccines that look effective. we're going to have at least 50 million doses distributed by the end of 2020. so i want to assure americans, and to the degree i can assure biden's transition team that we don't expect any loss of months or weeks or even a day.

and remember, almost all the people working on these teams are career officials. they're not going to go away. so i do anticipate, earlier is better, there will be good transition, and this distribution plan is incredibly solid and well thought out by the best people in the country. >> all right, admiral. i appreciate your time. thank you, sir. >> thank you, erin. all right, i want to go now to longtime aide to president-elect biden, now member of the biden/harris transition advisory board, jared bernstein. so jared, you just heard admiral giroir there, sort of took a deep breath on what he would want to say to you. you guys aren't allowed to talk. early discussions are better than later, but he does feel confident in their vaccine distribution plan, that it's going to be okay. does this give you confidence? >> well, i really heard the sense of urgency in his voice,

but i'm afraid that what we need to see is what we're not seeing. and you've been very emphatic in your introduction to this discussion about a couple of really key things that get overlooked when you talk about, we'll get to it as soon as we can, and that is avoidable suffering. now, the american people have spoken, as you've been very clear. they've elected joe biden to be the next president of this country. and i assure you, and i suspect you've noticed this, the president and the vice president-elect are anxious to hit the ground running and get to work, and there is a lot of work to be done. we have a virus that's surging and an economy that's slowing, and every transition day that is lost -- so, that's the last part of the rap there is not quite right, because it's kind of like, well, when we get to it, we'll try to make up for lost time. every transition day that's lost delays our transition team's ability to effectively respond. and this puts thousands of

americans at risk of illness and death and of economic hardship, and this is avoidable suffering, and it should be avoided. >> so, the hhs secretary, alex azar, says his department will not work with biden's team, any of you all, until the gsa determines biden won. now, i made that point to admiral giroir, right, that i'm not casting aspersions on the people who are doing what they're told to do, but the person at the top is president trump and his appointee who runs the gsa. they're refusing to allow anybody to have the conversations, so then nobody can do this. you know, how concerning is this at this point? >> so, it is extremely concerning, and the american people need to know that this is not normal, okay? 12 years ago, literally a few hours after president obama was declared the winner of that race, the bush administration ascertained that president obama had won and the transition

began. now, you will recall that that was also a time of economic hardship. back then, it was the worst recession since the great depression. now you can't say that anymore. i was part of that transition as vice president-elect biden's chief economist. i saw close up what a proper transition looks like, and it looks like a lot of people working really hard to deal with the challenges they faced, which at that point, much like now, is to put together a fiscal package to help relieve small businesses that are at risk of failing. you know, tens of millions of people are at risk of losing their unemployment insurance coverage, state and local budgets are hurting, people who are facing eviction or nutritional shortfalls. that takes a lot of work to get that ready. and our transition team was working on that at this point already. and so, you know, that's not happening now, and the fact that it's not happening means that we

are not avoiding suffering and hardship that could and should be avoided. >> so you know, if they're waiting for an electoral college sign-off, which i'm going to put aside everything they're doing to prevent any such thing from ever occurring, but then you're at least waiting until the middle of december, right? you're at least waiting another few weeks for this to happen. at one point, i know that the biden campaign had said, look, legal options will be on the table if the gsa doesn't move forward. they had seemed to say, all right, we're not going to do that, we're going to sort of, you know, be polite about this. but are legal options going to go back on the table? i mean, waiting a few more weeks, it would seem, is hugely significant. >> look, i'm an economist, not a lawyer, and i don't want to try to weave into a lane that i don't belong in. what i can tell you -- and you made this point yourself, and i want to underscore it -- yes, it's the guy at the top, no question, but it's also a lot of people around him who are supporting this delusion. now, if that were costless, if the unemployment rate were still 3.5% and there wasn't a fatal

vaccine that's surging across the country, that would be a bad thing for democracy, but it wouldn't be a potentially fatal and devastating economic hardship that, again, could be avoided. so it's not just a matter of the guy at the top. the people around him need to start getting serious about what has to happen, and that's -- as the president-elect has said, this idea of a fiscal package and of planning for the vaccine, its manufacturer and its distribution, this is not something that should wait for his -- him being in office. this is something that has to start happening in the lame duck. it has to start happening, you know, days ago. much as we were trying to transition effectively 12 years ago when the ascertainment occurred hours after the election, as it should have. >> all right, thank you very much, jared. i appreciate your time. it's good to see you. >> thank you. and next, the nurse whose words made president-elect joe biden emotional today is "outfront." >> i'm sorry i'm so emotional. >> no.

