that's more than double the 8,000 workers before thanksgiving. >> i understand the frustration of the american public. we're doing the best we can. don't confuse a comma for a period because we will get you your packages. >> reporter: cristina alesci, cnn, new york. it is the top of the hour now. hel hello, everyone, i'm kate bolduan a special edition of "cnn newsroom." christmas eve a time for people to come together, although this year doing so virtually. but the president and his own party can't even seem to do that. and washington can't seem to do virtually anything at the moment. president trump is making it crystal clear right now it's him versus everyone. in a desperate attempt to cling to the false reality that the election can be overturned he's wreaking havoc on his own team, angry that his vice president according to "the new york times" aren't doing enough to defend him and his fantasy of staying in the white house after

january 20th. he's pitting himself directly against congressional republicans up ending the covid relief bill that his administration negotiated with congress. one republican lawmaker even saying the president is throwing the party under the bus with his last minute demands. on the same private call that was said with house republicans, "the new york times" reports republican virginia fox went as far to say, quote, i don't know we can recover from this. the president also vetoed a major defense bill that was passed with bipartisan majorities in both chambers of congress. all of this as the president issues another wave of pardons to loyalists, friends and allies. over two dozen last night. another move that isn't sitting well with some republicans. put bluntly by republican senator ben sasse this wave of pardons is, quote, rotten to the core. so washington is a mess. and donald trump, he just left town, leaving the chaos behind him to spend his holiday in palm

beach. and as of now, there is nothing on his schedule today. cnn's jeremy diamond is keeping watch down in florida. he's joining us right now. jeremy, what are you hearing from the president's team this morning? >> reporter: well, kate, there are always concerns among the president's advisers when he comes down here to his mar-a-lago resort that is because this is the place where mar-a-lago political allies, friends, acquaint nanss have their most unfettered access to the president and it's often where they're seen stoking the president's worst impulses, some of his most destructive ideas. keep in mind, where we are right now. we're at a place in time where the president's behavior is already volatile, already erratic. we are seeing him governing by chaos with these threats to veto legislation, actually following through on vetoing legislation just yesterday. and issuing this slew of controversial pardons. so those concerns are certainly more heightened now as they have

ever been. at the same time, this is also a place where you could see the president being encouraged to pardon more individuals. you will see, i have no doubt about it, political allies of the presidents and friends of his come to him on the courtyard at mar-a-lago and try to talk him into pardoning some of their own friends as we have seen. this is how the process plays out. the president is not using the pardon office of the department of justice. he is relying on the counsel of friends and allies. so i think this week as the president speaks with more people you can see him engage in more of these controversial pardons. one thing is clear, kate, is that the petitioner is ending his final days much like he has conducted himself throughout his presidency. you are seeing the chaos really emboldened by the president and you are seeing him at a time where he is being checked by congress with this potential first veto override of his presidency over this national defense bill pardons are one thing that congress cannot check. and the president is very aware

of that. kate? >> jeremy, good to see you. thank you. joining me right now is cnn political correspondent abby phillip for more on this. abby, what do you think these chaotic final days as jeremy really well laid out, what do you think they mean for the end of trump's presidency? >> reporter: it seems like president trump is treating his presidential powers almost like a last supper meal. he's trying to use as much of it as he possibly can, knowing that it's about to run out, that this is going to be his last ability to utilize some of these powers, particularly the pardon power, which he really relishes because, as jeremy pointed out, it's completely unchecked. and right now the white house is hearing from people not just the president's political allies but literally people all over the country, republicans who might have any sort of ear in the white house who want to have, i don't know, relatively obscure people convicted of all kind of obscure felonies trying to get

in front of president to get a pardon. so, it's a little bit of the wild, wild west here in washington, but i also think you're seeing the president reacting in kind of vengeful way against people, especially in congress who he thinks are not helping him along with his efforts to overturn the election. i think that's what a lot of these vetoes, the veto threats are all about, it's about retribution for those lawmakers who he thinks are not loyal enough. >> and it's -- and he's not just fighting with republicans in congress now. he's turning on even his most ardent supporters and backers. i mean, let me throw up this tweet that he pushed out retweeting pressuring mike pence to refuse to accept the electoral results when pence resides over the joint session of congress in january. i mean, what is the position that he's putting pence in right now, i'm curious? how is this sher raid going to play out? >> it's an impossible position for mike pence, as you can imagine. because he has the ceremonial role that he's going to play when congress meets on january

