hello, everyone i'm kate bolduan. thank you for joining us this hour. right now an fda advisory panel is meeting, debating and will be deciding whether to recommend the agency grant emergency authorization for moderna's coronavirus vaccine. the vaccine is expected to get the green light, fda scientists have found the vaccine to be safe and effective after reviewing data from the company. listen to this. >> similar to the case with the

pfizer vaccine last week, the fda has reviewed the manufacturing information provided by moderna and found it to be adequate to support issue shuns of an eua. we expect data to support a favorable benefit of the vaccine when rapidly deployed for millions of individuals, including healthy people. >> this could mean the country could be just days away from shipments headed out the doors of a second coronavirus vaccine. this is great news. but it is not all good news today. actually, there's some very tragic news. the country is in a full-blown crisis. as we've just seen the worst single day in the pandemic by every measure. more than 3,600 new deaths were reported just yesterday. the deadliest day yet and more people than ever are in the hospital with coronavirus. 113,000 people now hospitalized. icus are overflowing. more than 247,000 new cases were

reported yesterday. also, a record high. and just moments ago, the country, as you see on the side of your screen, the country passed 17 million total confirmed cases of covid. let me bring in right now dr. sanjay gupta. the statistics as we're looking at them are just horrible. which is why this fda meeting that's happening as we speak today on the moderna vaccine is so critical. what have you been hearing from the panel? what are the issues that they're focussing on? >>. >> it is whiplash, first of all, kate, to have such awful news and potentially such good news on the same day. what the fda advisory committee is looking at, the basic question they want answered at the end of the day is do the benefits outweigh the risks to basically validate an emergency use authorization for people 18 and older for this vaccine. remember, the pfizer vaccine was

for people 16 and older. this is for people 18 and older. we can show you some of the specifics about these vaccines but you know when you listen to these advisory committee meetings, the things that we know, is that it's likely to get authorization. we get an idea of who it's likely to be good for. they also want to drill down on who -- if there's any populations of concern, such as people with allergic reactions. they're pretty similar vaccines. couple differences three weeks apart for the pfizer, four weeks apart for the moderna. moderna does not need to be kept quite as cold so it can be distributed more widely. and again, that age thing that ended up being an issue with the pfizer vaccine, a point of discussion for the pfizer vaccine. they thought -- some thought maybe it should be 18 and older as well for that. but regardless it looks very promising that we would have both of these vaccines

authorized, you know, within the next couple of days and that the government has bought 200 million doses of the moderna vaccine, which would obviously go a long way towards trying to get to as many people immunized as possible. >> on the pfizer vaccine, pfizer is reporting they're studying these two cases of people having an allergic reaction to the vaccine in an alaska hospital. how concerning is this? can you give me your thoughts? >> this is one of the things we need to pay attention to. we need to track and not ignore, this is basically as part of the emergency use authorization there is an adverse event reporting system in place so we will hear about these adverse events. a couple things to keep in mind, i want to show you what these two people, what they -- actually, the symptoms they had. as you look at the symptoms keep in mind in with other vaccines one in a million people do have allergic reactions. if you start giving it to hundreds of millions of people

you are going to see these reactions. the first person, was a more serious reaction. she had flushed feeling within a few minutes of receiving the vaccine, a shortness of breath, ended up getting epinephrine, needed more in the form of a drip and then eventually recovered so it was a significant reaction. the second person does not sound like a true anaphylatic infection. eye puffiness, light headedness, scratchy throat. it's curious they both happened at the same hospital. we'll see if we see more of these reactions around the country. >> listening in to this meeting as it's going to, sanjay, thank you. dr. rodriguez is joining me now and dr. poland also is

joining me. dr. rodriguez, what are you picking up so far from the fda meeting taking place as we speak? >> what i'm picking up is first of all we have a very effective and safe vaccine. it's very similar to the pfizer but as sanjay said, it is so much easier to distribute it. i'm picking up what we know, there's been transparency in the data. it appears as if this is a shoe in to be recommended by this advisory committee. and what i'm picking up is we're going to have a doubling of the amount of vaccines available to the u.s. public and health care workers within a matter of days. >> which is great news. dr. poland, when the same group met on the pfizer vaccine, the meeting went on for multiple hours. what are you going to be listening for as this continues today? >> the concerns that come up