>> it's just -- >> you got me emotional. >> plus, trump's desperate attempt to change the election results, requesting recounts in wisconsin's two biggest counties where his margin of loss is like 360,000 votes. how in the world does he think he's going to overturn that? i'm going to talk to the elections officials in charge of those counties. and more republicans are buying trump's repeated claims of voter fraud. maybe that's why he did this to begin with, wanted to get people to believe him. seven in ten republicans say biden won only because of voter fraud. >> announcer: "erin burnett outfront" is brought to you by mint mobile, premium wireless for 15 bucks a month. buy three months, get three months free at mintmobile.com.

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there's more gain scent plus oxi boost and febreze odor remover in every fling. gain. seriously good scent. tonight, president-elect joe biden growing emotional, wiping away a tear while listening to an icu nurse describing her experience on the front lines battling covid-19. >> i, myself, have held the hand of dying patients who are crying out for their families that they can't see. i've taken care of co-workers as they fight for their lives on a ventilator, and knowing that they got sick because of the hospital or their government hasn't protected them. throughout this pandemic, we've had to reuse n-95s so many

times. sometimes the mask will literally fall off our faces. in my hospital, we're still reusing n-95s two times. do you know that i have not been tested yet? and i have been on the front lines in the icu since february. >> you're kidding me. >> no. you know, we nurses, we know that we are facing immense death and suffering in the coming weeks, and we will be there, but we need to act now, we need to act quickly to protect our health care workers so that we can save as many lives as possible. thank you. >> mary -- >> i'm sorry i'm so emotional. >> no. >> it's just -- >> you got me emotional. >> mary turner is president of the minnesota nurses association and she joins me now. and i know even watching that is

emotional for you, mary. >> yeah. >> you know, what happened in that moment? >> you know, not only am i an icu nurse who has been on the front lines since the end of february, but as the president of the minnesota nurses association, i have been hearing from nurses all over our organizati organization. and also, knowing what's going on at our national level. and there has been such despair, despair over the fact that we haven't had enough ppe, despair over the fact that we're not being tested, despair over the fact that all of our hospital systems in minnesota and probably all across the united states are working so haphazardly. but more important for me, despair over the fact that the

federal government has not been there. and i think what kind of happened to me today was the fact that, for the first time, speaking with president-elect biden, i had hope, and with that came such an emotional release, because i finally felt like somebody was actually listening. i mean, i've been on our local media for the last nine months, pounding the pavement trying to get anyone to listen, and today i really felt like somebody who could really do something about it was listening to me, and i was so grateful. >> you know, he was very quiet as he was listening to you. and then he was emotional, right? you could see he sort of -- and it seemed it sort of surprised

him, but he felt such emotion. did that reaction surprise you? >> just seeing the kind of man that he appears when you see him on tv -- a little bit, but i was like, that just cemented it for me, as far as to know that he can feel what i'm feeling, that he has that empathy and that compassion, and that is what, i'm sorry, but that's what this country needs. that's what the nurses need. that's what the frontline health care workers need. we need somebody who's going to enact the defense production act so that we can all have ppe. we need some -- you know, we just need somebody who's going to be there for us. >> he was struck, as am i and i'm sure everyone watching, by a

couple of the things you said that, that you're still rewearing n-95s, that you have not been tested since february, despite being an icu nurse. right now your state is getting hit terribly hard by coronavirus again. your death count has gone up by 2,000 to 3,000 in two months. your hospitalizations are surging again. so you've been there since february. what are you seeing now, mary? has it changed at all in terms of who you're seeing in the hospital, what's happening? >> the difference from this last winter when it started is that it is now all over our whole state. we had calls from, a couple fridays ago, we talked to nurse leaders all over the state of minnesota. and when the nurse leader from grand maray, which is up on the gunflint trail that's, like, the farthest point east in minnesota, told me -- it's a

