>> thanks for watching. come back tomorrow and run to the radio right now. >> sandra: fox news alert on one of president-elect biden's covid advisors floating the idea of a month long or longer nationwide shutdown suggesting it may be needed to get the virus under control. the trump campaign is ramping up its legal fight in several swing states in its continued battle for the white house. good morning, i'm sandra smith. hello trace. >> trace: good morning everyone, i'm trace gallagher. the trump campaign has filed five appeals in pennsylvania to count different categories of mail-in ballots. in michigan the trump team accused the secretary of state of blocking election challengers from viewing the vote counting process. meantime one of biden's medical

advisors suggests cutting down the country again could be a way to slow down the pandemic as coronavirus cases surge nationwide. >> we could pay for a package right now to cover all of the wages, lost wages for individual workers, for losses to small companies, to medium size companies. we could lock down for 4 to 6 weeks. if we did that we could drive the numbers down like they've done in asia, like they did in new zealand and australia. >> sandra: the fallout from the 2020 election including senator marco rubio campaigning to keep the senate in republican hands and byron york standing by and peter doocy from the biden camp and we begin with chief white house correspondent john roberts live from the north lawn. good morning. what are we hearing from the president and his team on all of this? >> trace and sandra we're hearing from the president this morning on the results in alaska. the race was called for him and

the president weighing in what's happening in other states. alaska, it took long enough. what is taking north carolina so long? are they looking for more ballots to fix that one also? with a recount we'll win georgia also. pennsylvania and michigan wouldn't let poll watchers and observers into counting rooms. illegal. trump campaign is settling in for the long haul. more court action is expected. tomorrow a judge in detroit, michigan, is expected to rule on a trump campaign request for an injunction which would cause the certification of detroit's vote to be stopped. also provoke an entire audit of the detroit vote and rule all evidence be preserved and filing new affidavits in pennsylvania alleging voter irregularities. >> an individual who said they received a vote by mail did not request one. went to the polls to cast her ballot, was told sorry, you

can't do that. you've already voted by mail. democrat leaving counties it's illegal to open the mail-in ballots until election day but they were determining which were not properly done and telling voters to fix them in advance. >> trace: trump campaign officials say they have discovered possible new vote pg irregularities in nevada. some 7,000 votes were returned from people who had previous ballots returned as unbelieveable. arizona a lawsuit alleging maricopa county workers illegally rejected votes. from 200,000 votes to less than 10,000 votes. we'll easy win arizona also. georgia will begin a hand recount of all of the ballots in the presidential race, not the senate race, just the presidential race. doug collins, congressman of georgia leading that on behalf

of the trump campaign. here is what he said about it yesterday. >> this is about really the first step. this is making sure that every legal vote is counted and every legal vote not counted. it allows us to see the integrity of the process. >> some calls from some republicans for the government to cooperate with the biden transition team on a provisional basis. oklahoma senator james langford said joe biden should be receiving a daily classified intelligence briefing so he is up to speed on all the issues facing this nation in the event that he does, in fact, go on to become the president of the united states. >> sandra: keep us posted on all that. john roberts at the white house. thanks. >> trace: meantime president-elect joe biden puts together his team one of his task force members on the correspondent is suggesting a 4 to 6 week nationwide lockdown could bring the virus under control. peter, what else are you hearing from the biden camp on this? good morning. >> good morning, trace.

the president-elect has been saying he would like to fire donald trump and hire anthony fauci but because the transition hasn't officially started and fauci works for the u.s. government, the transition team cannot officially communicate with dr. fauci. so we're just listening to what fauci says now. he says that he would try to avoid that kind of a lockdown. >> i don't know, we would like to stay away from that, there is no appetite for locking down the american public. i believe that we can do it without a lockdown. i really do. sometimes when people talk about the measures that i'm suggesting, we double down on, they equivocate that and say well, that makes that not a lockdown. >> the transition team is also telling us they believe there are additional national security issues right now because the gsa refusing to ascertain biden one could

further delay the appointment of national security officials the same way it did in 2000 after a contested election then as they said was a major problem after 9/11. trace. >> trace: the white house president-elect joe biden has picked ron klain as white house chief of staff. what do we know about his credentials? >> going in before or leaving right after. he is 59 years old. important enough to the president-elect that he was the first guest on biden's short list here is the deal podcast earlier in the cycle. biden says ron has been invaluable to me over the many years we've worked together as we rescued the american economy from one of the worst down turns in our history in 2009 and overcame a daunting public health emergency in 2014.

progressives like elizabeth warren and bernie sanders are applauding the move. warren and sanders are reportedly angling for jobs in a biden add min traition, as for today the president-elect has no events on his public schedule yet. trace. >> trace: peter doocy live in wilmington, thank you. >> sandra: for more on this let's bring in byron york from "the washington examiner" and fox news contributor. good morning. i'll get your broad take on ron klain being chosen as chief of staff. first to double standard or hypocrisy being pointed out when you look back at ron klain in 2000 arguing that al gore would have won florida in a full recount. here is that moment, watch. >> i believe the progress made in the count thus far indicated that we were clearly on a path for vice president gore and senator lieberman to make up the difference and to pull ahead had the count been fully

completed. >> sandra: he also called the election rigged in 2014. isn't this the same thing that donald trump's team is being criticized for in this moment? >> very close to it. he said recently that he never got over this. and besides just going back in history as far as the 2000 recount is concerned, he was wrong because the supreme court did put a stop to counting. george w. bush won but later a media consortium went through and did the whole recount that al gore would have wanted and found that george w. bush won. so it was a terribly close election. a lot of bitter feelings on both sides. apparently still with ron klain. the fact is george w. bush won. >> sandra: as far as getting a look at what the biden team might actually look like, byron, we know as peter doocy just reported liz warren, bernie sanders and others are

angling for a position inside a biden white house. so far we know who he is trying to fill his transition with is former chief of staff to elizabeth warren and bernie sanders. last night bernie sanders put out the indication he does believe that joe biden will fulfill his promises to progressives. watch this. >> it means expanding healthcare to all americans. it means lowering the medicare age from 65 to 60. means raising the minimum wage to at least 15 bucks at hour. making it easier for workers to form unions, investing $2 billion combating climate change. would i have gone further? yes? are those significant proposals to protect the needs of working families, yes, they are. >> sandra: how we feel him filling his team. >> we are seeing the division

inside the democratic party in realtime become the division inside the incoming biden administration. ron klain is from the clinton/gore/biden wing of the democratic party that back in the 90s you could call moderate. although the entire democratic party has changed since then and they've changed with it. they were still from the moderate wing. now we have the incredible power of progressives inside the democratic party. two heroes being bernie sanders and elizabeth warren and they'll get their way in some key things. remember, there was something called the biden/sanders unity task force created after joe biden beat bernie sanders in the democratic primary. and biden essentially signed on to a lot of democratic -- of sanders' measures. you just heard bernie sanders recite a number of those. he is going to expect action

and he has a lot of support inside the democratic party to pressure a president biden to do it. >> sandra: very interesting analysis. if i could circle back to our initial topic on the president's continued fight for the white house mounting additional legal battles. your brand-new piece this morning saying it's all over but the lawsuits. based on what you're seeing so far you have come to the conclusion that nothing filed, any challenge so far appears likely to overturn the results in any state. final thoughts on that, byron. >> well at the moment we see joe biden leads between 10,000 and 148,000 in states like arizona, georgia, pennsylvania, michigan, and wisconsin. and trump would need to overturn those leads in three of those states, assuming he wins north carolina, which i think he will, he needs arizona, then he needs pennsylvania, then he needs georgia, or he needs some

combination of those. he can't just turn over one state and win. it has to be three of them. and if you look at state recounts in the past, statewide recounts, they have overturned elections that were decided by hundreds of votes, not tens of thousands of votes. >> sandra: byron, always good to talk to you. thank you very much for all that. >> thank you, sandra. >> trace: fox news alert now massive fire erupts at a warehouse, what firefighters used to battle and get the flames under control. plus georgia becomes the new front in the fight for control of the senate. critics now slamming a stunning move by some democrats to get out their party's votes. marc thiessen on that next. first senator marco rubio. >> georgia's decision to make but it is america that will live with the consequences of the decision they make here. for over 30 years,

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>> sandra: fox news alert. at least 7 people killed including several americans after a helicopter crash in egypt. the "wall street journal" is reporting five americans are among the dead. officials from egypt and israel say an international peacekeeping force was on board

when the helicopter went down in the sinai peninsula. the crash appeared to be cause by a technical failure. we'll have more details on this as we get them. >> every georgian but register to vote. it's all on the line. whether president trump's legal team can prevail in his legal challenges or not he needs to plan major rallies across the state. the people of the united states deserve better than the hell that schumer and pelosi would unleash on us. >> trace: it will be decided in georgia after sullivan won in alaska yesterday. bringing the official to 48 democrats and 50 republicans in the senate. the left is focusing their efforts on the runoff races in georgia. some urging people to move there to clinch the two seats. let's bring in marc thiessen.

good morning to you. you have people like "new york times" columnist thomas friedman saying encouraging democrats to move to georgia so they can vote in the senate special election and people like former democratic presidential candidate andrew yang saying i'm in. he said evelyn and i are moving to georgia to help ossoff and warnock win and help biden get things done in the last four years. he didn't specify if he will take up residency. your thoughts, marc. >> charlie daniels is rolling in his grave. he was looking for an election to steal. the devil went down to georgia. the irony is rich. democrats and liberals are complaining about donald trump investigating voter fraud yet they're advocating what amounts to voter fraud. going down and have carpet baggers come from out of state and steal the election. this is technically illegal and

a violation of the spirit of the law that people of georgia should decide who their senators are. not liberals coming in from other places. republicans control the house, and pass a law quickly that says only people who were registered to vote on election day can vote in runoffs. >> trace: a nice tribute to charlie daniels last night on the country music awards. others point out the idea of really moving to georgia, you know you have to rent a house, utility bills, driver's license to vote. the more effective way is just to send in money. we expect massive amounts of money to pour into georgia. how much sway does that have in the election? >> i'm sure it will be the most expensive two senate races in modern american history. reality is republicans have an advantage going in here. they almost always what happens in georgia is that when there is a runoff election, the republicans win and increase their vote share.

