and good evening. with the final scientific hurdle just hours away and a pandemic burning throughout the country, you would think the president, any president, his first priority right now would be preparing for the rollout. you might also think a president would be saying and doing all that he or should could do help those on the frontlines stay safe and strong, just a little longer, until this vaccine become widely available. you might think that is what a president would do. by now, you probably know that is not something this president would consider doing, and is certainly not doing. the president showed again, today, that he only cares about one thing and that one thing has nothing to do with what he once

called his solemn obligation. >> my first duty, as president, is to protect the american people. and today, i'm taking action to fulfill that sacred obligation. >> teleprompter reading. central to that obligation is protecting people's right to choose, who governs them, even if they choose someone other than him, which they have. as of tonight, all 50 states and the district of columbia have now certified the results. challenges by the president and his allies have been shut down and, some cases, nearly laughed out of court, after court, after court, actually. we have seen makeshift hearings, outlandish claims, in some cases, barely coherent such as here, in michigan. >> the poll is completely off. completely off. >> by 30,000? >> i'd say that poll book is off by 130,000. that poll book. why don't you look at the

registered voters on there? >> so, my question, then, is if the -- >> that's how many -- wait -- what about -- what about -- how about the turnout rate? 120%? >> let's let representative johnson ask. >> my question is we're not seeing the poll book off by 30,000 votes. that's not the case. >> well, did you guys take it and do something crazy to it? >> is that what you did? you know, when rudy giuliani is telling you to shh, i mean, that's -- that says something. she made that argument, after court had already ruled that her allegations, quote, simply were not credible, end quote. and courts have been doing likewise to others for weeks. yeah. uh-huh. yeah. yesterday, the supreme court declined an emergency petition to invalidate the results in pennsylvania, which president-elect biden won. yet, with experts of all political stripes saying there is simply no legal path to

victory for the president, anymore, if there ever was at all, he took, yet another, day off from his duties in the middle of a pandemic and in the wake of an election he lost to, once again, exercise his sacred obligation, namely, to himself. late today, he signed on to an effort to get the supreme court to hear a case brought by the texas attorney general to invalidate results in pennsylvania, georgia, michigan, and wisconsin. you heard that right. it is one state, essentially, trying to tell other states how to run their elections. big states right state, in fact. now, apparently, not so big on states' rights. in other words, trying to make a federal case out of something that is not a federal issue. >> for a member of the supreme court bar to do this in the supreme court of the united states is absolutely outrageous. they're throwing in all the garbage allegations of fraud. the trump campaign wouldn't even put in some of their complaints in federal district court. it's absurd and an

embarrassment. and for a public official, let alone any lawyer, let alone any member of the supreme court bar, bringing this lawsuit is atrocious. >> that is member of the supreme court bar, george conway, who also called the effort quote the most insane thing, yet. conway, as you know, a longtime critic of the president. mitt romney calls it quote simply madness, as well as, quote dangerous and destructive a to democracy. quote, i frankly struggle to understand the legal theory of it. why would a state, even a great state such as texas, have a say so in how other states administer elections? well, that's a good question. his junior colleague, though, apparently, not concerned by that question. he could be arguing the opposite in the apparently unlikely event that the high court actually takes this up. the president has asked him, apparently, to make oral arguments in the case if it ever gets that far and cruz has agreed to do it. as for the president's written

filing, he's got a new man for that. a man named john eastman, who if his man is recognizable to you at all, may be because he was recently pushing a racist conspiracy theory about vice president-elect kamala harris not being eligible for the role because her parents were immigrants. it does seem the bench is getting a little thin. the man formally known as rudy giuliani has covid. so does jenna ellis, who according to a "new york times" investigation has mostly appeared in state court for clients charged with assault, prostitution, theft, and domestic abuse. and was only added to the trump legal team after he saw her pop up on fox. so apparently, with those two out of action, it is now down to this other guy. and i mean, it isn't just a clown show as republican and democratic officials alike have warned this is fueling a threat to democracy, and possibly worse. as you know, armed protestors showed up outside the home of michigan's secretary of state,

threatening her family. anger stoked by all these phony allegations of election fraud the president is spouting and, by the way, making hundreds of millions of dollars, by doing so. cynthia johnson received voicemails, death threats, after those claims. >> i hope you are dead by now. you are a piece of [ bleep ]. you need to be run out of office and hung from a [ bleep ] tree you dumb [ bleep ]. >> georgia's republican secretary of state and his top-election official, gabriel sterling, warned quote someone's going to get hurt, someone's going to get shot, someone's going to get killed. just consider that, from a republican, as the republican party allows this charade to continue. asked today if he will accept joe biden as president-elect on monday, when the electoral college officially casts their vote, kevin mccarthy said, and i quote, why would i do that?