around allergies and hypersensitivity reactions are going to be the focus of the meeting. earlier this morning it was how do we deal with having two vaccines by eua and trying to maintain the blinded nature of the studies so that we learn the most and how might we negotiate that. so those are the key things that i think are going to come up and be discussed. >> can you give me your thoughts on the allergic reaction. sanjay was giving the reporting on it and pfizer was tracking it and it should be looked at. what do you think and hear? what should the public consider and know when you hear about these two allergic reactions in alaska? >> like already has been mentioned we need to keep this in context. so far there have been four allergic reactions worldwide when tens of thousands of people have already received this vaccine. that is not something that needs to be ignored, but it is something that is expected, almost with any vaccine, any

injection. so again, this should not dissuade anybody that is able to get the vaccine to do so, because you have a much greater risk of having covid and complications from that. however if you have allergies before or if you're afraid of that, you may want to wait a little bit and obviously get the vaccine in a place where they can treat you if something happens. but it is something that does happen. >> for this vaccine and others. >> absolutely. >> as you have well mentioned. dr. poland, one thing that also came up in this meeting of the fda panel this morning and it's something that a lot of us who don't have medical backgrounds find fascinating is pharmacists have found they're able to squeeze extra doses from the pfizer vaccine in the glass vials they're in. in this meeting they said it's not unexpected. can you explain this? does this surprise you?

>> no, not really. you're putting 1.8 ml of fluid into the vial in order to reconstitute it. so logically you're able to get more. now what the company is going to say is be conservative. you can get five doses out of it. but it turns out you can get six to seven doses out of it, which is a great, fantastic thing, in terms of increasing the supply of vaccine, so not unexpected. >> fascinating nonetheless. more than i thought to learn about inoculations and vaccines. it's a cool thing. dr. rodriguez, the country back to the sobering fact of where we are right now, the country is in the worst place it's been yet, it's hard to imagine that considering the conversations you and i have had, the deadliest day yet and the worst day by any other measure as well. what do you attribute this to at this moment? >> first of all, this was something that was expected.

all the metrics put out there months ago basically predicted this. so i want the public to realize that when those of us that are familiar with this say this, it is because there is science behind it. in california, first of all, we're the most populous state in the union. there are a lot of areas around los angeles that have not been adhering to mask mandates and have equivocated their political freedom with protecting others. and we have a very large population of migrant workers and people that are not documented that are afraid of going to seek help and that's a social issue that must be corrected immediately. we're the most populous state, have a diverse population and people move around all over california. that's what's happening here in my state. >> thank you both very much. let's turn now to another aspect of the crisis. capitol hill, congressional leaders are still trying to work

out a deal on a covid relief package. both sides keep saying there is progress, but this relief has been needed for months and that desperation hasn't done anything to move congress faster. cnn's manu raju is joining us now. he's on capitol hill. he's been tracking all of this as it's going on behind closed doors. what are you hearing now? >> i had a chance to speak to john thune, the no. 2 republican, and he expects they need to extend the deadlines to allow the talks to continue. a deadline shuts the government down by 11:59 p.m. on friday if there's no agreement to fund the government. that's important because they want to tie the koe vie relief to the government shutdown. what john thooune told me there a possibility they have to

extend the deadline 24 to 48 hours to get it through congress quickly after that. there are also several key outstanding issues in the talks including how to structure direct payments to individuals. there's $600 they're talking about to give to individuals to -- who are hurting from this pandemic, people who actually are under a certain income threshold. what john thune told me there's a debate on how to restrict who gets that money to ensure that people who, in his view, need the money are getting the money. there's a debate how to structure that language that is still outstanding. but this proposal, it includes about $900 billion for covid relief overall. but in addition to that, part of that, $300 a week for jobless benefits. as we know jobless benefits for millions of americans are expiring in a matter of days. that's a critical part of this proposal. in addition to $330 billion in

loans for small businesses. there are a host of other issues there. john thune mentioned also money that would be administered by fema going out to states and cities. he said that debate is ongoing internally as well as limiting the reserve's federal lending program. there is signs of optimism they can get a deal, even from nancy pelosi this morning, so there's real progress but always the last few issues so hard to close out. can they get there, how quickly can they get it done? still we expect to get it done but it could extend to next week, kate. coming up, manu just laid out where things stand with the coronavirus relief deal so what is holding up the coronavirus relief deal still? the house majority leader joins us next. a massive hack into the u.s. government, president trump is

expected. president trump's former national security advisor now says the damage could be worse than expected. sband. 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

maybe it could mean the only thing a disaster can't destroy is hope. donate now at redcross.org

balanced nutrition for strength and energy. whoo-hoo! great tasting ensure with 9 grams of protein, 27 vitamins and minerals, and nutrients to support immune health. and nutrients to unlike ordinary memory want supplements-ter? neuriva has clinically proven ingredients that fuel 5 indicators of brain performance. memory, focus, accuracy, learning, and concentration.