6th. and it's really to sort of oversee a kind of pro forma process of kind of acknowledging the electoral votes that have already been cast in the states. and what the president is asking him to do is basically say, i never received these electoral votes. i don't think that that is something that is actually within mike pence's power to do, but it's something that as you can see is swimming around on the internet. it's got on the the president. and you know, reporting is already that president trump is already viewing mike pence as not being loyal enough. i don't know what pence's options are. he's already been threading this really narrow needle basically trying to say we're going to count all the votes that are legal, not count the ones that are not illegal but you haven't heard him kind of repeating some of the more full throated election fraud allegations. and i think that's one of the reasons that president trump has been so dissatisfied with him. >> it's going to be fascinating to watch what that looks like on january 6th for mike pence. i mean, so on the wave of

pardons that we've been looking at that were just announced by the president last night, our colleague manu raju reminded us this morning that he had spoken to lindsey graham about the idea, the concept, of a pardon for paul manafort what it would mean and he asked him this two years ago. let me read what lindsey graham told manu at the time. it would be a political disaster for the president. there may be down the road after the politics that have changed you might consider an application of him like everybody else, but now would be a disaster. how is all of this sitting with republicans now? >> well, i mean, you can hear the silence. i mean, there has been virtually, with very few exceptions, ben sasse, i think you mentioned earlier, calling it really basically corruption. but the rest of the republicans have said almost nothing. and someone like lindsey graham

who has spent most of this year backtracking on his past comments, both about president trump but also about things like whether he would vote to support a supreme court nominee in an election year couple weeks before an election. this is just one more thing i expect a lindsey graham has already backtracked on based on his silence on this situation. there's no question about it. a year ago, two years ago, three years ago, many republicans were saying that they did not believe that president trump would go this far because he knew that it would be a political disaster, that it would be essentially as many lawyers have been saying, an acknowledgment of some kind of obstruction of justice. now they completely changed their tune because this is what president trump does. he pushes everyone to the limits of what is tolerated in the political sphere and this is just one more thing that republicans are accepting and are moving on from because president trump is a political power house still in the republican party and that doesn't seem to be changing any time soon. >> not if he has anything to do

about it. good to see you, abby. thank you very much. i want to turn now to the latest on the coronavirus vaccines. this an area of good news in the county right now. millions of doses distributed and now the country just hit a milestone of 1 million people getting their first shots. still, it appears the roll-out is going slower than initially hoped. for that, let me bring in cnn's elizabeth cohen has this and much more. elizabeth, what is the very latest you're hearing about the pace and plan for the vaccine rollout today? >> so kate, if we look backwards there have been a million doses a million shots into arms in the past ten days. that's really a pretty amazing feat. i don't know that that has ever been done in this country. unfortunately federal health officials have created the impression with their comments over the past couple of months that there would be 20 million shots in arms by the end of the week. so again, 1 million in the past ten days, getting 19 million in the next week. you would have to be santa on his sleigh. is it possible? sure. is it likely? no, it's not likely. so i think that we're really

false expectations that were set. a million shots in ten days is really pretty stunning. >> you also had the opportunity to speak with dr. anthony fauci. what is he telling you? >> so his 80th birthday is today. we had an 80th birthday interview yesterday. happy birthday to dr. fauci. we talked to him about how he will be spending his birthday and christmas because he has been telling people don't travel, don't go to any large gatherings. so let's take a listen to what head -- hold on one second. yes. sorry. i wanted to make sure i was saying the right thing here. so i asked him what he was doing with his family. let's take a listen to what he had to say. >> i definitely feel sad. i have three daughters, ranging in age from late 20s to early 30s. this is the first holiday season of christmas and my birthday that i have not spent with my daughters since they were born.

