situation room. i will be back 8:00 tomorrow for a special edition of "the situation room." tweet the show @cnn. sit room, "erin burnett outfront" starts right now. outfront next, tensions boiling over between biden and the pentagon. the trump administration pausing crucial transition talks with the president-elect's team. why? plus top government officials now getting vaccinated as frustration is growing across this country. why are some states getting fewer coronavirus doses, a lot fewer, than originally promised? what's going on? and we're going to go inside a california hospital which is now at a breaking point. doctors are overwhelmed, there are no icu beds, patients now being treated insides tents. let's go outfront. and good evening, i'm erin burnett. outfront tonight trump's defense department calling off critical transfer of power discussions

with biden's transition team. christopher miller claiming both sides agree to a, quote, who will bay pause. biden's team very clear that they never agreed to any such thing and they desperately want the crucial meetings to continue, especially given that this country is reeling from a massive attack, an attack suspected to be from putin's russia. an attack that rivals one of the worst attacks ever carried out on american soil. >> i don't think we can overstate how dangerous this is for our country right now. breathtaking is a word that certainly comes to mind for me and that's why i referred to this earlier today as our modern day cyber pearl harbor. >> pearl harbor. that is a serious charge from the united states congressman. now, the white house says that our commander in chief, president trump, is up to speed on the attack. >> i will say, you know, he's up to speed and his team is working very hard on it. if he wants to speak directly as opposed to, you know, through his team of course that's the

president's prerogative, but i won't get ahead of him at this point. >> we have no idea if he's up to speed because he's choosing not to speak about the attack, just like he said nothing about the more than 2,200 deaths from coronavirus so far today. we don't know if he is up to speed because he is busy doing something and that something is tweeting, you know, lies about election fraud. and today urging the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell to, quote, get tough or you won't have a republican party anymore. we won the presidential election by a lot. fight for t don't let them take it away. okay, this is a categorical lie, it's completely untrue. what trump is trying to get mcconnell to do is challenge the electoral results when they're tallied on january 6th in congress. just to be very clear here mcconnell is not going to do that, he clearly has called joe biden the president-elect. the election is over. it was fair, it was free, it was democratic, it was the most secure in history according to trump's own department of homeland security and biden won. by a lot. both electorally and the popular

vote. but trump is refusing to accept it and instead of republicans just basically walking away from him right now, one incoming senator is actually egging him on, cheering him on. republican senator-elect tommy it upperville of alabama says he is not ruling out joining a house member to object to the election results when congress meets next month. another one, qanon supporter and congresswoman elect marjory green. i have to say it, it's not going to happen. on january 6th there is not going to be a disruption to the peaceful transfer of power, joe biden won fair and square, the electoral college certified that and he will be inaugurated in january. the problem is republican leaders aren't saying anything about this publicly. privately mcconnell urged gop senators not to join house republicans who are leading this effort. that was behind closed coarse doors, though. here is the house minority leader, the emphasis is on leader, leaders of the pack, people take their cue from you, kevin mccarthy, yet he is side

stepping the iron. >> you will you join the effort to object on the election results on january 6th? >> we'll watch. >> it's not funny. it's not funny. congressman mccarthy because there are people around the country who believe all of this complete you know what it is, i won't say it because it's not appropriate on cable. it's time that republicans in washington, more of them, shut this nonsense down because there really are important issues to be dealing with. coronavirus, more than 300,000 people now dead, and now this suspected russian attack on the u.s. government, a modern-day cyber pearl harbor. jeff zeleny is covering president-elect joe biden in wilmington, kaitlan collins is near the white house. jeff, let me start with you. you know, this is not the time when you want to have a transition that's having trouble and certainly not with the pentagon with what we're dealing with right now. what is the biden team saying about these tensions with the pentagon? >> reporter: well, erin, look, quite simply the biden team said

they did not agree to a holiday break in these meetings, these critical meetings that are happening between -- really all across the government. they said, look, they already are behind because the gsa did not ascertain the election for weeks after election day. so they were fully intending to go ahead with these meetings. what these meetings are interviews with officials and sort of talking about where things stand across the pent gone. they're happening across the government. but the acting defense secretary as you said decided abruptly to cancel these meetings saying we will hold off on them until january. the biden team was expecting them, they certainly have a right to them, so they essentially said today that we did not agree to this holiday pause, they want these meetings to resume. they describe it as pockets of recalcitrants and they say they are in other parts of the government as well, certainly dod. we are not talking about the career officials, they said they are going very helpful, but the political appointees of this president are trying to block some of these meetings. it doesn't matter in the long run, unclear, but time is running out to have all of these

