hopefully this will just be a brief bump in the road, just a small break, and things will be better. >> yeah adios 2020. >> yeah. all right, thank you so much. i appreciate your time, teresa. thanks to all of you for being with us as always on this friday. "ac 360" starts now. the bad news is the president is trying to overturn the election. the good news is his latest attempt today seems to have failed. john berman in here for anderson. back to the bad news, which is really historically bad. how do we know the president and his team are trying to overturn the election? because they told us. listen. >> the entire election, frankly, and all the swing states should be overturned, and the legislatures should make sure that the electors are selected for trump. >> reporter: that's trump campaign lawyer sidney powell

talking to fox business. when she says she wants to election overturned, i think what she means is that she wants to election overturned. she's talking about negating the will of the people in states where they chose president-elect biden but whose legislatures happen to be republican controlled. so far, for all the hair dye running down rudy giuliani's face, for every sex show presser, every courtroom presentation, this is serious. when klahns are pouring gasoline over the process you stop noticing t noticing the grease paint or hair dye. the president first demanding the vote count stop in some states and continue in others, depending on how ahead he was at the moment, that failed. georgia certified the results, cementing joe biden's win there. fa phase two has been legal challenges, all of which failed

failed miserably orbing failed miserably and comically. >> did you all watch "my cousin vinny"? it's bun of my favorite law movies because he's from brooklyn. >> now that he's got that off his chest and judges have gotten sick of his -- there's phase three, reaching tout to legislatures in states that went to joe biden so they can name their electors there by throwing it to president trump. and by the way, overriding the will of the voters. today, michigan lawmakers flew to washington to meet with him. when asked why the leader of the free world would want to meet the two at this particular moment, the white house press secretary who also works for the campaign gave an answer fishy enough for friday dinner. >> what is the president

planning to discuss this afternoon with the two michigan lawmakers? and will he ask them to have the state legislature appoint electors who will -- his re-election? >> he'll be meeting later on. this is not an advocacy meeting. he routinely meets with lawmakers all across the country. >> you can't always believe kayleigh mcenany whose very first promise on the job was to never tell a lie, which she broke that same day, or you can believe the president's lawyer who a just heard laying out the plan, the plan to overturn the election. religion reasonabudy giuliani w meeting. he's in isolation after his son, who works at the white house was infected with covid. and breaking news -- don junior has it, too. another outbreak in the president's circle which is hardly news anymore. we do wish them all well. rudy as colleague jenna ellis

was absent. it's not clear any member of the team was there perhaps because they realized whatever transpired could be illegal. here's what michigan's house and senate leader said after the fact in a statement. we have not yet been made aware of any information that would change the outcome of the election in michigan and as legislative leaders we will follow the law and follow the normal process regarding michigan's electors just as we have said throughout this election. the statement concludes with this -- and the candidates who win the most votes win elections and michigan's electoral votes. these are simple truths that should provide confidence in our elections. so, the president's plan is not working. at least not yet. but the fact that he is explicitly trying -- again, it's historically alarming and not done. cnn has also learned that he's considering reaching out to republican lawmakers in pennsylvania as well. and as you know, he's gone so

far as to make phone calls to county election officials in the detroit area who subsequently tried to rescind their certification of the vote. so he's trying. and with a few exceptions, most notably mitt romney and to a much lesser extent lamar alexander, the republicans on capitol hill seem content to let him continue. the president himself spoke out today in what he billed as a press conference yet he took no questions. he di however call himself the winner of the election, a savior on vaccines and a winner in general. >> big pharma ran millions of dollars in advertisements against me during the campaign. which ien who, by the way. but we'll find out. 74 million votes. you wouldn't have a vaccine if it weren't for me for another four years because fda would have never been able to do what

they did, what i forced them to do. and pfizer and others even decided to not assess the results of their vaccine, in other words, not come out with a vaccine, until just after the election. >> that, by the way, is simply a lie. vaccine timetable was driven by the numbers. oddly enough, so was the election. cnn's kaitlan collins joins us now from the white house. the president's meeting with these michigan lawmakers, the idea of which is wildly inappropriate. do we know what came out of it? >> reporter: clearly not what the president wanted judging by the statement because they're sending a pretty clear signal they're not going to change anything, they're not going the break from the norm and they're not acknowledging joe biden's win, but they're going far enough to say they're not doing what the president and sidney powell, his attorney, us a played that sound, hoped they would do. it was clearly a political movie for the president to invite them here. he doesn't often meet with state