i'll wait until it's over to find out. every legal vote has to be counted, every recount has to be finished, and every legal challenge has to be heard. unquote. profile in courage, right there. it is all funny and a little bit of sad, until it isn't. cnn chief white house correspondent, jim acosta, joins us now. so, what more do we know about the president's -- i mean, there's no rationale. i mean, the only rationale for making this move to supreme court is to keep the money flowing in, as long as there is some sort of challenges going on, he can still raise money off this. and -- and take his followers for suckers. >> and he can't handle the fact that he lost, anderson. i mean, this is -- just as the president's covid denialism is endangering people's lives, the president's election denialism is endangering american democracy. this is not bush v. gore, this is trump v. america, right now. and the president does have his cohorts, like this attorney, who you just mentioned is representing the president. the same attorney who was

arguing that kamala harris was not eligible to be president or vice president earlier this year. which by the way, the president -- president trump said, in the briefing room, that he thought that there might be something to that. he was intrigued by the idea. and now, he is turning to texas senator, ted cruz, as -- as we've confirmed. he has agreed to -- to represent the president and his interests before the supreme court, if it gets that far. but remember, anderson, the president, himself, has many times referred to senator cruz as lying ted. so it's come down to this. the president wants somebody arguing before the supreme court, an individual he has referred to as a liar and lying ted, in the past. >> who are the people still left in the president's inner circle? i mean, it -- who are telling him -- or is there anyone left telling him this is actually a good idea? because i mean, seriously lawyers, you know, obviously, they have been -- you know, they think this is ludicrous. judges have -- these things have not gone anywhere.

>> right. i talked to a source close to the white house, earlier this evening, who said the only person who believes this anymore is president trump, himself. now, that might be stretching things a bit because the president does have his enablers, and you just ticked through several of them. but what they say publicly is different from what they say privately. and i have talked to a couple of different trump advisers, who have said there are attorneys who want nothing to do with the president's case. trump-friendly attorneys, who do not want to be arguing any of this in a court of law because, by the way, not only does it put them in an embarrassing situation making these ridiculous claims. you know, it could have serious consequences for their legal career. and putting that to the side, just for a second, anderson. i have also talked to trump advisers who say what the president is doing is dangerous to the country. dangerous to democracy. and i think it's high time, anderson, we talk about these anonymous sources all the time. what they are telling us behind the scenes, and so forth. it's time for one of these advisers to come forward and say this publicly.

that, what the president is doing is dangerous to the country because, as you know, anderson, we can laugh about these sorts of -- these claims he is making in court and so on. but there are millions and millions of people who believe him and will continue to believe him, after he leaves office in january, anderson. >> yeah. it is. it is not a joke. it is dangerous. jim acosta, appreciate it. more, now, on the law and politics of the president's seemingly fruitless efforts. joining us for that, cnn chief political correspondent, dana bash. also, former nixon white house counsel, john dean. john, does this texas lawsuit, i mean, have any merit, whatsoever? >> anderson, i can find none. first of all, it was filed very late. it was filed after people relied on the law they're now attacking. and the court will recognize that. they call it latches and they'll dismiss, on that basis. there is a real question if -- if texas has standing not -- notwithstanding the fact that is an original-jurisdiction case. they don't like these kind of cases so it's hard to believe.