transfer of power discussions. so that was just one example of a flash point that happened today that we learned about and there are others happening, again, across the government where political appointees are standing in the way or making it more difficult for the biden transition team to get information for continuity of government. that is why it matters. again, we heard president-elect biden this week talk about the cybersecurity attack, we have not heard anything from the white house. >> it is just incredible. people don't realize -- i can assume some of them maybe don't realize what they're doing when they try to block this sort of thing, but they're doing harm to the country. i want to go to kaitlan collins at the white house. kaitlan, this boiling over to the point that we've learned about it, tensions between the biden transition team and trump's defense department which is a huge problem and president trump when it comes to the attack on this country has said nothing publicly, right? the only thing that publicly he's doing is now trying to say, well, let's rise up on january 6th since we failed on electoral

college day. >> reporter: yeah, erin, i think it would be a little bit easier for the pentagon to argue there's nothing nefarious with the postponement of these meetings if the president wasn't openly tweeting about contesting the election results and calling biden an illegitimate president and talk about this rigged election. those claims that he has been making that of course are unfounded, but once he's been making for six weeks now. i think that is what stirs up some concern among the transition and the incoming biden team is because they know what the president is arguing. so the question is is what the president is saying having influence over the pentagon and the decision to postpone these meetings and not be going at them full speed. so you are seeing the president encourage the likes of someone like tommy tuberville, of course, that he is newly elected alabama senator from my home state who is now openly flirting with the idea of objecting to these results when congress meets to ratify them on january 6th. and that comes of course after the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell told his caucus earlier this week he doesn't want anyone doing that. not anyone participating in any

funny business, not because they think it could be successful, because it is all but certain to fail, but because it would basically turn the senate into this clown show and mcconnell has tried to keep his caucus in line and avoid that. you saw the president lashing out at mitch mcconnell again today, something what he did earlier this week, now saying that if he doesn't get tough they are going to lose the republican party. you are seeing the power and influence that the president is wielding over even the newest members on capitol hill. >> it's really incredible. kaitlan, thank you very much. i want to go now to michael smerconi smerconish, host of smer connick and john avalon. michael, let's start with the tensions. the biden team said they wanted no holiday pause, one would think there would be no window for a pause given the attack that just happened on this country. what do you make of what's happening. they're not giving any explanation as to why all of these briefings paused, either.

>> it's so sad and it's potentially dangerous. partisanship used to stop at the water's edge, we could have our differences as republicans and democrats, liberals and conservatives but we would be united against a common foe. not only is the nation right now subject to a cyber attack, but the department of defense is playing is very lead role with regard to vaccine distribution. there should be no such thing as a holiday. holiday and national security are incompatible with one another. we are not running a gift shop here. >> right. incompatible in any situation and i think it's so important that you raised the defense department's roll in the vaccine rollout because it is crucial. nia, that context is -- you can't take it away from this, but how unprecedented is it in any case to see this sort of a thing happen, so publicly, during a presidential transition? >> yeah, if you look back at the most recent transitions, they've been obviously peaceful transitions of power cooperative transition of power. you remember the meeting that

obama had in the white house with donald trump, even though obviously he did not want donald trump to win, he didn't like donald trump very much, but there he was in the white house and that was a symbol to the entire administration to cooperate -- cooperate with the incoming trump administration and so you see now trump sending a very, very different message. there has been no white house meeting, there has been no acknowledgment that there is a president-elect and that president-elect is joe biden. instead you see this president lying on twitter, encouraging his followers to rise up, encouraging other republicans to try to overturn the results of this democratically-held election. so that is the message, that folks in his administration are taking up. so you can't separate what's happening at the pentagon at this crucial time from what the message they're getting from the top, from donald trump. >> and, of course, john, you know, this massive hack, the