lawmakers despite what the press secretary said earlier. this meeting was not included on his official schedule. we only found out about it because of reporting we did in michigan to know they had been invited. the question really is, what do next step was the president make? does he invite the lawmakers from pennsylvania to come here? a similar fashion to this? the president is at the end of the road running out of options for what he could do. it went from waiting for the votes to be counted. we saw what happened there. then it went as lawsuits we're pursuing. over two dozen have been lost or withdrawn by the president and his allies. this was kind of his last-ditch effort to use his political muscle on these republicans who we should note, of course don't want to anger the president, but notably in this statement they're not endorsing the president's claims about widespread fraud. >> they're not, not at all. the president didn't take any

questions at what he said would be a news conference. kayleigh mcenany hardly took questions at her briefing. >> reporter: yeah, this has been this broader pattern since the election. members of the federal government don't want to take questions from reporters. the president, surprising for him to go 17 days, which is what he's done, without taking questions from reporters. the press secretary came out, it was her first briefing since october 1st. today she only took a handful of questions. there's not. that in the room because of social distancing, so at the end i asked her why she couldn't call on anyone in the room, and this is how that went. >> thank you, everyone, for the very good and substantive questions today. >> i don't call on activists. >> i'm not an activist and you haven't taken any questions

since october 1st and you took about five cay leag. that's not doing your job. >> reporter: that gives you an indication of where you're at. >> also thames us how good you are at your job, kaitlan, which frankly everyone knows. we also learned tonight that donald trump jr. tested positive for coronavirus. >> reporter: this is surprising. remember, his girlfriend, kimberly gill foil had coronavirus earlier this year, but now we're learning the president's son also has been diagnosed with it. he was diagnosed monday. had it several days before it was reported by bloomberg that he contracted it. his spokesman confirmed he's quarantining. he's taking the necessary precautions but this is just more evidence that we're seeing people in the president's inner circle with getting this. a lot of times they're disregarding or dismissing the

receiv severity of the pandemic. rudy giuliani also quarantining because his son tested positive for coronavirus and has not been wearing a mask at the white house. you just see the danger of this happening here inside the west wing and the president's family. >> kaitlan collins badass white house reporter thanks for being with us. keep up the good work. >> thanks, john. more now on just how unprecedented this is, not the mention unpresidential. david gergen joins us. he's seen quite a lot from the inside, but not quite this. also douglas brinkley and jennifer granholm who is a senior member now of the biden transition team. david, you wrote a piece for cnn.com today and you say, never before has the opposition undermined the legitimacy of a new president before he has even taken office to anything like this degree or fashion. you served in both republican and democratic administrations. how unprecedented is this on the

way in? >> very. very. when people like doug and i were growing up -- i'm a little older than doug -- presidents had honeymoons. they got six, eight months of time when the opposition, the media, other groups were very supportive, wanted to see them succeed. made a big difference. they got things done. then we went through a period for bill clinton to today when presidents were denied their honeymoons but left unschoolyard coming out. they had to make it on their own. it was rougher, but they made out on their way. this is the first time we've ever seen trying to kneecap an incoming president before he takes the oath of office. to set out in a deliberate way to sabotage a future president before he can go and take -- try to do things for the country. that is different. and i'm really worried, john. the more you look at the data and what's happening among trump

voters, the more you see a swing from, well, maybe this wasn't decided fraudulently. maybe it was -- could have been decided better. now there is an active view among a lot of trump voters. the polls bear this out. 75% think that biden is coming from a place of fraud. they basically think that he will be illegitimate. think about that. you translate that into a number of -- you got 73 million voters who voted for trump. 75% of them think biden is a fraud. that means if you whittle it down, we're going to have an election day, possibly and likely, 15 million americans who believe that our new president is illegitimate. that is extremely damaging to the prospects for democracy. >> that's important becauseky not think -- it has an impact

