ere in atlanta, jeff zeleny. the former vice president, president-elect is and chief political analyst gloria borger from washington. jeff what more can you tell us about this pick? >> reporter: we know president-elect biden as he continues rounding out his cabinet settled on pete buttigieg add transportation secretary. an appointment made in wilmington, delaware. he wants to fill out the domestic side. perhaps commerce, transportation. this is key. the first rival of joe biden's from the 2020 primary who would be nominated to join the cabinet. that, of course, is significant. you know, if you think back to the early part of last year and this year, pete buttigieg, he tramps joe biden in iowa and new

hampshire, and then dropped out of the race, after that south carolina primary and quickly endorsed joe biden. a key moment to consolidating support among democrats and it was a key moment that joe biden has not forgotten and went on during the general election campaign to aggressively campaign for mr. biden and was a key surrogate on fox news, actually, for biden. that earned him really some support among biden's inner circle. the two like each other very well, i'm told. that is one of the reasons president-elect biden has settled on pete buttigieg. one of the fnewest and freshest faces of the cabinet. seen a lot of holdovers from the obama administration in different positions but pete buttigieg is confirmed by the senate to lead this key agency and infrastructure, of course, a key area of interest maybe democrats and republicans could find agreement on.

pete buttigieg the first openly gay member of mr. biden's cabinet. many historic firsts as well but interesting from the that can't those two were rivals a year or so ago and certainly became friends in the process. brianna? >> yeah. certainly. we saw that kind of generational divide play out when they were on the stage together. gloria, do you foresee confirmation issues here? >> well, no. not if at the outset. i think that pete buttigieg, if he'd had his druthers, would probably rather have been u.n. ambassador. perhaps done something in foreign policy, but i think as a former mayor and somebody who understands how to talk to people on both sides of the aisle, with infrastructure looming as perhaps one of joe biden's sort of big first pushes in addition to covid-19 relief, i think that he's a very

interesting and palatable choice, i would think, to both sides of the aisle. he was a presidential candidate who, you know, no doubt has enemies on the republican side, but he's impressed a lot of people with his ability to talk to republicans from the midwest and as a former mayor who better understands potholes? than a former mayor. right? so i think it's -- it's an interesting choice, and makes a lot of sense in many ways. >> gloria, thank you so much. you made me laugh. so i appreciate that. >> that's good! >> jeff zeleny, thank you, live from atlanta. meanwhile a feeling's host and optimism even as the country continues to see the deadly effects of the coronavirus. we're seeing scenes like this across the country. there are thousands of health care workers who are being vaccinated. this started yesterday and continues today. frontline heroes getting shots so they can help others.

joining me to talk about this is dr. james phillips, chief of disaster medicine at george washington university hospital here in washington. and he is actually set to get his vaccine right now. hey, thank you so much for being with us. how is this going to go, doctor? and i'm not always great at watching people gets shots, but i'm going to hang in there for you. >> i appreciate you having us on to sort of demonstrate to people how simple and easy this is and show importance of it for our country. very similar to the vaccine, the flu shot. come in, sit down. alcohol swab, pinch with the needle and you're done and then prepare for if any side effects come tomorrow. i have tomorrow off, and looking forward to it, honestly. if i start to feel a little ill tomorrow i'll be happy with it. that means that the vaccine is working, i think we're ready to go. are you ready? >> i'm ready. yeah, sure. >> all right. let's do it. okay. so tell us a little bit about how you're feeling about this,

how many of your fellow health care workers are feeling about this as they prepare to get this vaccine today? and also, how was it? it's over? >> fine. i didn't even feel it. >> very good. >> so -- yeah. the reality is, that there's mixed feelings. right? as frontline health care providers we emphasize the importance keeping our health care structure in place. the first pandemic response, the first to get vaccinated are fontline workers. if we're out other people can't get care. i'd be a liar to say there aren't mixed feelings. i have a 90-year-old grandmother without the vaccine yet. my brother with high blood pressure, i prefer he got it today rather than me but it's important to have the continuity what's happening in health care and proud to be a part of it as a doctor and scientist, thanks to the people who put time, energy and decades of research

