>> the supreme court will be staying out of a contentious case justice samuel alito denying a petition last night saying the court will not intervene with in a dispute between the a louisiana governor and a pastor holding services despite the state's covid restrictions. welcome to america's news headquarters, i'm kristin fisher. leland: good to be with you, and flouting the restrictions in louisiana. i'm leland vittert. president trump could be looking to the supreme court

after a panel of judges dismissed his lawsuits alleging fraud. hi, david. >> hi, leland, beautiful day in washington. president trump is golfing at his club in northern virginia. he spent last night at camp david apple' head back to camp david in northern maryland. if you're one of almost 90 million followers of the president on twitter you see his tweets where he claimed he won the election. in fact, joe biden is the president-elect and he will be inaugurat inaugurated. however, the trump campaign wanted a recount and net 132 votes for joe biden, but the trump campaign is not giving up. let' talk about another ruling from the 3rd circuit court of appeals in pennsylvania, another legal blow credit. read this quote here, charges of unfairness are serious, but

calling an election unfair does not make it so. charges require specific allegations and then proof. we have neither here. this is is an appointee of the president. the reeling went on to read the campaign's claims have no merits. the number of ballots specifically challenges is smaller than roughly 81,000 vote margin of victory and never claims fraud or that any votes were cast by illegal voters. >> i think this 3rd circuit court judge misunderstood the argument, look it's an equal protection argument we've made. if you were in one of the seven blue counties in pennsylvania you were given an extraordinary opportunity to fix your ballot, cure your ballot. but if you were in the other counties, you didn't have that opportunity. we have the right 0 ask the question. >> it not a guarantee that the supreme court will hold oral

arguments on the complaint that the trump campaign is bringing. the judgment could look at it, knicks it altogether or look to other justices and possibly allow the trump campaign to have more time to prove arguments from pennsylvania. let's talk about another state, georgia. one week from today, the president will head down to georgia to campaign for kelly loeffler and david perdue, both senators in georgia. the race is important because it will determine who has the majority in the united states senate. and justice samuel alito ruled against a louisiana pastor just outside of baton rouge who sued john bel edwards for coronavirus restrictions and the court decided with religious institutions over andrew cuomo's religious ban, his order to stop people from praying, a certain amount of people. that's not the case in louisiana. reason it happened in new york and different in louisiana

because these are different circumstances altogether, but a victory for governor john bel edwards in louisiana, leland. leland: important distinction, we'll dig into the georgia senate races in the next hour. thank you. and speaking of president trump he's going to speak with maria bartiromo about all of this. the georgia races, lawsuits in pennsylvania and arizona. and 10 a.m. tomorrow morning here on fox news. kristin: even though president trump is not conceding, president-elect joe biden is poised to receive his first presidential daily briefing on monday. that's that classified intelligence report that the president receives each morning. kevin corke joins us live and this is a pretty significant milestone in any presidential transition. >> no question about that, and to be fair, the biden transition team have been somewhat concerned about the speed of cooperation, but the trump administration, with respect to trying to make sure that all the teams are working

together, but given the court challenges, in fact, you just heard david layout some of them, that could be explained, but the gsa is trying to move things along and unlocking some federal funds and one way to make sure that they're able to get the work done in a potential transition. and that determination that you and i talked about previously grants access to classified information such as the daily presidential briefing and streamlines communication between the teams and helps to foster project cooperation, which is especially critical when it comes to the battle against covid and the pending rollout, as you know, of numerous vaccines. meanwhile, the former vp made a few cabinet picks already. there's a concern among some of the strongest supporters of the team at this point is lacking in african-american representation and james

clyburn is asking for considering more positions. and we expect janet yellin to be named treasury secretary in an incoming biden administration. if confirmed, she will be the first woman who hold that position in u.s. history. the 74-year-old economist has been credited with helping to steer the economy after the financial crisis of 2007 and that would seem especially important different the covid-induced slowdown we've been experiencing, kristin. kristin: kevin corke live outside the white house. you can't see the white house behind you anymore because it's almost entirely blocked by the stage being built for the inauguration. kevin, thanks. lela leland. leland: almost every day now we are seeing new restrictions to try and slow the spread of the coronavirus. california now placing new limitations on gatherings and dining as well. christina coleman with the

restrictions in california and around the country as well and whether or not it's just too little too late. hi, christina. >> hi, leland. yeah, here in l.a. county, starting monday, this new stay-at-home order bans people from having public or private gatherings with people from outside their home and also, l.a. county residents are advised to stay home as much as they can and call a face covering over their nose and mouth when they're outside. the ban on gatherings does not xhu faith-based protests, but the order puts occupancy limits on essential and nonessential retail and places like salons and libraries. businesses operating outdoors, fitness centers, zoo, and l.a. county restaurants were order today close outdoor dining. the california restaurant

association strongly disapproved this move saying they did not provide scientific evidence. many restaurants owners fear this new order will put them out of business. >> right now the closure is for two weeks, we know that that will extend to new year's and it will probably put me out of business forever. >> but local health officials say the new restrictions are necessary. as of yesterday, the u.s. just saw 17 straight days of record covid hospitalizations and the u.s. now topped 13 million covid cases and more than 260,000 americans have died from the virus. in l.a. county average infections 4,751 yesterday more than meeting the threshold county officials set for putting this new stay-at-home order in place.