there have been eight of these since the 1960s in georgia. republicans have won seven of them. the last one the democrats won was 20 years ago. last one was 2008 and his share was 49.8 and he won the race with 57%. history is on the republican side. in 2008 and most other places the control of the senate wasn't on the table. and here you have literally who will be in charge of the senate and whether we will in fact have a one-party state where democrats control the white house, house and senate and can get rid of the filibuster and pass any radical legislation they want or whether there will be some check on nancy pelosi and chuck schumer and ocasio-cortez and sanders and warren. that's what's on the ballot. it is very important and both sides will fight hard for it. >> trace: i want to talk about the president, marc. you say the 2020 republican nomination the president, if he wants it but he has to make

sure that the senate -- republicans keep control of the senate. if democrats can win in georgia it will be seen as a final repudiation of trumpism. if trump can hold the senate in georgia he will leave office with a major victory and perhaps launch the first salvo of his 2024 campaign. what do you think? >> look, anyone who thinks donald trump can't come back and win in four years look how close the election was, 72 million people voted for him. he has an army of 72 million. the most loyal base in american history. without a doubt if he wants the nomination in 2024 he can have it. but he needs to leave on a victory. he can't leave the white house with this last defeat. so he needs to go down to georgia. he needs to campaign there for loeffler and perdue the way he campaigned in the wayneing days of the election, holding

rallies, rallying his base, raising money. if he does do it he will leave on a victory and be positioned to run again. >> trace: possibly bow out gracefully and come back strong in the end. good to see you, sir, thank you. fox will have more on all this tonight with our prime timeline-up beginning with tucker carlson 8:00 eastern, hannity at 9:00 and the ingram angle at 10:00. >> sandra: top house democrat reportedly suggesting some far left lawmakers are more interested in being internet celebrities than governing. congresswoman alexandria ocasio-cortez is firing back. plus the country music awards kicking off with a tribute to the late charlie daniels last night as the star-studded event aimed to put unity over politics. ♪

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>> trace: fox news alert. fox news confirming five americans on a peacekeeping mission are dead after a helicopter crash in egypt. officials from egypt and israel say at least 7 people died when the helicopter went down in the sinai peninsula. the crash appeared to be caused by a technical failure. we'll bring you details as we get them. >> sandra: it is the bottom of the hour. time for top stories.

the lawsuits are piling up as the trump campaigns open more challenges in key battleground states with multiple appeals in pennsylvania and new lawsuits in michigan. >> trace: andrew cuomo announcing new restrictions on restaurants and bars, 10:00 p.m. curfew on indoor dining and gyms as the statewide positivity rate surges and gatherings in homes should be limited to 10 people. >> sandra: in chicago a huge fire erupting inside a warehouse. the flames could be seen from blocks away. the roof of the building collapsed while firefighters were working. no injuries were reported. investigators are starting to figure out what started the fire. >> trace: gavin newsom granting pardons and 35 felons including 10 facing deportation. >> trace, this is something governors have the power to do and it's usually done with a

lot of thought before modifying penalties for any convicted felon. his list of three dozen people mean their criminal histories will be eased. the governor issued 22 pardons, 13 cometations and 4 medical repreefshs. the last chunk in response to the ongoing pandemic. 10 pardons will help immigrants who right now face the possibility of deportation. newsom writing that their deportations would be an unjust collateral consequence that would harm their families and communities. one of the cases highlighted involves a now 41-year-old man who came to the u.s. illegally from laos. he was sentenced to 27 years in prison for killing a rival gang member in 1997 when he was 17. another instance involves a 66-year-old woman convicted of conspiring to commit grand theft at the age of 18.

she served 18 months but has gone on to lead the san francisco municipal transportation agency waste reduction and recycling program and graduate with a double major in 2022. newsom saying his actions for the 35 people don't minimize or forgive their past conduct or the harm it caused. it is nearly two year stint as california governor newsom has granted a total of 63 pardons, 78 commutations and 4 reprieves. >> sandra: democrats recent losses in the house sparking a feud between moderates and progressives. democratic caucus chairs after if democrats want to govern or be internet celebrities. congresswoman alexandria ocasio-cortez firing back suggesting the comment explains a lot about how we got here.

marjorie clifton, a former consultant to the obama campaign and matt gorman former communications director for the republican congressional committee. did jeffries ask a fair question? >> i think the this is a conversation how do we govern in a time when we see both republicans and democrats within their parties feeling divided. what are the messaging strategies that will work. the socialism label put on a lot of democrats during the election cycle was very effective true or not. very effective. same with the defund the police. i'm hearing a lot of democrats having conversations about how do we reframe conversations in a way that actually is productive, that actually speaks to the policies that we're united on versus the labeling that's creating divide between the two parties and within the two parties. >> sandra: interesting analysis. is this a real conversation that democrats have to have and are they willing to have it?

>> i think democrats are in for an interparty battle. quite frankly a reckoning that they haven't seen in a generation. republicans went through it in the early 2010s. aoc will pull pelosi and biden further to the left, to say nothing of chuck schumer who she is thinking of primarying for 2022 for senate. house democrats have their small et majority since world war ii. a tough needle to thread and huge dynamic at play here. >> sandra: i will put up the full exchange. it is getting a lot of attention in all political circles but in the democratic party. hakeem jeffries on the conference call. he says do we want to win? do we want to govern or be internet celebrities? he asks. i think it's a useful conversation for us to have. the socialism message was not

helpful. aoc shot this back. pretty astounding some dems don't believe it's possible to govern, being politically popular and have a bully puppet. we don't have to choose between these things. we can do better and win. marjorie, how can republicans expect joe biden as he promised to work across the aisle if democrats can't unify their own party? >> well look, this is true of any coalition you work in whether it's in corporate america or anything else. there will be division and there is value in having conversations where you have people coming from a lot of different perspectives. the key is whether they're able to come together and we have seen them come together on various different policies that they wanted to move forward especially around coronavirus, but where the divide has been between the parties. and i would argue that also within the republican party there is the same divide. this is a very interesting time for the whole country to figure

out what do party labels mean and are we willing across the aisle to come together to be able to move forward versus this divide we're seeing among -- more divide than we've ever seen i would say socially and within our political system? >> sandra: good question. rich lowry "new york post" op-ed. leftist democrats delivered a blue trickle in 2020 election. if the former vice president succeeded in making the presidential race a referendum on trump. republicans succeeded in making house races in effect a referendum on alexandria ocasio-cortez and the woke socialism that activates and draws attention. marjorie's question as well. what does it mean for democrats come two years from now and especially four years from now? >> well here is the thing. aoc has never needed a single republican vote to get elected. that's a fact.

so she doesn't know how to run and win in a district that isn't 80% democratic. that i think influences how she thinks about this. but to your point, stepping back here, it is so crucial why republicans needed to do well in the senate on election night and hopefully keep it through the georgia runoffs because we've talked endlessly about the green new deal, medicare for all, bernie sanders as labor secretary. there is zero chance that happens if mitch mcconnell is the majority leader. aoc can say whatever she wants, she can keep tweeting, she is not in touch with the current political reality. >> sandra: final from you, marjorie? >> i would say aoc is not representative of the entire democratic party and would say she is one faction like we see factions with ted cruz and others within the republican party. i think right now i wouldn't look at this election at a referendum on anyone. i would look at it and say

we're trying to eke it down to the last votes in georgia and others to decide who runs the senate and at this point what i would say is what that speaks to is the divide. and if you look at who is elected i would say the political range in terms of conservatism and progressivism is very broad. what we do know is that we're very divided and we need messaging that brings people together both sides of the aisle, both parties. >> sandra: marjorie and matt, thanks for the conversation, appreciate it. >> trace: is national shutdown of a month or longer on the horizon under the biden administration? >> it isn't necessarily lockdown. you can still get businesses going. you could still have economic forward thinking while you are doing that. you don't necessarily have to shut everything down. >> trace: what one member of joe biden's pandemic task force is suggesting as we wait for a vaccine to become available. stu varney joins us next.

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>> sandra: the suspect charged with murder in the shooting of a police sergeant is being held on $500,000 bond. he appeared in court yesterday. police are still searching for another person of extreme interest. he is the man seen here wearing a black t-shirt along with the suspect. they were caught on surveillance video shortly after the shooting. 47-year-old sergeant sean rios was the second houston police officer to be killed in three weeks. he is the father of four. >> trace: ukraine's president is reportedly in the hospital after testing positive for covid-19. he announced monday that he would be working in isolation

while being treated. a spokeswoman says he went to the hospital to avoid exposing anyone else. right now his condition is unknown. >> we could lock down for 4 to 6 weeks. if we did that we could drive the numbers down and then we could really watch ourselves cruising into the vaccine availability in the first and second quarter of next year and bringing back the economy long before that. >> sandra: that was one of joe biden's coronavirus advisors as the u.s. sees a surge in new infections and some brand-new numbers on the economy this morning. jobless claims coming in at 709 thousand, the dow is down. stuart varney joins us. good to see you. first off, what was your take when you heard the president-elect's advisor on

the coronavirus suggest we could have to shut the country down for another four to six weeks? >> i was appalled quite frankly. that's one of the main themes on our show. yes, we have been hit by the second wave. it has arrived. what i'm learning so far is that the response to it is going to be strong and heavy new restrictions and possibly a national lockdown as you just suggested. one of incoming president biden's top advisors says shut it down from 4 to 6 weeks. if you read the "washington post" today, there is an op-ed there that says shut it down. the whole country, shut it down from 4 to 6 weeks. that's their answer to the second wave. i think it will be flat out disastrous. have you ever considered the economic effects of shutting down this economy all over again for four to six weeks? what about the social effects? all those people locked up at home with people that they may not be getting along with very

well. suicide, depression, all of that comes into play and yet they seem to be gung-ho for another national lockdown. heaven forbid, sandra. >> sandra: to be sure joe biden has shown interest in keeping dr. fauci on board and dr. fauci has already pushed back on this and asked about it this morning in an interview and said it was not his intention to have to do this. he doesn't think it's the right way to go pretty much saying he would avoid that at all costs if he can. >> it's all well and good saying let the scientists decide but that's not the way it should be. you cannot abdicate governing the united states of america in favor of a panel of scientists. presidents should not be doing that. presidents should lead. that's what i think incoming president biden should do on this issue. >> sandra: we'll see where that all goes next. interesting development definitely wall street took note of that when that interview first happened.