into these vaccines and to those people who joined the vaccine trials. putting themselves into an experimental protocol to determine safety and efficacy of these. those ares folks who really deserve thanks. >> home of your fellow health care workers are getting the vaccine today? >> there's going to be thousands across the united states. here at gw, i'm not sure of the specific numbers, but rest assured every hospital in the country is pushing forward to get this done in an expeditious manner awaiting the next tranche of vaccine to come out to start getting towards more members of the general public. >> you've taken tomorrow off, just to be safe. we've heard from someone else who got the vaccine and said they just had muscle soreness. obviously, there could be other side effects and you're just being careful there. what is your level of confidence in this vaccine? >> very high. you know? i'm not just -- well, i am just a physician but have a degree ma

molecular magnetics. this is talked about more than a decade. to see it actually roll out and knowing the safety proposal kahl of mrna vaccines, i'm very excited and fwloenblown away wi numbers of the vaccine. i'm very confident. again, like i said. with vaccines, we tend to feel side effects. i'll feel it every year when i get my flu vaccine, but that's good. the negative feelings you feel. that malaise, the muscle aches and soreness, fatigue, that's your immune system kicking into gear and working. honestly, i welcome those symptoms. not looking forward to it but i welcome them. >> dr. phillips, thank you so much and for sharing this moment with us. it was, look, it's no big deal. you're preering to see what the day brings ahead of you. can't thank you you nuchlt, eno

>> my pleasure. get your vaccines, listen to the science and consider the vaccine when it comes your way. >> thank you. similar scenes playing out in chicago now as the first doses of the pfizer vaccine are delivered to health care workers in one of the hardest hit areas of the city. look at this moment that one chicago official called the beginning of the end of covid-19. >> here we go. all right. applaud? i think so. >> cnn correspondent omar jimenez as the hospital where that shot took place. you can sense the different emotion there's. should we applaud? sort of the gravity of the moment there. why did officials pick this hospital, omar, to receive the vaccine first? >> reporter: well, in that moment, seemed nobody knew what to do, because we've been in this fight for so long. i think it was hard to imagine

even making it to this moment. it's why so many people here were so happy and joyous that this now begins as the doctor, our commissioner of public health said, the beginning of the end of this covid-19 fight, but it happened at loreto hospital. on chicago's west side. it's in a predominantly black neighborhood, neighborhood known as austin. more significantly, it's in a neighborhood within a zip code that has among the highest death rates for covid-19 that we have seen in this city over the course of this pandemic. they wanted to choose a place that would be a symbol and representative of some of the greatest impacted communities that we have seen over the course of this. now, the vaccinations are under way n way. they started with five and now being distributed to all hospitals here in chicago. you saw some of the people that were actually getting those first vaccinations, all frontline health workers and we spoke with the very first person to get that shot.

dr. marina dell rios, an emergency physician. here's how they described that moment. >> i think i'm lucky that my own family hasn't had any losses in my family. a lot of people have gotten sick with covid and i've gotten anxious about it. mostly friends. and i know a friend that had lost their parents or siblings. for latinos, one out of four know someone that died of covid. and so -- knowing that maybe there's an end to that soon is, again, hopeful, encouraging. it's a reason for celebration. >> reporter: and one of the things she spoke about were the disparity how this pandemic affected those in minority communities. she specifically said we're all riding in the same storm, but not in the same ship. that is part of why, again, this hospital was chosen to be

representistic of th istiative . moving forward, the idea of the pace, two hospitals say between, their 1,000 doses combined, plan to get through those by christmas. >> by christmas. omar, thank you for the report live from chicago. still ahead a group of nurses at three california hospitals are threatening to strike christmas eve. plus senate majority leader mitch mcconnell finally acknowledges what we have known for a month, for more than a month. that joe biden won the presidential election. will the rest of the gop follow suit? and this comes as president-elect biden in georgia is making his first appearance for the democratic candidates trying to win runoff senate races there. the balance of power in the senate is hanging in the balance. hey, i just got a text from my sister.