nonetheless. but to that point, douglas brinkley, to explicitly say you're trying to overturn the election which is what the president's lawyers are doing, where does that fit in historical precedent? there's nothing close to that, is there? >> it goes against american traditions. it's what dictators do. it's the kind of stunt vladimir putin who president trump worships would do. there's nothing like this. i think david used the right word -- sabotage. you have a president trying to wreck what was one of the great accomplishments in a very hard year in 2020. we in 2016 had russian interference, men like mr. krebs will to work to stop and make sure the cybersecurity was okay. we ended up having a historic number of voters. we should all be doing, what a

great success the election was. instead, donald trump wants to act like a petulant child. his erratic behavior in the white house and the way he's trolling around in michigan and georgia and pennsylvania, taking worthless legal cases to court and losing, makes you think he's mentally unstable. we've thought this for a while, but, you know, this is -- we used to think nixon's last days were dark or lyndon johnson's were problematic. this was bizarro. it's going to be hard for bide t en to pull the country together. it's going to be hard. he'll try, but i doubt there will be a trump there to participate at the ceremony. >> governor granholm normally you'd celebrate two michigananders going to the

white house, but these deny on a scale of 1 to 10, how inappropriate do you think this meeting was today? >> oh, it was 100. it was so utterly inappropriate. but the good news is, though, john, is that the two michigan legislators, they have now as you reported, reaffirmed their commitment to respect the constitution and voters. so, to the problems that have been identified there by david gergen and douglas brinkley, it is long past time for every republican to come out and stand for american democracy and acknowledge joe biden as the president-elect so we can move forward together to tackle these big issues like the covid crisis. it is the republicans' need to stem this problem that david gergen has identified. they need to step up. thank you to mitt romney and

others who have. but the rest need to do so as well. the republican party has to begin to repair the damage that donald trump has been making. the good news is, though, the gambit today, however wrong the president's actions might be, the pillars that are holding up this democracy, they are not going to be toppled. the president may be slashing at them. he may be flailing at them in desperation, but these pillars will not fall, and the choice of the voters is going to be upheld. >> it's not working, as i said yet, but the bad news is the president is explicitly trying. us as you stated so eloquently, that in and of itself leaves a real mark that's hard to recover from. i appreciate you being here. thank you so much. >> thank you, john. >> thank you. next a former republican senator defense secretary on what we're seeing and what he has not seen from his old senate

colleagues. where are the republicans now? and later, with cases hospitalizations and fatalities soaring, a new and sobering forecast on the pandemic. that and more when "360" continues. (children laughing) ♪ (music swells) ♪ ♪ (music fades) (exhales) experience the power of sanctuary at the lincoln wish list sales event. sign and drive off in a new lincoln with zero down, zero due at signing, and a complimentary first month's payment. to save you up to 60%. these are all great. and when you get a big deal... ♪ ...you feel like a big deal. ♪ priceline. every trip is a big deal. yoat nature's way, that startsn with quality ingredients. ♪

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the will of the voters in the states he lost. it's quoting romney. it's difficult to imagine a worse, more undemocratic action by a sitting american president. lamar alexander of tennessee, kate upton of texas raised concerns in different degrees about what's going on. other republicans have been more reticent. far more reticent. perspective now from senator women cohen. this can for being with us right now. cnn is reporting that some republicans are growing, quote, restless over the delay in moving forward. they have anxiety. what good does that do? give them tums. what good does their anxiety and restlessness do? >> doesn't do much. condemns them to a wall of shame. if one for ever made and put up in the washington area, their

name should be associated with that. frankly, i consider them to be sunshine conservatives. when you look at what president trump is trying to do, he has tried to undermine the 10th amendment. most conservatives cite the 10th amendment as being the 10th commandment, that there are state rights. the right to vote is governed by the governor and legislature in that state or the county. the president saying any write-in ballots, mail-in ballots, absentee ballots they're all fraudulent. so a he's saying they're okay as long as he can vote by mail, or done in florida. that's not fraudulent. what he's doing is saying anybody who votes by -- other than in person is committing a fraud upon the american people. so what he's doing in essence, these trying to criminalize those who live in cities as he has done for black people and people of color.