it was on a financial interview as well. stuart, we have no weekly jobless numbers. everybody is trying to see where we are in this recovery. for a while we were talking about the recovery knowing things were getting better with the virus and we see spikes and record numbers in some places. the dow is off 200 points. >> that number on your screen now 709,000 unemployment last week is a rather low number. it is coming down. so newly unemployed people, there are fewer of them. so i would regard that as mildly positive number. if you want to fits it into the big picture, it is we do have a v-shaped recovery. we're bouncing back very strongly from the depths of the depression that were hit in march and april and may. we're bouncing back very strongly. let's get back to the national lockdown. you do that or you impose severe restrictions on new york, chicago, illinois,

california, you do that and you slow down this economic recovery. and that too is a factor in the market today, sandra. >> sandra: i know you talked to the businesses out there every day, big and small. you look at these restaurants, so many we've lost. >> it's a disaster. every day on this program my show here on fox business we take a camera shot outside of 6th avenue, new york city. for eight months it has been absolutely deserted and it is still deserted and it is probably going to stay deserted for a long time to come. all those businesses associated with our big cities, the outlook is bleak indeed. frankly, getting worse. >> sandra: a struggle for so many out there. now the cold weather is on its way. stuart varney, great to see you this morning. thank you. >> thank you very much. >> trace: bernie sanders says he is open to being joe biden's labor secretary. what impact would the self-proclaimed democratic

socialist have. plus there is this. ♪ >> little big town in a touching tribute to the late kenny rogers at the cma awards. more highlights from country music's big night next.

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great to see you. i want to play a little bit of reba mcentire and darius rucker off the top. >> tonight is a wonderful evening to sing together, stand together, and be together at the end of a year when too much in this world has been pulling us apart, sometimes more than six feet. >> so true. >> trace: i have a hard time believing that sentiment would be the opening of the oscars or the grammys. what do you think? >> well, out of all the awards shows the cma and academy of country music awards are the least political. they know their fan base. a lot of folks who like country music say thanks but no thanks to celebrities getting political. some of the younger artists this time around are becoming a little more politically outspoken but that's still kind of few and far between. i love what eric church said during his acceptance speech for entertainer of the year.

he was talking about how politicians are here to divide us and music is the great unifier. that message is so true. >> trace: let's play it. here is eric church in his acceptance speech. >> i really believe it will be music that brings us out of this. that is the one thing that is going to save the entire world. politicians are about division, music is about unity. >> trace: so he kind of took a swipe at both sides, right? democrats and republicans there saying those guys do what they do and we do what we do. >> yeah. who knows, maybe nancy pelosi and mitch mcconnell can talk about music during some sort of legislative discussion. maybe they find the same songs toe tapping who knows. the tag line for this particular award show, the online marketing campaign was no drama, just music. there was some behind the scenes drama. several artists tested positive

for covid-19 and couldn't perform. there was a studio audience. some people felt like it was inappropriate given the era we live in today and the numbers in nashville rising. it took some heat for that. >> trace: you go on social media and country music fans seemed to appreciate it. thank you, cmas and country artists. a night to enjoy music, just music. not one single person's personal opinion on politics. the only thing said at the end of the night which was dead on by eric church, politicians are about division, music is about unity. this person along with you, carley, everybody loved eric church's speech. >> i thought it was great. i'm sure the folks complaining about the country music awards are also horrified by all the biden celebrations that are taking place in time square. but you know, it is the nature that we live in today. outside forces are trying to

attack the awards for what it is. interesting to see the award show ratings. award show ratings are plummeting across the board. we'll see if people tuned in last night. >> carley shimkus, thank you so much. appreciate it. >> sandra: organizers announcing plans for this year's macy's thanksgiving day parade. the route will be shortened with most of the action right in front of the flagship macy store on 34th street. and there will not as previously announced, be a live audience for that. there will be taped performances from four broadway shows. the cast of hamilton, meme girls, jagged pill and ain't too proud all taking part. we'll at least have that. initially was it's canceled and going virtual. there will at least be that this thanksgiving. >> trace: not normal but edging we think back that way. that's something.

it's not the end all but a little something. after months of calls to defund the police violent crime is now rising sharply in minneapolis. have you seen the numbers there? we'll show them to you. now the city council could be calling for outside help. plus president trump challenging the election results in several swing states. the latest strategy is next. sofi made it so easy to pay off my student loan debt. ♪ they were able to give me a personal loan so i could pay off all of my credit cards. i got my mortgage through sofi and the whole process was so easy. ♪ choosing sofi was literally one of the best decisions i could have ever made because it gave me peace of mind. ♪

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>> sandra: fox news alert at

this hour. a manhunt intensifies for a person of extreme interest in the killing of a houston police officer. sergeant sean rios was gunned down in a hotel parking lot on monday. police arrested one man the next day and say they're now looking for the man on the left who is wearing a black t-shirt in the surveillance video. houston's police chief is pushing the man to turn himself in and say they'll catch him no matter what. we'll bring you more information on this developing story as we get it. but first minneapolis officials and police are fighting over a proposal to bring in officers from other jurisdictions to help combat a spike in violent crime there. a vote is set for tomorrow. welcome to a brand-new hour of "america's newsroom." i'm sandra smith. >> trace: i'm trace gallagher. minneapolis was the city at the center of the movement to downsize police forces after george floyd. now the police chief says money for the force is running out and that it needs to deploy

officers from outside the department to keep the community safe. mike tobin is live in chicago with more. mike. >> well trace, the city of minneapolis city council blazed the trial and. there are fewer police officers. more than 100 have taken leave. many have filed for permanent disability citing post traumatic stress following the riot. violent crime increased. 500 people were shot. 15 year high. 89% increase in homicides. >> i have 74 people who are no longer alive in this city because they've been killed. i've got almost 500 people who have been shot and wounded in this city. we can talk about reimagining policing. i'm talking about what is necessary today in this city and we need extra resources. >> that's police chief asking

the city council for additional half million dollars so he could hire additional offices from metro transit police and hennepin county sheriff. his request barely made it out of committee. met stiff resistance from some of the same council members who voted for the failed effort to disband police claiming the request lacked transparency. the request for more money to hire additional officers before the full council for a vote tomorrow. incidentally the city council president lisa bender at the effort to disband police told a local television station she will not seek reelection but she stands by the effort to disband police. trace, back to you. >> trace: mike tobin live in chicago. >> sandra: president trump's legal team forging ahead with lawsuits disputing the election results in several key states. trump campaign filing suits in pennsylvania and michigan and there is a hearing today before a judge in arizona's maricopa county. griff jenkins is live in

washington it appears the president is ramping up his legal fight today out west. what do we know? >> he sure is. good morning. starting out in arizona a judge as you mentioned has set a five hour hearing to begin to listen to oral arguments regarding a trump lawsuit alleging maricopa county poll workers wrongly rejected votes. are issue at in-person election day ballots for overvotes in the presidential line. the president tweeted about this this morning saying from 200,000 votes to less than 10,000 votes. if we can audit the total votes cast we'll easily win arizona also. but the president may have lost an ally in the grand canyon state. the republican attorney general on with neil cavuto yesterday rejecting the president's claim of voter fraud saying there is simply no evidence. sandra. >> sandra: what's the latest on the key battle ground lawsuit happening in michigan and pennsylvania? >> a lot happening there. hard to keep up. we'll try. starting in michigan the trump

campaign filed a lawsuit alleging the challengers were blocked from having sufficient view of the counting process and resulted in ineligible ballots being khalid. we could hear more on that as well as soon as tomorrow from the judge there. to the keystone state. pennsylvania the trump campaign filing five appeals of philadelphia county's board of election's decision to count different categories of mail-in absentee ballots with more actions apparently coming. trump campaign spokeswoman previewing what's next. >> in seven counties democrat-leaning counties, if they received your ballot in advance, illegal to open those ballots until election day. somehow they were determining which ballots were not accurate, which were not properly done and telling voters to fix them in advance. >> keep your eye what is happening in georgia. not a lawsuit but secretary of

state announcing a hand recount of every vote with the counting deadline of november 20th. >> sandra: thank you. >> trace: facebook extended its temporary ban on political ads yesterday saying the contested presidential election and senate runoffs in georgia make it necessary to keep the ban in place. democratic party slamming the move saying these ad bans are voting suppression and benefit republican senators and there should be an exception for ads in georgia over the next two months. georgia will be, of course, a battlegrounds for the next seven weeks with both senate seats up for grabs and control of the senate in the balance. >> sandra: developing at this hour tropical storm eta making landfall in florida for a second time coming ashore north of tampa bay. charles watson is reporting live from st. petersburg this morning. are people in the clear yet? >> good morning. most of the danger in the way of heavy rain and wind has

dissipated as eta moves east across florida. with the system dumping as much as 10 inches of rain in parts of this region there is ongoing flooding. we're in the shore acres community right behind the bay. look at what they're dealing with right now. it is a big mess out here. the streets here inundated with floodwater that eta's storm surge pushed inland. a lot of this water went rushing into people's homes overnight soaking floors, bedrooms, bathrooms, you name it. some folks say they haven't seen flooding like this in more than 20 years. >> my place is on kind of a hill so it is like if it gets onto my porch it is something dangerous. my roommate actually called me and said the water is getting to the bottom of the last step of our porch. >> we get rain and we get flooded with rain but nothing like this. nothing coming into our house. >> and eta absolutely lashed

florida's west coast. look at the cell phone video near fort myers getting battered by heavy rain and wind before officials closed it to traffic late wednesday. vice president mike pence was expected to vacation in the fort myers area this week but the trip was canceled for unknown reason. right now there are about 30,000 customers who are without power. president trump has already approved disaster relief funds requested about florida's governor ron desantis so folks can start the cleanup process. >> sandra: thank you, charles watson. >> trace: turning to georgia the balance of power in the senate will be decided a couple months from now. the peach state will hold a pair of runoff elections in january after neither race landed a winner with at least 50% of the vote. sean hannity weighed in last night on the high stakes. watch. >> david perdue, kelly loeffler in georgia on january 5th.