now, this order is set to last for three weeks, it's not as strict as the shutdowns were in california in the spring. many businesses are allowed to stay open, go at limited capacity. again, all of this is expected to really hurt the bottom line for many businesses, especially restaurants. leland. >> yeah, you have the death toll from the coronavirus and also, we saw the individual toll from that restaurant owner who was crying because of what was going to happen to his business. christina, thank you. kristin. >> well, health officials are concerned about the potential infections. and the federal officials are still in limbo. joining us for more on that is kentucky congressman and ranking house oversight committee, james comer. you saw in that report from christina coleman that restaurant owner crying because he's going to lose his

business. but congress could help business owners like him if they passed another stimulus bill. do you think another is necessary and if so, how soon can the americans and small business owners how long will it take for them to get a little relief. >> i think this bill is needed, but it need to be targeted. the last bill, we didn't know how the covid pandemic would be, we assumed every business would be hurt in the same level and the ppp program is probably one of the most successful emergency loan programs in america. moving to the second bill, we need targeted stimulus. the restaurant industry, i think the one industry there's bipartisan agreement that there is a desperate need for assistance. but we have a situation in washington where nancy pelosi, she doesn't want to do targeted stimulus, she wants to do

another blanket stimulus bill and give money for everyone and forgive student loan debt and a liberal christmas wish list and we can't afford it. kristin: congressman, i think a lot of americans are looking at timing. the lower third said the last stimulus was in march. and is it safe to say that the next bill would have to come in the next congress, that it's dead in the lame duck session? >> i think the chances in the lame duck are still funds, three trillion is a lot of money. and we need to help businesses in need. you know, frustration for a lot of republicans in congress, that restaurant owner was in california with a democratic governor. we have kentucky with the same restrictions with a democrat

governor. my district is on the tennessee state line and yesterday i saw on facebook, a huge percentage of my residents traveled to tennessee where they don't have the restrictions to eat and go christmas shopping. there's a difference between the democrats have run the state and the republicans run the state. and we should never have where the government forces restaurants to shut down and it's unconstitutional and un-american. kristin: i want to ask you about the extended federal unemployment benefits. in kentucky they expire today and about 4,000 people in your state are currently relying on those extended benefits. i understand that that is happening because it's triggered by the state's unemployment rate falling below a certain threshold. is there anything you can do? what is your message to the 4,000 people in kentucky who are going to lose their

benefits, those extended benefits today? >> well, kentucky is still going to have unemployment. that's one of the things that i think is lost in translation. they'll still be drawing unemployment it's just above and beyond unemployment. a lot of our employers in the district have been very upset with the enhanced unemployment that feel like that's led to a higher unemployment rate because a lot of people, unfortunately, have made as much or in some cases more money drawing you cans -- extended unemployment. we have a bureaucracy that prevented people deserved to drawing unemployment insurance and some abused because the employers tried to call it back. kentucky has a lot of problems with unemployment, but the reason we have a high unemployment rate because our governor shuts our state down. i wish that kentucky operated

like south dakota on florida, and those are pro-- >> and there's also-- i understand, but there's a pandemic going on, and states across the country are dealing with these unemployment numbers. congressman, thank you so much and best of luck getting this pandemic under control in your state. >> thanks for having me. kristin: you bet. be sure check fox news tomorrow-- excuse me fox news under, bret baier filling in for chris wallace with the advice chair of the national governor's association, asa hutchinson and howie kirtz is going to take a look at the media covering the election. leland: those two governors had a different view how to deal with the coronavirus and bret will get into that and also the economy, we kicked off the holiday shopping season and millions of americans are filling their carts from the comfort of their homes, online shopping carts. compare that with what the

congressman was talking about. we bring in capitalist pig program, jonathan hoenig. and we see behind you the skyline of chicago. how do we deal with this disconnect where you've got record consumer spending and also, we hear these stories about unemployment benefits running out and record lines at food pantries. >> yeah, well, it seems like a disconnect, but the reality exists and what you're seeing is as a lot of those jobless benefits that kristin just mentioned, run out you're seeing the reality reassert itself. evictions rise, unemployment rises in many cases, and student debt mount because the pandemic hasn't gone away and lockdowns time and time again we're seeing as it was in march and april are exacerbating the employment declines. and just this past week, leland, we saw the jobless claims up about 800,000 and that was higher than economists expected. now, that was certainly down

from the millions we saw earlier this year, but it's well up from sub 200,000 from the pandemic and this is why we're seeing some online sales. leland: there may be reason for hope in terms of the new congress and new group in the white house. take a look right in our out a couple of blocks from where we are, vice-president-elect kamala harris visiting an open air market set up, selling candles and other things, and the like. and the press pool is there, and we'll take a couple of questions, and the mayor of washington d.c. is with her as well. it brings up an important point. if congress leaves december 7th or so, we're hearing is a possibility. there's no chance of a coronavirus relief bill before the first of the year. and even then, you've got inauguration on january 20th and people have got to get to work. how long can the record stock

market continue going in this meteoric rise without the help for the people that you talked about now heading to the unemployment roles? >> i would say leland, respectfully check your premises. i don't think it's the coronavirus relief bill given confidence to the stock market or the economy, it's the big business owner, small business owners and especially the vaccine manufacturers. we've seen the stock markets, as you said, surge to record highs largely on news that-- >> hold on, you say check the premises a question. and there was a huge crash in the market when president trump said that the covid stimulus negotiations were over and a rally the next day no, no, no, i want to do something bigger than the republicans in the senate do. there was a lot of value created on the hope of continued money from the government. >> i can't disagree with that, leland, but if you look out a little bit over the longer term picture, the stock market and the economy seemingly, but at its worse when, not necessarily when the pandemic was raging,

but really when the lockdowns were raging. don't put it past american enterprise to be able to get creative and come up with solutions. you mentioned black friday and cyber monday and small business saturday. well, all of those businesses are having to adapt. so curbside delivery is big and cyber monday isn't as big as this year because businesses are adapting and basically turning into the entire holiday season. from my estimate, what they need isn't a stimulus bill, but political and economic freedom and pulling us out of the lockdown recession from 2020. >> i wonder how that's going to play with the policies that the biden administration brings in come january 20th. jonathan, be well. appreciate talking to you. >> be well. >> iran's supreme leader vowing

retaliation after the killing of a scientist. more on that next. when you drive less, you pay less with pay per mile insurance from allstate you've never been in better hands allstate click or call for a quote today

