the top u.s. infectious disease expert says help is on the way with two coronavirus

vaccines, but anthony fauci still hopes americans heed his holiday warnings. then. >> i know crimes. i can smell them. >> donald trump's lawyer rudy giuliani claims the system was rigged against his boss but he's offered no evidence and he's losing and dropping election lawsuits across the country. and later, unprecedented moves by u.s. secretary of state. we'll tell you what mike pompeo has been up to in the middle east. live from cnn world headquarters in atlanta. welcome to you our viewers here in the united states, canada and around the world. i'm kim brunhuber. this is "cnn newsroom." almost 10 months into america's coronavirus pandemic, and the u.s. has set another record high for new daily cases. more than 187,000 new infections

were reported thursday, according to johns hopkins university, with numbers heading in the wrong direction across most of the country, an influential model has raised its projected winter death toll by 30,000. of course there are two promising vaccine candidates in the works, but new research indicates that factors other than effectiveness can impact how well a vaccination program works. they include distribution, the severity of the pandemic and people's willingness to take a vaccine. the top u.s. infectious disease expert is optimistic. >> vaccines are close by. they're coming. i said help is on the way, which to me i think should motivate people even more to double down because pretty soon we're going to get a heck of a lot of help from a very efficacious vaccine, two vaccines that just two weeks ago and this past week was shown to be extremely effective. i mean, efficacious in 95% and

94.5%. that's almost as good as measles vaccine, which is an extraordinary vaccine that crushed the measles in this country. >> now, expert says those vaccines won't be widely available until next year. all the numbers, infections, hospitalizations and deaths are heading in the wrong direction. here's cnn's nick watt in los angeles. >> classrooms closed in new york city this morning. bars, indoor dining, gyms, will likely follow. >> it's just a matter of time. it's very likely to be in the next week or two. >> reporter: starting monday, every k through 12 school in kentucky will also be online only. >> when addressing covid-19, action is unpopular, but inaction is deadly. >> reporter: schools are emptying, hospitaling as are fi

up. now nearly 80,000 covid patients nationwide, never been higher. still. >> i have family members that deny it exist, and it's hard to have that conversation with them. >> reporter: despite a quarter million deaths, despite more than 11 million infections, despite 150,000 new infections a day, they don't believe it's real. that is a real problem. >> more than a quarter million people have now been killed by covid in this country. that's a fact. so is this. >> the end of the pandemic is in sight with the vaccines. that being said, this will get worse. >> the cdc is now advising against thanksgiving travel, and celebrate very small. >> my parents live here in town. they live about a mile from my house. they're both 90. they're not coming for thanksgiving. >> reporter: maybe 20 million vulnerable americans might now get the pfizer or moderna vaccine in the next few months.

>> the day after one of these vaccines is approved, we'll be shipping vaccines to the american people and within a day after that, we'll be seeing those vaccines injected. >> reporter: this, by the way, the first white house coronavirus task force briefing in more than four months. >> america has never been more prepared to combat this virus than we are today. >> reporter: really, the u.s. is adding on an average of 160,000 new cases a day. so hospitals will fill up. the death toll will rise. it's simple math. >> every day you walk into work, someone is super sick. someone is potentially dying that day, having those family meetings and even as i was driving home last night, i drove by one of our parks and there's ongoing practices for some sporting event. >> here in california, saturday night, the governor has said there will be a limited

stay-at-home order over most of the state. it's basically a curfew. 10:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. the governor says the virus is spreading here like it has never done before. they need to get a handle on it. nick watt, cnn, los angeles. dr. scott miskovich, for covid testing joins me from kahlua, hawaii, and prompted testing in hawaii as well. thank you very much for joining us here today. it will be ten months since we saw the first case of covid in the u.s. we have spiking cases, lock downs, piecemeal restrictions. we're divided on what measures or even, you know, whether to take my measures at all. it seems incredible that so many people have learned so little. did you ever think we would be here where we are now, ten months into this? >> no i really didn't think. i thought the country would take this seriously.