it takes four justices to get a hearing of the case to bring it in. and often, these types of cases, they have a master, a lower-court judge they appoint to hear the case and process it. so, i just can't see this happening. >> dana, you heard what senators romney and cornyn said. what about the rest of the caucus in the senate? cruz used to be solicitor general of texas. he's argued cases before the court. but, you know, he also wants to be president. i mean, just the thought process that cruz must have gone through to, you know, decide whether or not to say that he would agree to do this. i mean, i think he probably knows this is not going to end up getting argued before the supreme court, so why not say yes? >> that's exactly right, you just nailed it, anderson. he not only was solicitor general in texas and argued cases before the supreme court. he was a clerk for a -- a -- a chief, way back when, and so -- at the supreme court. so, he very much understands the law. pretty much, more than anybody

who is, you know, maybe in the president's orbit, at this point. and when the -- when ted cruz agreed to try the case, to argue the case, in the supreme court, there's little question that he doesn't think that it's going to go there. but, that doesn't answer the -- the political question, which is, by it being public, that ted cruz, with the credentials that you and i just talked about. gives any kind of credence to this lawsuit. you know, allows the political farce to continue, in a very real way, because it gives it credibility, in the eyes of those who want to believe everything that the president says. >> john, i mean, the -- the attorney is suddenly spearheading this effort for trump. as i said, he was best known for arguing the conspiracy theory about kamala harris not being qualified to be vice president because her parents are immigrants which is, obviously,

i mean, wrong. what is tdoes the caliber of president trump's legal team, these days, tell you? >> well, it seems to be pretty well infected, right now. and i say that, in the ironic sense, in many ways. i know john eastman. he is somebody who ran for congress, ran for attorney general here, in california. i happened to debate him on citizens united. did not find him particularly persuasive in his debate. he is hard right, and he is a former law clerk so he knows what -- how it works at the supreme court. and it's quite surprising, actually, to see him on this brief. but again, he likes attention. so, i -- i'm sure the president saw him, last night, on fox, where he was saying he thought the court would take this case up. >> yeah. yeah. i mean, dana, when house republican leader kevin mccarthy says that even next monday, the day after -- or the day the electoral college officially votes, he still won't accept that joe biden is the

president-elect. i mean, the electoral college is what kids literally learn about in grade school along with, by the way, good sportsmanship and the concept of winning and losing. does mccarthy -- i guess, he doesn't care. to him, this looks fine because, to the president's supporters, that looks fine. >> i mean, look, if you just want to have another data point on how politically perilous it is for republicans to dane, to say anything that will make the president mad, that's it. for the top republican in the house of representatives to -- to not say, of course, i'm going to abide by the electoral college, which is the, you know, certifying and cementing all of the states and territories and so forth. that they have presented the election results, and all of the legal processes have already been gone through, at that point. and so, the notion that, well, we have to wait for everything to be -- to proceed, that will

have been in the past. it already is in the past, right now. but that will cement the fact that this is a done deal. most other republicans, privately and publicly, have been pointing to that date as a date when they're going to finally utter the words president-elect joe biden. so, you know, it is surprising to hear kevin mccarthy say that, on the merits and the facts. but certainly, not, given the fact we know how tight, tight the president's grip is on this party. >> dana, what are you hearing behind the scenes from republicans on capitol hill about the next four years? i mean, the idea of the president hanging over their heads, saying, you know, that he -- president trump -- saying that -- you know, wants to run again or may want to run again. i mean, are they happy about that notion? i mean, i can understand why there would be, just in terms of getting support for other republican candidates through the president running again.

but at the same time, you know, ted cruz wants to run for president. i mean, he has before and failed. >> yeah. and if donald trump decides that he is going to run again, it will be very hard for any of those other potential candidates to get any oxygen. they know that. but even if he doesn't run, he is going to be a huge presence. he is, as we've talked about, he's -- a lot of this legal -- these legal shenanigans, frankly, is a way for him to raise money for his own political future, for a pac he's already established, for that reason. and run or not, he is going to use it, never mind the money, just his voice on twitter, social media, whatever, you know, cable outlet that he chooses to do it. he is going to be a huge, huge presence. and i've heard that time and time again, and especially today, as the president has really glommed on to this texas lawsuit and the fact that so many republicans on capitol hill are either silent about it or,