>> now, i also talked to dr. fauci about his future. is he going to keep working this hard? i told him it seems like you've been working 24/7. here is his response. >> well, not 24/7, but more like 18/7. >> do you think you'll ever retire? >> well, i think i have to be realistic. i think that sooner or later i'm going to have to do that. i don't see that right now clearly in my future. the only thing i see ahead is the challenge that we are currently facing. >> and now all know that dr. fauci is going to be the chief medical adviser to president biden when he takes office next month. >> elizabeth, thank you so much. he is truly a really humble man. coming up for us, more than 120,000 americans now in

hospitals fighting coronavirus. that is a new record. we're going to talk to an e.r. doctor about what he is seeing in his hospital. and later, president trump on a collision course with congress after he vetoed that massive defense bill and threw covid relief into limbo. what will congress do? we look at how much you've saved, how much you'll need, and build a straightforward plan to generate income, even when you're not working. a plan that gives you the chance to grow your savings and create cash flow that lasts. along the way, we'll give you ways to be tax efficient. and you can start, stop or adjust your plan at any time without the unnecessary fees. talk to us today, so we can help you go from saving...to living.

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health experts across the country and from the federal government on down to the local level have all warned of a dark winter with the coronavirus. and a new update to the often sited model re-enforces that fear. that influential model out of the university of washington is now projecting more than 567,000 americans will have died from

coronavirus by april 1st. that's 5,000 more than they thought just last week. and it's easy to see how the projections are going up, given what we're seeing in hospitals across the country. the united states set a new record for hospitalizations on wednesday with nearly 120,000 people needing hospital care. there were also more than 3,300 deaths yesterday, marking the third highest death toll in a single day since the pandemic began. december is on track to become the deadliest month yet. joining me right now is dr. rob davidson an emergency room physician in western michigan. it's good to see you again, doctor. i see your deep breath. how is it in your hospital right now? what are you hearing from your colleagues across the country? >> in our hospital we're kind of treading water right now. the rate of increase has slowed up a bit. our really pre-thanksgiving we had a significant spike. a lot of it tied to a couple of events president trump held right at the end of the campaign season within about 20, 30 miles

of our hospital. and we're sort of treading water right now. the numbers have stabilized, but we're all bracing for an inevitable spike post-christmas and post-new years and really the people i talked to across the country especially folks in southern california, you know, the numbers tell a story but the individual stories are more meaningful. back to one of the sickest people i have ever seen, lowest oxygen in a patient not receiving cpr i have ever seen in 20 some years of practice and talking to his wife on the phone asking if he was going to make it and frankly not being able to tell her whether that was the case or not and found out this person died just a few days ago. i think the numbers are sort of numbing to people. they're getting used to hearing numbers like 2 or 3,000 a day but we have to remember these are people that just aren't there on christmas or new years. we need to do everything now so we have more people there next christmas, next new year's. >> you're spot on. the numbers are so big and it's been happening for so long that

people are numb to them. i think that's an absolute at this point. but the fact that the stories that you hear everyday and what your colleagues experience everyday in the hospitals, can't also be lost on folks that it is christmas eve. what it means to have hospitals stretched to this point with families that cannot be together because they are one of their family members is in hospital care on this holiday. and you guys have gotten, you know, a day off maybe never because of coronavirus. all of that settling in on christmas eve. how does that settle on you? >> yeah, i'm working the christmas block this year. that's what you do as an e.r. dock. our nurses are getting mandated to work more hours and we have dozens of staff going out positive for covid every single day. and so, you know, we hear about these huge numbers and we can build beds and we can put oxygen tanks anywhere in the hospital frankly to take care of

patients. but having a staff there to do it, i give it to my nurses, to the paramedics, the people who are caring for these patients hour upon hour and are getting sicker more quickly than the rest of us in healthcare. they're the heroes right now to me. so, yeah. i'm glad that my nurses are lining up now. they're getting their shot at our hospital just starting yesterday. and into next week. so the hope is there, but yeah, the struggle is real right now. >> on the vaccine front, the numbers again, big numbers, more than 9 million vaccines have been delivered. 1 million doses administered. does that number inspire you? does that number frustrate you when you see kind of the gap in delivery and in getting shots into arms? or is it just reality? >> well, i think reality and frustration can exist at the same time. i think the reality of a federal government that has shown inability to coordinate a response to this pandemic i think is truly playing out as we