greatest most consequential hack ever, right? and it goes across the board, u.s. government, top companies, nuclear facilities, you name it, right, modern day pearl harbor from that congressman. you heard that. and yet this president and of course it's supposed to they believe have came from russia, that's what they're saying at this point and trump hasn't said one word. even though he is on twitter all day long saying he won the election. >> yep. not an accident. complete dereliction of duty. he's talking about mitch mcconnell needs to get tough on the democrats. he's terrified of being tough on vladimir putin. he won't say boo about the kremlin even when it comes to our national security, but we've seen this movie before. he still hasn't condemned russia for putting boundaries on u.s. troops, he hasn't condemned the kremlin for poisoning alexei navalny. so it's consistent. this is a huge deal for america's national security, economic security, our privacy and the president is mia. it is an outrage. >> michael, president trump

today, you know, obviously talking about the election and celebrating the effort by some house republicans, right, to try to overturn the election during this joint session of congress on january 6. as i have made clear that's not going to happen but the president is trying to take on mitch mcconnell on this, trying to get him to do it, right? republican senators have to get tougher, you won't have a republican party. we won the presidential election by a lot. now, as i said, michael, the effort isn't going to work. what i'm curious, though, is you see people like tommy tuberville incoming senator elect getting on board with it and mitch mcconnell has privately told republican senators not to do that. so does mitch mcconnell control this situation or not? >> i don't think so. not with regard to tommy tuberville. what mitch mcconnell is trying to prevent is very awkward vote where republicans in the senate if just one senator signs on to this would have to cast a ballot that would put them at odds with the president and his base. he's trying to avoid that.

erin, this is a cash grab. the goal posts keep moving. first it was election day, november 3rd, then it was the electoral college december 14rks now it's the 6th of january because the president wants to continue to raise money all the way until the end so that he's got a pot for 2024 if he chooses to go forward. >> that does seem to be what it's about, nia, because the money does keep flowing in and he has an incredible amount of discretion over what he uses it for and when, which the donors may not realize. it says legal funds for the election and it can be a lot more than that. i want to ask you, nia, though, about what kevin mccarthy said today, the house minority leader when he was asked about it. obviously a laugh and eye roll. here he is. >> will you join the effort to object on the election results on january 6th? >> we'll watch and see. >> one more time. so does he not get how serious this is for millions of people, nia? >> you know, who knows what

kevin mccarthy understands. i think we do know that he is a full on trumper. he hasn't been one to stand up to this president even as he lies about this election. so you have what looks like a pretty good number of people in the house, people like mo brooks, possibly someone like jim jordan as well who want to take a stand, what they see as a stand against essentially democracy. this he wouldn't call it that but that is what it is if they object to seating the electors into electing joe biden. listen, they are still the party of donald trump even though donald trump lost this election and he is holding on to them with an iron grip and they're happy to be in his embrace. >> john? >> what spineless cowardice. mitch mcconnell is trying to corral his folks and what mccarthy is doing is the opposite of leadership because he is afraid of the autocrat caucus even though he knows what the stakes are, even though he knows what's right and if folks

don't -- you can't pretend to be a patriot if you try to actively undermine our democracy. the point about the congressman made about a digital pearl harbor. imagine if fdr had been silent for almost a week. it's unimaginable. and that's the kind of cowardice they're defending while this president tries to undermine our democracy and the leaders in congress are too afraid to stand up for our traditions. >> thank you all very much. i appreciate it. and next trump is silent on the virus, too, as a growing number of governors are demanding answers as to why they are getting fewer vaccines and a lot fewer vaccines than the trump administration told them they would get. >> i still cannot get a straight answer. >> we're certainly frustrated. plus top republicans say washington must hold the country that hacked the u.s. accountable. so if that country is russia as they're saying, will that happen? and tonight we're going to take you inside a california hospital completely overwhelmed

right now with covid. >> we're getting crushed. i'm not going to sugar coat this. we are getting crushed.

so why wait to screen for colon cancer? because when caught in early stages, it's more treatable. i'm cologuard. i'm noninvasive and detect altered dna in your stool to find 92% of colon cancers even in early stages. tell me more. it's for people 45 plus at average risk for colon cancer, not high risk. false positive and negative results may occur. ask your prescriber or an online prescriber

if cologuard is right for you. i'll do it. good plan.

