. it is the top of the hour. right now the country is anticipating two crucial forms of relief from the coronavirus pandemic. vaccines and a stimulus deal. and this relief of course cannot come soon enough. americans are suffering.

more than 3,000 americans reported dead yesterday, third deadliest day since the pandemic began. and more than 112,000 are hospitalized, yet another haunting record. all nearly a week from the christmas holiday. the u.s. is on track to add 1 million new cases in less than 7 days. those numbers adding urgency to the race to authorize a second coronavirus vaccine. an fda committee is meeting tomorrow and they will be considering moderna's vaccine candidate. white house testing sta czar sa could add tense of millions of doses to the distribution. but first, let's turn to capitol hill. mcconnell is telling republicans to prepare for weekend votes. >> we made major head kay toward hammering out a targeted pandemic relief package that

would be able to pass both chambers with bipartisan majorities. can we committed to continue the discussions and we will not leave town until we've made law. >> let's talk about it now with richard quest. you know, richard, what do we know about what is going to be in package? >> it is the art of what is possible, not what is desirable or wanted by either side. so the package that is coming together is a pretty slimmed down version. still a large number, $900 billion, but at the end of the day, it is what you can get them to agree he upon. so stimulus checks to americans look like that will be part of the deal. it won't be $1200 like the first round back in the somewhere, it will be somewhere between $300 or $600 or $700 per person depending on your tax status.

and then you will have money made available for vaccine distribution. that is considered a number one priority. but more controversial when you move to the jobless benefits. t it seems likely that the $300 a week extension of the jobless benefits. remember it had been $600, but that wouldn't fly now. very important, an eviction moratorium will be extended. if not at the end of this year, up to 20 million people could be thrown out of their homes. that is considered to be bipartisan, that is considered to be crucial. and then you have things like deferment of loans, the education secretary says that that is going to be. but the two things -- let's go to the two things that really have been sticking points. state and local aid.

republicans won't give ground on that, so they will cobble something on that. and lawsuit protections will also be put off to another day. so this is really complex stuff, but what you are seeing today is the art of what is possible, not what either party wanted. >> and you look at the price tag, it is a big deal, $900 billion, but then the question is, is $900 billion really enough here? is it enough to get americans through the next few months to the other side of vaccinations? >> no, that is not a hard question to answer. joe biden will be back once he is president to ask for more. remember the democrats wanted $2 trillion or $3 trillion. so joe biden will be back and that is one of the reasons mitch mcconnell admitted that he knows there is another round to come in january. possibly in march.

he is not giving away the store, he is keeping it in reserve because he know a president biden will require more. we're focused on the vaccine. we've got to get to the point where the country is predominantly vaccinated. that is at least six months away. we're still talking about social distancing, masks, and stimulus. >> and so you mentioned state and local governments. and obviously aid to them was a sticking point there. you talked about it being cobbled together. probably not what democrats wanted to see. so what is the impact of that shortfall going to be? transit authority, local, rin regional authority will be short of cash and can only be made up by states. they will have to borrow it gif they can or expect a massive cut in services at the state and

local level unless the federal government puts its hand in its pocket. the republicans this congress and the senate won't do that yet. wait until your train doesn't running and the streets aren't cleaned and the local community center is closed. >> people notice these things first i think. richard, thank you so much. more historic vaccinations are under way right now. and my next guest, his hospital was selected to receive some of the first vaccine doses and it serves a predominantly black neighborhood in chicago. and i want to bring in george miller, president and ceo of the loretto hospital. and george, you are all set. here we go. >> yes, i am.

>> george, tell us about this experience. >> well, this is a wonderful experience. we're very excited to be the first in the city of chicago to receive vaccinations. i'm also very honored alongside our chief operating officer and administering the covid vaccination on my side is our chief pharmacist, pal. and we also have our chief nursing officer here. >> so i think that you've already got the band aid on. one and done -- well, i guess two and done is what it will be because you will need another dose which is key to having immunity there. tell us a little bit about why it is so important that your employees and that your city see

the xi ceo of this hospital getg this vaccine. >> and two very important issues. unfortunately, african-americans who make up 14% of the u.s. population have received double the amount of the virus disproportionately and deaths across america, we make up double the am of oount of our population. so the only solution we believe is a vaccination. so we're thankful that it is now here. to be the first hospital in chicago to receive it. but our team members who are true heros take care of very sick patients, take care of the population that is disenfranchised and we want to make sure that they have the ability to get vaccinations to take care of this community.