if the senate were ever to go to the democrats, they ever got full power, god help us. democrats, you know what? that would mean we would see far left extremism like never before. chucky says everything is on the table. >> trace: we'll talk with senator marco rubio campaigning for the incumbent republican senators later this hour. we'll have much more on this tonight beginning with tucker carlson at 8:00 p.m. eastern, hannity at 9:00 and ingraham angle at 10:00. >> sandra: a new report pulling back the curtain on "the new york times." what some staffers are now saying about an environment of cancel culture at the paper. plus how progressives are mobilizing the push the biden administration far left when we return. >> trace: don't make a mistake

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officer facing charges in the taylor case being sued for sexual assault. a 22-year-old woman claims he assaulted her in 2018 after giving her a ride home from a nightclub where he had a security job. the lawsuit says the alleged attack was part of a pattern quoting he is a 44-year-old sexual predator for years he has used his police uniform and secondary nightclub employment as mechanisms to prey on innocent women who are two decades younger than him. he is the only officer charged in the incident that killed breonna taylor and faces three counts of for firing his gun into another apartment. >> he think trump got 70 million votes the democrats should reject aoc, black lives matter and reject anything that vaguely sounds like socialism.

>> sandra: ideological battle in the democratic party threatening to boil over as joe biden is staffing his administration. he will keep his commitment to the party's progressives but can he go far enough left for them? molly hemingway joining us now. michael moore's reference there was to some very powerful democrats who have suggested just because we won don't ignore the fact that 70 million voted for donald trump. don't exclude them from your governing. he is saying that don't take that route. will they listen? >> right, it's actually i think 73 million at this point and counting, which is interesting. that's 10 million more voters that donald trump added since the last time he ran. by comparison when barack obama ran for reelection he lost 3 1/2 or 4 million voters. this is a weird an interesting

election. joe biden declared by the media as the incoming president-elect. and yet you have a republican party that seems very unified and excited. you had this massive outpouring of support for the republican party and it had historic gains in terms of minority voters and other groups that republicans have struggled with previously. they gained members in the house, they kept the senate. the democrats even though they have this presidency, seem to be in complete disarray in part because of those other gains that trump's coattails kept them -- that affected the election. so you have all these people on the left who say we absolutely want what's ours. we did a lot to help you win this and we're going to demand that you give us these things. yet all of these people who lost house races or other people in the democratic party are fearing that the left, which does have this claim to this enthusiasm, will destroy their prospects in the days to come in georgia and in the years to come. >> sandra: and perhaps that's why michael moore is speaking

directly to them. here is more from his message. listen. >> i see various people in the media and elsewhere trying to take credit for your victory. and using their personal agendas to push you away from the progressive left and toward the cowardly center. please do not make the same mistake that an otherwise well-meaning and well-intentioned president obama made. charge in there on january 20th like fdr on steroids and go big. >> sandra: history on obama is interesting but he does have a point. the media by and large ran the biden campaign and presented him as someone who would not be a threat to the american way of life. he was not as far left as people that he defeated in the primary such as bernie sanders, but they hid the fact he had actually said he agreed with

bernie sanders and down played he picked kamala harris to be his vice president. a lot of people might feel there was some incould here en see in the campaign. the far left knows they're responsible for helping accomplish this and yet now they are being told to shut up and sit down. so this is a genuine civil fight in the democratic party. i don't know how they'll resolve it and we'll be able to see more even as we head into whether nancy pelosi is made the speaker again in the next term. but it is legitimate, real. there is a divide in the democratic party between that enthusiastic far left progressive baits. the people who participated in the riots and the public face the media put forward and they'll have to resolve it. >> sandra: karl rove made an interesting observation on hannity last night. >> nancy pelosi referred to herself saying we're having a

controversy between the moderates and the progressives. when did you think you would ever hear nancy pelosi described as a moderate? she was a left winger when she came to congress. now the left wing is 100 yards to the left of her. unbelievable what is happening to the house democrats. >> sandra: fair to point that out, molly. >> well, it is true, though. whereas nancy pelosi used to be the vision of the far left of the party, as the party has moved further and further to the left adopting positions well outside of the mainstream of american life she is more on the moderate side than some of the squad and other people pushing for more open or radical socialistic solutions to policy and problems that they feel the country faces. they've gotten a lot of help from the media who like to present far left views as not so radical, but that is also created or helped create some of the friction we're seeing here with people feeling like

they're privately told one thing and publicly presented another. i honestly am not entirely sure how they will see their way through it. the moderates, you heard in that conference call that they had the jeffries more moderate of the democrats were very upset with how the far left had made it difficult for them to run in these tight races. >> sandra: nancy pelosi is holding her weekly news conference. that's a live look on capitol hill. we will be listening to that for news. you identified many things the party has identified themselves, molly. we'll continue to watch all of it. molly, thank you. >> thank you. >> trace: again we'll keep our eyes on nancy pelosi's weekly news conference there. meantime pfizer says its covid vaccine is 90% effective but delivering it to tens of millions of americans may be easier said than done. marco rubio becoming the first republican senator to campaign in georgia ahead of the january runoff elections. we'll ask him about what's at stake and whether he is

planning another white house run in 2024. >> this is literally, you know, the showdown of all showdowns. we don't want to win one of them. we want to win both of them. we need to win both of them.

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florida came ashore north of tampa bay this morning. the storm is expected to continue with rain and wind. >> sandra: trials 90% effective but kept at temperatures of minus 70 degrees celsius or below. it makes shipping and storing it difficult and expensive. >> trace: in houston a manhunt intensifies. sean rios was shot in a parking lot monday. they arrested one man yesterday and they are looking for this man wearing a black t-shirt in this surveillance video. >> this is georgia's decision to make but it is america that will live with the consequences of the decision they make here. >> sandra: our next guest is the first senator to rally for republicans in georgia ahead of

two pivotal runoff elections to decide who controls the chamber for the next two years. joining us now is republican senator from florida marco rubio, the acting chairman of the senate select committee on intelligence. good morning, great to have you here this morning. the balance of power in the senate will be decided just weeks from now. what is at stake for your party? >> i think what's at stake for the country is the question. i think it's the difference between some pretty radical policies and people on potentially a biden cabinet and the idea of coming out of the senate. they'll get rid of the filibuster, they will pack the court. they will try to unleash some version of a green new deal which would wipe out millions of american jobs for hard working americans who would be suddenly unemployed. the difference between the economic policies raising taxes in the middle of a pandemic. what's at stake is hard to exaggerate and why we need to win those races. i'm confident we will. we have good candidates and the people of georgia understand what's at stake. what you are voting for is two

people who will come up and the first vote they will' take is to make chuck schumer the majority leader. georgia is voting for whether or not they want two chuck shooumers representing them in the senate. i think the answer will be no. >> sandra: you spent time specifically campaigning to the suburban voter in that state. how do you win them over? >> we have here is what i think 90% of americans would agree on. we need to have an economy that creates good jobs with dignity for as many americans as we possibly can. people want to live in safe neighborhoods. if a police officer does something wrong they aren't above the law but by and large the police does great things for our country and want to fund the police department not want to have rioters or fired from their jobs and canceled because of their political opinions and don't want their kids being failed by an english

professor because they don't agree with their ideas. they want people to stand for those things. that's the message we take to all americans and why president trump got over 70 million votes and republican party as grown in states across the country and it is the people that have been left behind by this radical leftward turn of the democratic party that today considers nancy pelosi a moderate. that tells you how radical they've become. >> sandra: you are talking about changes in the democratic party but when you look at your own party and senator you have already gone on the record saying that you believe that the gop needs a reset after 2020. a rebranch -- rebrand. >> i don't think we need a reset. we need to make sure all those people that came into our party because of donald trump's work and message, because of the work we've done in the senate, that we don't suddenly walk away from them. the message that he has been hitting on for four years and the message we've been working on as well is we are on the side of hard working everyday americans who simply want to

have an cone me. they don't want to be told for example that sorry, your job is going to china because it's how the free market works. we're for the free market, not socialism. but our number one is the best for the american people and provide dignified work and safe communities and respects the right of people to believe whatever they want and not have shoved down their throat the values of some producer in new york or some hollywood director or some celebrity. they can believe whatever they want. don't shove it down people's throat and stand up against people that bully you when you don't agree with them. that's what our party needs to be about and what americans want. >> sandra: i wonder if you are leaving the door open for a 2024 run yourself. >> well look, i ran for president once so clearly i'm not going to pretend i never had any interest in the office. that's so far down the road. right now i have a job and here in the u.s. senate. i want to continue to serve the people of florida moving forward. i'm on the ballot in 2022.