you know, not saying very much. except, for the few that you played earlier. >> yeah. and john, i mean, just in terms of sheer audacity and contempt for institutions in this country, how does the lawsuit compare to legal tactics used during watergate? i mean, president nixon's fight over the tapes was egregious enough. but this is a sitting president trying to overturn the election that he lost. >> anderson, this is all so unprecedented, including, the way the republican party is supporting trump's action in his refusal to accept the election. and certainly, in my memory and in my reading, i can't recall any president who's ever denied the will of the people. and particularly, so blatantly and so protractedly. so, i don't know how this is going to end. it's very troubling. there is threats of violence, rumbling through these arguments and -- and activities and demonstrations. so, the fact that the president and his acolytes and his

apologists keep escalating it is -- is all the more troubling. so, i just don't know how we diffuse this and get onto the business of dealing with the pandemic and other problems, the economy, things that are important. >> yeah. john dean, dana bash, appreciate it. next, crucial final steps just hours away before the expected green light and the scramble to distribute the first covid vaccine approved for use in this country. later, the legal fights that could complicate the president's post-white-house life, his families as well. i will talk to the d.c. attorney general who is alleging the misuse of inaugural funds. that and more, tonight on 360. may your holidays glow bright and all your dreams take flight. visit your local

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get outta here, debbie! high five. i brought sam. boston lager. we're all friends now. just moments ago, some truly terrible, breaking news. the death toll for today now stands at 2,939. that is a new high in this country, and the count won't be complete for hours, yet. it is the very dark tunnel, before some very welcome light. how long the tunnel, we don't know. just hours from now, the fda-advisory panel will meet to consider covid's vaccine. as you know, britain began giving it out, yesterday. canada approved it, today. a massive, logistical, public effort is going to get underway. in kalamazoo, mischigan, pete, what's the latest you know there? and how fast the company is poised to move if it gets fda

authorization tomorrow? >> very quickly, anderson. you know, this is the spot. pfizer says trucks could begin leaving here, carrying the vaccine, within 24 hours of fda emergency-use authorization. it is a key place in the distribution network. pfizer's largest manufacturing facility. 1,300 acres. a sprawling complex. we are learning from operation warp speed that the trucks leaving here will go to about 600 individual places. on the move, right now, though, are the things physically needed to administer the vaccine. things like alcohol swabs and syringes. operation warp speed says, all of that will be in place, in only a few days, just friday. >> and do we know how many doses will be in the first shipments? and where they'll go? >> well, the federal government, operation warp speed, is saying that 2 -- 2.9 million doses will be in that initial shipment. but here is the rub, anderson. we're learning from states that will not be enough to cover those who need the vaccine, right off the bat. those, like frontline healthcare workers, and those living in

long-term care facilities, states will have to prioritize within that top-priority group and it's not an easy job. >> and i understand you have new reporting how the national guard is going to help facilitate the shipment. >> you know, this is a really big task, anderson, and michigan has now directed the national guard to support the logistics and the transportation of the vaccine. just one more way that states are using, pretty much, everybody resource at their disposal to help out in this pandemic. up until now, here in michigan, the national guard was primarily helping out with things like meal distribution and testing. >> all right. pete, thank you. perspective, now, on all the medical and public health aspects of this, including getting people to accept this and vaccines, joining us, our chief medical correspondent, dr. sanjay gupta. also, secretakathleen sebelius. >> can you just explain why they might have had a reaction? and whether people who suffer

from allergies participated in the vaccine trials? >> yeah. so, first of all, we -- we don't know, specifically, what they reacted to within the vaccine. i mean, this is, you know, typically, you think of like the flu vaccine, maybe an egg product or something like that. this vaccine's not made that way. there may be certain stabilizers within the vaccine that they may have reacted to. that's part of the ongoing investigation. this -- your second question, i think, is very interesting, anderson. as it turned out, we looked through the exclusionary criteria for the pfizer trial. and in fact, people who had significant allergic reactions in the past, were excluded from the trial. so the people receiving this were probably the first, you know, the first people to really get it who had a previous history of these anaphylactoid reactions. just to give you an idea of the severity of their reactions, they were people who carried an