critical access hospital -- and she said, we have 14 nurses that man this hospital, and five of them are out with covid, i knew at that moment that it was truly from one corner to another in minnesota. and this is a scary thing, because why i actually got frightened for them is because these hospitals are not equipped. they're not equipped to take the covid, but all of our major hospitals in all of our major cities are full. we are full. and i think, you know, right now we've got a handle on our ppe at north. when i say that we're still using it two times -- last march, we were wearing them ten shifts. many of our hospitals still are having our nurses wear them five to ten shifts. so, is it better at my hospital? yes, it is. but do i get worried that it's going to get rough again, if we

don't get a federal plan in place? because what's going to happen is what happened this last spring, where all the states are competing with one another to get ppe, and that is just a mass. i don't know if i can live through that again. i don't know if i can live through that again, erin. >> well, i have to say -- and i know we briefly spoke on the commercial before we were here in front of the viewers, but you know, we're all just so grateful to you and people like you. the fact that you can go to work and you can do this and you can risk your life. i think that, you know, very, very few of us could do what you do, your everyday heroism. so, thank you. >> well, i just want to make sure i give, commend all of the nurses across the nation and all of the frontline health care workers, because i'm not alone in what we do, and i'm going to take that commendation from you

and just spread that around the nation. >> thank you so much. >> thank you. and next, we have breaking news from wisconsin. the elections commission there meeting at this hour on the trump campaign's request for recounts in two of the state's biggest counties, counties where trump lost by more than 350,000 votes. new calls tonight for the senate ethics committee to investigate senator lindsey graham's conversation with georgia's secretary of state about the recount there, a conversation in which the secretary of state suggests graham said that legal ballots be thrown out. ♪ well i think it's gonna be a long, long time. ♪ ♪ before i shop anywhere else online. ♪ ♪ get so much cash back it will be like ♪ ♪ whoa whoa whoa whoa-ah... i shop on rakuten. ♪ ♪ rakuten ♪ all the perfect gifts right from my phone. ♪ ♪ rakuten ♪ am i the smartest shopper ever known? ♪ ♪ rakuten!

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breaking news. the wisconsin elections commission meeting at this hour, as the trump campaign requests recounts in two of the biggest counties in the state. president-elect joe biden leading president trump by more than 20,000 votes statewide. the trump campaign asking for recounts in two counties where biden leads by 180,000 votes. even if trump is somehow successful in overturning wisconsin, which he would not be from a recount, biden's margin is so substantial, he would need

wisconsin, then also overturn pennsylvania, the biggest state out there, and then another one, right, to even quiget to the magical electoral number. pamela brown is "outfront." context there, this is a hail mary pass by the trump campaign, yeah? >> certainly. it's a last-ditch effort from the trump campaign with this partial recount request in wisconsin. and right now as you pointed out, there is a meeting ongoing about the recount rules, the official recount order starts tomorrow, then that starts the clock until december 1st. here is the deal, the trump campaign is focusing on recounts in two cities in particular, in dane county in milwaukee because those are democratic strongholds where biden got a lot of votes. what the trump campaign is essentially doing with this recount is trying to get a large batch of votes tossed out. they're alleging that the clerks in these counties didn't follow the law, didn't handle the ballots appropriately, these absentee ballots, and so, they should be thrown out. that is a long-shot.

that decision, this first step, is the decision's by the board of canvassers in those two counties, two democrats, one republican in both of those counties, according to reid magny with the elections commission. it's a long-shot that they're going to go in and toss out votes from the people in those counties. nonetheless, that is what the trump campaign is asking for. i was speaking to one source tonight, erin, asking, what is the end game here? because as you point out, erin, even if they somehow do toss out votes and make up the 20,000, around 20,000 margin of votes in wisconsin, they would still have to then win other states that trump has lost. and this person said, look, it's one fight at a time, we have other cases pending in pennsylvania, michigan, but those are also viewed as long-shot cases, erin. >> yeah, all right, pam. thank you very much. as pam was pointing out, if the margin in wisconsin's 20,000, it's more than 80,000 in pennsylvania, more than 50,000 in michigan. we've got to get real here.