naming them presumptively criminal because of the color of their skin or because they live in cities and therefore they must be engage in the fraud. this is time for my republican friends who consider themselves to be conservatives to speak out for states' rights. every state has the right to set what the procedure and policy is going to be in terms of the people's right to vote. i think he's undermining the constitution, the 10th amendment and those who consider themselves conservatives should be the first in line to speak out against that. >> the fact of the matter is that 50 sitting republican senators have said squat. they have said nothing. so far we have ben sasse, mitt romney, and to a much lesser extent lamar alexander, but 50 have said nothing. you have the two legislators go to the white house today and they said whoever won the popular vote is going to get the electors. i imagine that took courage for

them, but how much easier would it be if mitch mcconnell would speak out publicly for these politicians? i don't understand why they're so against it. apparently they fear the president, that he might turn his supporters loose on them and they would send hate mail and other types of activities directed to them. i was talking to a gentleman who at 17 lied about his age and joined the army because he had been attacked by the japanese and also the germans. he was 17 when he joined. he was one of the first ones on omaha beach. he went back during the korean war. you think about the greatest generation. they were fighting nazi bullets and bombs coming at them, and here we have a bunch of senators who fear a vote against them, who fear they might lose. not their life or their limbs but might lose their office if they come out and say what they know is their hearts to be true.

happy birthday, by the way, joe biden. he's the next president of the united states, the president-elect. and they should say so. they should at least say he should be given ax to the intelligence, the material that would allow him to start on a run the first day. and i would like to say to my former colleagues -- they like to cite the founding fathers. i hope they go back and read george washington's lessons about civility. and there were 110 lessons. 110. the 110th lesson was labor to keep alive in your breast that little celestial light called conscious. labor to keep alive in your breast that little light called conscious. look to your conscious and decide whether or not you're going support the constitution, which you swore an oath to do, or whether you're going to live in fear of ex president trump. my one wish for all of those

watching that come january 21, the media stop covering donald trump. cover joe biden and the enormous challenge he has. put the former president off to the side and ignore him as much as possible and don't cover what he's saying because he is determined to keep your focus on him and disrupt and undermine whatever joe biden hopes to accomplish during the next four years. >> secretary william cohen, it's a lot to think about, the light of conscious. i worry tonight that light is flickering if not going out completely. but thank you. thank you for being with us tonight. just ahead, a new coronavirus tracking model suggests it's about to get much, much worse, particularly if most americans don't wear masks or social distance. the details when we continue. honey? new nyquil severe honey is maximum strength cold and flu medicine with soothing honey-licious taste. nyquil honey. the nighttime, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy head, fever best sleep with a cold medicine.

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a well respected coronavirus model now projects tense of thousands more coronavirus deaths in the u.s. than it did just a week ago. according to the researchers u.s. deaths are now expected to total 471,000 by march. that's about an 85% increase from where we are now. it gets worse. that number assumes we do things right. that 48 state governments will reimpose social distance guidelines. joining me now, the man whose group published that model, chris murray at the university of washington. thanks so much for being with us. the new projections are just terrible. why do you think infections and deaths are increasing faster right now than what was expected?

>> that's a great question. we certainly have been expecting for months now this big surge, but it's really explosive. we're seeing in the case, in the death numbers, things going debate the numb -- the numbers are just going up faster than expected. i think it's probably fatigue. it's that people are just not being as cautious as we had hoped they would be, and we're not seeing -- as the numbers surge up, we expect people to start being really careful, and that's not happening. >> the 2,000 deaths reported yesterday -- who knows we could hit that again today -- that's a big number. i think that was a little bit unexpected so soon in this surge. your models are projecting 2,500 deaths per day by mid january. that's two months from now. given what we're seeing today,

you know, is it possible that that projection for mid january is in the low side? >> it certainly is. you know, that projection, as you mentioned, assumes that governors in the 40 states that will have the bigger epidemics are going to act, they're going to put in a set of mandates, and that's going to put the brakes on transmission, that's how we get the slow increase, as you say, from 2,000 now to 2,500 in january. if we don't see those actions we go up as high as 4,500 deaths in january per day. >> that's so upsetting. it's just so upsetting. you mentioned before you haven't seen the changes in behavior yet that you would need to see to keep the numbers down, but one of the things we have seen in the past is when things do get bad, people do start to alter the way they live, and one of the ways you can measure that is mobility, how much people move around or not. what are you seeing? >> well, we're seeing in the