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how many licks does it take to get to the center of a conspiracy? a lot apparently. the president could have lost this election only once, but because of his penchant for self-sabotage keeps losing it over and over again. lost the electoral college, lost it on november 7th and confirmed it again yesterday. he lost the popular vote on election night and every single day since as the last votes came in and biden's lead just kept getting larger. he's lost multiple recounts in two states, in georgia he lost one that he requested and another that was done voluntarily by the state. in wisconsin, he lost a recount where biden actually gained votes. the president, by the way, paid $3 million to find that out. he's lost nearly 50 lawsuits that he or his allies have filed baselessly claiming that the

election should be overturned or votes tossed out because of widespread fraud. those lawsuits, lost, denied or withdrawn. in most failed to provide legitimate evidence. in michigan one judge toss add lawsuit challenging the state's results saying, plaintiffs asked this court to ignore the orderly statutory scheme established to challenge elections and to ignore the will of millions of voters. this the court cannot and will not do and goes on "the people have spoken." same situation in pennsylvania where one judge said, "voters not lawyers choose the president. ballots, not briefs decide elections." he called the demand to take away votes "breathtaking." a conservative federal judge said this about rudy guiliani's legal case "this claim like frankenstein's monster has been haphazardedly stitched together." one said of trumpworld they want to substitute the judgment of

more than 2.5 million voters in georgia who voted for joe biden and this i am unwilling to do. the president also lost at the supreme court, decided that his allies and intervening lacked standard even be considered. finally president trump lost his own way in "art of the deal" he says, you can't con people, at least not for long. you can create excitement. you can do wonderful promotion and get all kinds of press and you can throw in a little hyperbole, but if you don't deliver the goods, people will eventually catch on. you can count the republican senate leader among those who officially caught on to the outcome of the election you mitch mcconnell finally acknowledges who will be the next president of the united states. >> the electoral college has spoken. so today i want to congratulate president-elect joe biden, and the president-elect is not stranger to the senate. he's devoted himself to public

service for many years. i also want to congratulate the vice president-elect, our colleague from california senator harris. beyond our differences all americans can take pride that our nation has a female vice president-elect for the very first time. >> gloria borger is our cnn chief capitol hill analyst. gloria, we just learned that mcconnell is urging republican senators not to object to the state electoral results on january 6th. can he keep his party united here? >> well, that's very interesting. according to reporting from manu raju, the way he put it is interest interesting, which is, i don't want to put you in a tough spot or bad spot on the house floor because that could make you cast a vote that would seem like you are voting against president trump and that's a tough political vote for people. he actually cast it in a way that said, you know, this won't be good for you if we do this,

because you're going to get in trouble with donald trump, because, of course, you're going to have to vote to say, yeah, of course we ratify the election. so, maybe people's own self-interest will prevail and they will hold back and let the shenanigans just occur in the house. it's hard to say. he's certainly given per mation permission to say, yeah, joe biden won the election. >> listen to what joe biden said to senator mcconnell. >> i had a good conversation with mitch mcconnell today. i called to thank him for the congratulations. told him although we disagree on a lot of things i think we can work together and we agreed to get together sooner than later. >> you know, gloria, both democrats do not prevail in these runoff elections in georgia, biden and mcconnell, you're well aware, are going to be talking a lot. or you would expect they would.

certainly having been senate colleagues. what do you think that's going to look like, that relationship if it does become a key one? >> i've been asking a lot of people on the hill about that. the one thing they say is that both of these people speak the same language. and that is, senatese. they understand the way the senate operates. they understand what it takes to make a deal and you know that biden and mcconnell cut deals, for example, on the fiscal cliff back in, i believe it was 2010. didn't make a lot of democrats happy but they didn't go over the edge. so there are democrats who are optimistic, but more moderate democrats. more liberal democrats are a little worried that joe biden could be overrun by mitch mcconnell, and, of course, the big question everybody is asking is, how is mcconnell going to treat joe biden? it's one thing they know each other. remember when barack obama became president, mitch mcconnell said the one thing we have to do is make sure that he

only serves one term. so how is mitch mcconnell going to treat his old colleague joe biden? will he treat him that way? a lot depends who's running the senate and who's not. >> i imagine that president trump was not happy when he found out about mitch mcconnell's acknowledgement. is he responding at this point in time to it? >> i haven't looked at my phone in five minutes. we might expect he would given how gracious he's been about everything else -- that's a joke. i think he's not going to be happy about it, but i think at this point, mitch mcconnell is sending a clear signal to everybody, the election is over. he has given republicans permission to say that out loud, and if donald trump objects to it, the only problem mitch mcconnell will have right now is if donald trump goes to georgia and says, don't give mitch mcconnell the senate.