i thought the political leadership, whether it was the governors or the departments of health would stand up and come to a common theme, and let people know that this is serious. this is a pandemic that the world has never seen in modern times, and there's only one way we're going to stop this is by having a common voice to tell people how important testing is, how important social distancing and wearing masks is, and we still see that different no matter where we go. >> and, you know, the cdc tries to be part of that national voice, and it's recommending that americans avoid traveling and gathering with relatives for the thanksgiving holiday, but many in the right wing media are saying that the warnings not to congregate over these holidays are tantamount to a war on thanksgiving. the white house press secretary called guidelines limiting thanksgiving orwellian. as someone in public health, i imagine it's hard enough to get people to change their behavior,

to give up on, you know, cherished activities and traditions without these very influential figures, the media and in the white house telling millions of people not to listen. >> as we look for thanksgiving coming up, i'm always giving advice, and the advice is take it seriously. let's face it, kwoowe're not go to stop people from getting together over thanksgiving. put your older parents or someone immunocompromised in a certain area separate. put a fan over their shoulder. let the fan blow away from the person that's immunocompromised so they're not breathing the same area. go outside in an area warm enough. have ventilation that's adequate. those are the common messages leadership should be getting out there. >> the good news is the two vaccines that have produced far better than expected results. they'll be useless if we don't have a plan to get them to

people. we heard again today that the trump administration's vaccine distribution team hasn't briefed anyone on the president-elect's team, and has no plans to do so. how much do you think this national vaccine rollout will be affected by the chaos in washington? >> well, i actually will tell you i'm quite optimistic about what's been happening with the vaccines. those percentages that we're seeing in the high 90s or mid-90s are better than we expected. i'm also involved with a large organization who has been briefing the federal government about a plan, and i guess you would say putting a proposal for operation warp speed, which is the plan the federal government has to have rapid vaccine distribution, so behind the scenes, there is a process going on to create a vaccine distribution. now, the reality is that it's going to be mid next year before we really get it going broadly.

>> thank you so much, doctor. appreciate it as always. >> thank you for having me. an ally of president trump says the president knows he has lost the election, and realizes he has almost no chance of remaining in the white house. why doesn't he concede? well, the source tells us mr. trump says he's delaying the transition to punish democrats for the russia investigation that stained his president. president-elect joe biden is disgusted by the president's undemocratic behavior, especially at the height of a pandemic. >> let me choose my words. i think they're witnessing incredible irresponsibility, incredibly damaging messaging being sent to the rest of the world about how democracy functions and i think it is, well, i don't know his motive, but i just think it's totally

irresponsible. >> meanwhile, the u.s. state of georgia has concluded its hand recount of all ballots and confirmed joe biden won the state by more than 12,000 vote. the state's deadline to official certify the result comes later today. a top u.s. election security official fired this week by donald trump called it the most dangerous hour and 45 minutes of television in american history. he's talking about the president's legal team and its latest claims on election fraud. cnn's kaitlan collins has details. >> reporter: president trump's assault on the outcome of the election taking on a new intensity tonight as deadlines for finalizing results in many states gross closer while his attorneys are set on delaying it. >> i know crimes. i can smell them. >> reporter: after suffering a string of court losses, rudy giuliani and the rest of trump's legal team held a press conference today that went off the rails as they made a series

of baseless allegations and giuliani's hair dye ran down his face. >> did you all watch my cousin vinny. it's one of my favorite law movies because he comes from brooklyn. >> reporter: the president wasn't at that briefing but cnn has learned he has taken the brazen step of inviting michigan gop state legislatures to the white house tomorrow as he tries to undermine the electoral college process. this week, he personally called a republican election official in michigan who tried to stop the certification of the results in the democratic stronghold of wayne county but reversed her decision and voted yes after facing major backlash. >> shame on you. >> reporter: now monica palmer wants to rescind her vote after getting a call from trump when she has no legal standing to do. the trump campaign withdrew it lawsuit in michigan today claiming she could. >> well, they did. they deserted. >> reporter: rudy giuliani told a pennsylvania judge in court earlier in week he was not