try our new gummies for 30 days and see the difference. the latest measure of the country's economic recovery is out and it's not good. 885,000 americans filing first time unemployment claims last week. that number has risen for four of the last five weeks, pointing to a job crisis that is worsening. which means help from congress is more needed than ever. joining me now is the second highest ranking democratic in the house of representatives, denny hoyer. thank you for coming on. i got an update from manu on where he heard the negotiations stand. i care about your perspective on

this. can you guarantee to folks out there that you guys are going to get a deal done. >> i can guarantee we'll get a deal done, i can't guarantee how soon it's going to be. i can guarantee that because hopefully ever member of the house and senate see the economic crisis that confronts our families, our individuals and our small business and the continuing surge of the health crisis in america. it is a moral imperative, in my opinion, kate, that we come to an agreement and come to it quickly. if it doesn't happen, we're going to not be doing our job, number one. number two, it will increase the crisis for the government shutting down at the very time when government services are absolutely essential to confront both the economic and the health crisis that is plaguing america. this pandemic needs to be fought

and needs to be fought with all hands on deck. >> you set the floor schedule. when are you expecting votes? >> well, we're going to have votes on some bills that are not controversial that we will pass. but what i'm hoping is that by tomorrow, we are ready to pass a bill that will fund the government and a bill that will provide substantial -- billions of dollars for health, for rent payments, for unemployment insurance extension, additional payments, family payments, hopefully dealing with the nutritional challenges where people are having trouble having food on their table. we need to deal with all of those issues, deal with them now and hopefully a bill will be ready tomorrow to do that. when i say "ready tomorrow to do that," it obviously depends on how quickly that can be put into

bill form that we can consider. i will tell you most of the bills are written. whether it's on the appropriations side, the omnibus as we call it, or on the covid-19 side, the economic and health bill. i think much of that is already written. but the last few items that need to be resolved, which are being discussed now, if we can get that done, i'd like to put it on the floor tomorrow. even if it's late tomorrow into the evening hours. >> okay. what is a sticking point right now? can you help me understand that? >> well, there are a couple of technical difficulties. in other words, if you reach an agreement on how much money is going to be paid to families, how is the formula to determine that going to be done. if you're talking about rent subsidies, how is that going to be done?

so i think really right now is some of the small technical difficulties, one of the difficulties as i understand it, is how robust nutritional program will be, s.n.a.p. seems to be an item. for me, it's hard to understand why that's a sticking point when we see lines of people who never expect to be in a food line in their entire lives are there because they want to feed their children and themselves. we ought to be acting, acting decisively, robustly and effectively. >> what i'm getting from you is confidence, though you're not going to -- until you see the language, you're not going to say we're over the finish line. i hear confidence from you. if if you are looking at a $900 billion deal now, i do wonder if the speaker would have been better served to have accepted what was a bigger deal offered pre-election? >> well, when you say it was

offered, the president, of course, said something about a bigger number. but the person who controls what goes on the senate floor never said that. senator mcconnell. as you know, we passed four bills in march and april, overwhelmingly in a bipartisan fashion and then for whatever reasons when we passed the last bill, mcconnell, when we talked about state and local assistance, he said, let the states go bankrupt and the majority leader or the minority leader in the house of representatives, mr. mccarthy said let's wait and see. we waited and saw. the senate didn't act our bill, it didn't have its own alternative. it didn't amend our bill and send it back. it did nothing. >> this hits to kind of what -- you're touching on this, but let me put a finer point on it. this has been going on for months, the need and desperation is clear. there's no question that it's needed. what do you say to the millions of americans -- you talked about

some of them -- who have found themselves in food lines for the very first time, who have lost their jobs. new data shows it's getting worse in the months just in the months you all have been at a stalemate over these notion negotiations. >> i say you ought to be upset with us, very disturbed that your congress is not responding. there was a man on television the other day, a program, his name was john and he looked at the camera and he said, i'm desperate. please help me. that's why i say it's a moral imperative. why we haven't gotten to that deal is i think because, frankly, according to senator mcconnell, said the majority of his caucus doesn't want to take any further action. i don't understand that, kate. that is not acceptable. we need to act. we need to act quickly. and we need to act with sufficient resources available to people that we try to help