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responsible. hi, ryan. what more can you tell us? >> so far the iranians are claiming israel. the israelis haven't said anything and i'm not sure they will say anything even if they're behind this attack. what is clear it was a carefully planned military style ambush. iranian media reporting that as this scientist's car, convoy was travelling down the road, a bomb went off and when the convoy stopped to see what was happening, at least five gunmen jumped out of a car and opened fire on the scientist's car. he later died in a hospital. the israelis have long been suspected of conducting these kinds of attacks in iran, including one that killed a nuclear scientist in that country almost exactly one decade ago. so, clearly the iranians think

that israel is behind this. the ayatollah al khomeini side he was a nuclear and defensive scientist. up until now they haven't mentioned the defensive. they are comparing him to robert oppenheimer, the manhattan project who created of atomic bomb in world war ii. they say that the scientist's death is not going to slow down the program. they say it's a civilian program for peaceful programs. and and they pulled out the program when pulling out the nuclear deal and in the waning days of president trump's term and some analysts are saying it could box in president-elect biden in terms of what he can now do with iran and the reason

for that is president-elect biden has suggested that he would like to return to that deal that the trump administration pulled out of. now, if the iranians think that the united states was aware of this israeli attack, if it in fact it is as the iranians claim, was an israeli attack, if iran thinks the u.s. helped the israelis pull it off, then of course, they may not be so keen to renew a deal with the united states. but of course, we'll just have to say. kristin. kristin: yes, it would certainly complicate things. leland: the u.s.s. nimitz is ordered back to the gulf before the death of that iranian scientist. this was as a move for adversaries not to test the united states. and jennifer griffin reporting. we bring in barack, and appreciate you joining us. big picture, how big of a blow

is this to the iran nuclear program? >> i think this is a very big blow, let's start with that. because mosin fakhrizadeh was for the iranians military nuclear program what general soleimani, the commander of the force was for iran's regional action, the actions in syria, lebanon and in iraq and in yemen. so he's a very, very senior official. he was special not because that he was a physicist, there are a lot of physicists, but he had a personal ability, a ability, an organizational ability to-- >>. leland: we're watching pictures of a funeral and that's an interesting comparison to qasem soleimani. i remember the day after soleimani was killed and there were a lot of folks on the left saying this is reckless and dangerous and killing soleimani

could start world war iii and obviously the iranians haven't taken this in iran and i remember a minister saying bad things happen to bad people. is there a chance bluster and talk from iranians is just that, talk, and they're not really going to do anything to respond sm. >> the iranians for sure, i have no doubt that the iranians want to respond. the question is, are they capable of doing it? because for many, many years there was this, you know, myth or maybe myth is too strong of a word, but i think that we were overestimating iranians' capability to respond and as you said we saw this after the assassination of soleimani. the response was firing missiles on u.s. spaces, but they did not burn down the entire region. leland: okay, well, they fired the missiles and some thought they intentionally had the

missiles miss. you broke major news that the israelis were planning for a possible u.s. strike on tehran before january 20th. that was your reporting before the killing of this iranian scientist. where are you on that? where is the israeli defense establishment vis-a-vis a potential u.s.-iran conflict. >> maybe we can understand maybe part of the reasons for the preparedness measures. okay, because i guess there are people who ordered those measures knew what was coming. okay. on the other hand, this was not a part of-- this was not done because israel had certain intelligence or knowledge that the trump administration is going to attack iran. it was because there was a feeling that this is a very sensitive period until january 20th. leland: no kidding. >> and they wanted to be ready because-- >> well, they wanted to be ready for possibly an attack or

by the united states or potentially wanted to be ready for what would happen after the killing of this iranian scientist. >> exactly. leland: quickly, there was a secret meeting between benjamin netanyahu and the saudi crown prince, mohammed bin salman, and to normalize saudi-israeli relations and the prince pulled back and largely because of the u.s. election results. saudi aides and the prince eager to build ties with president-elect joe biden. and quick question for you, how upset is benjamin netanyahu, upset or scared, what happens, about what a biden administration might mean for the u.s.-israeli relations and policies in the middle east? >> the trump administration had

a four-year honeymoon, that's an understatement. now there's a democratic administration and biden and his team remember what netanyahu did when obama was president coming to speak to congress behind the white house back. the beginning of this relationship will be very tense, and netanyahu, if he wants to have a normal relationship with the next administration will have to use the time now before biden takes office to start coordinating positions, even if there are disagreements on policy. leland: the new york times has some thoughts about that in terms of perhaps this israeli killing if it was the israelis was to pigeon hole the biden administration what they could do on an iranian nuclear deal. appreciate it, thank you, it's insightful to say the least. >> thank you. leland: thank you. kristin: the battle for control of the senate is heating as these four candidates make last pitches before next month's