alleging fraud in pennsylvania, just a fraudulent process. but when he was in front of cameras today, giuliani changed his tune. >> the number of voter fraud cases in philadelphia could fill a library. >> reporter: in his last two months in office, the president appears set on doing lasting damage to the democracy that put him there, and instead of condemning him, republicans are humoring him. >> vice president biden is talking about unifying the country. i don't think that's possible until you overturn every stone out there. >> reporter: utah senator mitt romney is one of few gop voices expressing concern. >> the consequences of what's happening during this lame duck period, i think, are potentially more severe than the consequences associated with a late transition process. >> reporter: with the pandemic raging in the u.s., the white house coronavirus task force held its first press briefing in four months today.

coronavirus deaths in the u.s. have now surpassed a quarter of a million despite president trump's april projection, they wouldn't go above six figures. >> we're probably heading to 60,000, 70,000. >> reporter: many across the u.s. are left wondering where is the federal government. but trump wasn't at the briefing today, as sources say he's more consumed by his election loss than the pandemic. >> reporter: president trump directed us to host this briefing. after all of the officials went through the numbers and the vaccine distribution list, they refused to take a single question from reporters. the vice president closed out the session. he was making his closing remarks, he closed his binder and turned and walked out of the briefing room as reporters shouted questions at him. of course that likely comes as the vice president and several other top government taxpayer funded officials have refused to comment on the president's efforts to destabilize the

election. kaitlan collins, cnn, the white house. cnn political analyst sabrina siddiqui joins many from washington, a reporter for the "wall street journal." thank you so much for talking to us here. biden wins georgia again, so, you know, case closed, right, conspiracy theories debunked, the president's doulbts have ben put to rest. no doubt, what happens next? >> what remains is the state of georgia to certify its election results, and the republican secretary of state is expected to do that by friday. now, the trump campaign had requested this recount, and it was done by hand. it did not meaningfully change anything. biden's lead was still roughly 12,000 votes and he is now the first democrat to carry georgia in a presidential election in 28

years, and so this is a significant achievement for biden in his campaign, and really the only measure left for the trump campaign is to request a machine recount, but it's quite clear the writing is on the wall. >> let's turn to michigan now. the president hasn't been able to overturn that state's election results in court, just like everywhere else so far. now he's flying the leaders of michigan's republican controlled state legislature to meet with him at the white house later today presumably to try to stop the certification of the vote in that state, so what do you make of those efforts. could it work, and even if it doesn't, what damage is being done here? >> it's extraordinary, really, to see a sitting president try and expert this kind of influence overstate legislatures, really in a last ditch attempt, as we've said, to overturn the results of an election, where there is simply no evidence of widespread fraud. there has been no evidence to support the trump campaign's

claims of fraud and irregularities, and what was most striking is one of the lawyers for the trump campaign told reporters who asked for evidence that that was a fundamental flaw in the question, to actually seek evidence for the claims that they were making. and so look, i think, you know, in terms of whether or not trump can pressure some of the republicans in michigan, perhaps, but there really isn't a remedy for the trump campaign to reverse what has already been declared as the outcome in michigan. another state that joe biden carried by a significant margin, in fact, a margin that is roughly three times more than what trump's margin was when he carried the state in 2016. so i think there's going to be a lot of ongoing tantrums on the part of the president and his campaign. once again, it's not going to change anything, but it really does erode the public's confidence in the outcome of the election, in the integrity of the electoral process in the

unite, and that is doing long-term damage. >> thank you so much for speaking with us sabrina siddiqui, we appreciate it. thank you. mexico hit a milestone in the pandemic, as it struggles under the country's highest covid alert. stay with us. i guess those cows must actually be big dogs. sit! i said sit!