a lot of things will happen between now and then and so i know everybody will tell you that but we're not done with 2020 yet. it is way too early to think about those things. i have a job now and i'll do it and continue to do it as best as i can. >> sandra: bring it back to the near term. lindsey graham was on our air this morning talking about just how hard he wants his party to work to make sure that you retain control in the senate with the georgia runoffs. listen. >> i will do two things, give a million bucks to help from my campaign and challenge every republican who has a website to direct every donation to georgia. >> sandra: you sound confident what we're about to see happen there but senator, what is your message to your party to get this done knowing what you have just laid out is at stake for the country? >> i don't think there is much convincing that needs to happen. i think people across the country and some of my colleagues understand what's at stake. i think the last four years

have been an excellent lesson in civics in terms of the important in senate and the role we play in the constitutional republic. we need to get people to do it. i think everyone recognizes how important. you have two senate races up in one state and it will determine whether there are 52 republicans that can stand up against the radical left of center in many cases socialist agenda or not. and that's what's at stake here. people know it. the people of georgia know it and we're ready to work for that. >> sandra: as we want the president continue to engage in his legal battles in some of these key states, if that battle does not result in a second term for the president, what do you see his role in the party going forward? >> he will be the dominant voice in republican politics whether he is president or not. that's pretty clear. 70 million people voted for him where i live in south florida, he went from a 30-point loss in 2016 to only 7 in a county that's overwhelmingly democrat.

he converted a bunch of people who never voted before or used to vote democrat are now republicans. irrespective of the outcome donald trump is going to be the most popular and the most influential republican in the country for the foreseeable future and the message and issues that he focused on will continue to live on and be important to address irrespective of the outcome whether president or not. that would be true now or four years from now. >> sandra: final thoughts. you continue to support the president in these legal battles he is mounting in some of these states like michigan and pennsylvania. >> you know, i laugh when the democrats complain about that. in florida we had a close senate election. chuck schumer and his party hired lawyers and contested it for almost 20 days. that's what the law allows to you do. nothing the president is doing that is not within his legal rights. we have laws that govern this stuff. you get unofficial results on election night. states continue to count legal ballot.

if there is a recount that's what they do. they have to move toward certifying that vote. if a candidate or anyone has evidence of fraud or something that was wrong and wrongdoing, you have a right, a legal right to go to court and present that evidence. if you have it, you have it. if you don't, you know the answer. these states are going to start certifying elections at some point and on december 14th the electoral college will elect the president. that's our laws. i don't know what the freak-out is about. joe biden had hundreds of lawyers on stand by ready to do all of these things had the outcome of the initial calculations been reversed. this is the way the system work. let the system work so people have confidence and our republic can move on. >> sandra: appreciate the time this morning. thank you. >> thank you. >> trace: senator bernie sanders entertaining the idea of taking a cabinet position in the biden administration saying he would be open to accepting the role of labor secretary if offered. our chief congressional

correspondent mike emanuel is live in washington >> one would expect inside a biden cabinet that bernie sanders would push to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. what interesting about him for labor secretary he is selling himself for the job. >> i want to do everything i can to protect the working families of this country who are under tremendous dur *es now whether in the senate, biden administration and who knows. let's see how it unfolds. file had a portfolio to fight for working families would i do it? yes, i would. >> he made the case those on the progressive left should be rewarded for helping joe biden. >> there is no doubt in my mind that the progressive community deserves strong representation in the biden administration. millions of people support our agenda. we are an important part, critical part of the democratic

coalition, and progressives should be represented in the administration. >> looking ahead to the next congress republicans have a 50 to 48 advantage. could be a reason sanders would want out of the senate. being in the minority can be frustrating. republicans are using bernie sanders looking ahead to the senate runoff races in georgia. >> bernie's america is on the ballot in georgia. what we're trying to do is stop the most radical agenda in the history of american politics from being enacted and georgia stands in the way of socialism for america. >> if mitch mcconnell continues as majority leader it could be more difficult for people like sanders to be confirmed to the cabinet. trace. >> indeed. mike emanuel live in washington thank you. >> sandra: house freedom caucus chairman andy biggs is calling on trump to get more troops out of iraq and afghanistan. the war in afghanistan has been

the longest overseas conflict in american history. sadly the situation on the ground today looks much the same now as it did back in 2001 with the taliban in control of much of the country. president trump campaigned on ending america's wars. critics say withdrawing too many troops could further destabilize the region. >> trace: admission to national parks is free for veterans and gold star families. the change went into effect on veterans day and applies to lands managed but the u.s. forest service. veterans need to show an i.d. gold star families will be supplied with a voucher. it doesn't cover camp fees but maybe it should. our gold star families have sacrificed so much. a little camping in return might be a nice little say thank you from the government. >> sandra: go out and enjoy the national parks. they are our gems. it was a very public resignation by a "new york times" opinion writer saying she was bullied by colleagues because of her conservative

viewpoints. other staffers are speaking out about cancel culture at the "new york times." changing the tone in washington will joe biden's softer style lower the temperature at the expense of making his presidency less effective? that's next. >> the only thing that -- how can i say this tactfully? i think it will not help the president's legacy. heir va stre, there is no income verification no appraisal, no out of pocket costs and no va paperwork for you. you can start the process right over the phone. refi now and cut $3000 a year off your mortgage payments. loans can close in as little as 30 days. it's all about the bedroom. and with caspers black friday sale,

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♪ [ beeping ] [ engine revs ] ♪ uh, you know there's a 30-minute limit, right? tell that to the rain. [ beeping ] for those who were born to ride, there's progressive. >> trace: a scathing report is pulling back the curtain on "the new york times" pointing out that several staffers agreed with former opinion writer who posted a resignation letter online last july addressed to the newspaper's publisher. she described the toxic culture at the paper of record saying her colleagues bullied her for not sharing their leftist viewpoints. now an article in "new york magazine" said she wasn't the only one who felt that way. while her description of a

young woke mob taking over the paper was roundly criticized several times employees i spoke to saw truth to the dynamic. let's bring in fox news media analyst howie kurtz the host of "media buzz". always good to see you. "new york magazine" article says, the dust-up laid bare a divide that had become increasingly tricky for the times, a large portion of the paper's audience, a number of employees and the president himself saw it aligned with the resistance. it horrified the old guard but seemed to make for good business and it really does appear that way because "the new york times" anti-trump movement lifted it out of the red but created a rift within the newsroom about their journalistic credibility. howie. >> when even the liberal "new york magazine" is calling the times the paper of the resistant tells you about the climate. she said her own colleagues

were calling her nazi or racist and wanted to bring conservative voices to the opinion pages which is why she was hired. not only did people agree with her that colleagues are sniping at each other on the slack channel. a cast many between old-fashioned journalists at the paper who want to have some attempt at being fair and some of the more woke digital staffers and african-american staffers who feel the paper must take a stand even an opinion section that is supposed to be devoted to diversity against trumpism and republicans. >> the times is published by and for coastal liberals. the question is what now, howie? where does "the new york times" go moving forward if it is to be a biden administration? do they put the president's feet to the fire? do they keep going after -- what's the operation now? >> that is the question that is hanging over the future of the newspaper in my view.

because you have a situation now where the paper was so successful to bash trump, digital subscriptions doubling to 7 million. whether or not the times can make a turn and reestablish itself as a more credible source for people who don't agree with the liberal editorial pages will depend whether the newspaper decides to cozy up to joe biden when he is in the white house. and i think that it is really a question. what we don't know, trace, is whether internally what we call cancel culture whether people are even proposing to write or edit columns that have a different point of view because they saw what happened to the editorial page editor forced off for running the tom cotton op-ed. >> trace: speaking of president-elect joe biden you write he is trying to lower the temperature quoting here, howie, this is an outgrowth of the strategy that biden followed during the campaign where he took his shots at the president but resisted being

drawn into tit-for-tat exchanges and twitter spats. some democrats openly assailed that approach believing that biden had to respond to each punch with a counter punch and hit the trail more as trump was holding several rallies a day. you also wonder, howie, if this style of joe biden's will shrink his presidency. your final thoughts. >> well, quickly the moment for me i played the clip before the break when biden was asked by six different ways isn't it horrible and terrible trump won't concede. how do i say it tactfully. he is trying to lower the temperature. the strategy he followed despite democratic pushback during the campaign. reporters aren't used to an incoming president who doesn't throw hard punches or doesn't start twitter wars or talk to them five or six times a day. he won't want to dominate the news. whether it will be effective. it worked during the campaign.

whether it will be effective in a hyper polarized capital remains to be seen. >> trace: always good to see you. thanks. >> sandra: more police officers retiring this year as crime numbers spike in the wake of the defund police movement. the tree that will become part of one of the greatest christmas traditions here in new york city and grace rockefeller center has finally been chosen. we'll have the details on that next. ♪ if you have moderate to severe psoriasis, ...little things... ...can become your big moment.