mobility data that comes from cell phone use, so it's pretty useful, we're seeing that there is some indication that it's coming down, but it's not like what we saw back in the spring when we saw, you know, the extraordinary surge even before governors put the mandates in. people got really scared in the spring and then -- went down profoundly. slow decline, but nothing like what we saw before. >> i didn't realize it's not slowing down. finally, pfizer today applied for emergency use approval for its vaccine. it's going to take weeks to get this all done and weeks to get their vaccine out to people, but when will you start to factor that into your projections? >> we're planning to factor that in the vehicle after thanksgiving. we've got to models running. we have been look at what vaccination could do, but

unfortunately, given the scale-up, even if we do a national sort of crisis scaleup, a lot of death that's going to occur in december and january will occur anyway because it takes four to six weeks for the vaccine to work. the vaccine's great for getting back to normal next summer, but not the solution for this winter surge. >> dr. chris murray, tough stuff. i appreciate the work you're doing, appreciate you being with us tonight. >> thanks. perspective now from dr. celine gounder who serves on president-elect joe biden's task force and mcclellan, former fda commissioner under george bush. dr. mcclellan you say this surge we are now smack in the middle of or maybe just at the beginning of is by far the worst, but will hopefully be the

last. what further steps do you think need to be taken now to get it under control? >> well, john, most important it's what you were just talking about with dr. murray, which is help to enable all americans who are tired of what they had been through over the course of the year to take the steps needed to slow the spread. and there are some steps that are state and local officials can take in terms of reducing the degree to which businesses are open. there are some steps that congress could take just like they did in the spring to provide financial support for the businesses that are affected and the people whose jobs are put in jeopardy by the need for more distancing. but those really are the most important steps in the short-term. other things we can do include increased access to testing. that's a lot better than it used to be, but there's more room we could take in ramping it up. and there are better treatments available now, john, such as

manmade versions of the antibodies vaccines -- produce. they could help with preventing some of the severe cases and bringing down hospitalizations. this will hopefully be the last big surge, but we do have some tough weeks ahead, and we all need to pull together to make it through the coming weeks. >> dr. gounder, the president-elect says he does not want a national lockdown. he says it emphatically. you say it also. have been very clear about it for the last few days. what does the advisory board which you are a member of and the president-elect, what do you want to see happen between now and election day? >> well, a couple of things. one, i think americans have had a really hard last several months. there has been some support in the form of stimulus bills to help people who have lost their jobs and the like make it through. but that needs to be readdressed now that. money is running out.

and there has been a stimulus bill before congress. the senate has yet to take it up. senator mitch mcconnell really does need to move forward on that and not wait for a january 20th. people are having difficulty making rent now. people are not able to put food on the table now. a lot of fatigue is related to some of the economic consequences of the pandemic. if we can help people with the economic side of things i think they'll be much more likely to work with us and help us as public health officials and doctors and nurses and so on with the medical side of things. >> so, dr. mcclellan, the fda announced late today that it has scheduled a december 10th meeting of its outside advisory panel to discuss pfizer's application for emergency use authorization for their vaccines. as a former commissioner of the fda, can you explain what the next steps will be? >> yeah. let me say, also, i'm really impressed with what the fda has done, what scientists working

with them have done and all the people who participated in the clinical trials have done to get to this point. what needs to happen now is a close look at that data by the fda staff. they're going to take a detailed look over the next few weeks and as you said, there will be an independent review by a fda advisory committee in the second week in december, and that committee is going to review also the fda's assessment of the data. there will be a close look not only at how beneficial the vaccines are, but also what the safety data is showing. remember, there were over 4,000 people in this clinical trial. also right on the heels of this application is one from moderna. we could see action, could see vaccines available mid december if it all works out.