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chevrolet. making life's journey, just better. >> president trump is heading to georgia next weekend to campaign for those two republican senators ahead of the january 5th runoff that will determine the balance of power in the u.s. senate. charles watson is in atlanta with more. and charles, it's really difficult to overstate the amount of money and main power pouring into georgia right now. >> that's right, the kind of money pouring in right now and the president is hoping to add a boost to the republican senators, david perdue and kelly loeffler when he campaigns next year. he is holding one of them to push them over the top. in addition to big names like president trump, and they're expected to get plenty of help

from their party. and they expect to have 1,000 staffers knocking on doors and making a case for conservatives. if we get a vote out we'll be fine. we know that the democrats are with everybody in georgia and putting our resources on target. >> and jon ossoff and warnock are respectively are running campaigns. democrats are spending millions on voter outreach and registration in an attempt to secure a successful biden presidency. >> well, i think that we've made clear to the people of georgia that david perdue is a crook who has abused his office to enrich himself, but it's not enough just to expose david perdue. you also have to present a positive vision at a moment of suffering when people are

looking for direction and leadership. >> and kristin, democrats hope to do that with the help of asian-americans who turned out in record numbers for president-elect biden during the presidential election, back to you. >> charles watson live in atlanta for us, leland. leland: this sound bite is being used in a lot of attack ads against raphael warnock. >> and the governor drugs, bigger prisons and wants us to sing god bless america. no, no, not god bless america, god damn america, that's in the bible for killing innocent people. >> that sound bite caused a problem for president barack obama running as well. and robert patillo. your insights in this are important, for as much as there was a swing vote and a purple vote in the suburbs of atlanta.

hard to imagine a sound bite like that in connection to raphael warnock really helps that much. >> well, i think you're in georgia, this is the same thing that was done to president obama in 2008 when he was running for president and it's a wholesale attack on the black church and black freedom ideology. what we're seeing from loeffler saying that people was incorrect and abhorrent to atta atta attack amy coney garrett and-- >> there's a difference for that and raphael warnock, and that's attacking what what someone said.

>> and pastor jeremiah wright, for seconds, we do not hold jerry falwell to this and this is seen as an attack on the-- >> is that motivated the way that president trump's comments motivated the turnout. >> when the senate seat was up for grabs, many thought it was going to be someone who a was a movement conservative like a doug collins or even newt gingrich and she's spent less time defining herself and less time attacking pastor warnock or wnba players. leland: the pollsters say right now they give loeffler and purdue about a 5% over/under here in this race using a special election

turnout model. if you use the exact' lex and turnout model from the general this year from a couple of weeks ago, you get about a 2 or 2 1/2% republican advantage. how do you recreate the energy that existed in georgia to flip georgia blue for the first time since bill clinton? how do you recreate that for a special election? >> well, a big part is going to be the candidates themselves. the historic nature of pastor warnock being the first african-american senator from georgia, i believe. the state's history and if not since reconstruction. with that you're going to have the financial energy riding in the state and when president trump comes to town as much as he may turn out republicans, he's motivating democrats the same way, if not more. leland: if we look at the numbers though, senator purdue won this election with 88,000 more votes than jon ossoff. joe biden who was up 13,000 votes. that means perdue ran 2% better

than ossoff even with the top of the ticket going the other direction now he's on top of the ticket. isn't there ever reason to believe he'll do better than he did with president trump dragging him down a little bit? >> normally in an election, so% voter turnout' so it's going to be how you can turn your base out. georgia is a state 35% african-american, 12% latino, and a-- reason to believe there would be a model and. there's no shortage of money and we appreciate your time. we'll have you back when the race is over. >> thank you very much. kristin: this is one of the busiest shopping models of the year and it's a chance for small businesses to try to recover some of the sales lost because of the pandemic.

alex hogan is live outside macy's in new york city. hi, alex. >> hi, kristin, more people turning out online than on businesses. we'll look at the deals on this holiday shopping weekend coming up. kids, what do you want for lunch?

pizza. tacos. pizza! what about subway? it's a good call and everyone loves it. we raised our kids on it. so it stopped the bickering? (mocking tone) "mom, jj's copying me!" grow up. mom! knock it off! try the new subway buffalo chicken or bbq chicken. >> the holiday shopping season officially kicked off this week and it feels like it's going on a lot longer, right? and businesses are hoping for a boost in sales by running deals online and in stores. alex hogan is at one of the stores at the flagship in new york city, hi. >> hi, kristin. the c.d.c. says we didn't see as many people on black friday hitting the stores. still some around the country did make the mad dash to get the deals, still there were

attempts to social distance and during the pandemic online shopping is skyrocketing. according to adobe last year-- according to adobe, online sales shot up nearly 22%, last friday, sales are projected to jump 39% and cyber monday could see an increase by 35%. and many spreading deals throughout cyber monday. some of the most wanted gifts, pay station ps5, lego sets and chess boards after the success of the netflix show the queen's gambit. amazon announced it hired about 1400 extra workers today. today however is small business saturday to support local stores in your community and especially those hard hit by the pandemic, in new york city, bill deblasio had plans to provide interest-free loans for small city businesses. >> we did that before the federal government, to giving

out free ppe to keep stores and their customers safe, to opening up streets and sidewalks for outdoor dining, for open store fronts, for retail, all the things that make a difference. >> according to a yelp economic review around the country, more than 160,000 businesses closed for good or temporarily, so, today as people make their way out to find that perfect holiday gift, they're encouraged today to do it locally. >> small business saturday. alex hogan, thanks. leland: that was a lost art, but two teenagers are bringing back letter writing. yes, old-fashioned letters to help those isolated during the pandemic. we'll talk to them and also how you can be a part of it next. . coughing's not new. this woman coughs... and that guy does, too. people cough in the country, at sea, and downtown. but don't worry, julie...