injector, epipen, so to speak. and now, what the uk is basically mandating is people who have history of severe reactions in the past, not get the vaccine, for now. but, that's sort of what they're -- what they're finding and i'm sure it's going to be a topic of discussion tomorrow, at the fda meeting, anderson. >> secretary sebelius, how concerned are you about that reaction? >> well, i think the news that there is now a reaction among people who are very allergic going into this, probably, is a good safety warning. as dr. gupta just said. they work excluded from the trial. we now know that this is a population who may need extra precautions. we still don't know a lot. i mean, this is on a very fast track. we don't know about pregnant

women. we don't know about children. this will be decided, over a period of time. but, what we do know is that, for the vast majority of the population, this still seems to be very safe and very effective. so, having transparency, as issues come up, excluding people from the initial dosage, again, this is a pfizer vaccine. it may be different, in the moderna vaccine, assuming they both get authorization, quickly. so, we -- we need to share that with the public, as soon as possible. and take the steps necessary to protect, again, doing no harm is -- is the bottom line. but if it helps more people than hurts, we need to push it out of the fda. >> and, sanjay, you know, all the experts' predictions about this being a dark winter are coming to fruition. and sadly, it seems we're just at the beginning of this dark winter. realistically, when do you think the vaccine may provide enough immunity to people to return to

some more-normal lives? >> well, the thing about the vaccine, and i talked to dr. fauci about this today for this event. you -- you know, when you get to some 30%, roughly, initially, you may start to see some impact. so, you know, that's -- that's a lot of doses of vaccine. probably, 200 million doses of vaccine to vaccinate roughly 100 million people. the herd immunity that people talk to, which basically means you have enough people vaccinated in society that the virus just has a hard time finding a home as it tries to jump around from person to person. that's typically 60 to 70%. and if, you know, people get the vaccine, if there's not problems with the rollout and all that sort of stuff. what dr. fauci has predicted, as well as, you know, people like the chief adviser for operation warp speed, end of second quarter is what we keep hearing. it doesn't mean people won't

necessarily need masks. the reason you may still continue to see masks for a period of time. but then, you are talking in third quarter, end of next year, before you have just a -- a -- a more significant return to normalcy. >> wait. secretary sebelius, to sanjay's point there, if one can still get -- if it's possible to still get infected with the virus, even if you've had the vaccine, it's just not going to have the impact it would have on you without the vaccine, and you can still pass it on to others, is any talk about herd immunity really valid? because i mean, even if herd immunity through the vaccine because even if people have it and can still get infected and pass it on. is that -- that -- that seems as much of a risk for other people as -- as regular. >> well, anderson, i think we all have to recognize, we don't know a lot about both this disease, which is relatively new and unfolding before our eyes,

and we don't know a lot about the vaccine, beyond having a lot of people participate in clinical trials. having an efficacy rate that is significantly higher than people had hoped, in the first place. and making sure that this works. so, you know, the flu vaccine. this is significantly higher than most, annual, flu vaccines. and i think, what we're looking at is we're about to have 3,000 people, today, today, in the united states, die of covid-19. we are in a totally unprecedented health crisis in this country. the -- i mean, the disease is everywhere. midwest. west coast. east coast. north. south. healthcare workers are exhausted. hospitals are totally full. so, i think we have to balance some unknowns, still, with the vaccine. with the notion that this will absolutely save lives.

it will absolutely keep people from getting desperately ill. we don't know all the precautions that need to be taken and for how long. but, there are some really significant heig significant light at the end of the tunnel. but, the short term, the short term, meaning, five, six, seven months, is heightened vigilance. making sure that people follow the guidance about masking and social distancing and staying away, as much as possible, from indoor activities which spread the virus. we've got to take what we've learned, in the last eight months, and really put it into practice so we don't continue to have this unthinkable death toll and disease toll ravaging in this country. >> sanjay, so much of the vaccine distribution is going to happen on the state and the local level. are local, health officials, around the country, are they prepared? i mean, is there one thing in

the distribution chain that concerns you the most? >> it -- it's -- it's -- it is a little concerning. there's a lot of confusion, i think, as we've tried to report on this. first, i think, operation warp speed, getting the vaccine from the site of manufacturing, where pete was, to the states, exactly where -- which states are going to receive what doses, we still don't know. and then, when the states receive these doses of vaccines, the triage process that takes place, at that point, i think is still a little bit of an open thing. you run into situations, anderson, where two states, maybe neighboring states, could have very different plans within their states. some -- some -- one of the states may gear more of the doses towards long-term care facilities. others, toward hospitals. so, you could run into a situation where someone would qualify for the vaccine in one state, cross the border and not qualify, at least in this initial dose. eventually, i think we'll catch up with the doses.