>> that would be simply terrific news if the vaccine can get to the people who need it, which gets to the idea of distribution, which gets to the idea of coordination between the administrations. how much does the biden/harris team know about the plan to distribute the vaccine? >> we simply don't have to inner administration data plans and so forth. so we have access to what is publicly available in newspapers, on television, online. and frankly, that's not nearly the level of detail we need. that would be like waging war with a super power based on watching cnn and read "the new york times." that's obviously inadequate. we really do need for the administration, for the gsa to move forward with ascertainment so our team can -- with the

counterparts and get that critical information and understand what's already in the works and where we're picking up. >> thank you both for the work you do, and thanks for being with us tonight. >> thank you. up next, more on this crisis. gary tuckman has a look at how the failures of one state government to push harder for social distancing and mask usage helped turn it into one of the biggest hot spots in the nation. goodbye cleaning, hello clean.

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so, as we mentioned before the break, the pandemic is getting far worse. no more so than in south dakota, which has the highest seven-day positivity rate in the nation. more than 52%. what that means is that on average, more than 1 in 2 people tested are positive for the virus. one reason according to the imhe study earlier. south dakota is a state where mask usage is -- the governor said the rise in cases is nothing to do with her refusal to issue a mask mandate. quote, together we've done a good job. more now from "360"'s gary tuckman. >> are you going to be okay if i sit you up a little bit? >> sure. >> reporter: keith is very ill. the 88-year-old has covid-19. he's in the hospital in rapids

city, south dakota, a state with an explosive increase in covid cases. incredibly, more people in south dakota are testing positive than negative. >> you people have helped me so much. three days has been rough. it's improved. >> reporter: this is an intensive care unit just for covid patients at the monument health rapid city hospital. the patients are overwhelming for the staff and everybody knows it's getting worse. this is the hospital's vice president of medical affairs. >> i'm very scared for the state, for my neighbors, for my own family, sometimes for myself. and this is the truth. >> we're going to get better, huh? >> reporter: employees here doing heroic work. >> yes, you are getting better. >> reporter: but there's great concern as cases continue to increase it will be difficult to maintain adequate staffing levels. at the end of july there were just five covid patients in this hospital.

today, there are 85 covid patients in this hospital. heidi shuman is a nurse's aid. >> it's very hard. there are a lot of days i go home and cry. because i get to go home to my family and see my daughter and my parents and everybody, some of these people don't make it out of here, unfortunate. >> reporter: for keith, things are touch and go. >> it's been a great life, and these tears in my eyes are happy tears. they're not sad tears. to know how many people really care. you've kind of got to wondering once in a while. >> 90% right now. remember to take the deep breaths in your nose, out your mouth. >> reporter: a few days ago, this man felt achy and haveh a scratchy note. now he's highly kisick receivin

high levels of oxygen. how are you feeling right now? >> a little anxious. >> reporter: you have good care here, great doctors and nurses. >> yeah, the care here is excellent. >> reporter: one of the r.n.s treating tom move to south dakota from south florida at the beginning of the outbreak. >> thankfully i haven't contracted it yet. i just keep praying that it stays that way. >> reporter: it's scary, isn't it? >> yeah, it is. >> reporter: what do you say to people who don't take it seriously, covid? >> well, i don't know if i should say this or not, but i believe that because the whole covid situation was a failure from the top government leadership to the state government. they didn't deal with it. they apparently didn't think that they needed to listen to the experts and stuff. >> my people are happy. >> reporter: the governor of

south dakota has refused to encourage her citizens to wear masks or socially distance, even as her state becomes a national leader in covid sickness. so south dakota hospitals are taking it upon themselves to try to keep people safe. >> some folks don't even believe this disease is real. >> reporter: here in south dakota. >> yes. misinformation is one thing. that leads to misguidance. but also there's this street government -- we will not do something if you tell me to do it. i'll do it if i feel like it. that's how frustrated i feel. >> reporter: my father told me when i was a kid, he poked me in the leg and he says, you know, everybody's got troubles, and you have to help them if you can. and i've done that all my life. >> reporter: and now people helping you, keith. >> they are, they are. thank god.