them, try to help heal their pain and make them able to survive and small businesses to survive. i say we ought to be angry, congress should have acted, and republicans if they didn't like our proposal in may, in october, should have come with one of their own. they came with a $500 billion one, which every economist said was totally insufficient to meet the need. so we rejected that. then we offered something that was a lot smaller than -- we had a 3. 4 trillion, we went down to 2.2 trillion, a 35% decrease. >> now you're at 900 billion. that's why i'm -- i really do wonder that after all of this, let's just assume you get a deal done. if you're going to consider it a success since you're now far less than where you wanted to be and far less than where you thought an offer was even

preelection. are you going to consider this a success? >> i think it's the right thing to do, it is not a success. it is the right thing to do. a trillion dollars is -- $908 billion is not chicken feed and it will obviously help millions and millions of people. is it enough? no. will we be back at the table? yes. >> how soon, the first 30 days of the administration, 100 days? when? >> i don't want to put a date on it. that's a game. i don't want a game -- >> you know what i want to do. i want you to lay down a marker i can hold you to. >> i know you do. i hope we do whatever we need to do. this is a four-month bill. and certainly, in that time frame we'll be coming back, we've had a tough transition as you well know because trump and the republicans wouldn't admit that biden won the election. so it's been tough. but i think he's going to hit

the ground running. he's already said, president-elect biden has said, he wants to deal with this and make sure we are giving the kind of help that is needed. i think we're going to be doing that, considering that in january. i don't want to be held to a magic date but we need to get it done asap. >> i'm going to have you on in january and still hold you to it. this is the start. get it done. thanks congressman, thank you so much. >> you bet. thank you. coming up for us. for the first time vladimir putin is responding to a cnn investigation into the poisoning of one of his most outspoken critics. that's next. safely, and beautifully, with a lifetime warranty. go from old to new. from worn to wow. the beautiful bath you've always wanted, done right, installed by one expert technician, all in one day. we've been creating moments like these for 35 years, and we're here to help you get started. book your free virtual or in-home design consultation today.

of some of the government's most critical agencies, federal officials are still trying to figure out the scope of the damage and the intent of the attack. right now russia is expected to be behind the attack. president's former homeland security adviser is sounding the alarm. tom bossert saying the amount of the breach is hard to overstate. the russians have had access to a critical number of important

and sensitive networks for six to nine months. joining me now is alex marcart. what are you learning? >> reporter: this is an ongoing operation and usual officials are nowhere near to figuring out the extent of the access the russians have had in the intrusion. they got into these systems earlier in the spring, six to nine months as you say, and it was only a couple days ago that the u.s. government said they realized this. this is how a national security agency, former top official, put it to me. imagine coming home to your house and finding the burglars have been there several months and now you're going room-to-room figuring what was taken, what was moved, changed, that's where the government is right now. that's what put out right now.

they said they learned about this several days ago, they said it was an going operation by what we learned our suspected russian hackers and they go on to say this is a developing situation and while we continue to work to understand the full extent of this campaign. we know this compromise has affected networks within the federal government. we are still trying to learn exactly which departments and agencies have been affected so far. we understand that commerce, agriculture, the department of homeland security, the treasury department has also been hit. this could not come at a more sensitive time when this country is very vulnerable. we are transitioning from one presidential administration to the next. we have heard nothing, in fact, from president trump about these instrutrusions intrusions. now you have his former national security advisor tom bossert

writing in the times, president trump must get past his grievances about the election and govern for the remainder of his term. this moment requires unity, purpose and discipline. we are sick, distracted and now under cyber attack. leadership is essential. there are going to be a lot of people calling for a response, a robust response from the u.s. to convince russia that it is not worth it for them to carry out these kinds of attacks. this is going to be one of the first and biggest issues that incoming president biden is going to have to deal with. >> thank you. in russia today, president vladimir putin is holding his marathon annual press conference and he responded for the first time to the cnn investigation into poisoning of russian opposition leader, alexei navalny. cnn's clarissa ward and her team had been working for months on that investigation. she's joining me again from moscow. it wasn't an outright denial from putin, what exactly did he

say? >> reporter: you're exactly right, kate. essentially he did not refute a lot of the core facts of our story, essentially. which is that yes, fsb operatives were trailing navalny for a long time. but he said this makes perfect sense because alexei navalny was working with american intelligence services, although he didn't call him alexei navalny, he called him only the berlin patient, making a reference to the fact that he was staying in that hospital in berlin. he doesn't like to use his name because he sees him as such a threat one would assume. so he said, basically, it would be natural to have fsb operatives following someone who is working with u.s. intelligence agencies and take a listen to what he said next. >> translator: in this case, of course, the special services should keep an eye on him. but it doesn't mean at all that he needs to be poisoned. who needs him anyway. if they wanted to, they probably would have followed it through.