tonight frustration growing over the trump administration's rollout of the coronavirus vaccine. governors across the country questioning why they are now getting fewer doses than they were told they were going to get. >> i still cannot get a straight answer out of the trump

administration about why michigan, like many other states, is receiving a fraction of the vaccines that we were slated to receive. >> at this time it's not clear to us why the shipment amounts have been adjusted. we are certainly frustrated that we won't be receiving the amount that we expected in the first wave. >> a fraction. these aren't just a few doses here and there, these are massive cuts. the governor of colorado had this message to the president, after pfizer said it's waiting for the trump administration to tell them where to ship millions of doses. they have them sitting in warehouses and the feds won't tell them where to send them. >> we say send them to colorado but we encourage the federal government to get those distributed out. they are not doing any good in a pfizer warehouse. >> so what is president trump doing about it? nothing that we are aware of because he has been silent. his only comments on the vaccine rollout were in tweets.

one with the moderna vaccine distribution to be distributed immediately. that has not been authorized for distribution. the pfizer vaccine, the president last tweeted yesterday the vaccine and the vaccine rollout are getting the best of reviews. that was a reference to the pfizer vaccine. you know, what about the millions of doses sitting in the warehouses with nowhere to go and all those governors the hospitals, front-line workers who are waiting for vaccines we are told they were going to get and now are not. outfront now one of those people frustrated by the delays, brian peters, the ceo of the michigan health and hospital association, that represents 134 hospitals in the state of michigan. we heard your governor speaking there. how concerned are you about these delays? >> good evening, erin. thanks for having me. we are extremely concerned. i've been on the phone over the last 48 hours with numerous hospital and health systems ceos who are ready, willing and able to accept this vaccine and add

officer it to the front line caregivers who as you know are the heroes and we certainly started this week on a positive note on monday those initial shipments from pfizer began to arrive at our hospitals throughout the state of michigan, in fact, those front line caregivers who have been dealing with unimaginable stress for month after month after month actually welcomed those shipments with standing ovations and tears of joy and so it was very encouraging and then to learn just yesterday that the shipment to michigan would actually be reduced by some 30%, we were expecting 84,000 additional pfizer vaccines next week, that number has been reduced by 30%. look, we understand that at this point in the process demand is going to outpace supply. >> of course. >> but our hospitals are simply looking for consistent accurate information coming from the federal government. >> okay. so have you been able to get any answer as to what the issue is?

you were told 84,000, right? and then a few days later you're told actually it's 30% less than that. any reason why? >> we have not heard any communication about that rationale at all and as you heard from governor whitmer who has been doing a fantastic job attempting to protect the health and well being of all michiganders you heard her frustration and we would mirror that frustration. we have not heard the rationale at this point. >> brian, i appreciate your time. thank you very much. a very sobering to hear such dramatic changes in something so crucial with no reason. i want to go to dr. jonathan reiner. you heard brian say how frustrating this is and they are not being given a reason, they went from 84,000 shipments and heard it's going to be 30% less than that. those are individual people, front-line workers, people treating covid patients who were told they are going to get the vaccine next week and are not going to. what impact does this have on the people who were counting on

this? >> yeah, hi, erin. well, think about what it's like to be on the front line and then to have hospitals all over the country have to triage who gets the vaccine first. it's impossible to vaccinate with the amount of vaccine currently distributed everyone who needs it. and everyone needs it. so the reason why this is so frustrating for states is that the need is great. look, there are going to be hiccups. we knew there were going to be hiccups but we need -- we need transparency. we've had, i think, one task force meeting where the public and the press could ask questions in the last six months. so why not have a task force meeting let's let the questions be asked and have the people who know explain why the shipments are lower. let's have some transparency. >> right. lay out the issue here of what's really happening. >> right. >> so we saw the senate and house leaders mitch mcconnell and nancy pelosi get their shots

today, vice president pence got his. so that's all good. there are, though, some that are behaving terribly. there is one person in congress saying he won't get t here is republican congressman ken buck today, what he said. >> i'm an american, i have the freedom to decide if i'm going to take a vaccine or not and in this case i am not going to take the vaccine. i'm more concerned about the safety of the vaccine than i am the side effects of the disease. >> what do you even say to that? the data and the science are there, right? so he's just saying that he doesn't believe it. >> this is just ignorant, anti-vax, science denialism masquerader as libertarianism. the reason for a congressman to be vaccinated now is not simply to protect him from disease, it's hopefully to protect his community from transmission when