roll out the vaccine. one would have hoped that a lot of these issues would have been ironed out before the vaccine was actually ready to go. and so, yeah. it's hopeful. we have to hold on to that because it's really the only way most of us folks out on the front line and otherwise can get through this right now. but, we have to ask for more, expect more and hopefully get more in about four weeks time. >> i heard some doctors and healthcare workers with mixed feelings about the vaccine, not because they question the vaccine, but a sense that they feel like they might be cutting the line for someone else who might need the shot when -- they're not -- it's not so widespread yet. what do you say about that? >> i hear that as well. i tweeted about that yesterday and got a lot of responses. mostly from lay people who aren't in healthcare wanting their doctor to get the shot, wanting their nurse to get the shot. i think it is twofold. i do think we have to be there to take care of the patients as these numbers keep going up and

up and up. but i also think we can be really good messengers for folks to show them, i'm rolling up my sleeve. i trust the technology. i know how important this is and i hope you trust me, too. i can count a dozen different message strings now from friends, from distant family members sending me messages on various platforms asking me, do you trust it? is it safe? i heard this? i heard that? . the best is to share a video, share a photo and share my experience when i get the shot to say, yeah, it's critical, i think it's safe and you and everyone else should get it, too. >> doctor, good to see you. thank you. >> thank you. coming up for us, it is the president versus his own party. the great trump divide of the gop and what it means for the essential measures that congress needs to get through and need to be signed into law by the end of the year. so, uh, yeah, just a silly mistake.

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back now to the chaos that president trump is leaving in his wake as he leaves washington for the holidays. chaos with very real and immediate ripple effects across the country. democrats have announced this morning they are scheduling a vote next week to call the president's bluff essentially on wanting to expand covid relief payments beyond what congress has just approved. so what is going to happen? joining me right now is democratic congressman andy kim of new jersey.

he sits on the house armed services committee. congressman, thanks for coming in. do you know what's going to happen with this covid relief bill? >> well, first of all, thanks for having me on the show. and i think the word you used the intro of this is chaos. i think that's apt. i don't know what's going to happen now. that should be scary we have a president who is unhinged here and playing politics with our lives. there are so many people right now that are worried about being able to put food on the table, can't buy gifts for their kids for the holidays and this president is holding up much-needed help for them during some of the darkest days of american history. that's something that should be unacceptable to all of us. >> linked to the covid relief bill is also a government funding bill. at this point, congressman, how confident are you that the government is not going to shut down? >> well, i wish i could project more confidence. i would like to say i'm 100% but

i'm not. i'm a former government civiler is raservant worked through previous shutdowns before. i was sworn in to congress two years ago during a middle of a government shutdown. i can't put it past this president that he would potentially take those actions. so, we need to work as hard as we can to avoid that. i will do anything i can to be able to avoid a shutdown and i hope that the president and others bring to the table that same level of commitment. >> what needs to happen? i mean honestly because there's real consequences, right? the treasury secretary had said money could be headed out to door to americans next week. and i don't know if that is even possible at this point. as the president is sitting on his hands and sitting on this and possibly vetoing the bill. there is a lag time between you guys passing it, the president signing it and getting direct payments back out to americans.

what is going -- i know it's the same question, but what is going to happen? are you guys going to vote on monday on increasing payments. do you have any idea if republicans are going to go along with this considering the president now says he endorses that idea? >> well, right now unfortunately nobody in this country knows what the president is going to do. i don't think the president knows what he's going to do next. he doesn't understand the full measure of what is about to happen. if he does, i feel worse about this situation, if he understands the catastrophe that he is about to unleash upon our country. it's not just about the covid relief, but that's a big part of it. that support for hundreds of billions of dollars for small businesses, unemployment insurance that's going to be running out the end of this week, other efforts of that nature, government shutdown but also about the national defense authorization act, something that should be a no brainer in terms of bipartisanship. there's so much that is happening here that's unprecedented and the president