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>> welcome back, we'll run through the headlines to get you caught up in california. sacramento police are looking at the gunman who fired shots at a local mall. the u.s. bureau of management announced a comprehensive plan with the number of wildfires the past couple of years. the plan had fire breaks and invasive grass helped to fuel the fires. disney says it's going to be

laying off 4,000 more workers at its theme parks not only in california, but florida because of the pandemic. only a limited number of visitors have been allowed into the florida park because of social distancing rules. >> if people across the country practice social distancing, senior sizes are hit especially hard because of the social impact of the pandemic. two teenagers are stepping in, bringing america together in with a national penpal program that brought letters into to lonely seniors. they're sisters, ladies, great to chat with you. and you know, i'm so struck by the fact that it took two teenagers to really try to revive this old and ancient dieing art form of writing letters, put a pen to paper.

where did you guys come up with this idea? >> of course, so when the pandemic first started, our grandparents were self-isolating back in the u.k.ment they're pretty social people and it was difficult for them and even though we called and texted them every day they were getting lonely and one day my grandfather se-- and my grandmother received a letter and we saw that the letter was so great and valuable that we wanted to do something similar in our own communities. >> it's something tangible and different when you can hold a letter in your hand as opposed to getting an e-mail across your screen. how does it work? if people want to get involved, what do they have to do? >> so, they can head over to our website, letters against isolation.com, and there's a bright yellow get involve form

at the top of the page and they can get it out and pick one of the homes in five countries that we serve to write to. >>. >> i understand you have an excerpt from one of the letters written by one of the seniors? would you mind sharing it. >> one of our volunteers received this back from a senior and she said your letter gave me food for thought about my past experience and love for travelling not being able to do much myself i enjoyed very much this trip you've blessed me with. it's so impactful and to connect with them and give them an experience and our letters are doing just that. . >> ladies, that's some truly inspiring stuff that you've put together, and finally, really quick, give your e-mail address or website one more time if

folks want to get involved. >> letters against isolation.com. >> and you can see it right there on the bottom of your screen. thank you so much. and thank you for all that you do, you've inspired me to reach out to my grandma the old-fashioned way. leland: maybe she's watching. kristin: maybe, maybe. leland: hi, grandma. kristin: as covid-19 cases are surging across the country. local governments have to decide whether they will tighten up on restrictions ahead of the holiday season. we'll have more on that, how lawmakers are responding coming up.

♪ ♪ if. ♪ ♪ kristin: a legal setback for the trump campaign, a federal appeals court dismissing the campaign's pennsylvania lawsuit on friday saying the president's legal team has provided neither specific allegations nor proof of i any voter fraud. welcome to "america's news headquarters" from washington, i'm kristin fisher for hour two in the is studio, no less. how about that? leland: we're here. it's happening. i'm leland visit earth. the president and his e team can turn to the supreme court. that request would go to justice samuel alito. david spunt live at the white house with what he's learned from the president's attorneys. hi, david. >> reporter: hi, leland. and the holiday spirit in full gear, about a hundred volunteers actually setting up for the

christmas season behind me. president trump and golfing and spending the weekend at camp david but, clearly, this election is on his mind. you mentioned the supreme court, that's on husband mind. if you follow him on twitter, you'll see he believes he won this race though he is down by some 70-plus electoral votes. president trump continues not only to say he won the race, but his campaign filed a case with the third circuit court of appeals in pennsylvania. they lost in the third circuit, excuse me. i want to read some of that opinion that's coming from the judge. he saws charges of unfairness are serious but calling an election unfair does not make it so. charges require specific allegations and then proof. we have neither here. and that's coming from the judge who happens to be a donald trump appointee. the rules went on to read in part: the campaign's claims have no merit, the number of ballots it specifically challenges is lower than the margin of victory, and it never claims

fraud. in response to that ruling, a trump campaign attorney, jenna ellis, tweeted: the activist judicially machinery in pennsylvania continues to cover up. they have not filed paperwork for the supreme court yet. it's unlikely the supreme court will hold oral arguments on the merits of this case because time is running out. anything's possible, of course, but justice alito will look over the case and allow the trump campaign to either have more time to prove their point or nix the arguments altogether. now, speaking about the election in general, tomorrow we're going to hear if chris for krebs -- christopher krebs, he was in charge of election security up until a few days after the election when president trump fired him. he spoke to scott pelley with cbs news. >> the most secure in american history. there is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes or changed votes or was in any way compromised.

i stand by that. >> reporter: one week from today president trump will be down in georgia campaigning for kelly lefer and david perdue -- kelly left areler and david perdue. it will determine the majority in the united states senate. leland? leland: we had a democratic analyst on earlier who said he he thought president trump's visit would also juice democratic turnout down there in georgia. back to the supreme court, because you've got a couple of different rulings from them as it relates to religious freedom. we a had the ruling against new york state in favor of religious institutions, now this ruling down in louisiana against the pastor who have been outspoken against coronavirus restrictions. how do you square those? >> reporter: first of all, in new york just a few days ago the supreme court ruled against an order that governor andrew cuomo put in place that basically limited the amount of people that could meet and worship together. cuomo said it was for safety concerns, but the supreme court

ultimately ruled 5-4 that religious liberty is more important at this point. but in louisiana justice samuel alito ruled on his own and basically decided not to hear a case from a louisiana pastor just outside of baton rouge, louisiana, who wanted to do the same thing. it turned out to be a different result. the pastor lost at the supreme court, and governor john bel edwards who put that order forward and put that order in, he prevailed in this case. lowe lee justice -- leland: justice alito at the center of that. david, thank you. >> reporter: thank you. leland: kristin, it's got to be pretty surreal in a way to be at the white house every day where you've got the president and his team arguing on one side, trying to run through the tape on another, instituting policies that would make it hard for a biden presidency to do some of the things they want, and then the legal strategy of possibly how to go through this and through with this.