you vaccinate someone hopefully you're blocking the transmission of the virus and maybe most importantly now for a member of congress is to model the kind of behavior we want their constituents to adopt. we've seen what happens when a leader does not adopt a consistent message for masks. how well did that turn out? to see a congressman basically parrot blatant anti-vax nonsense is despicable. >> it's despicable because so many are hiding behind the libertarianism for it and you're right to call it out for what it is. in terms of president-elect biden he's getting to get his first shot on monday, vice president-elect harris will get hers the following week. they're spacing them apart a week, why do you think? >> i don't know. maybe there's concern about them not having both of some of the common side effects, i think

that's a little bit overblown. the first vaccine -- the first dose of this vaccine is really well tolerated. maybe they want to just increase the amount of exposure in terms of the benefit for promoting vaccines over the course of a couple of weeks, that's probably more like it is. i wouldn't really add anything else to that. >> dr. reiner, appreciate your time. and to everyone watching, you know, when you think about the vaccines don't miss a new color of covid town hall tonight about the vaccines with don lemon and sanjay gupta. they will be joined by dr. fauci and the surgeon general jerome adams who has gotten his first shot that's tonight at 10:00. outfront next, breaking news. we are learning when federal agencies first became aware of suspicious activity that's been linked to the suspected russian massive hack against america. plus i will talk to an incoming republican congresswoman, she tested positive for coronavirus and tonight she has a message for anyone not taking this seriously. experience clean in a whole new way. now roomba vacuums exactly where you need it. hey google, tell roomba to vacuum the kitchen counter.

and offers personalized cleaning suggestions for a clean unique to you and your home. roomba and the irobot home app. only from irobot. with sweet potato fries. eating a falafel wrap (doorbell rings) thanks! splitsies? ♪ oooh...you meant the food, didn't you? at mercedes-benz, sit's not just a job, it's our mission. from our expert technicians armed with state of the art tools and technology, to genuine parts made for the perfect fit. whether it's our place... ...or yours. we're there. rain or shine, day or night. no one knows your vehicle better. to learn all the ways we can be at your service, call, click or visit a dealership near you. ♪ these are difficult times. hey. stop! little girl is lost.

friend. she needs taken home. i am taking her to her surviving family. word is she's that captive out of wichita falls. how much you want for her? she's not for sale. don't hurt her! she ain't worth dying for. you can't have her! captain. i'm taking her home! no uh uh, no way come on, no no n-n-n-no-no only discover has no annual fee on any card.

xfiniwith the new hbo max app on xfinity. n-n-n-no-no watch the greatest collection of shows,

movies and new max originals. enjoy hbo favorites you know and love like game of thrones and the undoing... with exclusive max originals like the flight attendant... and blockbuster movies like dolittle. just say "hbo max" into your voice remote to sign into your hbo account or sign up. tv made simple, easy, awesome. breaking news. we are learning tonight that it was several months ago the federal agencies that monitor cyber threats to critical

infrastructure became aware of suspicious activity that has now been linked to one of the largest attacks on america's infrastructure in history, according to three sources. jim sciutto joins us now. they had a warning but weren't able to figure out the scope of it. what more can you tell us? >> reporter: this is based on reporting along with my colleagues, this is what we're told. u.s. officials became aware several months ago of suspicious activity at least, now linked to what is known to be one of the largest cyber attacks in u.s. history. to be clear, the scope, the sophistication of this attack didn't become clear until recently. in the last week when the cybersecurity firm fire eye, which does a lot of work with the u.s. government, disclosed a breach of its own system. while the government's early detection has not been

previously reported did not indicate the true scope of this, what we do know, erin, is it was enough at least to raise concern among cybersecurity officials about potential vulnerabilities in the system. so you can call this an early detection and early warning. it only became clear later how big this was. but they did have suspicions going back several months. >> do they know how broad this attack is? >> the short answer to that question is, no. they're still trying to figure that out. they're still doing their forensic examination. self-age several agencies were compromised, including the department of homeland security and the departments of agriculture, commerce, energy, state. i'm told the question is, being targeted, access does not determine exactly how much data was stolen. it's not clear that all those agencies that were targeted had

an enormous amount of information taken away. it's possible that they're still doing the forensic examination. what is absolutely clear at this point is the vulnerabilities, the access and the question mark as to how deep this goes. i should note that the national security agency did not respond to cnn's request for comment, nor did u.s. cyber command. >> jim, thank you very much. so i want to go to john cipher, he spent nearly 30 years inside the cia, ran the cia's russia operation. of course, russia is suspected to be behind this. so john, you know, it's incredible they had a warning sign but couldn't figure out how big it was. that's disturbing in its own way. we know the department of homeland security, energy, treasury department, nuclear facilities, all targets. fortune 500 companies, all telecom companies. what damage could be done here? what could really happen as a result of this attack?