is literally sitting on his hands, as you said, but sitting on his hands in mar-a-lago on vacation right now. i have no idea what he's going to do and that is very scary given how difficult a crisis we're in as a nation right now. >> look, so on the defense bill, you have the president has stated and followed through on his position that he was vetoing it. you all are planning to vote to override it. nothing is done until it's done, but the numbers are there. you would think. would it almost be bet fer the president would just go ahead and veto the covid bill so at least you had his position and then you guys could move to override it? right now you literally can't do anything. >> yeah, that's right. i mean, right now we are in limbo when it comes to the covid package with the ndaa we're hoping we'll have the numbers on monday to override it. we had the numbers before in a large bipartisan vote, but i do worry that some of the

republicans may not back it given trump's veto here. so that's something that we have to be careful. and that is a pay raise for our troops, cyber security efforts that are all the more important now and with the covid relief, you're right. we don't know what the president is going to do next. we saw him wait until the very last possible moment to veto the ndaa which made things extremely difficult here at the end and we only have a handful of days left in the 116th congress. so, there is a lot here just riding on this fact. and there's a real concern that the president may just wait this all the way out which would absolutely collapse these -- this relief bill and prevent a tremendous amount of support for the american people. >> yeah. it's frustrating even to ask these questions because there is no answer to it. it should be frustrating to everyone who is out there waiting for -- well, help for sure. congressman, thank you for coming in. >> thank you so much. still ahead, there are two coronavirus vaccines available in the united states right now. but will all americans have

equal access? the growing concern for the most vulnerable communities next. ♪

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from chicago with more on this. omar, what are you learning about this? >> kate, people are nervous or at the very at least having to think harder about how they're going to get this vaccine once it's available. that's the real concern here, that those communities hardest hit by covid-19 have a higher hurdle to jump when it comes to actually getting this vaccine. and that dynamic is wrapped within a number of health factors, at least here in the chicago area that existed long before this pandemic. >> reporter: how long have you lived in this neighborhood? >> all my life. 55 year. >> it's changesed a whole lot. >> if they're going to roll out a vaccine and they're going to roll it out to grocery stores and pharmacies, i see a problem. >> reporter: you feel just because the vaccine is available it's not necessarily going to be accessible? >> that is correct. >> reporter: this woman lives in the predominantly black west side chicago neighborhood of austin and in a zip code that has among the highest covid-19 death rates in the city. and the barriers to getting a

vaccine are already taking shape. ranging anywhere from distance to pharmacies, confidence in healthcare, and even personal safety as austin is also among the cities most violent neighborhoods. >> is it even worth the time? okay. you hear gunshots, you know, you have to get out and get in your car, they're doing carjackings. if you don't feel safe, you just don't do it. >> reporter: just down the street, loreto hospital was home to the first covid-19 vaccination and the first to set up a west side community testing site back in april, one they plan to soon turn into a community vaccination site. >> we all have to do our part to stop this virus eventually and we want to involve everybody. we're experiencing three types of pandemics, violence, racism as well as covid-19. >> reporter: it's an issue leadership continues to wrestle with. >> where any part of the city is

not supported enough, it impacts the entire city. let's make sure we treat covid, it's what about are the root causes that have made these neighborhoods, these subgroups in chicago more vulnerable. >> reporter: parts of the downtown chicago area have a life expectancy up to 90 years old, according to an analysis out of nyu. then just about ten miles down the road near here on chicago's south side, the life expectancy goes down to 59.9, that's a difference of about 30 years which that same nyu analysis says is the largest gap in the country. >> all of a sudden this virus came and took my sister away. >> r. >> reporter: emma washington is almost 80 years old. she lost her sister to covid-19 in september and her brother to covid the day before christmas eve. and now, she's considering what getting a vaccine is going to look like with her pharmacy over a mile away and no car to get her there. >> i have to take one bus and then i have to take another bus