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>> trace: the minneapolis city council is preparing to vote

tomorrow on bringing in outside officers to help shore up its police force. the department is one of many across the country dealing with a rise in retirements following a summer of violent protests. a retired nypd detective and pat brosnan. i want to put your numbers on the screen and get your reaction. 2020 compared to 2019. we still have almost two months to go in 2020. arson up 76%. assaults up 24%, homicides up 87%. robberies up 37%. and the police chief of minneapolis says the following here, resources are hemorrhaging. our city is bleeding at this moment. i'm trying to do all i can to stop that bleeding. your thoughts on what is happening in minneapolis, pat. >> these are self-inflicted wounds, trace. the city council, they were harboring a fantasy and

masquerading as law enforcement experts and felt that they would be able to somehow defund the police, minimize the police involvement in deterring crime and somehow this wouldn't happen. this violent uptick in gun violence and associated crimes. it is really simple. it's a cost/benefit analysis. and until crime becomes illegal again -- it is not illegal right now in these cities, crime is not illegal. until it becomes illegal again you'll see continued significant upticks in gun violence and associated crimes. >> trace: you mentioned the minneapolis city council. i want to take you back to june. this is what the city council resolution was. the minneapolis city council unanimously approved a resolution today declaring the intent to create a trans formative new model for cultivating safety in minneapolis. cultivating safety in minneapolis. i showed you the crime stats and yet there seems to be no --

there seems to be no willingness on behalf of the city council to backtrack a little bit. they want to keep going forward. >> it's interesting in that transformative policy that the city council was referencing. they neglected or rather you didn't reference the two operative verbs. they were they were going to dismantle the police departments and defund the police departments. both of those verbs, by the way, are the path, direct path to increased violence and honestly to destruction. this whole concept of somehow the citizenry is going to be able to fend for themselves and just dismantle, diminish, demean, desecrate and ultimately defund and eliminate the police function is just sheer madness. we're seeing it now. the proof is in the pudding. the numbers are through the ceiling in all the major cities. it doesn't work. it's madness. it's madness and contrary to

reasoned thought. >> trace: you talk about all the cities and we mean seattle, new york, boston, los angeles. in fact, a los angeles survey says the following here, pat, fascinating. nearly 9 out of 10 los angeles police department officers did not feel supported by chief michael moore and did not believe he or other commanders provided strong leadership during recent protests and unrest. i have family members who are police officers who say they don't believe that anybody has their back and they are wondering about a different career. >> 1,000%. can you blame them? i rarely if ever agree with bernie sanders. this is an instance where he was spot on when he said we have to pay police officers more. significantly more. the reality, trace, when they put their hands up to individual state constitutions to protect and serve they didn't sign on for desecration, they didn't sign on to diminishment or sign on to be

ignored and completely disempowered by their own commanders, the media, and the politicians. it is really an extraordinary trifecta of disdain for law enforcement and the rule of law, by the way. >> trace: always good to see you, sir, thank you. >> my pleasure, thank you, trace. >> sandra: the 2020 rockefeller christmas tree has finally been chosen. the norway spruce is 75 feet tall and weighs 11 tons. a crew chopped it down in central new york state, loaded it on a flatbed truck bound for manhattan. no word how the city plans to do the tree lighting ceremony this year while discouraging large crowds but nonetheless the tree has been chosen. we had the best time last year about this time. we interviewed the man who goes out, the organizers who go choose the christmas tree. we got the history behind it. a picture of 1931, the very first tree that went up here in new york and started the

celebration that we know today that happens at rockefeller center. when the lights go on every year. this year it will look different, trace. an amazing tradition that's lasted quite some time here. >> trace: our producer was telling me about the whole history. it is great information. i was going to give you some trivia and she said sandra already did the story. she knows all about it. fascinating. you go back to 1931 and nobody will be out there gathering but still it is a great -- >> sandra: they love the norwegian spruces. fox news alert. president trump's latest legal challenges to the election. attorneys for the president are getting ready to make their case in court as the battle over the ballots continue. the latest at the top of a brand-new hour. come on back. there's no income verification, no appraisal and no out of pocket costs.

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we make it easy to enroll, too. it's time to take advantage of all the benefits of... the only medicare advantage plans with the aarp name. [sfx: mnemonic] >> sandra: fox news alert as we await court action from the president's legal team in battleground arizona at any moment now. the campaign is making new claims of voter fraud. welcome back to "america's newsroom," i'm sandra smith. good morning, trace. >> trace: good morning to you. i'm trace gallagher. the arizona case just one legal challenge the trump campaign is mounting in swing states with the candidates separated by less than 12,000 votes, joe biden is projected to win arizona. but the trump team not about to give up the fight. here is kayleigh mcenany on "america's newsroom" earlier. >> right now he is letting this litigation play out and let the lawyers take the lead and he

works for the people. you will be hearing from the president at the right moment. >> sandra: we have live fox team coverage thursday morning. peter doocy is in wilmington, delaware but first to john roberts. >> trace: the president fairly active on twitter this morning. one of the things he is talking about is his reaction to the race being called in his favor in the state of alaska. the president tweeting quote it took long enough. what is taking north carolina so long? are they looking for more ballots to fix that one also? now with a recount we'll win georgia also, pennsylvania and michigan wouldn't let our poll watchers and observers into counting rooms. trump campaign is settling in for the long haul. it will go on for at least another week if not longer filing more lawsuits. a judge in detroit expected to rule tomorrow on a trump lawsuit that asks for certification of detroit's vote be stopped and entire audit of

the detroit vote and all evidence to be preserved. the trump campaign also filing new affidavits in pennsylvania alleging voter irregularities. the press secretary kayleigh mcenany on that earlier today. >> individual who said they received a vote by mail, did not request one. went to the polls to cast her ballot, was told sorry, you can't do that. you have already voted by mail. in seven counties, democrat leaning counties. if they received your ballot in advance it is illegal to open the ballots until election day. somehow they were determining which ballots which were not properly done and telling voters to fix them in advance. >> trump campaign officials say they discovered possible new voting irregularities in nevada. 7,000 votes from people had ballots sent back as undeliverable.

>> these lawsuits in nevada are very promising. in nevada they have a machine to verify mail-in ballot signatures. if you don't have a signature on a mail-in ballot it is useless. the machine was basically turned off. so they ran millions of ballots through this machine -- voting machine in nevada and the signature component of it was almost literally turned off. >> you mentioned in arizona within the half hour a judge is expected to hear a case from the trump campaign that maricopa county poll workers wrongly rejected ballots, presumed trump ballots. the president weighing in on that from 200,000 votes to less than 10,000 votes. if we can audit the total votes cast we will easily win arizona also. the trump campaign and other trump supporters making the point there is a difference between a recount an an audit. an audit looks at every vote. some republicans are saying

that in the meantime as all this is going on the biden campaign needs to have a little more cooperation from the government for a possible transition. senator james langford of oklahoma saying joe biden should be entitled to those classified intelligence daily briefings so that he is up to speed on all the issues facing the country if and when he becomes president. >> sandra: more on that coming up. john roberts live at the white house. thanks. >> trace: president-elect joe biden moving ahead with his transition team as liberal groups put pressure on the incoming administration to appoint progressive democrats to key cabinet posts. good morning. senator bernie sanders said he would be interested in maybe labor secretary. what are you hearing from biden's team on that? >> trace, good morning. we're hearing that gsa refusing to declare biden the winner and unlock official transition resources is not stopping the transition team or the

president-elect from eyeing cabinet officials and bernie sanders is now out in the open with this. >> if he asks you to join the cabinet as labor secretary would you say yes? >> if i had a portfolio that allowed me to stand up and fight for working families would i do it? yes, i would. >> sanders is the preferred labor secretary of the progressive leaning climate change minded sunrise movement and wanting elizabeth warren as secretary. marsha judge wants the action and wants to run the agriculture department saying i know there are many people who are lobbying. my name was mentioned before the election. i've been very loyal to the ticket and i will remain loyal to the ticket. the incoming chief of staff will likely have a say in who gets nominated for what as ron klain, 59 years old but he has been inside biden's small inner

circle for decades. they first worked together in the 80s and he was called on by barack obama to be the ebola czar in 2014. something he reflected on earlier in this pandemic. >> i'll be clear. we didn't get everything right in ebola and late on many things and made some wrong choices and so forth. but what we did is had a process that everyone in the government understood how it worked. >> the press pool assigned to travel with biden this week has been bused over to a side street near his house just in case they add anything. so far nothing public on the schedule. the transition team is elling us for today is to meet with advisors. >> trace: peter, thank you. >> sandra: for more on that let's bring in kristin soltis anderson. we'll continue on that very topic with this hill headline this morning. it reads senate majority battle

snags biden cabinet hopefuls. a democratic stageist that policies is a game of addition and multiplication not subtraction and division. i can't see a scenario will risk losing numbers in the senate to deliver an agenda that's so critical. you could argue the same point with a swing district member of congress. what does it tell you how joe biden may proceed with this? >> it tells me that he is going to be unlikely to be naming bernie sanders as his labor secretary any time soon. republicans are already at that somewhat magic number of 50 in the senate. so it means if there is a tie it would be broken by vice president elect kamala harris but that means democrats can't afford to lose any votes. if you can imagine somebody like joe manchin, the democratic senator from west virginia being in a position

where he is voting on a nominee for emergency secretary who comes from the far left and want to completely destroy the coal industry it would make his reelection chances a little more complicated in a state like west virginia. so because the democratic conference while many of them if not most are quite progressive there is still with such close margins in the senate even without the georgia races being decided, even if they go for the democrats it will be much harder for joe biden to address the progressive wing of his parties. >> sandra: mccarthy was talking about alexandria ocasio-cortez and some of those far left members of congress and the power that they have. he said this, listen. >> that wing of the party, the socialist wing of the party, they are the new power of the democratic party. more so than speaker pelosi, by far. you watched on the floor.

legislation couldn't be passed unless aoc agreed with it. >> sandra: we now know with that phone call that took place with hakeem jeffries the head of the democratic caucus calling out those who would rather be internet celebrities and govern and aoc fired right back. how much control does she have in the party? >> i think she has a great deal of power. her power doesn't rest in washington but rests with the democratic grassroots. the same dynamic the republican party went through around the tea party era. a lot of establishment republicans were really put on their heels because of this grassroots energy behind very conservative members of congress who at times pushed agenda items that made it hard for moderate republicans to stay in their seats. you saw a lot of moderate republicans swept out of congress during that time. you may wind up seeing the same dynamic on the democratic side. the energy and enthusiasm is at the hard left and makes it

harder for moderate democrats to survive in primaries if the aoc's try to primary those folks and the moderate democrats have really nowhere to go. >> sandra: a lot of folks are wondering what the next few weeks looks like for the president and his team in the white house assuming that joe biden does go on into the white house and president trump doesn't win his battle in some of these states with legal battles. "politico" writes this morning trump aides are privately plotting a flurry of moves in their final 10 weeks. the white house is eyeing executive orders and regulations on immigration, trade, healthcare, china, and school choice. what are are you hearing on that, kristin? >> yes, this is in some ways a lot like what president obama did toward the end of his term which is wanting to govern by pen. this is the sort of thing when you have the white house, you can think look, they'll use this power because they have it.

congress isn't cooperating with them and how they get things done. when you are on the other side you go wait a minute, this is not how we should be governing. it's a back and forth about the process of how policy gets made any time with a transition of power. the problem with governing by pen and phone it can be easily undone by the next person coming into office. some of these changes may be temporary. if they are things politically popular it places more of a burden on the next administration to change it back. something like school choice. if you have places where schools are being closed and teachers unions are fighting the school's ability to reopen if the federal government has made it possible for parents to access some of those funds to take their kids to private schools it would be more politically difficult for a biden administration to take something away once it's been given. >> sandra: a point that steven moore economic advisor to the white house makes in this "politico" piece saying it will put pressure on biden.

a lot of these ideas are popular ones. it would be politically tough for biden to go into the white house and just cancel them so we'll watch what happens over the next few weeks. kristin soltis anderson, great to see you this morning. thank you. >> trace: updating the breaking news we're following out of egypt now. american troops killed after their chopper fell from the sky. we'll have new information on the rescue mission. that's next. then former defense secretary mark esper wasn't the only person at the pentagon to get the boot. there has been a major shake-up in leadership there that has some people expecting president trump to make a major military move before leaving office. also the democrats divided. the establishment is taking aim at progressives blaming them for the party's election letdown. so far all the bickering is behind closed doors. so if that's what's leading democrats, the leading ones, why won't they disavow ideas like defunding the police?