>> the governor held a news conference this week. she gave zero indication of a change of philosophy. you talked about the psa that's been cut, the public service announcement on tv a lot here. the governor is but the numbers don't lie. south dakota is a beautiful state but in a very bad place now. john. >> there are beautiful people suffering inside that hospital. gary. we do care, please let them know all around the country we do care what's happening to them. terrific reporting. thanks so much for being with us. gary tuchman. coming up, first daughter and soon-to-be former presidential adviser ivanka trump pushing back on the bombshell new report about payments from the trump organization. wait till you hear how she's responding. the details and insight when we continue. ♪

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first daughter ivanka trump is blasting two new york state fraud investigation cases that have in part put a spotlight on hundreds of thousands she was apparently paid by the trump family business. "the new york times" reports that the two separate pros, one criminal and one civil are examining tax write-offs on just a portion of the $26 million paid in consulting fees, nearly $750,000 of which according to "the times" appear to have been paid to ms. trump. the times says there is no indication that ivanka trump whose government post as an official advise story her father until he leaves office, no indication she is the focus of either inquiry and she perhaps not surprisingly is now sounding like her father in pushing back. in a tweet she wrote, this is harassment, pure and simple. this inquiry by nyc democrats is motivated by publicity and rage and know there's nothing here

and there was no tax benefit whatsoever. these politicians are simply ruthless. perspective from alaina plot whose colleagues at "the times" broke the story and wrote extensively on ivanka and jared kushner. ivanka trump's response, what is your sense of how concerned she is about these legal issues? >> well, i think the tweet speaks for itself. one thing fascinating covering ivanka is how, you know, we have gone from seeing a first daughter, an official adviser who in many ways did everything she could to distance herself from the tenor of her father from in many ways the politics of her father, try in many ways to present herself as someone who was still part and parcel of the manhattan liberal community from which she came and the past few months especially have shown that that's no longer the

community with which she identifies, john, and i think the tone of this tweet in particular shows that not only has she come to more politically identify with her father but also at a much more personal way in terms of adopting his tactics and being quite comfortable projecting an image that looks much more like his. >> two things i want to point out. the first is that one thing that may be getting under her skin here is this is a state investigation. this is something that she can't be pardoned for by her father in the next 60 days. not saying she necessarily needs a pardon but this is something that there's nothing that he or she can do to stop in the next 61 days. >> it's such a great point. the reality, of course, is that you are seeing however gradually a number of republicans whether it's, you know, some in conservative media like the washington examiner call on

trump to realize he has in fact lost his re-election race which means that come january 21st the trumps will be once more private citizens and with leticia james in new york pursuing these investigations as far as i can tell well after they are out of the office the white house is no longer an umbrella for the family in terms of avoiding what could come and it's important to point out we have no indication at the times that ivanka trump is a primary focus of these investigations, but if like you say she is somebody who is ultimately, you know, charged with criminal activity, this is no longer something -- she's no longer roger stone who could beckon for a pardon from the white house. >> you keep on talking about what happens in 60 or 61 days after ivanka trump and jared

kushner are no longer part of the trump administration. what's their plan? do they plan to come back to new york city where i am because there's this notion floating around they may not get invited to quite as many parties here. >> the first thing i would say, john, when i did a pretty extensive profile of ivanka for the atlantic, one thing a gentleman in new york has -- a prominent gentleman in new york society said the only thing that was unpardonly in new york is poverty which is to say that i am a bit skeptical of, you know, maybe wish fulfillment had lines that would vug ivanka will never be invited to the met gala again. i don't know that i feel comfortable as a reporter saying i believe that's entirely true but at the same time, you know, i think ivanka trump has enjoyed her time in politics and, you know, i think it's prudent to read tea leaves where she's been willing to say that she's pro-life, she's conservative

now. what does that mean for her future in politics? i think it certainly is a pointed posture on her plot. >> thanks so much for being with us tonight. appreciate it. the news continues so let's hand it over to chris for "cuomo prime time." >> i am chris cuomo. welcome to prime time. joe biden, the president-elect was making plans to help those hungry people in the country figure out a relief plan with other top democrats but how can he get relief past the trump party which is delaying any help while they wait for what? for trump to finish trying to rig the election results. they literally won't act on testing, a push for a transition, a push for a deal for relief with more people waiting in line for food than we've seen since the great depression, how much worse will things get in 61 days if they allow this inaction to continue? you know, 61 case