>> there is a concern of distrust of the coronavirus vaccine especially among african-americans. i wonder as we have seen more people getting vaccinated, and there have been people stepping up like you trying to say, look, this has gone through the correct process, this will keep us safe, are you hearing anything different in people who may have been skeptical about getting the vaccine? >> we've heard some of those concerns. and what we did today as an example, we had a town hall meeting with all of our team members and let them ask questions to bring forward their questions, concerns and explain the science behind how this vaccination was developed and the key note here i want to make, according to dr. fauci, that one of the premiere scientists at nih was an

african-american woman, dr. corbett, who helped develop this vaccination and we're very proud. there is legitimate distrust because of tuskegee, the t-cells, that happened in the past. but this is a new day. and one of the reasons that i wanted to take it as a demonstration that it is comfortable that the vaccination will help solve the problems. we need 100 million americans to have this vaccination so we can have herd immunity and we're honored to be the first hospital to get the vaccination and all of our team members are willing and able to take the vaccination. we want to demonstrate very clearly that it is the right thing to do. >> george, we really appreciate you and your staff sharing this moment with us. it has been a long time coming. we hope that this is something that brings you hope as you have been struggling through this very difficult time on the front

lines. george miller, thank you to all of you, really appreciate it. >> thank you. so for the last week, more than 100,000 people have been in the hospital every day fighting covid. that is the highest seven day average that we have seen ever. and now we're learning that there is a surplus of a therapy that could keep people out of covid wards. it is called the mono clone natur monday h manno close natural anti-bead 1y50ir monoclonal antibody treatment. only 25% of the supply is being used. and we have jacqueline howard to explain why people are not getting the monoclonal antibody treatment when it steit seems t available. >> they seem to work best early on in the course of a covid-19 illness. typically within ten days of the onset of symptoms.

so even though there is a surplus of these monoclonal antibody, by the time some people show up at the hoopt ssp sick can covid-19, it might be too late to get the benefits of these treatments. and this is something that alex a azar has warned about especially when it comes to people who are at high risk of covid-19. azar says if you are over age 65 or have underlying medical conditions, and you test positive for covid-19, ask about these treatments. the lild illy or regeneron. and they are administered as iv infusions. back to you. >> donald trump has not stopped tweeting about how he still thinks he won the election. so why isn't he still doing the job of president while he still has it? and some high profile kinls,

s criminals, who is lining up to take advantage of his pardoning power. and the investigation into the poisoning of florida valnaty oig oig. you the protein you need with less of the sugar you don't. [grunting noise] i'll take that. woohoo! 30 grams of protein and 1 gram of sugar. ensure max protein. with nutrients to support immune health. ensure max protein. new projects means you need to hire.gers. i need indeed. indeed you do. the moment you sponsor a job on indeed you get a short list of quality candidates from our resume database. claim your seventy five dollar credit, when you post your first job at indeed.com/home. get way more. so you can bring your vision to life.d for small prices, you can build big dreams. spend less, get way more. shop everything home at wayfair today.

it was 1961 when nellie young lost her devoted husband. without him, things were tough. her last option was to sell her home, but... her home meant everything to her. her husband had been a high school football coach and it turned out, one of his former players came up with an answer. a loan, created just for older homeowners. and pretty soon, nellie young had one of the first reverse mortgages. discover if a reverse mortgage loan is right for you. use it to eliminate monthly mortgage payments and increase cashflow, create an emergency fund, preserve retirement savings and more. call now for your free information kit. that first reverse mortgage loan meant nellie could stay in the home she loved so much,

with memories that meant even more. a reverse mortgage loan isn't some kind of trick to take your home. it's a loan... and it's tax-free cash just when you need it. it's about making your retirement better. call today and find out more in aag's free, no-obligation reverse mortgage loan guide. access tax-free cash and stay in the home you love. of course, you can use it to pay some bills, cover medical costs, update or repair your home. but best of all, it eliminates those monthly mortgage payments so you get more cash in your pocket, every month. learn how you can use a reverse mortgage loan to cover your expenses, pay for healthcare, preserve retirement savings, and so much more. a lots changed since 1961... since then over a million older americans have used a reverse mortgage loan to finance their retirements. it meant so much to nellie,

maybe it could mean as much to you... call now and get your free infokit one of the most curious things about prthd insi preside that he did not lose the election is that he has quit on the very job he is so desperate to keep. today he's cabinet meeting is his first since may. even before the election, he showed little interest in the work of a president. but in the 42 days since the election, he has gone 20 of those days without a public event even listed on his schedule. he's only had 13 appearances that were open to the press.