>> reporter: if they wanted to, they probably would have finished it. essentially what he's saying there is, just because russian security forces were following him, that doesn't mean they actually poisoned him. if they had poisoned him, believe me he would be dead. that's basically what we are to understand from president putin. the thing he didn't answer, kate. the crucial question, these weren't just ordinary goons or thugs following alexei navalny around they were doctors and toxicologists, chemists, people with expertise in chemical weapons, knowledge of how to use them and most importantly they were in regular contact with a laboratory in moscow that cnn and belling cat has ascertained has been involved in researching and developing novichok. >> that is the poison that alexei navalny had in his

system. clarissa, thank you. coming up, the deadliest day the country has seen in the pandemic, the deadliest day for the commonwealth of pennsylvania as well. pennsylvania's secretary of health will be here. 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. ♪

the coronavirus cases in pennsylvania has soared past the half million mark, the commonwealth also broke its record again for the highest deaths of coronavirus just yesterday. on the same day, seven more hospitals received their first shipments of the coronavirus vaccine. it's the whiplash that sanjay gupta was talking about at the top of the hour. the good and bad. joining me now is dr. rachel lavene. thank you for being here. yesterday the deadliest day in the commonwealth. what are you up against, doctor? how do you describe things right now? >> we are firmly in the fall and winter sur jens. we are seeing a significant number of cases per day, 9, 10, 11,000. and we've been seeing that for several weeks now. there's always a lag and two or three weeks after you see the

increases in cases you see more hospitalizations and then you see more deaths. >> how are the hospitals doing right now? >> the hospitals are stable. we keep very close track of hospitalization rates as well as intensive care unit beds and ventilator usage. all the hospitals are strained, they are doing okay and we're watching metrics carefully. >> speaking of metrics, on the opposite side of the coin, how many people have received the pfizer vaccine so far in the commonwealth? >> we'll be, at the end of the week, 97,500 people will have received the pfizer vaccine. we're very pleased that even though we had snow that all of the vaccine shipments are proceeding and we anticipate to fulfill the week's administration of the vaccine by the end of the week. >> that's great news. i'm curious, who is tracking this in the commonwealth and how? i ask that because we don't have

numbers yet from the federal government on where the vaccines are, who exactly is getting the vaccine in each state. it's a huge operation. how is it going in pennsylvania? >> it's going very well in pennsylvania. so far. we are distributing the pfizer vaccine to 83 different hospitals in pennsylvania. and, again, all the hospitals are receiving their shipments, and then working very hard to administer the vaccine. the vaccine right now is being administered to health care workers. and we anticipate, of course, the moderna vaccine potentially next week. >> every state, it looks like, doesn't have enough of the -- in the first shipment to cover all of the front line health care workers. that seems to be across the board how it is. how sure are you going to be at the end of the week covering health care workers and the commonwealth. >> short isn't the word i would use, we never expected to cover everyone in phase 1a, which

includes health care workers and then actually seniors and staff in long-term care facilities. that mission is going to take weeks and weeks. and that's what we've anticipated. we don't determine what we receive from operation warp speed. they tell us how much we're going to get and then we work to make sure it's all distributed and administered. >> we heard from i think one other state, new mexico, who said some doses weren't used because they were concerned about a drop in temperature. have you had any issues because of the extreme cold that these pfizer vaccines need to be kept at? any issues that cause you concern in terms of distribution? >> no, we've had no problems in in terms of loss of temperature or concerns about the stability of the product. >> interesting thing about this whole thing, the pharmacists have found that they can squeeze out additional doses from the vaccine vials than they originally thought. the fda is saying use it if you can. are you seeing that in pennsylvania? >> we have heard that in pennsylvania and we're very

pleased with the fda's recommendations so we can get more people immunized. >> how many more -- so it's like an additional dose in each vial. how many more people could that help in pennsylvania? >> if it's one more dose per vil vial. then we would get a scant number. there's 195 vials in a tray and, you know, each -- if each one that went to a hospital was able to be -- to get that, we could do the numbers and get more people immunized. >> good news all around no matter how it goes. no matter where the number lands. doctor, thank you very much. >> thank you. coming up a massive cyber attack, a raging pandemic, and covid relief stalled in congress. where is president trump?