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welcome back. the world health organization warns that europe is in for a tough six months ahead coping with the coronavirus. new infections are holding steady or falling across much of europe compared to last week as you can see here. but those nations in red and orange have increasing cases. in india, health officials have now confirmed more than 9 million total cases of covid-19, second only to the u.s. new infections had been declining before a recent surge in the capital of new delhi. in japan, a top government official says there's no need for a state of emergency despite setting a record of new cases in two straight days. the country added almost 2,400 new infections on thursday. mexico is now confirming more than 100,000 deaths because

of coronavirus. its fatality rate is the second highest in the world. cnn's matt rivers is in dur ran. >> reporter: we know what's happening in the united states, some hospitals are full, and a president who rarely wears a mask. unfortunately down here in mexico, we're seeing a lot of those same things. cases and deaths are rising. hospitals are full, and there is even a president and deputy health secretary who rarely if ever wear masks. this was january, people packed in together to here lead singer jose anhil de soto. crowds like these will come back, but covid-19 has robbed these fans of a favorite son.

jose anhid died after fighting the virus for a month. his daughter spoke to us after hanging ashes from her neck. >> it's not fair. he had so many plans for his life. before his death, his family says four different hospitals near his home refused to accept him because they were too full. officials say mexico is grappling with a distinct second wave of cases in many parts of the country. recent single day case counts are the highest ever. mexico city's mayor says if current trends continue, she will be forced to close part rs of t of the city. look at this scene, an illegal concert where hundreds are grouped together. the alert level in the border state of chihuahua and durango has risen to red level, the country's highest as cases have soared.

the state secretary of health said parties continued, reunions, families where people congregated. in durango, nonessential businesses have been forced to close, and alcohol seas haales banned. the state's health secretary worries what happens when restrictions ease. yes, we are afraid of another wave because we don't know how big it could be but the economic pain brought by the restrictions has been brutal. hundreds of thousands of people nationwide have lost their jobs and durango is no exception. all of these people are waiting in line at a pawnshop. multiple people in this line told us they are here to sell something because of tough times during the pandemic. miguel camacho owns six restaurants across the city. three have shut down, and thohe laid off 60% of his staff. he says it hurts me to see them

on the streets looking for work. he understands putting health first but current restrictions are unsustainable. he says with these restricted hours and no alcohol sales, we are worse off now than in the beginning of the pandemic. restrictions or not, we still don't have an exact idea of how bad mexico's pandemic truly is. the government continues to test, calling more testing quote unnecessary. but from the limited data we do have and from the testimony of those it affects most, this pandemic seems to be as deadly as it's ever been. >> my father was such a good person. he didn't serve a death like this. the overall sense you get in mexico is there's exhaustion all around, on the part of health authorities, people not following the rules, business owne owne owners angst over the economy, and unfortunately we likely have

many months of this ahead of us. back to you. >> still to come on cnn newsroom, lines for the food banks in the u.s. grow longer as the pandemic puts more people out of work. we'll have details next. we're helping change the future of heart failure. understanding how to talk to your doctor about treatment options is key. today, we are redefining how we do things. we find new ways of speaking, so you're never out of touch. it's seeing someone's face that comforts us,

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welcome back to you our viewers in the united states, canada and around the world. i'm kim brunhuber and you're watching "cnn newsroom." u.s. coronavirus cases surged, 180,000 confirmed daily infections according to johns hopkins university. the situation across the u.s. is

deteriorating so quickly that an influential model has raised its projected winter death toll by 30,000, and the cdc is warning americans to stay home for the upcoming thanksgiving holiday. that warning was echoed by dr. anthony fauci in a conversation with our chris cuomo. >> thanksgiving, christmas, people have been stuck in for so long, i don't have to tell somebody with your name how important family is. and they have been trying to do it right, and a lot of them, they haven't gotten sick, and everybody who gets sick pretty much lives, 99 point something, we need the holidays, what's your response? >> yeah, my response is that each and every family unit, and i mean this seriously, chris, and i'm not dictating what we should do, that each and every family unit should do a risk benefit determination about the holidays, about whether they want to have the traditional