and i don't think donald trump will do that, but then again, i can never predict donald trump. >> that's right. gloria borger with all the jokes in this segment! >> what is it with me today? >> you're very -- always funny, but especially today. gloria, great to see you, thank you. >> good to see you. next, day two of early voting in the critical runoff elections for georgia senate seats and president-elect biden makes his first visit there since the election to try to give the democrats a boost. this as we also get new details about what the slim-down inauguration will look like in the middle of a pandemic. at visionworks, we know it's easy to forget to use your vision benefits before the year's up. this is us making sure you don't. use 'em before you lose 'em, backed by our 100-day guarantee!!

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we have to find somethingust else. good luck!ut it. what does that mean? we are doomed. [ laughter ] that's it... i figured it out! we're going to give togetherness. that sounds dumb. we're going to take all those family moments and package them. hmm. [ laughing ] that works.

so just what will president-elect biden inauguration look like in the middle of a pandemic? getting new details from the inaugural committee. the footprint in terms of crowd size "extremely a lotted." "reimagining the typical parade." president-elect joe biden and vice president-elect kamala harris take their oaths of office at the u.s. capitol rather than on the national mall and hire add chief medical a adviser to keep things safe and security they worked on the super bowl and the tony awards. douglas brinkley is way us now, historian. doug, the committee is asking the public to refrain from traveling to washington for the

event. so i have a couple questions about that, but the first is, do you think people are going to listen? >> i think people will listen. you know, joe biden has been leading the charge about wearing a mask, social distancing, reminding us all that just because the vaccine has arrived doesn't mean we're not in the middle of the pandemic, one of the worst events in american history. so he's going to show his leadership that day by example. you'll have the biden family, harris', some supreme court justices if they feel like weathering it, and some staffers and press, but it will be very sparse. we won't have to get into the crowd-sized comparisons of barack obama versus donald trump, because this is going to be a crafted event mainly for television. >> for television. so how -- that's what we saw with the conventions as well. obviously, this is something that more people attend. so how is that going to change the feel of the day? when you have the lack of a crowd?

>> it changes it. and it's unfortunate. it's just like watching, you know, college football or the nfl right now when you see empty stands. it doesn't feel the same. however, every inaugural new kind of -- comes out of it. george washingtonal inaugural address was only 135 words long and somehow or another biden will probably have maybe a poet, like the way bill clinton had maya angelou read something that's powerful or there may be some way to get some young americans involved with the festivities, which might dominate. i'm going to miss some of the parade activity. there's always oddities that go on and great patriotic moments. and a could you bey came and lassoed one president and to surprise of everyone. grant's parade, released canaries in the air. it's always been kind of a

carnival and something vested, but this it's going to have a more, a somber tone, but biden, i'm sure, will give a good inaugural speech and there will be some, if you like treats for the television audience to watch, along with the speech. >> we still don't know, though, if president trump is going to attend. i wonder if you think he's going to? and if he does not attend what that is going to signify? >> he would become the fourth president not to attend an inaugural. but the first in 152 years. it was andrew johnsen in 1869, an impeached andrew johnson, like donald trump was impeached. was embarrassed. didn't show up. went back to tennessee and ran for the senate from tennessee to kind of get back at washington culture. you might see donald trump hold a, i don't want to call it a counterinaugural, but he might very well be in florida and do some sort of event to step on

biden's message that day. donald trump is a media maven. he knows a lot of eyeballs will be on television for the inaugural. i'm sure he'll want to disrupt it in his own special way, and he can do that by not being in washington, d.c. the idea he's going to be a big boy and go shake the hand of joe biden say, you're the president, seems unlikely at this juncture. >> doug, thank you as always. great to have you on and talk about this. >> thanks, brianna. take care. next, attorney general william barr uses his resignation letter to lavish praise on president trump. we're going it read between the lines. plus, the clock is still ticking for congress to get relief to the americans struggling in this pandemic. we are live from capitol hill just ahead.