tonight we have the top election official from both counties conducting the recounts in wisconsin and both are elected to their positions, both are democrats. so, george christianson's with the milwaukee county, the clerk there, and scott mcdonald is dane county clerk. george, let me start with you. biden leads trump currently by more than 183,000 votes in mi milwaukee county. so they want you to do the recount. do you suspect that this will change the results? >> no, erin, we don't expect it to change the results. we had a recount in 2016, and it didn't change the results whatsoever. it was about 130-something votes across the entire state that were, as a difference. so we don't expect it to change any results. i think it's unnecessary, but of course, we're here to show the people of milwaukee county and the state and the nation that our elections are accurate and fair and transparent. >> so, scott, what about in dane

county? obviously, your margin was about the same. >> yeah. the same as what george just said. we went through this four years ago. our system is extremely accurate, and that's what i said to democratic voters four years ago when they were hoping there might be some change. i said, don't count on that. it's going to be almost exactly the same because of how strong our system is, and that's exactly what happened four years ago and that's what's going to happen this cycle, too. >> right. sometimes, you know, depends how people feel when they're winning or losing in close elections. but george, today, you know, the trump campaign's lead counsel claimed, without any evidence, that you all made mistakes in counting ballots. here's how he put it. >> they're the counties that have, in our view, the most significant discrepancies and problems, improper behavior, that will allow us, we think, sufficient numbers of votes to overturn this election. >> so, in that case, they're

trying to move it, right? that this isn't just about recounting, it's about improper behavior. then he went again to claim -- again, no evidence, i want to be clear, george -- that there could be enough ballots that don't match the envelopes they were sent in with to overturn biden's win, which, again, more than 180,000 in your county, 20,000 statewide. what do you say to that? they're alleging fraud here. >> well, again, those are serious allegations, especially coming from attorneys that are unfounded, as you said. there's no evidence. i would encourage them to present some evidence, some shred of evidence. they are not targeting dane county or milwaukee county because of any irregularities. they're targeting those counties, because as you've mentioned before, they're democratic strongholds, and certainly for milwaukee, the city milwaukee, it's a majority minority city. so this is just another form of voter suppression by the trump campaign and by republicans. >> so, scott, what's your

response to this claim from the campaign, that your county's had, quote, improper behavior, right? they're putting this fraud thing out there, which, by the way, is resonating with a lot of republicans, unfortunately. >> yeah, that is the really unfortunate part, is that people believe this. you know, what they're referencing was advice we got from the election commission that went to every community and was enforced across the entire state about how to handle absentee envelopes and has been that way for years and supported by republicans in the past, unanimously. so, it's only being brought up now as a sort of desperate attempt. and the problem, though, is that this really does undermine people's faith in our system. you know, we worked so hard to create transparency and trust. you know, everything we do is open to the public, but you can be in the polling place and watch people vote. you can be at canvas and see how we do that. you can be an observer at the recount. in our county, we publish every ballot to the web after the

election so you can click through and see them for yourself. so, that's so hard on clerks, not just in wisconsin, but around the country, when these allegations from the white house and from republicans are out there. it's really, really hard when we work so hard to make sure people trust this system. >> well, you do, and it is so transparent. and i hope that maybe on the outcome of this -- and i know there's going to be a rough road, but the people have a whole new appreciation for people like you all who are dedicating your careers, your lives, to the democratic enterprise of this country. it's a pretty magnificent thing. thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you. and next, the department of homeland security defending trump's decision to fire a top election official, saying chris krebs went too far. and new details tonight about nancy pelosi's future as house speaker as her majority in the house narrows. how about no no uh uh, no way come on, no no