thanksgiving meal where you bring in a lot of friends and family, people fly in, they drive in. you take a look at your family, and you say do i have a person there who's an elderly person, a person with an underlying medical condition that might put them at an increased risk of a severe outcome if they get infected. do i want to take that risk right now or do i want to say maybe the prudent thing to do for now is to just pull back and keep it within the family unit that you live with, instead of having people from the outside come in. i'm not saying everybody should do that, but everybody should at least give it serious consideration. >> i spoke a short time ago with john henderson, the head of the texas organization of the rural and community hospitals. i asked him how rural areas of his state are tackling the dramatic upswing in new cases. >> cases and hospitalizations and even deaths are about as

high as we have been at any point during the pandemic. but where the rural hospitals are feeling it most acutely is with regard to staffing. they're having trouble with nurses and respiratory therapists and physicians. they're having a lot of trouble with transfers and bonding transfers for patients that exceed their ability to treat in any case. and they just have been pushed to the edge and we're starting to see some pretty tragic outcomes this week. >> you mentioned the high death rate. i mean, those problems seem to hit rural areas harder in terms of the mortality rate. i understand that it's almost 45% you're more likely to die of covid in rural areas than people who live in urban areas. why is that? >> well, access to care is a big issue in rural texas, and there are people that live a long way from care. and then it has to do with scope of services, so most rural hospitals in texas don't provide

icu level of care, for instance. that's okay most of the time when you can transfer to an urban center, but we have seen trouble with that this week. >> under funding, you know, has been a huge issue. i know you've had to rely on volunteers, including, i understand, matthew mcconaughey who was donating masks to rural hospitals earlier in year. i understand you yourself delivered hand sanitizer out of the back of a pickup truck. that's inspiring to hear that, but it hardly seems like the way a great nation like the u.s. should be handling a pandemic. what do you need from the federal government? >> well, we received some federal stimulus, and it helped our hospitals make it through the summer. if this continues we're going to need more because that money frankly is gone. and we have seen the best in people. matthew and his wife camila in particular have been wonderful but that has been temporary. people are just trying to help

where they can, but we've got to get out of this thing eventually. >> and part of that i imagine is a coordinated national response. you're probably not going to get one until at least, you know, the next president is sworn in, so what are those 60 days until then going to look like? >> we're in for a pretty rough 60 days. at least the next couple of weeks. you almost have this split screen, kim, where there's encouraging news on the vaccine development front, but this period of time between now and when people are actually getting the vaccine that are going to be tragic in many cases across rural areas of texas. >> well, listen, we wish you and all of the staff and doctors that you deal with the best of luck. thank you very much for speaking with us, john henderson, we appreciate it. >> thahappy to do it. thank you. as covid cases soar in the u.s., more people are losing their jobs. nearly 3/4 of a million

americans filed for first time unemployment benefits last week. the first increase in that number after weeks of decline. to discuss this, let's bring in john defterios in abu dhabi. i'm no economist, but that doesn't sound like a good combination. >> certainly not, kim, these are big numbers you're talking about here, and we have almost the perfect storm. we have cases spiking throughout the united states while the u.s. federal programs are winding down, and then you have this uncertainty about the transition to the white house. you talked about the weekly jobless claims. they are historically high. we have the long-term unemployed shooting up to nearly 4 million in the last month. that was a gain of 50%. there are a handful of programs that are super important. one was the paycheck program for those in small businesses, like