only two of which he took questions from reporters at and he used to do that multiple times a week. he has had just one on-camera interview which of course would you say on planet fox. 27 official white house business events have been listed on the schedule, more than half of which were behind closed doors. he has spent nine days on one of his golf courses. he has had zero intelligence briefings listed on his schedule. and he hasn't said a single word about the suspected russian attack on the u.s. government this is being called one of the most sophisticated attacks in recent years. this an attack on the u.s. by russia and yet he is silent. he obviously couldn't care less about his duty to lead a peaceful transition. instead, he stalled it for weeks and is still claiming that he won the election. he has been on a staffing purge though installing his own deep state inside places like the pentagon and he is making controversial military decisions on the fates of u.s. troops.

he has thrown out more air than nick at night, he is spending out late night tweets about everything from fox to whatever his daily conspiracy theory is. by all accounts, he has completely checked out on trying to broker this deal over a second stimulus for millions and millions of suffering americans. perhaps worst of all is that america's covid death rate is expleading, the nation topping more than 300,000 deaths, we're losing thousands of americans every day and he rarely says a word. this monumental loss, and he rarely says a word. hospitalizations hitting record after record each day, he rarely says a word about their suffering. the only thing that he likes to talk about when it comes to one of the deadliest crises in american history is making sure that he gets credit for the vaccines. short timer syndrome, it is a real thing, but not if you want to keep your job or come back to

it. he has thousand got onow got on oval office about to join the other on the golf course. one perk that he seems to be interested this is pardons. and pamela brown is joining me now to talk about this. you have been following this for honesties. we know that the president is exploring possible pardons for family members even position, but now there is a spreadsheet of potential pardons. >> yeah, there is a huge pardon push in this final stretch of trump's administration. and i'm told by one source that it has turned crazy, that there is so much activity with people, hundreds of people reaching out to the white house directly, senior white house officials such as the white house counsel pat cipollone, jared kushner, mark meadows, that spreadsheet has been created that is circulating among a very small group of people to keep track of all of these pardon requests that are really inundating the white house right now.

again, these are requests coming from people who have shown loyalty to the president over the last four years and they are hoping to cash in on that loyalty either for themselves, a friend or family member or for a client that they are lobbying on behalf of. and i'm told that while it has been sort of a free for all, but inside the white house there have been tons of meetings, white house counsel lawyers have been going on looking at different cases and the president has reviewed some of the pardon cases. we know he did a high profile one recently with michael flynn. but we do expect more before he leaves office. and he has been really into this as we know since he became president, he has been really into his pardon power, he has been looking at the cases and talking to allies about who they think he should pardon. and what is so interesting about this too, it comes at a time when of course the president is essentially in denial that he lost the election even though this last minute flurry of the

big pardon push is really a reminder that his term is almost up. >> and usually there is a process involving the doj that squ someone would go through in requesting a pardon. why are people going directly to the white house instead of those more official channels? >> i've been asking about that. basically president trump since the very beginning has circumvented doj and the pardons he has made, he has essentially left them out of the process for the most part. so people on the outside looking for pardons have figured that the best way to go about this is go the informal route. reaching out directly to the senior white house officials and they are just trying desperately to make sure that they are seeing their emails or their messages are getting across as they make this final push with only a few weeks left with trump in office. >> and the president also floated the possibility of just not leaving on january 20th. tell us about this and what

aides have said about it. >> so several sources have said that the president really has been believing his own disinformation that he has been spreading and that he still believes that he won this election and it was stolen from him even though that is completely unfounded. and he has even told aides that he doesn't want to leave the white house on inauguration day. now, that certainly concerns some aides and allies, and they don't think that he will follow through on that, they do think that he will leave the white house. as one source pit it, he is just throwing a temper tan trumtruan. even as the courts have not found a single case of election fraud. and of course as the electoral college certified the vote. mitch mcconnell the senate majority leader of course congratulated joe biden yesterday. something that the president clearly didn't like and lashed out at him on twitter last

night. >> he is losing allies or enabler, however you put it, folks who have pass filcified h. thank you for your reporting. tom cruise is reportedly not happy with some on his "mission impossible" crew. we have new details about the expletive laden tongue lashing he gave for some of them not following covid protocol onset. and with the new vaccine option about to receive emergency use authorization, will americans get to choose which shot they get? is now a good time for a flare-up? enough, crohn's. for adults with moderate to severe crohn's or ulcerative colitis, stelara® can provide relief, and is the only approved medication to reduce inflammation on and below the surface of the intestine in uc.