because it was only one place around walgreen's around my area. >> reporter: now she mostly has her medication delivered, but this isn't a new phenomenon. one study based on data from 2000 to 2012 found over 50% of the city's black communities were so-called pharmacy deserts. low income neighborhoods where pharmacies are far from the population and people don't have regular access to vehicles, compared with just 5% in white communities. >> this is not something that's going to get solved in a year or in five years. but how do we take the covid conversation and turn it into the conversation that links to chronic disease and homicide and infant mortality and hiv and opioid overdose. those are the five main drivers of our disparate life expectancies in chicago and covid has incorrectly impacted all of those. >> reporter: but when it comes for covid along with psychs and those in washington's community, the vaccine shot is about more

than medicine, about getting a fair shot without it being a long shot. >> we in a lifeboat. they're on a cruiser. if you can come up with a vaccine within a year, why are we sitting in a community where there's no grocery store with fresh fruits and vegetables. >> reporter: and groceries are one thing. you look at pharmacies alone and at the location density of locations with active pharmacy licenses, that density is much lower on the south and west sides predominantly black neighborhoods compared to the downtown and north sides of the city, more affluent and white. kate? >> omar, thank you for that. coming up next for us, one outstanding question about the coronavirus available, are they safe for women who are pregnant? one pregnant doctor on the choice that she made. she's our guest. mopping? what's better n anything! at the end of a long day, it's the last thing i want to do.

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an update now on vaccine numbers in the united states right now. so far 9.4 million doses have been delivered. a little over 1 million have been administered. and while the fda has authorized the pfizer vaccine as you'll remember for adults 16 and older and moderna's vaccine has been authorized for those 18 and older, there are lingering questions about the safety of the vaccine for certain groups, like younger children but also a specific group of adults. pregnant women. as more research is being done, the decision of whether or not to be vaccinated now is being left up now essentially to each woman to figure it out. my next guest is a gynecological

oncologist, a doctor herself and 20 weeks pregnant and she made the decision to get the shot. joining me now is dr. amy alexander. doctor, thank you for coming in. i have two young kids myself and i have wondered throughout this if i were pregnant what i would be doing because there isn't a lot of data on it. talk me through your decision. >> yeah. i think it was a really hard decision because we don't have a lot of data. though, what we do have a lot of data on is how dangerous coronavirus is for pregnant women. we know that pregnant women are about five times more likely to end up in the icu or on a ventilator and increased risk of death and a lot of studies are suggesting increased risk of pre-term death. i'm exposed to coronavirus at work. my husband is also a physician who cares for coronavirus patients. so i think my risk of getting coronavirus is a lot higher than your average person. and knowing that my risk, if i

got coronavirus, was so much greater than the average person, i thought that the benefit of getting the vaccine to protect myself and my baby was probably worth the small unknown risks of the vaccine. and luckily the professional societies that i belong to and the ones that give us guidance about pregnancy such as the society of maternal fetal medicine provided excellent guidance about the risk of getting a vaccine. >> i was going to ask you about the guidance. the guidance that i've seen from the cdc, let me just read it for people, it says people who are pregnant may choose to be vaccinated. if they have questions around getting vaccinated, a decision with a healthcare provider might help them make an informed decision. so essentially you can read that as we don't have guidance. would you like to be hearing more from the cdc on this? >> i mean i do think it's a hard and personal decision. i think the cdc is pretty hard because we don't have any data

on how the vaccine affects pregnant women. we don't know how effective it is or what the side effects for the baby could be. the society of maternal fetal medicine said they actually recommend it to pregnant healthcare workers. and i think in time we're going to see more and more helpful information. there have been several decision tools that have been released. the best one is out of u mass that i've seen that really helps pregnant women weigh their risk of getting coronavirus verse the risk of the vaccine itself that we don't know. >> right. and we know, like, look, as you said, it's everyone's decision. i've seen actually an op-ed "the new york times" this week from another doctor who about her struggle and she decided to not get the vaccine. she said she's not going to do it now but bottom line she would be glad to enroll in a clinical trial but short of that she wasn't going to get a vaccine because in a trial there would be experts around her kind of grounded in science all along the way. i wonder what you say to folks

who -- other doctors who think they're not going to take the chance? >> yeah. i think it's interesting because i am an obgyn by training and taken care of a lot of really sick women in my training and i remember what it's like to be the physician caring for a whom is pregnant and intubated and how terrifying and scary that is for their family. while there are some small unknown risks of the vaccine a lot of experts really do feel it is likely safe. and so, i don't ever want to put my family in that situation. and actually by getting the vaccine now as a pregnant healthcare worker, i'm going to be able to help women in the future by providing really important data. i think it would be lovely if there was a trial already that i could participate in. though i think a lot of -- we're going to get a lot of observational data from pregnant healthcare workers choosing to get the vaccine now. essentially we are like a clinical trial. >> doctor, great to meet you.