restaurants, dry cleaner, petrol stations and the rest. that phased out in august. another one for freelancers and contractors, covering another 7 million jobs. one for eviction notices to keep people in their homes, that's going to wind down the end of december, and unemployment supplemental insurance, that was $600 a week. it only lasted for the first four months of the first stimulus package. it's critical to get one back on to the table, and this window of the next five weeks is so important. we see a glimmer of hope with the leadership in the senate and the house talking again, saying they're willing to sit down. it is a huge canyon, if you will, in terms of the package that we're talking about. $2.2 trillion on the house side with nancy pelosi, mitch mcconnell and chuck schumer dealing with something, but mcconnell has not been budging from the figure. as the programs wind down by the end of the year, you can't leave people hanging until the presidential transition on

january 20th. back to you. >> at least there's hope. thank you so much for that. john defterios in abu dhabi, appreciate it. shocking allegations in a newly filed lawsuit about a tyson food plant in iowa. the plant manager allegedly organized a pool to bet on how many employees would test positive for covid, and the company allegedly failed to provide enough safety measures. cnn's dan simon reports. >> stunning allegations made against managers at this tyson processing plant in waterloo, iowa, one of the first to shut down when the coronavirus raged uncontrollably in the spring. a supervisor taking bets on how many would get the virus. according to the allegations, the plant manager of the waterloo facility organized a cash buy in, winner take all betting pool for supervisors and managers to wager how many employees would test positive

for covid-19. in the end, more than a thousand employees would catch the virus, about a third of the nearly 3,000 working at the plant. ernest ladiker spoke to cnn in april about his conversation with the hr department. >> they told me i was safe, and they told me that everything was okay, and that i have a better chance of catching the coronavirus going out to walmart than at tyson, come to work, you're safe. >> our focus is keeping the plant, the team members healthy. >> that was tyson's ceo dean banks in march, as supermarket shelves began to lay bear as plants struggled to contain the virus. as best practices became known, the suit says tyson failed to provide appropriate personal protective equipment and failed to implement sufficient social distancing or safety measures to protect workers from the outbreak. at least five waterloo plant workers died according to the

lawsuit. the suit filed earlier in year by the family of one of them. but it's been revised with even more troubling claims including the alleged betting pool. another manager is also alleged to have explicitly directed supervisors to ignore symptoms of covid-19, telling them to show up to work even if they were exhibiting symptoms of the virus, a concern one employee echoed in april. >> do you think they care about your thelt? -- health? >> not as much as they need to. >> a statement reads in part, we were upset about the accusations about the leadership at our tyson plant. tyson foods is a family company, and these allegations do not represent who we are. he went on to say that the alleged individuals involved would be suspended without pay, and he's also tapped former attorney general eric holder to launch an investigation. i'm dan simon, cnn reporting. there's some advice from a former chairman of the federal reserve, allen greenspan is one

of many saying controlling the coronavirus pandemic is the number one priority in the u.s. he spoke earlier to cnn. >> i have never seen a particular situation all during my professional experience, anything like this with which we have to have handle when we know very little about its internal dynamics. however, trying to forecast where the virus is going is, at this particular stage, very little more than a guess. >> well, it's become known as the swedish model but some doctors there now say the light touch approach to the pandemic isn't working so we'll be live in stockholm, stay with us. robinhood believes now is the time to do money.

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second coronavirus waech ave ar kicking in in sweden. starting today, bars and restaurants won't be allowed to sell alcohol after 10:00 p.m. the country has relied on a light touch government, instead of enforcing rules. the death toll is four times the combined figure of it nordic neighbors, all of which had tougher measures. phil black is in stockholm. many conservatives touted the swedish model, no lock downs, no strict measures, an emphasis on personal responsibility but now the government is changing its tune. are sweden listening. >> reporter: they are concerned about two things, one that people aren't paying enough attention to those recommendations. more than that, they think those recommendations alone are no longer sufficient. they are frustrated was ever a goal. but they have said that they hope the more open approach would as a consequence, allow immunity to build in the population, to appoint where it would at least help in slowing down the spread of the virus. they thought it would really start to make a difference and prevent further spikes, further waves as the country is experiencing now. they now believe, however, that there is simply no evidence to suggest a greater immunity in the population is playing any role in slowing down to any significant degree. the spread of the virus at the moment. >> an interesting lesson being learned there. thank you very much, cnn's phil black. the u.s. secretary of state shatters decades of u.s. foreign policy by visiting a jewish

settlement in the west bank that's considered illegal under international law. we'll have a live report from jerusalem just ahead. stay with us.