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cnn caught bill barr on camera leaving the white house monday presumably after the

"very nice meeting" president trump referred to announcing bill barr resignation as attorney general. even on his way ow barr is getting praised, getting in praise for the president. his resignation letter speaks of trump's "many successes and unprecedented achievements." touts the false superlative the president built the strongest and most resilient economy in american history, quote/unquote and wrote it all amidst a bipartisan onslaught. and for not revealing sooner joe biden's son hunter is under federal investigation. former deputy assistant attorney general. when you read the letter, what were your first thoughts? >> struck with the slavish praise, things that have nothing to do with the doj like the economy. more struck how indignant about

all the president's enemies. i think the final chapter for barr will feature his great outrage at the mueller probe, all the investigations of trump, which i think from way back he's thought were meritless and politically motivated, even though the facts seemed to be otherwise. so, yeah. he really leapt it on pretty thick there. didn't he? i also thought reading between the lines of the letter that he maybe was giving his options for how to leave, but then made clear to him at the meeting that he needed to leave. >> that he needed to leave. i mean, he's going. as he points out in the letter, talks about wrapping some final things up and finishing up december 23rd. that takes him to less than a month from the end of this administration. why depart when there's just days to go? >> i think because, you know, he

wouldn't take that one hill. untakable. the election fraud claims of the president. and he moreover, even more galling for trump, hid the news of hunter biden's investigation. remember, this is was trump got impeached over. he just wanted to get the talking point from the president of the ukraine there was investigation. all the while it was back at home in the person of his supposedly very loyal ag. i think that made him livid in the words of the "new york times" and he didn't want barr to have the dignity to stay through the end. which, barr, by the way, had been telling people he was going to do. that's the connection i make. he was peaked this attorney general was loyal to the end. >> you see on one hand look at this letter and the first thing out of the gate in the letter is that he appreciates the

opportunity to update the president when it comes to a review of voters fraud allegations and he talks about how these allegations will continue to be pursued. in his words he's kind of, you know, greeningi ibreathing air fire. when it comes down to sis acthi accesses, didn't take the hill. what does it say for barr's legacy but for actually what he may not have done? >> the big question on both sides for barr scholars. there's no getting around the record. favorly disrepair ababl ablable bending the facts even for trump. significant more than some make it, seems to me, he parted company at this very end and to trump most important kind of ultimate battle. sort of armageddon. i don't think there's no getting

around he leaves office with a tarnished reputation from assumed based on his previous service. this last little gesture of doing what? playing by the rules, but rules that trump really, really, really wanted him to break by revealing the investigation of hunter biden. he didn't do it. people have to grapple with that. both who thinks he's a demon and those who think he's a straight-up shooter from the start. there are few in the second camp at this point. >> harry, thank you so much. harry litman. appreciate it. and next, nurses at three los angeles hospitals say they're fed up with poor work conditions and are threatening to strike on christmas eve. details on where negotiations stand. plus, i'll speak to a doctor in north dakota who just received his covid vaccine about what this moment means for him. if you have moderate to severe psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis, little things can become your big moment.

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this week the fda's advisory board reviews data on a second vaccine. this one from moderna as they consider emergency authorization for as well. releasing a statement what they've seen so far seeing no specific safety concerns that could derail giving the green light to this vaccine. the head of the government's "operation warp speed" are ready to ramp up the vaccine soon as they get the go-ahead. >> this time the vaccines will be shipped to a little bit over 3,200 sites compared to the 636 sites being targeted in this

three days, monday be, tuesday, wednesday. and, but a little over 6 million doses of vaccine. so we're ramping up to distribute more vaccines both from the pfizer and the moderna headquarters. >> and get a view from somebody who's already received the shop. this doctor is with us, internal medicine physician with sanford health in north dakota. tell us how you feel after taking this vaccine. >> well, good afternoon, and i feel great. i had a little bit of a tingling in the arm here, but nothing that can't be too -- nothing that's too tough. >> okay. just a little bit of pain at the injection site, or odd feeling at the injection site. but i know, doctor, you see covid patients every day. so is this something that gives you more confidence now?