you, getting on that flight? back off, uc. stelara® may increase your risk of infections, some serious, and cancer. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you have an infection, flu-like symptoms, sores, new skin growths, have had cancer, or if you need a vaccine. rpls, a rare, potentially fatal brain condition, may be possible. some serious allergic reactions and lung inflammation can occur. lasting remission can start with stelara®. if you've been financially impacted by covid-19, janssen may be able to help.

people are saving hundreds on the most reliable in a land not so far away, network with xfinity mobile. they can choose from the latest phones or bring their own. and choose the data option that's right for them. they even get nationwide 5g at no extra cost. and since they are on the carrier rated #1 in customer satisfation, they live happily ever after. again, again! xfinity mobile. your wireless. your rules. your way to stay closer together. click, call, or visit an xfinity store today.

24 hours after throwing a highly contentious holiday party, secretary of state mike pompeo is in quarantine after coming into contact with someone who tested positive for coronavirus. pompeo has tested negative. cnn learned that pompeo was a no show at tuesday's indoor party as were hundreds of invited guests. he canceled his scheduled speech for unknown reasons. and our nationgs security correspondent has more. >> reporter: and mike pompeo's week has been up ended after we learned this morning from a state department spokesperson that he is quarantining after coming into contact with someone who tested positive for covid-19. now, just yesterday he was scheduled to host a holiday

reception here at the department for families of u.s. diplomats who seven in places where they can't bring their families along. he did not attend that reception. and just today he was scheduled to host two separate diplomatic receptions for foreign ambassadors here in washington with his wife. both of those were canceled. and we should note that folks here were frustrated that he was even hosting those receptions because they were fearful that they could be places where the coronavirus could spread. and tomorrow tom we repopompeo face-to-face with joe biden's pick for secretary of state tony blinken, and that in-person meeting will not happen. we're trying to figure out if it will happen strirnlgly. the state department not telling us who pompeo came into contact with who could have potentially given hip covid-19. he has tested negative, but we're still working to learn

more. a british tabloid is reporting an explosive scene on the uk set of actor tom cruise's new movie mission impossible 7. cruise scolded crew members for not practicing proper social distancing guidelines that they were supposed to and it was caught on tape. the british tabloid the sun released the audio and cnn has listened to the sun's recording and cruise can be heard saying i don't ever want to see it again ever, and if you don't do it, you're fired. if i see you do it again, you are fing gone and if anyone on the crew does it, that's it. he says we're the gold standard, they are back there in hollywood making movies because of us. because they believe in us and what we're doing. we're creating thousands of jobs you mf ertz oi efers, tell to t losing hair fing home because our industry is being shut down. it won't put food on their table or pay for their college

education. that is what i sleep with every night, the future of this fing industry. this incident reported will i happened on location at a rn with aer brothers studio outside the london. warn are brothers like cnn is owned by warner media. cnn has contacted cruise's publicist for comment. we have not received a response on that. the "new york times" reports paramount declined the request for comment. cruise shelled out nearly $700,000 of his own money to rent a ship so he could create a quarantine bubble for the cast and drew. i want to talk with the director of the vaccine education center at children's hospital of philadelphia. he is also a member of the fda vaccine advisory committee and, i mean, i do want to point out that this film that tom cruise is the star of has suffered production delays because of covid outbreaks. they have had to do contact tracing and they suffered some issues because of obviously how

it would delay things. he is trying to keep people working and protected, but that was a tongue lashing. i wonder your reaction to it. >> good if him. i think that he is right. you know, we -- in america, this is a country that was founded on the basis of individual rights and freedoms. and so people claim freedoms like ones they don't have, like this one for example. it is not your freedom to catch and transmit a potentially fatal infection. when people proudly take their masks off as they did in that motorcycle biker rally, that is not their freedom. it affects not only you, but people with whom you come in contact. good for him. i mean, i think he should have that rant pretty much on a daily basis and let everybody in this country hear this. >> i want to ask you something about the pfizer vaccine because there has been another allergic reaction and this one is the first in the united states. it was a health care worker in alaska. doctors said that she had no known history of severe allergic reactions to vaccines.