>> when did you think you would ever hear nancy pelosi described as a moderate? she was a left winger when she came to congress and now the left wing is about 100 yards to the left of her. unbelievable what is happening to the house democrats. veterans can refinance their loans with no income verification, no appraisal, and no out of pocket costs. one call to newday usa can save you $3,000 every year. you could start saving, beginning with your next mortgage payment. refi now at these historic low rates.

a-blackhawk helicopter crashes in egypt killing eight people including six americans. the chopper was part of an international peacekeeping force in the sinai peninsula. american survivor was airlifted to a hospital in israel in critical condition. the crash appears to be an accident with no sign of foul play. >> trace: some top democrats say the far left needs to be reined in blaming their radical ideas for disappointing election results. progressive activists pushing back including a far left group aligned with congresswoman alexandria ocasio-cortez urging house speaker nancy pelosi and others to embrace black lives matter which supports defunding the police. the activists sending them a memo we need a new generation of leadership grounded in a multi-racial working class experience and background. joe concha is media reporter for the hill and fox news contributor. black lives sent a letter to president-elect joe biden this

week and it reads the following here. it says black people cannot and will not live through the indifference of a democrat-controlled government refusing to wrestle with the most egregious and damable shame of not delivering for black people when black people are their most consistent and reliable base. the letter was sent five days ago. joe biden had a brief news conference a couple of days ago. you would think stuff like this would come up, joe. >> no, it did not. it was a press conference but only consisted of five questions, trace. the questions -- this is unbelievable that here you have in two months a leader of the free world he needs a staffer to call on reporters. he can't even do it himself because he is afraid he will get a question like this instead of from the friendly reporters who ask questions almost entirely about president trump instead of talking about joe biden's vision and his agenda. look, black lives matter after

george floyd in terms of support was very high. it has fallen double digits since then. only 29% strongly support the movement. that's according to pew research. according to monmouth university 30% say the movement has made racial issues in the nation worse. so we're looking at a radioactive group politically if we talk about independence at this point. and again joe biden should be asked do you support the platform of black lives matter? they sent you a letter. how do you respond? we don't get that question, trace. >> trace: internal debate going on within the democratic party. a civil battle between democrats on the far left and the moderate democrats and then you have "politico" writing this titled what planet is alexandria ocasio-cortez on? it goes on to say quoting here it is folly for progressives to avoid the obvious. the reason they're far from achieving their policy aims goes beyond the notion that

moderate democrats are clods who can't play the game. many places in the country where progressives need better arguments to reach people who don't support their goals. these are things that are key to what is going to happen in the democratic party running up to 22 and not being addressed. we watched nancy pelosi's news conference looking for news out of there. didn't find much, joe. >> 2022 and the next two years, the narrative is that the civil war, it is that's going on inside the democratic party. remember, trace, the party that's not in control of the white house almost always wins seats particularly lately in the mid-terms. we've seen dozens of seats flipped and right now the makeup of the house because of what happened on election day in terms of republicans gaining when every poll said they would lose seats you are seeing the closest division between one party and another in the house since 1958. you are not going to need a lot of seats to flip. that is certainly for sure and

what makes this georgia republican senate race between republicans and democrats that runoff so important because if you have a clean runway between the house, the senate, right to the oval office all democrats one party, joe biden will be helpless in terms of all those things that the progressive wing wants to abolish in terms of ice, filibuster, electoral college or expanding the supreme court, expanding the senate, banning fracking. all those things are stopped by republican firewall and leave it here. i have a feeling if you asked joe biden probably he would probably prefer a republican senate instead of the incoming coming from the aoc of the party if they had the clean runway. >> trace: you have nancy pelosi and others saying they need to rein in the far left of the party. the far left of the party are young progressives very good at social media. when you talk about information being out there, they are winning this war when it comes to changing and shaping young minds.

>> it's a blitz on twitter and ocasio-cortez is running the show right now. >> sandra: as covid-19 cases surge nationwide are we looking at another shutdown? what one of president-elect biden's expert is saying on that. michael flynn's legal troubles started with the trump transition, is there a double standard now with president-elect biden? our political panel is standing by on that next. ♪ [ engines revving ] ♪ it's amazing to see them in the wild like th-- shhh. [ engine revs ] for those who were born to ride, there's progressive.

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>> sandra: some of the top stories in the headlines at the bottom of the hour. police in utah busting is man after a 130 miles per hour chase in the snow. he said he was on his way to kill former senator claire mccaskill. he faces a lot of charges including making threats of terrorism. >> trace: the number of americans who lost their jobs is down to its lowest point since march. 709,000 according to the labor department. it's four times the number before the pandemic hit. >> sandra: scientists in russia say their coronavirus vaccine is 92% effective. >> trace: fox news alert right now attorneys for president trump's election fight are due in court in arizona. they're set to lay out their

case and turn over evidence they say shows that some votes that should have been counted ended up getting tossed. that evidence expected to through a feed from inside a polling place. today's hearing set to last about five hours. fox news will be on top of any rulings or developments. >> the clintons, the mob, the deep state, they all get a pass. what's the point of having laws if democrats get to pick and choose which ones apply to who? >> sandra: sean hannity slamming president-elect joe biden talking with foreign leaders before taking office. some in biden's inner circle say the phone calls were more than just warm wishes after his projected victory. >> foreign leaders are already having phone calls with joe biden talking about the agenda they'll pursue january 20th. >> sandra: the problem with that could be a violation of a law that prohibits private citizens from conducting foreign policy.

the logan act that we've heard so much about in recent times used in the case against former national security advisor michael flynn. let's bring in our panel jessica tarlov and robby soave. is it okay for joe biden to be having such calls as reported? >> so, i think it's perfectly okay for him to be doing that. he is the president-elect and he should be having these conversations about with foreign leaders about what his foreign policy should look like. the logan act is a silly law, probably unconstitutional. but i will say yes, there is absolutely hypocrisy here when the trump transition was doing the same thing that was perfectly legitimate, too. what you saw is the kind of national security apparatus, the state department, f.b.i., c.i.a., people who opposed the kind of agenda president trump wanted to implement, you know, using every tactic they had to delegitimize it. that was wrong. it would be wrong to do the

same to biden here but the hypocrisy point stands. >> sandra: what do you say, jessica? >> i'm not sure hypocrisy point actually is relevant in this case. first of all michael flynn was prosecuted for lying to the f.b.i. and lying to the president. he wasn't prosecuted under the logan act and part of his cooperation deal with the mueller team. that law hasn't been enforced since 1799. it is really silly and unconstitutional. what is relevant the state department, the united states state department is not giving vice president elect -- i president-elect joe biden his messages from foreign leaders. something they're supposed to do as part of the transition. the people in charge of the transition funds are withholding them. so joe biden is having to communicate with foreign leaders in not the normal way. when president obama was leaving president trump was afforded all of those

privileges and he spoke with foreign leaders through the state department as is the norm. that seems to be what's relevant here. >> sandra: robby, as far as what happens when the biden team gets through the door, the washington times has a headline this morning. america first, on the rubs biden eyes obama officials, never trumpers for cabinet. what will we see eventually as far as the donald trump policies that had been put in place and what happens to them when biden walks through the door especially considering we're hearing word about elizabeth warren or bernie standers as far as cabinet members of joe biden? >> four years ago donald trump was elected to make a clean break with the foreign policy bipartisan establishment for interventionism and more wars. i wish trump had done more to de-escalate our conflicts and i'm quite aware, we don't know for sure, biden hasn't talked a lot about what he will do. he has been in government a long time and know he was part

of an administration, the obama administration to get involved more than i would want, more than a lot of people want in the middle east and other places. so we'll see if that continues. i hope it won't. he is hiring the people that it would be more of a return to the norm with the trump years being -- i hope that doesn't happen. we'll see. for elizabeth warren as potentially treasury secretary the news is if the republicans do hold the senate they might be able to stop someone like that in maybe treasury position. >> sandra: many are warning a biden administration will turn soft an iran and pander to european allies by pushing for a u.s. entry at the iran nuclear deal and efforts to rally all eyes and adversaries around the view that china's communist government is the

leading threat to economic, political and religious freedom in the world. is all of that in jeopardy under the biden administration, jessica? >> i am not sure it's in jeopardy but i don't think it's soft pedestrian algorithm foreign policy to reenter into international agreements with our allies that we helped craft in the first place. like the paris climate accords and iran nuclear deal that keeps everyone a lot safer. as far as it goes with china. president biden has certainly heard about it enough during the campaign and in the four years of the donald trump presidency and he knows how serious of a threat china is. he needs to assuage our allies fears that china will stop creeping to everyone's sovereignty and be pulled back by america in a biden presidency and no problem doing that. take the best of what happened during the trump years, add in the biden years and we'll have