what do they view their path as? kristin: i think it's still a little bit unclear exactly what the path to victory is, right? i mean, they've said that there are multiple paths, but during a press conference about a week ago rudy giuliani had a tough time explaining a single path, much less multiple ones, but they are going to fight -- leland: how -- yeah, they said they were going to, it was interesting the tweet that jenna if ellis put out about the activist jewish judiciary in pennsylvania. kristin: i know. leland: if i'm not mistaken, the judge who wrote that was a trump appointee. kristin: not only that, the two other judges on the panel were appointed by republican presidents, and you had law professor jonathan turley come out and say he really thought that was unfair. so it is that the person who wrote that opinion was appointed by president trump himself, so -- leland: you might think that president trump would have some feelings about that fact. and perhaps maria bartiromo is

going to ask him about just that in her exclusive interview tomorrow -- kristin: yeah, this is a must-watch. leland: it starts at 10 a.m. tomorrow morning. kristin: well, despite the president's refusal to concede, president-elect joe biden is expected to name more members of husband cabinet -- his cabinet next we've. kevin corke is live outside the white house with the latest and, kevin, you can't see the white house necessarily behind you, but i swear you're standing right in front of it. [laughter] >> reporter: i promise you, i am, you're right. as you know, the inauguration will come one with way or another, and so they're already putting up the stands just out in front of 1600 pennsylvania avenue. and believe it or not, this transition period is really for us in the press in particular sort of the horse race aspect of any potential transition. we're talking about who might land where and what their selection just might mean for the overall policy leanings of a

potential incoming administration. now, we do know that the former vice president has already made a few presumptive cabinet pucks, but there's still some concern am some of his strongest supporters that his team at least as currently constructed is sorely lacking in african-american representation. in fact, south carolina congressman james clyburn is urging his friend to consider more african-americans for senior posts. he is supporting, as you may have heard, marcia fudge of ohio, the congressional black caucus former chair, to be the new agriculture secretary. he's also advocating for former jacksonville mayor alvin brown to lead the department of housing and urban development. now, we do know that the former fed chair, janet yellen, is very likely to be named treasury secretary in a possible biden administration as soon as next week. if confirmed by the senate, she'd be the first woman to hold that position in american history. the 74-year-old economist has been credited with helping to steer the economy after the financial crisis of 2007, but

she's also faced some criticism for being too pro-china according to her critics from her policy perspective. i should also add that the gsa's determination that now is the time to begin the initial steps toward a transition has been a very important one for the biden team. do keep in mind it not only unlocks federal funds, it also means they have access to the all-important tdp, the presidential daily briefing. certainly inside the beltway, that is a major step in any possible transition, kristin. kristin: hey, a classified intelligence briefing sounds like a lot to me, so i'll take it. if i were the president-elect, i'd take it. kevin corke, thanks. leland? leland: a big part of the presidential daily brief these days concerns iran, and the iranian president is now vowing to respond following the killing of their top nuclear scientist, renewing what you might say or increasing the tensions between the united states and iran. joining us now, democratic

california congressman john garamendi, also a biden surrogate. good to see you, sir. this just came out in the past 20 minutes or so in "the new york times,", the killing of iran's top nuclear scientist likely to impede the cup's military ambition -- the country's military ambition. its real purpose may have been to prevent the president-elect from resuming diplomacy with tehran. do you share those concerns? >> well, i'm certainly concerned about iran. were been for a long time. when trump came into office, he pulled out of the nuclear deal, and iran almost immediately began to restart and build its nuclear opportunities. increasing their highly enriched uranium and other things. that's been going on for well over three years now and, certainly, this scientist was the lead person in that. that maximum pressure campaign that trump put in place really did not stop iran's nuclear

ambitions, it actually to pelled them forward. leland: -- propelled them forward. leland: people might be able to agree that the world's a safer place when the guy who is trying to build a nuclear bomb -- the world is a safer place, except perhaps this cowardice was serious indications of israel's role shows the desperate warmongering of perpetrators. iran calls on the international community, the e.u., to condemn this act of terror. john brennan, former cia director, this was a criminal act and highly reckless. it risks lethal retaliation, new round of regional conflicts. does it concern you at all the former cia director and the foreign minister of iran seem to have awfully similar talking points? >> well, what concerns me is that we have a very unstable and now a very aggressive iran moving to do something. if you'll recall when soleimani

was assassinated more than a year and a half ago, that resulted in a attack on an american base in iraq. could we and should we expect something? absolutely, we should. we must be prepared. our men and women in the middle east are in danger whether they are in the military or other side. so where do we -- leland: hold on, congressman. i remember, congressman, after the killing of soleimani, people were talking about world war iii and, obviously, any american casualty, any attack is not a good thing, but at the time people were talking about a war starting, the 82nd airborne was flown over on an emergency basis to iraq. and the iranians launched some missiles and widely reported intentionally missed. that was much more of a whimper than a bang in terms of a response. isn't, perhaps, one of the reasons that the iranians have kept their mouths shut for the past year and a half and not really done anything is because they realize that there was the potential for more of their folks to get whacked?

>> of course. of course that is the case, and that's why the 82nd airborne was there. nevertheless, the danger does exist, and iran will do something. exactly what, we do not know. but we must be prepared for that. in any case, we do know that the question arises as to what the biden team will be doing, does this make it impossible or difficult to put this iran nuclear deal back in the bottle? can the genie be put back in? we don't know. but, clearly, this is going to make it somewhat more difficult. leland: do you think, do you think perhaps that was what the israelis -- who, by all accounting were responsible for this -- what they were thinking? because the iran nuclear deal and how bad they think it is aligns them with saudi arabia and others, perhaps they were thinking this was going to make it a little bit harder on the biden administration, and that's why we did it now? >> well, wouldn't you and i like to have the president's daily