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tonight, the department of homeland security defending president trump's firing of a top official charged with keeping u.s. elections safe and secure. the dh official telling cnn that chris krebs had no authority to

discuss election fraud, which is kind of shocking because krebs' whole job is to police fraud and he put out a statement saying it was the safest election in american history. the statement, you know, described the 2020 election as the most secure, right? that's exactly what it said. directly amy klobachar, the top dam on the over rule committee which has oversight on the elections. you described his firing as a gut punch to our democracy. dhs is defending that move, your response? >> i literally just heard the response, watching my reaction in realtime. i am shocked. you know why? he's been briefing senators of both parties together for a year or two years on this including when the white house stopped the briefings. i have been in rooms with senators where he has explained their actions to limit fraud to basically let the public know

what's going on and stop disinformation. f this is a guy that should be given a medal. one of his duties was to make sure we didn't have foreign interference on our elections, there were obviously attempts. he and many other hardworking people that he supervised made sure that did not happen. and he's been commended by republican senators, the likes of ben sass and richard burr and rob portman just the days since he was fired. >> senate erlor graham says he' concerned of the states the president won, he's looking into states that president-elect biden won. ethic experts are calling on the senate ethics committee to

investigate graham's conversation with the georgia's secretary of state. the secretary of state said that graham was suggesting legally cast ballots be thrown out. he's having this conversation with the states that trump barely lost or as oppose to he won. do you support an ethics committee investigation? >> i am very concerned about this? the ethics committee does look at these things and sometimes they take action and sometimes they don't. i don't understand why senator graham is calling secretaries of states other other states. i know the georgia secretary of state who's willing to stand up and call it out for what it was. he's allowing people to do their jobs and we'll see results. for me it is like as i look of the future of our country and the democracy, this is, erin, as

my advantage point this is all about getting those georgia results in which i understand it is going to be this week. arizona is done. lawsuits have been found frivolous, it is time for donald trump to concede this election. >> so many of your republican colleagues have remained sigh leap colleagues have remained sigh leap silent, not all but most. he keeps on saying this kind of thing and you have some people going out and you know amplifying it and others in their silence and that's why we got a new poll today, 70% of republicans, that's 50.5 million people voted believed president-elect biden won because of fraud. that's not true. what's your reaction?

>> people have to stand up. you saw people during the election, people like kasich and republicans all went into support joe biden. you are seeing mit romney and susan collins and others and world leaders across the globe congratulating joe biden and kamala harris on their victori s victories. i do think we have to make sure that we acknowledge there are people that stood up and that's going to become more and more important as this goes on. you also still have joe biden's reaction to all this which i think has been just spot on saying hey, i know it is hard to lose an election, i will give you a chance, you give me a chance to the trump voters and the grim of demonization that this should not be a partisan moment, it should be an american moment. that's starting to sink in. i am not really surprised by this because donald trump has been commanding and lives in the white house and spending all day

on twitter which is what he seems to be doing when people are dying. eventually people will come around, not everyone but a number of them. >> i appreciate your time, thank you very much. next will the next congress be nancy pelosi's last as speaker. . ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ the expertise that helps keep hospitals clean, is helping keep businesses clean too. look for the ecolab science certified seal. [ sneeze ] skip to cold relief fast with alka seltzer plus severe powerfast fizz. dissolves quickly. instantly ready to start working. ♪ oh, what a relief it is! so fast!

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is flipping his seat in utah red with messages like this one. >> we find this is nothing but a marked organization. we all know all lives matter. >> so i spoke with james clyburn of the significance of this in owen's election. >> i am struck by history. i study the history of this country and voting. maybe mr. owens have never been denied of the rights to vote but i remember when my parents were able to register to vote. maybe they never heard of john lewis or have he ever heard of what it took to cross the bridge to get the right to vote. i would ask him whose lives

matter at emanuel ame church when nine lives were taken when a young man who is trying to start a race war? do those nine lives matter? i think they do tch. that's all black lives matter is all maabout. thank you for joining us, "ac 360" starts now. we start this hour of 350,000 people of the united states is now dead of the coronavirus. we crossed that horrible threshold. on tuesday, the u.s. reported more than 1700 dead, the highest reported deaths in a single day since may. i want to show you our grim history of loss, 50,000 dead by april and and 150,000 by july and 200,000 back in september. a quarter of a million