so does it signal a bigger problem with the safety of the vaccine. >> i think that it is something that we obviously need to look at. there were several people in the united kingdom who had a severe allergic reaction and had a history of severe reactions. currently the cdc recommendation is that that if you've ever had a severe reaction, you shouldn't get the vaccine. so if you get it, you have to wait for 30 minutes in the area. and if you've never had a severe reaction, you have to wait for about 15 minutes because one out of a million people can have a reaction to the vaccine. what we need to find out is what specifically seems to be inducing the allergic reaction. even for this person who has never had an allergic reaction before, she would have been instructed to hang around for about 15 minutes during which time usually if you will have an

aler gik reacti al aler gik reaction, you would have one. >> and i want to ask you about the second possible vaccine, it seems like it is moving through, the moderna vaccine. so then you would have two vaccine options that are available. i wonder if americans are going to have a choice on which one they get and should they have a choice. >> well, for now it doesn't look like there is any major differences in terms of the key things, which is safety and efficacy. there are some smaller differences, the length of time between the first shot and the second shoot, the amount, the dose of messenger rna is different. one can be given done to 18 years, the other down to 16. there are some storage and handling differences. but i think for all practical purposes, there is not a lot of vaccine out there. so i think that you will be asked to get the vaccine that the area where you are getting

it has. i don't think that there is a choice for right now. >> doctor, thank you so much for being with us. >> thank you. russia has weighed in on cnn's exclusive investigation into the poisoning of florida value a alexei navalny. why they say it was funny to read.

some things are good to know. like where to find the cheapest gas in town and which supermarket gives you the most bang for your buck. something else that's good to know? if you have medicare and medicaid you may be able to get more healthcare benefits through a humana medicare advantage plan. call the number on your screen now and speak to a licensed humana sales agent to see if you qualify. learn about plans that could give you more healthcare

benefits than you have today. depending on the plan you choose, you could have your doctor, hospital and prescription drug coverage in one convenient plan. from humana, a company with nearly 60 years of experience in the healthcare industry. you'll have lots of doctors and specialists to choose from. and, if you have medicare and medicaid, a humana plan may give you other important benefits. depending on where you live, they could include dental, vision and hearing coverage. you may also get rides to plan-approved locations; home delivered meals after an in-patient hospital stay; a monthly allowance for purchasing healthy food and beverages; plus an allowance for health and wellness items. everything from over the counter medications and vitamins, to first aid items and personal care products. best of all, if you have medicare and medicaid, you may qualify for multiple opportunities throughout the year to enroll. so if you want more from medicare, call the

number on your screen now to speak with a licensed humana sales agent. learn about humana plans that could give you more healthcare benefits. including coverage for prescription drugs, dental care, eye exams and glasses, hearing aids and more. a licensed humana sales agent will walk you through your options, answer any questions you have and, if you're eligible, help you enroll over the phone. call today and we'll also send this free guide. humana, a more human way to healthcare. use a single hr software? nope. we use 11. eleven. why do an expense report from your phone when you can do it from a machine that jams? i just emailed my wife's social security number to the entire company instead of hr, so... please come back. how hard is your business software working for you? with paycom, employees enter and manage their own hr data in one easy-to-use software. visit paycom.com for a free demo.

hon? first off, we love each other... russia's foreign minister sergey lavrov is laughing off the results of an cnn investigation into the nearly fatal poisoning of florida value any oig oig. he fell ill on a four hour flight and he nearly died. our investigation found evidence that russia's federal security service, the fs brchlt, had b, that specialized in deadly nerve agents and that the team had been trailing navalny for years.