look, i know you're going to have to take the second dose. right? >> that's right. >> but as you look towards that date when you know that this is effective for you is that going to give you more confidence as you treat patients? >> yeah. definitely. definitely. this is a -- this is significant. humongous, and in march, you know, we were -- and since march, we've been fighting a war, a battle, and this is just an amazing ability for us to see some, some sunshine on the horizon. so this is a great opportunity for us right now. we are looking forward to seeing patients, not so much in the hospital as much as -- we're very excited about this. >> once you've had your second dose, do you think that you will change the way you prepare for your day? for your duties? with ppe, or even in your

personal life? you know, some of the things that you can do that maybe you would have been worried about before? what are your expectations? >> that's a great question. you know, i think after the second vaccination i will still likely continue to participate in wearing a mask, hand hygiene and social distancing, until the overall -- until the overall pandemic is at least addressed on a glower numb elower number. i think it's the least i can do as a. >> citizen of my town here to just make sure that i'm leading by example as well. >> and i know you said that you thought of your patients as you got the vaccine. tell us about that. tell us, you know, what you're seeing day in and day out that much of the country isn't? >> well, you know, we've had the opportunity of taking care of a

surge, a few months ago. so when things were not going well, you know, there's a lot of fears and a lot of worries, and when you're taking care of these patients, not only are you concerned managing these patients, but you're also hearing the fears and worries of your patients. you get to listen to their insights, you get to listen to their dreams and fears and worries about the future. and i think one of the really a maa -- amazing things about wha happened in past 24, 48 hours, if not longer, is that there's much hope. there is an ability to look into our patient's eyes and hold their hands and say, things will become better. >> you know, that is -- it's so wonderful to hear you say that, because i don't think that we can underestimate not just on

patients but to doctors and colleagues. you work so much and it is wonderful to have this ray of hope. thank you very much, dr. seth. >> thank you very much. with hospitalizations surging to record levels, hospital workers are planning a strike in three california hospitals. why these nurses are ready to walk off the job. >> nurses here in california have never been so critical, yet 2400 of them are said to go on strike next week, on christmas eve, impacting three southern california hospitals. the union that represents these nurses, the local union 121, says in a statement that the conditions have been unsafe and that these hospitals have been ill prepared during the pandemic. the impacted hospitals are the mt. robles medical center, the

riverside community hospital and the west hills hospital and medical center. in a statement to our affiliate knbc, they said, it is unconscionable that the union would urge nurses to abandon the bedside. ultimately it's unclear if the strike will move forward. brianna? >> dan simon, thank you. we are following breaking news that president-elect has asked one of his colleagues, greg

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today could be a make or break day for a deal. cnn national correspondent suzanne malveaux is on capitol hill. suzanne, tell us where things stand right now. >> brianna, we're in a hurry up and wait mode, if you will, but what's encouraging is these meetings continue, the talks

continue. nothing has broken down so far, so it does give us some optimism. many of the senators i'm speaking to today is optimistic that a deal could come. in about an hour and a half, speaker pelosi will have a meeting with her republican counterparts, schumer as well as mcconnell. they'll sit down and talk about how to reduce this big $1.4 trillion spending bill to fund the public until 2021. they've come up with this package. they've split it into two. they are many things they agree on including covid relief, unemployment relief, food, vaccinations, that kind of thing, then set aside 160 billion, that would be for liability protection, something the republicans want, and aid

for state and local governments, something the democrats want. so many senators saying, look, let's just put that aside. there will be a second bite of the apple under the biden administration and just go for what we can agree on now. that is something that we just heard from senate majority mitch mcconnell, saying that is his emphasis as well, to at least get something done before the christmas holiday. take a listen. >> i've been saying for weeks and you've been listening to me say it for weeks. let's put aside the things we can't agree on and do the things we can. that's just another good argument to get it done, get it done now, and we're not leaving -- i assure you, we're not leaving until we finish this package. >> reporte . >> brianna, they have until the end of the week. they can introduce this big spending bill and then that covid bill later on in the week. brianna?

>> nothing strikes more fear into the heart of congress than being told they might not be able to go on vacation. we'll see if that's an incentive for them. our special coverage continues now with brooke baldwin. >> brianna, thank you, friend. welcome back. hi there, i'm brooke baldwin. you're watching cnn. it is day two of the coronavirus vaccine in the u.s. introducing the inoculations to front line health workers today. it is the first and most critical step in finally getting this pandemic under control. and it could not come at a more crucial time. right now there are more americans hospitalized with coronavirus than at any time before. more than 10,500. this as the number of deaths hit another horrible milestone. look at this. 301,000 americans killed by this disease and counting. there is some hope for all of us on the horizon. the fd