but it is -- there's going to be a little bit of confusion. and i think a lot of stories like that in the first couple weeks. >> and, sanjay, prime minister benjamin netanyahu said he'll be the first to take it. do you think president-elect biden should be one of the first to get it here? >> you know, it's -- i think he -- he -- may make a national security argument for this. and we have obviously heard three former presidents have said they'd be willing to get the vaccine as a show of public confidence. so, yeah, obviously, presidents get treated differently. and -- and he is coming in contact with lots of people. he is the president. he is 78 years old, i believe, so i think he would meet a lot of the criteria. maybe, not first in line but certainly would be way up there. >> thank you very much. just ahead, a look at the legal troubles that will greet the trump family when the president leaves office. the d.c. attorney general pursuing a million-dollar civil

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civil lawsuit that could spell trouble for president trump and his family. trouble that can't be cured with a pardon. stephanie wolkoff, former adviser of the first lady who's been sued by the justice department over tell-all books that she published. the d.c. attorney general pursuing this action, will join us in a moment to discuss what he's learned. but first, randi kaye on all of the investigations that will greet the president and his family when he leaves office. >> does anybody know more about litigation than trump? i'm like a ph.d. in litigation. okay? >> reporter: perhaps, that expertise will come in handy after the white house, when donald trump is free game. in one high-profile probe, manhattan district attorney, cyrus vance, is looking into two women who alleged before the 2016 election that they had engaged in sexual encounters

with donald trump. the president has denied the affairs and knowing anything about the payments. but his former lawyer, and then-fixer, michael cohen, said last year, under oath, there was no doubt that trump knew. in court filings, vance signalled this probe may, also, include possible bank, insurance, and tax fraud. for two years, now, vance has been trying to get his hands on eight years of trump's tax returns. over the summer, the u.s. supreme court blocked trump's attempt to keep his returns private. >> the same people that failed to get me in washington have sent every piece of information to new york, so that they can try to get me there. >> reporter: how trump valued his assets will, also, be getting a closer look, post-presidency. in new york state, the attorney general opened a fraud investigation, focused on whether the trump organization inflated its assets to get tax benefits and bank loans. and played them down, when that no longer suited them. >> mr. trump inflated his total

assets, when it served his purposes. such as, trying to be listed amongst the wealthiest people in "forbes,". a and deflated his assets to reduce his real estate taxes. >> reporter: for now, this is a civil investigation but it has the potential to turn criminal. trump will also have to answer to attorneys general of maryland and washington, d.c. in a lawsuit over the emoluments clause which forbids profiting from the presidency. they allege trump has pocketed big money from foreign governments who have stayed at the trump hotel in d.c. trump has appealed the case to the u.s. supreme court, which hasn't decided whether to hear it. >> this thing is costing me a fortune, being president. say he might have rented a room to a man from saudi arabia. what about the 5 billion that i lost -- you know, it's probably going to cost me, including

upside, down-side lawyers, because every day, they sue me for something. >> reporter: citizen trump will also face allegations of rape and sexual assault. a former apprentice contestant is suing trump for defamation related to her claim that he allegedly assaulted her in 2007. last year, he lost his attempt to have the case dismissed. his deposition was put on hold, until after he leaves office. carole alleges trump raped her in the 1990s. trump has denied harming either woman, saying this about carol, quote, she's not my type. randi kaye, cnn, palm beach, florida. >> lot of legal fights for president trump, ahead. the man pursuing the civil lawsuit in a d.c. courtroom joins us now. d.c. attorney general, karl racine. mr. attorney general, thanks for joining us. as we mentioned, stephanie winston wolkoff was deposed today. i know you can't share details