clarissa ward has more. tell us about sergey lavrov's efforts to down play what you found in this investigation. >> well, first of all, we should point out that this is well over 48 hours after this report first came out. and all we've heard during those two days is essentially radio silence. no response from the kremlin, no response from the fsb and not a peep either from russia media. and then today finally we hear from the foreign minister sergey lavrov speaking to journalists, he said simply that the report was basically funny to him. he went on to say that he had come to expect such things from the west ands that it was proof of a lack of ethics and in convention of legal norms ent internationally. and he went on to say that the fact that moss do you has been silent about this should not be

interpreted as an admission of guilt. he said that any -- this would be a flawed approach obvious to any sane person. but what is missing him a mid the bluster is an actual response to the allegations that we have put to the russian government, to russian security forces that we still have not received any response to. >> and alexei navalny echoed something that he said to you as well after seeing the findings of your report which were news to him, he said that he is certain that vladimir putin knew that he was a target of the fsb. >> yes, and he said that to us as well. and certainly when you look at the power structures of the people involved with this operation, it does go up to, you know, the very dizzying heights of power here. no one has complete transparency or complete sense of the powers that exist within the kremlin.

and so it is difficult to say. but certainly everyone will be watching very closely tomorrow because president vladimir putin will be giving his annual press conference, it assigns runs four or five hours long. these questions are not freely asked. they are submitted in advance and cherrypicked, highly cura d curated. so not clear if anyone will even be allowed to ask about this, but certainly there will be a lot of people waiting to see if president putin will finally come out and address the elephant in the room and answer the question as to what these operatives were doing and what their role really was in the poisoning of alexei navalny. >> and if he doesn't address it, that too would be telling. clarissa ward, thank you so much for this followup on your amazing report. a big announcement from joe biden's team today, pete buttigieg nominated for transportation secretary. see what happened. research shows that people remember commercials with exciting stunts.

so to help you remember that liberty mutual customizes your home insurance, here's something you shouldn't try at home... look, liberty mutual customizes home insurance so we only pay for what we need. it's pretty cool. that is cool! grandma! very cool. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ unfortunately, we are still limiting in-person appointments due to the pandemic and we'll need to move your father's visit to a later date. we're sorry. hola, papa. american cancer society helpline. how can i help you? american cancer society helpline.

for people with certain inflammatory conditions. because there are options. like an "unjection™". xeljanz. the first and only pill of its kind that treats moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, or moderate to severe ulcerative colitis when other medicines have not helped enough. xeljanz can lower your ability to fight infections. before and during treatment, your doctor should check for infections, like tb and do blood tests. tell your doctor if you've had hepatitis b or c, have flu-like symptoms, or are prone to infections. serious, sometimes fatal infections, cancers including lymphoma, and blood clots have happened. taking a higher than recommended dose of xeljanz for ra may increase risk of death. tears in the stomach or intestines and serious allergic reactions have happened. needles. fine for some. but for you, there's a pill that may provide symptom relief. ask your doctor about the pill first prescribed for ra more than seven years ago. xeljanz. an "unjection™".

president-elect joe biden is making history, nominating former south bend mayor pete buttigieg to the position of transportation secretary. and if confirmed, buttigieg would be the first senate approved openly lgbtq cabinet secretary. he is at age 38 also would be the youngest person nominated to biden's cabinet. m.j. lee is in wilmington, delaware. tell us what your sources are saying about this nomination. >> reporter: well, it is not

lost on the biden team that this is a barrier breaking nomination for all the reasons that you just stated. but biden was also emphasizing that this is not just about pete buttigieg, that he takes a lot of pride in the fact that he has made a number of appointments and nominations now that have broken sort of the first ever barriers. and that he feels good about the fact that he is making good on his promise to make sure that there is unprecedented diversity our cabinet doesn't just have one first or just two of these firsts but eight precedent-busting appointments. and today, the first ever gay nominee to lead the cabinet department, and one of the youngest cabinet members ever. the biden-harris cabinet will be a historic cabinet.

>> buttigieg himself talked about the nature of his own nomination. he said he was thinking back on his 17-year-old self when he had not told his family and friends that he was gay. he thought he wanted to be an airline pilot, and he wondered, are there other 17-year-olds who are watching this announcement and thinking about what might be possible for them? i just want to note another moment from this event where biden was talking about infrastructure being a top priority for him and something that the transportation secretary would take on. he made a point of saying that in the past, big infrastructure projects have gotten bipartisan support in congress. it seemed like he wanted to sand message to republicans in congress that this is one area where he expects and hopes to get some bipartisan support when he is president. >> and mj, biden did take a couple shouted questions as he walked off the stage. what did he say? >> reporter: he did. he was asked once more about when he was going to get this covid-19 vaccine, and he