briefing in our hands right now -- [laughter] to answer that question. quite possibly the american intelligence community has specific information that could and should be available both to the current president and to the incoming president -- leland: just, at least kevin corke's reporting is that the president-elect is now getting the presidential daily brief that would have included that move of the nimitz carrier back to the persian gulf. >> well, that's quite correct. we do know that the american presence in the persian gulf and in that area waxes and wanes depending upon the current issues that are in play. right now, obviously, we are and we must be prepared for some sort of retaliation. what it will be, my guess is something pinpointed. it might very well be in the diplomatic area, not in the military area. and so we need to be prepared on all of these. fortunately, the biden, president-elect biden has chosen

a very well-seasoned, with-educated -- well-educated and prepared national security team. now that they do have those briefingsing, they will be prepared on january 20th to deal with whatever maw happen between now and then -- may happen between now and then. leland: well, we certainly didn't expect this to happen -- >> no, we did not. leland: we appreciate the time as always, welcome back. >> thank you so much, leland. ♪ ♪ kristin: california is just one of several states imposing new restrictions as coronavirus cases rise at alarming rates. exe perfects fear in a few short weeks the death rate from covid-19 will likely follow. christina coleman has a look at our top headlines about the pandemic. christina? >> reporter: hi, kristin. right now l.a. county is launching stricter covid guidelines. as of monday a new stay at home order goes into effect. it bans people from public and

private gatherings with people from outside of their home. also l.a. county residents are advised to stay home as much as they can and to always wear a face mask that covers their nose and mouth when they're outside. the ban on gatherings does not include faith-based services or protests since they are constitutionally-protected rights. but the order puts new occupancy limits on essential and nonessential retail, personal care services like salons and also libraries. businesses operating outdoors like fitness centers, museums and zoos and many golf and go-kart racing are tapped at 50%. just two days ago l.a. county restaurants were ordered to close their outdoor dining. many restaurant owners fear this will put them out of business. >> restaurant's been in our family for 65 years, and how does l.a. expect us to survive when they're taken away our ability to make money? after we've invested so much new money also playing the game how they want it played. i think change the rules constantly. >> right now the closure is for

three weeks, but we know that will extend. it'll probably put me out of business. forever. >> reporter: here in l.a. county the five-day average of new covid infections hit 4,751 yesterday, more than meeting the threshold county officials set for putting this new stay at home order in place as they try to get this virus under control. covid hospitalizations continue to soar in l.a. county like much of the country. as of now, nearly 1900 people are hospitalized with covid infections here in l.a. county, and 24% of those patients are in icu. kristin? kristin: wow. christina coleman, thank you. well, moments ago vice president-elect kamala harris was out and about in washington, d.c. with mayor muriel because or today in support of small business saturday -- muriel bowser. >> since covid started, one in

four small businesses in our country have closed, and we know that we're going to get beyond this, this virus, and we want to make sure that we sustain these small businesses and help them through this moment. kristin: and as the coronavirus cases surge in communities across the country, local lawmakers are seeing the effects firsthand with the christmas season almost upon us. with us now, utah state the respective steve -- and kansas city mayor quentin lucas. thank you, gentlemen, both so much. and, you know, mayor, i think i'd like to start with you because this past week your city's fire chief said that they just experienced the worst case scenario. can you tell us a little bit about what that was? >> so this week we experienced two firefighter deaths. we continue to have outbreaks both in our fire department and our police department. for those of us here in the midwest, it seemed like lots of what was happening started in the northeast, and we saw a lot of issues in the spring, but it is definitely here now.

it is a challenge. we have spiking cases. our paramedics are picking up more covid-19 patients, we're running out of bed space, and that's part of the reason why we're looking at some of the new restrictions and challenges in kansas city. kristin: 73 members of the quiets -- kansas city fire department currently have covid, is that accurate? >> that is correct. kristin: wow. and one more question while i have you, the impact this is having on kansas city hospitals. you have so many rural patients with covid-19 being transported to the cities in your state. how much of a strain is this placing on kansas city's hospitals? how bad is it getting? >> well, it is a significant challenge. as you may know, kansas city's on the border of the states of missouri and kansas, and we're getting a lot of patients coming from both states, the rural areas we have our own spikes in the city as well. this is getting to a situation where a lot of our doctors, our emergency rooms, our icus are saying they can't handle more. so that's why we did ask people

to do thanksgiving differently. i fear that will be the same situation for the holiday season. and to me, it's really to keep our nurses, our doctors, our paramedics, our firefighters safe during this challenging time. kristin: representative, let's get a is status check on what it's like right now in utah. how are the hospitals faring there? >> yes, thank you. we're experiencing some of the same challenges. some of our hospitals and intensive care units are on the verge of hitting capacity. and so we're doing everything we can to try to limit those numbers as, you know, we could be on the edge of a breaking point. kristin: you know, you really have a very interesting story. you participated in the moderna vaccine trial, and you believe -- i know it's a double blind, you don't know, essential ily, if you got a placebo or if you actually got the vaccine, but you believe that you got the vaccine. why? >> yeah. so it's a two-injection vaccine,

and both times i had some side effects, particularly the second time. but several weeks after the second vaccine i went and had an antibody test performed, and it showed that i had six to seven times the antibodies of someone who had recovered from covid. so that was a very strong indication that i had received the real vaccine. kristin: and do you have any second thoughts about taking part in that trial, and would you encourage other americans to take it if it is, indeed, approved by the fda? >> yeah, no second thoughts. i've heard it suggested they should test the vaccine on government officials, and if it works out well and they're safe, then the country would be safe. i'm here to tell you that it was safe for me and that the side effects were very minimal compared to having to deal with a case of covid. and i believe that getting the vaccine in wide scale distribution is really going to be the answer to helping us get out of this difficult chapter in our country.

finish. kristin: well, that is certainly encouraging news. steve the, quentin, thank you both so much for coming on and sharing your thoughts with us. we're going to be right back. this is us talking tax-smart investing, managing risk, and all the ways schwab can help me invest. this is andy reminding me how i can keep my investing costs low and that there's no fee to work with him. here's me learning about schwab's satisfaction guarantee. accountability, i like it. so, yeah. andy and i made a good plan. find your own andy at schwab. a modern approach to wealth management.