a successful foreign policy under biden administration. >> sandra: i will follow up on that by asking you something that we have heard from some members of your own party that are more to the center saying it would be a good thing if the republicans controlled the senate after the january runoff because it wouldn't push joe biden and his policies so far left. do you agree with that? >> i will never say i want democrats to lose their races. from being someone in the party and wanting to succeed. i think joe biden is the only candidate who was in the primary who is so well equipped to work with republicans and president obama is on record talking about how he picked joe biden because he knew he was someone who could work with the likes of mitch mcconnell. i happen to remain hopeful i guess about our chances in georgia but i certainly think president biden will be able to get things done working with mitch mcconnell. >> sandra: interesting answer. thanks to both of you for being

here. >> thank you. >> trace: an advisor to president-elect joe biden recommends a national lackdown of 4 to 6 weeks to get the pandemic under control. he says it would get help -- it would help keep the virus in check. that's what he said, until a vaccine is approved and distributed. watch. >> we could lock down for 4 to 6 weeks. if we did that we could drive the numbers down and then we could really watch ourselves cruising into the vaccine availability in the first and second quarter of next year. bringing back the economy long before that. >> he also suggested paying people for lost wages and covering any losses for small businesses as well as funding local and state governments. while a major covid spike in illinois with the worst numbers since the pandemic began. more than 12,000 new cases yesterday and 153 people died. now the department of public health is urging residents to

stay home whenever possible for the next three weeks. the governor is considering a new stay at home order if the situation gets worse. given that his first lockdown lasted more than two months, businesses and families now scrambling to get ready. grady trimble is live for us in naperville, illinois. what does the stay at home recommendation do exactly? >> trace, it is not an order as you said. it is a recommendation. it is urging people to stay home except for essential activities like going to the pharmacy or the grocery store and also encouraging employers to let their employees work from home if possible. that will affect businesses like this one where we are and across the midwest, in wisconsin as an example the governor announced a similar recommendation there. in other midwest states there are heightened restrictions in place or restrictions that will soon be in place. here in illinois i want to show you some of the businesses that would be affected by another stay at home order which the

governor says he is considering. it would affect salons, gyms, a group painting class. you had to lock down for two months earlier this year. you've recovered a little bit. if you had to shut down again that would be devastating for you guys. >> it would absolutely be devastating. we're at about 50% of our normal revenue now. if we had to shut down we would go back to 20% maybe and that would -- we couldn't maintain that very long. >> we wish you the best of luck. trace, there are a lot of businesses like this one in illinois and across the midwest and across the country trying to figure out what to do if new stay at home orders go in place. >> trace: best of luck to all those people. live in naperville. thank you. >> sandra: concerns at the pentagon after defense secretary and high ranking officials were fired by president trump. now the people he picked to replace them are raising some

eyebrows. >> there is concern in this period that will already be transition between administrations that adding more turbulence that's not really a beneficial thing to the united states and to our interests. veteran homeowners: why refinance now?

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>> sandra: changing times at the pentagon after president trump fired defense secretary mark esper. jennifer griffin is live from the pentagon this morning. good morning. >> good morning. the changes at the top of the pentagon have sent shock waves through the u.s. military according to multiple officials i've spoken to since monday when defense secretary esper was fired in a tweet from the president. i am told the white house is removing anyone who has disagreed with them such as u.s. troop withdrawals and declassifying intelligence the president hoped would exonerate

him in the russia probe. the new top advisor to the acting defense secretary is retired army colonel douglas macgregor. he argued for the elimination of the u.s. marine corps. he has also called for a complete and hasty withdrawal of all u.s. forces from afghanistan, a destabilizing move that could risk american lives. he also wants to shut down the u.s. embassy in kabul which would cripple u.s. intelligence gathering abilities. one senior official tells me we're in uncharted territory for the country. the angst at the pentagon in palpable. a former national security council deputy tells fox i'm appalled at the leadership changes at the pentagon. even one of president trump's closest allies of capitol hill warned of any sudden pull-outs. >> to trust the taliban to police al qaeda and isis would

be insane. our presence in south south korea keeps china in check. having troops in afghanistan makes sense. >> the other thing that unites the group they're all iran hawks who may favor a military strike before january 20th. the trouble with that is right now the u.s. has about 60,000 troops in the middle east at bases that would be immediate targets of retribution by iran which has 9,000 ballistic missiles in its arsenal. >> sandra: jennifer, thank you. >> trace: let's bring in former state department official christian white. always good to see you. jennifer griffin is reporting saying the angst at the pentagon is palpable. your thoughts. >> a bit like the scene in casa blank yeah where the police inspector shocked to find gambling the in the casino.

it's a miracle that the president waited until the election to do it. he has been dissatisfied with esper for a number of reasons but it comes down to the issue of afghanistan. the president wants to end a war that has dragged on for more than 19 years. now he ran on ending that war as did his predecessor incidentally. now we're in the endgame with an agreement with the taliban and the afghan government to basically end that war. you have a lot of people -- a lot of people who spent their entire careers on counter insurgency in afghanistan made nearly obsolete and i think that's what you are seeing. >> trace: you talk about afghanistan and future decisions. mark esper said this about his tenure and successor. at the end of the day you have to pick your fights. i could have a fight over anything and make it a big fight and live with that. why? who is going to come in behind me? it will be a real yes man and

then god help us. god help us if it's a yes man meaning what, christian? >> well, i don't know what esper is talking about frankly. the president is the commander-in-chief in the armed forces, one of two civilians in the chain of command. and it is the job of the secretary of defense to enact his orders frankly and to enact his vision. the big problem here is that we have a military that is suited to fighting cowboys and indians in middle east backwaters and we need one that is capable of deterring war with china which relies a lot more on a bigger navy, more capable air force and space force and the army and counter insurgency capabilities we built up over the last two decades, they are less relevant. s per didn't get that nor did mattis, the secretary of central command rather than of the u.s. military. >> trace: you seem to be brushing a little bit of this aside. even when some of the

president's top allies we need to be careful on the next moves and you have a former nfc official saying he is appalled at the leadership changes at the pentagon. allies and critics, what do you make of the equal distribution of criticism aimed at the decision to get rid of esper and other top officials. >> i used to refer to our defense establishment as neither republican or democrat. you have a huge industry that has been built up. not just within the pentagon but with all the beltway bandits. you see the shiny buildings when you drive into the capital from the airport based on perpetual involvement in afghanistan and iraq and places like syria. and that is being cast aside by and large because we've won. it is not a world war ii style victory but achieved the goals we set out to achieve. eliminate al qaeda and stop

those places of being origins of terrorism. >> trace: what's the timeline of afghanistan? what do you make of the next six weeks? >> there will always be hiccups. the former ambassador that negotiated this deal. there will be problem. some aren't even being caused by the taliban but remnants of isis in afghanistan. we've got to if you will get this bugger off our finger. this is a big enough deal. not a fall of saigon moment. that won't happen. we should be happy about that. the job was never to turn afghanistan into beverly hills but to achieve finite goals that we've achieved. let's work on deterring china and move on. >> trace: thank you. >> sandra: a key ballot deadline in north carolina. how it could affect the vote counting in the state where the presidential race remains too close to call.

we are live there next. >> there is nothing the president is doing that's illegal or not within his legal rights. we have laws that govern this stuff. this is the way the system works. let the system work so people have confidence in our republic and we can move on. 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 usaa. what you're made of, we're made for. keeping your oysters growing while keeping your business growing has you swamped. (♪ ) you need to hire i need indeed

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>> ♪ >> sandra: the presidential race in north carolina is still too close to call. today is the deadline for the state's 100 counties to accept absentee ballots. mark is live this morning. >> good morning. north carolina gave its counties more time to count absentee ballots because of the pandemic. today is the final day those counties can accept absentee

ballots that were postmarked on election day so we should know the results soon. yesterday there were 92,000 outstanding absentee ballots. sent out and not necessarily returned and 40,000 provisional ballots. half still need to be reviewed. today and tomorrow counties will review any ballots not counted. officials look for signatures. there are so many ballots outstanding, the state insists most of those 92,000 out there may never show up. those people could have voted in person or not voted at all. north carolina republicans tell us they are frustrated this is taking so long to wrap up. despite the wait they are confident president trump will win the 15 electoral votes. >> there is no mathematical way for biden to win this state. he would have to have 94 percent of all of the outstanding ballots break his way. that won't happen.

>> since election day president trump continued to lead in north carolina by 73,000 votes over joe biden. we continue to watch the results today to see if the numbers change. stay tuned. >> sandra: on a rainy and wet morning there. mark, appreciate it. thank you. .>> trace: country music honoring its own and social distancing not the only thing setting it apart. we will explain next. >> ♪ >> ♪ veterans, if you could lower your mortgage payments by $250 a month $3,000 a year, what would you do with the money? save for your retirement, update your home, maybe buy a new car? record low rates have dropped even lower. use your va streamline refi benefit now.

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>> ♪ >> ♪ >> ♪ >> trace: eric church took home the top prize and focussed on unity instead of politics as did the show co hosts. reba said he was used to social distancing because last year she hosted with dolly parton. funny. >> sandra: it was a moment with some music. nice to hear a little country

music once in a while. are you a fan of country music? >> trace: i am. it was fun to watch. >> sandra: "outnumbered" starts right now. >> ♪ >> harris: we begin with a fox news alert. georgia taking center stage in the 2020 election fight. the focus turns to the 2 unresolved senate races with run off elections coming in january. the stakes could not be higher not just for georgia but for the entire nation. it will determine which political party will control the senate in the next term. how aggressive a biden administration could be with this legislative agenda. republicans have 50 seats. they would neat an additional seat to take the majority. otherwise, it could be 50-50. the vice-president at the time would break the tie. senators t