>> well, it's really interesting, because we got used to, after 2016, a lot of the russian assaults and attacks being wep paponized and publici. they hacked into the dnc and published those emails in 2016. this is very different. this is the russian external svr intelligence agency, almost like the cia of russia. this is a much more elegant attack. so we don't know the extent of what's happened here. it's been almost six months before we even found out what happened. it's going to take us literally years and going through these networks and rebuilding these networks to find out how much stuff was left behind. they may have just been looking to get inside and steal information, basic espionage, or putting behind land mines and the ability to alter and change data. >> so the president has been

silent thus far. they said he's been briefed but haven't said anything. mitt romney weighed in and here's what he said. >> this is an attack on america, which puts us at extreme vulnerabili vulnerability. and it's important to send a clear message, this is not something we will tolerate. >> so why do you think the president has been silent? >> frankly, the president has been silent for four years on russian activity. they did things -- there's been reports of bounties on our troops in afghanistan. they've attacked our 2016 elections. we've seen recent reporting about using directed energies weapons on our intelligence officers overseas. today, there was reports about their intelligence services doping their olympic and paralympic athletes such that they can't participate in the next olympics. there's been constant disinformation attacks against the united states. this has been ongoing. frankly, we have not pushed

back. this is a form of asymmetric warfare, almost terrorism, the tools of the weak against the strong. >> and what's interesting is, when this happens, it's on the same week of the cnn investigation, which, as you know, found that in an elite group of agents followed the opposition leader for more than 30 trips to and from moscow since 2017, they found evidence that those agents were in the city where he was poisoned, and our close contacts spoke to novalney .

>> some of these men went on more than 30 trips with you over the course of three years. >> this is absolutely terrifying . >> you know, just a couple of years ago, they attacked in england a defector from russia. and in this case, i think cnn and others did an excellent job of using open databases and open source research to really understand what happened here. a connection with these people that we're following alexi

navolny, traveling with him around russia. so this is nothing new and they've been doing it a long time. does it embarrass putin? i think it does in the sense that he's a proud kgb officer. and to see how easy it is for his secret service people to be uncovered, you know, exactly who they are, what cover names they're using, where they live, these things are embarrassing. but on the other hand, one of the reasons they use these poisons and different ways of silencing their opposition is they want to send a signal of what's acceptable and not inside russia. so when some of this is publicized, it benefits him, because it makes it very clear what are the rules. but on the other hand, it does show that their vaunted security services can be uncovered. and i think cnn and others did a

great job. >> john, i'm glad to have you on. thank you so much. >> my pleasure. great to talk to you. next, we'll take you inside a hospital overwhelmed with coronavirus patients right now. there are no icu beds available. the number of bed is taking a serious toll on the doctors right there. a race against final as congress tries to nail down an agreement to provide aid to struggling americans that they have failed to do thus far. can they do it? if you have risk factors like heart disease, diabetes and raised triglycerides,... ...vascepa can give you something to celebrate. ♪ vascepa, when added to your statin,... ...is clinically proven to provide 25% lower risk from heart attack and stroke. vascepa is clearly different.

first and only fda approved. celebrate less risk. even for those with family history. ♪ don't take vascepa if you are... ...or become allergic to icosapent ethyl or any inactive ingredient in vascepa. serious side effects may occur like heart rhythm problems and bleeding. heart rhythm problems may occur in more people... ...with persistent cardiovascular risk or who have had them in the past. tell your doctor if you experience an irregular heartbeat or other heart rhythm problems. possible side effects include muscle and joint pain. celebrate less risk. added cardio protection. talk to your doctor about adding protection with vascepa.