as it's an ongoing civil case. can you share whether she was cooperative, or not? >> miss winston wolkoff has been fully cooperative, since day one of meeting her. and her deposition today, i think, you know, was truthful, honest, and fulsome. though, i cannot talk about the details of the deposition, i can tell you that it strengthens our case, and our case is a just case because it demonstrates that the trumps took advantage of the presidential-inaugural committee, and funneled money, a million dollars, essentially, into their own pockets and purses through the trump hotel. >> and can you just walk us through how you believe that the inaugural committee may have overpaid the trump family, trump family business, and what you found after years of collecting evidence? because, i understand, part of it is -- is they were charging

or allegedly charging exorbitant rates for hotel rooms during inauguration. but, don't all hotels in d.c. jack up their prices during inauguration or during big events? >> they do. the issue is the proper conduct of the inaugural committee, which was a not-for-profit organization, that received certain tax benefits. didn't pay taxes and expenses were able to be written off. well, in exchange for those benefits, they're supposed to guard against waste, guard against self-dealing, that would lead to moneys going into related businesses, like the trump hotel. so, anderson, let me give you one example that i think is one of the most glaring examples. we have found evidence that the trump hotel charged the inaugural committee $175,000 for event space that they charged another not-for-profit organization $5,000 for. >> wow. >> that is wasteful.

it's exorbitant. and to be very honest, it's taking advantage of the public, to line their own pockets and purses. that's why we're suing. >> and ivanka trump, i know, sat for a deposition last week, in which afterwards, she released a statement saying in part, quote, this inquiry is a waste of taxpayer dollars. she also boasts in e-mails, to charge a quote fair-market rate. you said her statement was highly misleading. can you explain why? >> sure. her e-mail was, if i'm not mistaken, december 14. i know that, because that's my birthday. and sure enough, in that e-mail, she talked about market rate. she didn't talk about what occurred after december 14, including fire alarms, red flags, from ms. wolkoff winston saying, wait a second, we can't

charge the inaugural committee these exorbitant rates. instead, there are no e-mails where ms. trump put a halt to those kinds of charges and, therefore, we know that she was in the loop but didn't stop it. let me go further because you mentioned, in the opening segment, that i guess the president mentioned that he's a ph.d. in litigation. i can tell you, that my colleagues and i, on the democratic-ag front, have sued the president a lot. over 138 times. 80% of those cases, we have won, in front of courts that have been judged by democratically-appointed judges and republican-appointed judges. they have found that the trumps have no legal claims. that their actions are contrary to law. and i'm confident, at the end of the day, in this inauguration suit, it will be another loss

for the trumps. just as their last-minute hail mary, with all due respect to the virgin mary, attempt to overturn this election is. the -- the complaint filed by the texas attorney general, and i believe the united states supreme court, will be rejected by fair-minded judges, appointed by republican presidents and democratic presidents. the heroes in our democracy have been the federal courts. >> what sort of timeline do you anticipate for the rest of this lawsuit? may be too hard to tell. and also, what would a fair resolution look like, to you? >> you know, a fair resolution in this lawsuit is the return of all the moneys that were wasted and went into the pockets and purses of the trump family, through the trump hotel. and we estimate that that's well over a million dollars. in terms of timeline, anderson,

you know, unfortunately, sometimes a lawsuit takes time. and so, we'll likely be well into the year 2021, before resolution. and as you mentioned at the outset, a civil case is not pardonable. we're going to litigate this to the end, and i'm confident that justice will prevail and we will win. >> karl racine, appreciate your time. thank you very much. >> thanks, anderson. >> again, the u.s. reported the highest, single-day death toll and with the battle against the pandemic at a critical stage, one nevada hospital set up a field unit in its own parking garage. for some reason, it drew the ire of president trump. more on that, when we continue. to directly engage floors and dig deep into carpets. pick up more on every pass with no hair wrap. shark vertex with duoclean power fins. inflammation in your eye might be to blame.ck,