♪ we made usaa insurance for veterans like martin. when a hailstorm hit, he needed his insurance to get it done right, right away. usaa. what you're made of, we're made for. usaa and let me tell you something, usaa. what you're made of, we're made for. i wouldn't be here if i thought reverse mortgages took advantage of any american senior,

or worse, that it was some way to take your home. it's just a loan designed for older homeowners, and, it's helped over a million americans. a reverse mortgage loan isn't some kind of trick to take your home. it's a loan, like any other. big difference is how you pay it back. find out how reverse mortgages really work with aag's free, no-obligation reverse mortgage guide. eliminate monthly mortgage payments, pay bills, medical costs, and more. call now and get your free info kit. other mortgages are paid each month, but with a reverse mortgage, you can pay whatever you can, when it works for you, or, you can wait, and pay it off in one lump sum when you leave your home. discover the option that's best for you. 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.

you've probably been investing in your home for years... making monthly mortgage payments... doing the right thing... and it's become your family's heart and soul... well, that investment can give you tax-free cash just when you need it. learn how homeowners are strategically using a reverse mortgage loan to cover expenses, pay for healthcare, preserve your portfolio, and so much more. look, reverse mortgages aren't for everyone but i think i've been 'round long enough to know what's what. i'm proud to be part of aag, i trust 'em, i think you can too. trust aag for the best reverse mortgage solutions. call now so you can... retire better

all the this hour, we are reporting on the serious crises facing the country. here are the questions. what did the president do to address the coronavirus pandemic with the country in full blown crisis and what did the president do yesterday or so far today to address the massive hack of government agencies being called the most serious external risk and threat the u.s. faces. if you are stumped, you are not alone. let me bring in john harwood for more on this. john, for a president desperately trying to hang onto power or even one who is not, he is not doing his job. what is he doing? >> reporter: what he is doing so

far as we can tell is trying to convince other people and perhaps himself that he didn't actually lose the election to joe biden, that it was stolen from him, trying to convince some of those people he convinces to send him money for future political endeavors, perhaps another run for president, but whatever will satisfy him in the days and years after he leaves the white house. secondly, focused on using the awesome power that he has of the presidential pardon to try to protect his friends. he has a lot of friends that landed in criminal hot water who could benefit from a pardon, some of those people know things about him they haven't told prosecutors. by pardoning them, he could protect himself. he pardoned michael flynn and he has a bunch of requests coming in. he stated his ability to pardon himself as well. and finally, possibly using his

power to put upon his enemies through the justice system. he has complained privately and publicly that the justice department has not been more aggressive toward hunter biden, certainly criticized bill barr for not publicizing that. bill barr is of course out of a job. he tweeted that he has nothing to do with the potential prosecution of hunter biden. that would signal he is not inclined to force through a special counsel as some people speculated about. obviously if he does that, under threat of getting fired, his acting attorney general after bill barr leaves declines or does appoint a special counsel, that would make it appear the president is involved. he is focused on his friends and his enemies and the election he lost but pretending he didn't lose. >> also the president renewing the threat to veto military funding. i don't know if i consider that doing something. what is he saying? >> he is saying that over the

provision that he thinks unduly protects social media companies he thinks are against him, that he will veto that bill. house and senate passed with more than enough votes to override his veto, but it is another thing to vote to override. and there are consequences in a national security sense. you talked about the russian hack. there are cyber security protections in the defense bill that would be relevant if he vetoes it. there will be counter pressure on the president on this threat. that's the one he issued this morning. >> i don't know, thank you. coming up after the deadliest day in the pandemic, fda panel is deciding whether to green light the moderna vaccine. stay with us.

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. the usual gifts are just not going to cut it.

we have to find something else. good luck! 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.

hello, dana bash in washington. we begin this hour with u.s. shattering every single record in terms of coronavirus cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. 3,656 americans died yesterday alone. that is on average one death every 25 seconds. more than in pearl harbor attacks, more than on 9/11. it was just another wednesday. so it's easy to see numbers an