essentially said, look, i don't want to be cutting the line, but he emphasized he does want to do this in public. this is something they have been emphatic about, wanting to use this as an exercise to earn the public's trust when it comes to the vaccine. he was also asked about the stimulus negotiations. he said he was encouraged by what he has been seeing in congress, but you know in past he has said whatever gets done before the end of the year, that's only going to be the beginning. he knows once he is president he will have to get more done with the future congress. brianna? >> mj lee, thank you so much, live for us from wilmington, delaware. our breaking news coverage will continue. congressional leaders on the brink of a $900 billion relief bill, but will it come in time for the huge wave of evictions that are expected in january? stay with us. disease and bad b. never settle for 25%. always go for 100.

bring out the bold™ to help you build a flexible wealth plan. you'll have access to tax-smart investing strategies, and with brokerage accounts online trades are commission free. personalized advice. unmatched value.

at fidelity, you can have both. less sick days! cold coming on? zicam® is clinically proven to shorten colds! highly recommend it! zifans love zicam's unique zinc formula. it shortens colds! zicam zinc that cold!

just in, new cnn reporting on the investigation of president-elect joe biden's son hunter biden. we have kaitlan collins at the white house with some new reporting about how president trump is viewing this, a little bit with an ax to grind, kaitlan. >> certain >> reporter: certainly. and we're come to go an end of donald trump's presidency. we're hearing him say there are lots of things he wants to get

done. and there's one thing we know with multiple advisers, we've learned, and that's with special counsel things that the president wants to make sure are done long after he's out of office, and one of the things is looking into one of those baseless claims of voter fraud that the president has been spreading for weeks, of course, since the election. the attorney general said they looked into it and not uncovered any widespread evidence of that so far. but the other thing, as you noted, is into the president-elect's son hunter biden as joe biden was asked about today, and he said he's confident that his son hasn't done anything wrong. what we're hearing from the white house sources, brianna, is the president has raised this several times, talking about having a special counsel to continue this investigation into hunter biden that cnn has also extensively reported is underway, but also into claims of fraud. whether or not this is going to happen is still an open question, because it's not up to the president to appoint a special counsel, though he has

asked in recent days if he can actually do that. it's up to the attorney general, and we know the attorney general currently, bill barr, is leave his job in a week from now. so whether or not his deputy would actually go through with it is still a pretty big question that remains inside the white house. >> okay, so if -- you know, if he wouldn't go through with it, the president could fire him, right, or would he be able to -- it sounds like he's inquired about appointing a special counsel himself? is that even something he can do? >> reporter: based on what we know, it's up to the attorney general to do so. so he certainly could fire, of course, jeffrey rosen who is going to be taking over for bill barr. he's currently the deputy attorney general. he'll be the acting attorney general once he's in that capacity. so whether or not he would actually follow through with that is still an open question. he's not something that has this long relationship with the president, they're not very close, but whether or not he would actually go through with it is another matter. that raises the question, would

trump fire him if he didn't do what he wanted? one of the reasons we've been reporting that the president was hesitant to fire barr when he so clearly wanted to over the last several weeks is, brianna, there is no obvious successor so take barr's place. that's still the case with jeffrey rosen in charge once attorney general barr leaves. so it's still a lot of the uncertainties, but what we do know is the president is now more than ever more unpredictable than he was in his presidency. they do not know what the president is going told, but they do know this is something he's talked about. of course, now it's been reported in the media, so the justice department is well aware this is something the president has been discussing himself. >> he's obviously still smarting from impeachment and the russia investigation. i know your reporting shows that he basically sees this as payback. >> reporter: yeah, because he is still spurned by that investigation from robert mueller, of course, and possible

ties with russia in his campaign. so the way he talked about these special counsels, if i had a special counsel, why don't we have one into these matters that i care about? >> kaitlan, thank you so much for sharing with us. and "the lead" with jake tapper starts right now. welcome to "the lead." i'm jake tapper and we begin today with the health lead. more hope on the horizon. assistant secretary of health tells cm cnn that he is, quote, confident that the moderna vaccine will also get authorized. doses could theoretically be in the arms of the american people starting on monday. 20 million doses of moderna vaccines will be delivered by the end of the month, and so far distribution of the pfizer vaccines seem to be on schedule. but all this hope does come amid the dark reality. and this afternoon new