...little things... ...can become your big moment. that's why there's otezla. otezla is not a cream. it's a pill that treats plaque psoriasis differently. with otezla, 75% clearer skin is achievable. don't use if you're allergic to otezla. it may cause severe diarrhea, nausea or vomiting. otezla is associated with an increased risk of depression. tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts or if these feelings develop. some people taking otezla reported weight loss. your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. upper respiratory tract infection and headache may occur. tell your doctor about your medicines, and if you're pregnant or planning to be. otezla. show more of you.

breaking news. the fda has just issued emergency use authorization for moderna's coronavirus vaccine, which means the second approved vaccine will ship to states. in the meantime, california hitting new milestones tonight. people are dying, and a lot more are going to die. the state's overall death toll near 2g 2,000. more than 200 deaths reported

for the second straight day. and the health system is overwhelmed. our reporter takes us inside. >> reporter: in southern california, hospitals are at their breaking point. too many coronavirus patients, and as of thursday, no icu beds left. just outside of los angeles, the arrowhead regional medical center in san bernardino, so overwhelmed, they had to treat covid-19 patients inside these surge tents. >> this is not ideal. >> reporter: all 48 icu beds full, the majority covid patients. the death, the suffering taking a toll. >> it's probably the hardest year i've ever had as a nurse, and we still have loved ones to worry about. >> reporter: dr. rodney borger said this is the worst crisis he's faced in his 25-year career. >> the thing that keeps me up is, we have to decide who gets something and who does not. >> if things don't change,

you're concerned? >> if things don't change, we're going to probably be rationing care. and that's something that's very concerning. >> that's a decision no doctor wants to make. >> reporter: the state, reporting more than 147,000 new coronavirus cases in just three days. activating its mask fatality plan, ordering 5,000 body bags, 60 refrigerated trailers on stand by as makeshift morgues. >> we expect to have more dead bodies than spaces in morgues for them. that frightens me and should frighten you. >> reporter: in los angeles where the mayor is in quarantine after his 9-year-old tested positive, an average of two people are dying every hour. the number of patients hospitalized across l.a. county tripling of the past month to more than 5,000. >> we're getting crushed. i'm not going to sugarcoat this. we are getting crushed. >> reporter: in some areas, emergency rooms so crowded that

ambulances had to wait hours to off load patients. some on gurneys outdoors waiting. the entire san francisco bay area is effectively locked down. 98% of the state's population ordered to stay at home. colleener cirillo is exhausted from all the deaths and wants people to take the virus seriously. >> it's really frustrating. today, i lost my patient, and so that was somebody's family member. and for people to still believe that this isn't real, it's just like, i don't know, i take offense to it and i would take a greater offense if that was my family member. >> reporter: the doctors and nurses tell us they've never seen anything like this before. yes, vaccines are being distributed. there is hope on the horizon. but there's also the holidays coming up. if people let their guard down now during this critical time, the doctors say the next few months will absolutely be bleak.

we have not yet turned the corner on this pandemic. erin? >> lucy, thank you very much. i want to go now to a republican congresswoman, she had coronavirus, she's now an advocate of wearing masks. i really appreciate your time. you have been dealing, i know, with long-term symptoms and you said at one point you started to catch your breath and your little boy said mommy, you sound like darth vader. technically you recovered, but it has been a long haul. >> absolutely. and, you know, back in the summer, i had no idea that the symptoms could remain for that long. it took me three months to recover when i had covid-19. it is a very serious illness. i'm 43 years old, i was a cyclist. i haven't been on a bike since the summertime. it took me a long time to recover. the chronic fatigue, chest pain were very debilitating. i had to go to google to

research covid-19 to see if this was normal. i found out there were many patient where is it takes six to nine months in some cases for people to recover. they call us long haulers. and so it's really income babkc all of us to set a good example. we should be wearing our masks, our body, our choice. i choose to wear a mask because i want to protect myself, my children, my family. there's so much we just don't know about it. as you just said in your report before, there are areas that are being massively impacted right now. >> we talk about so many of these people and there are going to be a lot more people who aren't even sick yet who will die, and that's what is really so tragic. so we seen members of, let's be honest, the republican party, not all but a lot of them. rand paul, i'm showing him here, made it clear how he feels about

this. they're walking around the capitol without a mask. the president retweeted a conservative talkradio host who questioned whether masks work. what is your message to those who continue fight wearing the mask, who act as it's a sort of libertarian thing? >> right. i love freedom. i try to explain it to people who have not had it yet or exposed how debilitating it was. i was healthy and working out. i have not been to the gym since that time. the community where i live we have hot spots in south carolina. we do a good job protecting each other, we distance ourselves and

we take our masks off when we eat and drink. everyone in our community as individuals and families and parents and co-workers and colleagues to set a good example. if you are in a vulnerable population 60 or over or have an underlying condition, the african-american is affected by covid-19. we got to do our best to protect the most vulnerable community. i am hopeful that our frontline workers and those affected by covid-19 will get those vaccinations befo vaccinations. and younger population, too. >> congresswoman, i know you are dealing a lot with this and your kids. wish you the best. >> thank you, erin. >> time is running out for congress to do what they need to do. pass covid stimulus and help people tonight. what's the hang up tonight?