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if you're living with hiv . . . . . . keep loving who you are. and ask your doctor if biktarvy is right for you. our breaking news on the pandemic, the u.s. is reporting the highest single-day death toll, now more than 3,000 so far. the total daily number won't be known until the overnight hours. as with most of the nation, nevada is seeing a surge in coronavirus cases. the number of known cases is the state is about doubling every month. that's why a hospital in reno set up a field unit designed to treat covid patients in the parking garage. there of course the work is intense and all-consuming and it's not helped by a re-tweet from president trump calling the whole operation a fake. cnn's sara sidner joins us now from the hospital. so how is the hospital doing in terms of capacity and supplies tonight? >> reporter: yeah. so inside the hospital building is where their icu unit is, and

that is very close to capacity, anderson. but i want to make very, very clear there is nothing fake about this facility. just take a look. you can see the signs for the parking garage still up, but you can also see that this is a fully functioning covid-19 unit. dr. jacob keeperman is mustering all his mental and physical strength as another wave of covid-19 patients show up in the intensive care unit at his hospital. everyone here has been going nonstop for months. what was your worst day? >> so my worst day this pandemic was actually the day i posted the tweet, thanking my teammates. i had just finished a seven-day stretch in the intensive care

unit. there had been patient after patient after patient who was not surviving this illness. >> the tweet he sent was a simple selfie showing off their new covid-19 wing. that wing set up in the hospital parking garage. that fact seemed to set president trump off, who re-tweeted a tweet calling it fake and a scam. that unleashed the twitter trolls. >> i was sad and devastated, and i was angry. >> reporter: devastated and angry because all of the hard work being done by his colleagues inside this parking garage hospital every single day, from the food staff to the ceo. >> this is not fake. this is as real as it gets. >> reporter: the idea was conceived and executed months ago, but during this covid surge, patients are now parked in the spaces instead of cars.

the number of coronavirus cases in washoe county, nevada, that this has services has exploded. this week, there are actually ten times the number of covid-19 cases than there were just a couple of months ago. so the hospital had to do whatever it takes to find more bed space, and so here we are on floor g of the parking garage. >> it was scary. you know, we don't expect to go to work and be working out of a parking garage. we've made it a hospital, so we don't even consider it a garage anymore. >> reporter: did you ever think that in america, they would have to treat people in a parking lot? >> i apologize for what i'm going to say. when they started building this, i laughed. >> reporter: making a dusty, dirty parking garage into a sanitary space seemed laughable. but then she ended up hospitalized here. >> people don't realize how bad

this is, the pain that you feel, the not being able to breathe. that's -- that's one of the worst things that i ever had to experience in my life. >> reporter: a few days later, her husband of 35 years was also hospitalized with covid. >> i thought, you know, she's going to die. >> reporter: after spending days in isolation with no visitation, they found each other again, parked just four beds apart in the parking garage. >> he coughs at nighttime. i can hear him. and if i yell, he can hear me. he knows that i'm still alive. >> reporte >> wow, i understand this facility is particularly meaningful to the man who runs the hospital. >> reporter: it absolutely is. the ceo and president of renowned health systems, dr. anthony slonum. the day that this covid unit was

opened here in this parking garage was his birthday. but it was also the day that he found out that his father had died back in new jersey where he's from. his father died of covid-19. anderson. >> sara sidner, appreciate it. thank you very much. more breaking news just ahead. details on a federal investigation into hunter biden, son of the president-elect, when we return. ♪ ♪ and sweetie can coloryou just be... gentle with the pens. okey. okey. i know. gentle..gentle new projects means new project managers.

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more breaking news tonight. hunter biden is under federal investigation. he issued a statement that reads in part, i learned yesterday for the first time that the u.s. attorney's office in delaware advised my legal counsel also yesterday that they're investigating my tax affairs.

i take this matter very seriously, but i'm confident that a professional and objective review of these matters will demonstrate that i handled my affairs legally and appropriately, including with the benefit of professional tax advisers. evan perez joins us with the late latest. >> anderson, we know that this is an investigation that began in 2018, and we know that it's been going on led by the u.s. attorney in delaware along with the irs criminal investigation and the fbi. now, they've been taking a look at hunter biden's business activities overseas, principally in china, and in particular whether or not there were any violations of tax and money laundering laws, and specifically they're looking at whether or not he underreported or didn't report his income during part of several years actually is what they're looking at. so this now an investigation that is picking up as a result of the fact that after the election, they're allowed to issue subpoenas and a