thank you very much for coming on. >> absolutely. still ahead for us, a record number of americans are traveling this holiday season despite all of the coronavirus warnings that you've been hearing. we'll go back to a live -- we'll go live to one of the busiest airports in the world that's next. ia. so to help you remember that liberty mutual customizes your home insurance, here's one that'll really take you back. wow! what'd you get, ryan? it's customized home insurance from liberty mutual! what does it do bud? it customizes our home insurance so we only pay for what we need! and what did you get, mike? i got a bike. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ some things are good to know. like where to find the cheapest

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the tsa reports that despite health warnings more than 6.3 million travelers have flown in the u.s. in just the past six days. cnn's amber walker joining us from the jackson airport. what are you seeing there? >> reporter: hey there, kate. a steady stream of travelers here at atlanta international airport, although not nearly as

crowded as you would see if we were in normal holiday season without a pandemic. they're expecting half the number of travelers compared to last year. people are concerned including public health officials because the tsa is saying it is seeing record-breaking pandemic travel. if you look at the last six days between friday and wednesday, more than 6 million passengers were screened by the tsa, also a record-breaking day on wednesday, yesterday, 1.2 million passengers passing through our nation's airports. i spoke with a handful of travelers. a lot of them seeming to take things in stride, telling me, look, they know the risks. they miss their families. and they will be taking the precautions that they can. >> what we decided to do, we packed our hand sanitizer. we have alcohol wipes. we have lysol spray. we plan to wipe down the room, the door, the light switches all of that, you know to assure we're not touching anything. >> i quarantined before i came

here and i got tested. >> reporter: now, airport officials expect the busiest day to be sunday after christmas. kate? >> amara, thank you. turn now to the biden transition where president-elect joe biden is still has a number of top posts left to fill and announcing including cia director. kristen holmes has an update on the short list on that key post. kristen what are you hearing? >> reporter: well, kate, we're not expected to hear any sort of announcements on this until after the holidays. the president-elect is still reportedly mulling over this decision but has whittled down the list to three top contenders. so let's go through who is still about to make the cut. we have number one, david cohen, the former cia deputy director, lisa monaco, the counterterrorism adviser under president obama and darrell blocker. notably not on the list was a

mike morale, someone whose name was floated early on. he was the acting head of the cia under the obama administration but received massive pushback over his role in both the drone strikes and torture. >> and kristen, what's the latest on the back and forth that there's been with the pentagon over these stalled transition briefings? we heard a lot from biden about it this week? >> reporter: that's right. it's really spilled over into the public. we know that senior defense administration official unnamed essentially called the president-elect a liar earlier this week over his claims that the pentagon was not briefing his team. now the transition team is hitting back, issuing a statement on the record saying that the department of defense in trance gent continues. this is really starting to become ramped up here as we see this. now the one thing to keep in mind is that the pentagon says those briefings will start again at the beginning of the new year, but biden's team says

that's just simply not soon enough. they need the details now and it could be long-term consequences if they don't have those briefings right now. >> kristen, thank you so much. i really appreciate it. thank you all so much for joining us for this special edition of "cnn newsroom" on christmas eve. bianna golodryga picks up our coverage right now. ♪ hello and welcome to a special edition of "newsroom." i'm bianna golodryga. whether you begun celebrating christmas or you will soon, please take a moment to think of the people who are directly affected by the pandemic today. nearly 120,000 americans are spending christmas eve in the hospital. and another 3,359 people just died of covid. nevertheless, the tsa says 1.2 million people boarded a plane yesterday, ignoring pleas from health officials to stay home. and even as 1 million have bee