why are we doing this? why are we doing what? using my old spice moisturize with shea butter body wash... all i wanted was to use your body wash and all i wanted was to have a body wash. what if your clothes could stay fresh for weeks?t smell clean? now they can! this towel has already been used and it still smells fresh. pour a cap of downy unstopables into your washing machine before each load and enjoy fresher smelling laundry for up to 12-weeks.

we look at what you've saved, what you'll need, and help you build a flexible plan for cash flow that lasts, even when you're not working, so you can go from saving... to living. ♪ let's go so you can go from saving... to living. fine, no one leaves the tablefine, we'll sleep here. ♪ it's the easiest because it's the cheesiest. kraft. for the win win. tonight... i'll be eating roasted cauliflower tacos

with spicy chipotle sauce. [doorbell chimes] thank you. [puck scores] oooow yeah!! i wasn't ready! you want cheese to go with that whine?? help the world believe in holiday magic. and this year was harder than ever. and yet, somehow, you all found a way to pull it off. it's not about the toys or the ornaments but about coming together. santa, santa, you're on mute! just wanted to say thanks. thanks for believing.

breaking news, congress is avoiding the shutdown by agreeing to stop the stimulus bill. our democratic senator from

montana and with his new book "winning back world america." there is complexity and state and local assistance and checks. i get it. there is certain levels for so many americans, this is embarrassing. this is needed and everybody knows it. why is it so difficult? >> it should be difficult, erin. as far as money from the government, it should have been in september and we extended to december and could not make it and extending it again to sunday night. >> we need to get on the floor and vote for it. there are families out there that are hurting and small businesses out there that will be closing their doors if they don't hurry. up. there needs to be some urgency

and let's vote them up or down. >> there is going to be more shutdown coming you, too. in new york more people have been hit. bernie sande bernie sanders says he won't allow the package to pass if it does not have substantial stimulus checks. he's been pushing $1,200 for individuals and the colonel deal only has half of that. do you think he'll block it? >> i think -- and i think that's what needs to happen. this is important. this is really important and this $900 billion package has been talked about in a bipartisan way for about a month

now. it is ridiculous that we can't give businesses and working families with the kind of certainty that they need to be successful and especially in this holiday season. it is really important that we tend the business and get it dope. negotiations are going on. the bottom line is let's get a bill and bring it to the floor. amend it if we have to and vote. >> i mentioned your book, you have been critical of your party frankly failure to connect with world america. that vote was seated to the republican party, you think is a mistake. they don't support policies that help voters. we see republicans in the senate and north carolina and montana, seats that democrats have won. those world seats, you would have the majority next year. so what do you think are the most important, what do

democrats need to do to turn this around? >> obviously they just fail again. >> number one they got to show up. that's the basic rule of politics. you got to show up. you got two ears and one mouth, act accordingly. listen to what their challenges are. those are real and they're real to those people. you need to listen to what they are saying and react to that. the other thing is we are failing, we need to get a message out, the message out. we support infrastructure and public education. we support small businesses and working families but no body in rule america knows that. we need to get the message out and it has to be a group message. >> senator tester, i appreciate your time so much. thank you very much. >> thank you, erin. good to talk to you. >> thanks very much to all of you for watching. i appreciate your time, i hope you have a safe, peaceful

holiday, it is time now for "ac 360" tonight with john berman. breaking news, there are two vaccines approved for emergency use in this country. the fda gave the green lights to moderna version. we are waiting for the cdc to sign off of it. john berman here in for anderson. we'll talk about how important this is with the pandemic projected to claim 562,000 lives by april. the president's silence or even worse silence in this avoidable human tragedy. 23,000 deaths reported so far. covid is the country's leading cause of death. they're the folks behind the 62,000 fatality projection which is up by more than