u.s. secretary of state mike pompeo left israel for the united arab emirates. his final hours in israel included a trip to the friends of zion museum in jerusalem and visited a holy site on the jordan river considered the place where jesus was baptized. he visited a jewish settlement in the west bank. international law considers those settlements illegal, and while touring the golan heights near the syrian border, he declared this is a part of israel. that's a radical departure from decades of u.s. foreign policy. cnn's oren liebermann has been covering the secretary's visit and joins us now from jerusalem. the secretary of state breaking all sorts of foreign policy traditions. how is it being received in israel and how is it being interpreted by palestinians? >> reporter: secretary of state mike pompeo along with the trump administration have been moving u.s. foreign policy in this direction for quite some time from recognizing israeli

sovereignty in the golan heights to pompeo decision or ruling that settlements were not de facto, illegal under the law, and leaving it up to the judicial system to decide whether it was legal or illegal. all of that brokered decades of u.s. foreign policy, and that didn't seem to bother pompeo or the trump administration at all. it is a victory for settlers in the west bank. it is a victory for prime minister benjamin netanyahu and israel's right wing and perhaps more importantly for pompeo's perspective, it is a victory for evangelical christians who cheered for this trip. that is who pompeo is looking to as he eyes his own bid for the white house in 2024. if that's to succeed, he knows he needs evangelical christians and that would be his base. perhaps that explains the visit to friends of zion museum. a museum founded by evangelical

christians. palestinians furious by the trip. there were protests around the winery he visited, the day before he visited there. he says it legitimatizes israel's occupation of palestinian territory. >> let's look forward, what are we expecting from mr. pompeo a abu dhabi. >> reporter: i expect we'll hear about the success of the abraham accords. we'll hear i suspect a little bit of the perhaps, although this will become quiet on the uae ship to get the lockheed martin fighter jet. they have gotten louder about their desire to have that jet in the last few days or weeks. he'll head to qatar and saudi arabia, the trump administration has pushed to normalize relations with israel. in the waning days, the effort is still ongoing. >> thank you so much, oren liebermann in jerusalem. changing tacts now, you know

the holidays are around the corner when they put out the traditional christmas tree at rockefeller center in new york. this year it contained a surprise, a living present. good they think too, the enormous norway spruce looked sad. a tree charlie brown would know. what was tucked in its branches gave everyone a hoot. let's see him. there he is, this little guy. a full grown solid owl, about the size of a soda can. naturally he's been called rockefeller. he's been cared for at a wildlife facility and eventually will be returned to the wild. the long held tradition of sitting on santa's lap may not be possible for children this year, but santa isn't going to let a pandemic get in the way of christmas. thanks to one company, kids can tell santa what's on their wish list virtually. it's created a web site where

children can talk to santa using artificial intelligence, santa data base has over 180,000 questions. >> what do you do in summer? >> my favorite hobby, would you believe it, it's roller skating. >> and the number one question kids ask, whether they're on the naughty or nice list, the web site asksanta.com is live until new year's eve. i feel like we have all been naughty this year somehow. that wraps this hour of cnn newsroom, i'm kim brunhuber. please stay with us. "early start" is next. robinhood believes now is the time to do money.

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welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. this is "early start," i'm laura jarrett and christine romans is back. >> i'm back. it's friday, november 20th. 5:00 a.m. in new york. i come back for the friday edition, laura. breaking overnight, the state of georgia wrapping up its audit in the presidential election, confirming biden defeated president trump, biden won over 12,000 votes. no finds of widespread fraud or irregularity as alleged by the president, loyalists and the disinformation