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little more problematic weather wise on the journey. rick reichmuth in the extreme weather center today. hi, rick. reduction reduction hey, leland. yeah, we had a really great week of weather, in fact, almost no problems getting home or getting to grandma's, now getting back to your original home may be more of a problem. airport delays, not looking at any problems anywhere in the country right now. we do have this one tomorrow system that we're watching that's going to to drape down across parts of the deep south. that'll be out of here in a minute, but we're going to get a reinforcing batch of moisture, an upper level disturbance back up across parts of the four corners. it's going to bring a big rainmaker over the next couple of days. show you how this goes, the forecast radar. starting off here, we've got some significant rain cutting through most of texas, by tonight it stretches in across areas of louisiana, then throughout the day tomorrow

across parts of the deep south, into the carolinas, and this becomes a rain and snowmaker for as across the mid-atlantic and the northeast monday. the back side of this cold air will start to fill in, and that's where we'll see some snow. maybe 3-4 inches some spots, accumulating snow, and get ready for cold air by wednesday morning, temps probably just in the 40s as far south as florida. leland? leland: wow, atlanta hartsfield airport and a thunderstorm is not a good recipe, but the weather man's umbrella will keep you dry, and it's also a great way to donate to charity. it's now $200,000 that you guys have given from the weathererman's umbrella to folds of honor. there is the latest check. rick: from this year, we did 50,000. [laughter] leland: i was going to say -- here. the umbrella works better than that check does. rick: it does.

weatherman umbrella.com. we give $5 to folds of honor, we've been doing it for three years, and we're over $200,000. leland: your dedication's to it really special and your employees as well. congratulations, rick are. rick: thanks, leland. ♪ kristin: president trump is heading down to georgia next weekend to support the republican senators competing in those critical runoffs that will determine which party controls the senate. charles watson is live in atlanta where president trump will be this time next week. hey, charles. >> reporter: hey, kristin. as you can imagine, these hotly contested races are incredibly important to both democrats and republicans, and that is why we're beginning to see president trump get involved in these races. as you mentioned, the president will travel to georgia next saturday to campaign for senators david perdue and kelly loeffler who are in highly competitive races against

democratic candidates jon ossoff and reverend raphael warnock. on friday in a between, the president urged his supporters not to boycott the january 5 runoff election as he continued to falsely claim widespread election fraud. >> they are tremendous people. kelly loeffler, david perdue are prepeople. they should be in the united states senate. they're desperately needed. but i said, listen, you have a fraudulent system. >> reporter: and with control of the senate at stake, both parties are picking up their ground game with plans to knock on hundreds of thousands of doors to get the vote out. and, look, tons of money is already pouring into georgia so far according to advertising analytics. so far $46 million has been spent on ads with another $214 million expected in the coming weeks. kristin? kristin: watson live in atlanta -- charles watson, thank you. leland: go ahead and look at the

sidelines of the vanderbilt university game, because there's a senior set to make history. sarah fuller, a woman soccer player, is poised to become the first woman to may in a power five football. i don't know what power five means, but it's a big deal. [laughter] she was asked to dress to play after several players on the team tested positive for covid-19 and had to quarantine. she describes the effort as an honor, and her helmet will display a special sticker that reads "play like a girl." kristin: i don't know if i can say this on air, that is bad a-s-s. that is really impressive and incredible and really coming to aid her team at this cut call moment. -- critical moment. it reminds me of that movie from the 1980s, something about a princess? it was a great movie. i used to watch it as a kid and wanted to be a quarterback even though -- leland: your parents are restaurants, you wanted to be a quarterback and ended up as a

news anchor. hey, there's a book in there -- kristin: and i don't know much of anything about football. my dream crashed and burnt there. anyway -- leland: there you go. kristin: highly recommend it if you ever get a chance to watch it. well, a washington, d.c. archbishop making history at the vatican today. we'll tell you why up next. ♪ itamin c, d and zinc. season, after season. ace your immune support, with centrum. with priceline, you can get up to 60% off amazing hotels. and when you get a big deal... ...you feel like a big deal. ♪ priceline. every trip is a big deal.

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♪ i'll be home for christmas ♪ if only in my dreams ♪ ♪ ♪ leland: iran's leadership is now talking about the, quote, definitive punishment for those behind the killing of their top nuclear scientist. israel is widely believed to be behind the attack. ryan chilcote following the implications we're seeing around the world with. hi, ryan. >> reporter: hi, leland. yeah, israel has yet it to comment on iran's allegations, and quite frankly, even if they were behind this attack the, i'm not sure if they would say something. but mossad certainly doesn't always do that. what we do know for sure is that

iran is saying that israel did this and it certainly bears the hallmarks of a carefully-planned military-style ambush. iran state media says the bomb went off as the scientist's convoy was traveling down the highway e, and at least five gunmen opened fire on the car. 's israel has been long suspected of employing these kinds of assassinations including an attack on another iranian scientist almost exactly one decade ago. just before his funeral, ayatollah khamenei referred to scientist as a, quote, prominent and distinguished nuclear and defensive scientist. mean while, analysts have compared him to robert oppenheimerer, the scientist that led the manhattan project during world war ii. in any case, the iranians are saying the scientist's death won't slow their nuclear

program, and they resumed that program when the trump administration pulled out of the iranian nuclear deal. some analysts are saying this attack will renew tensions between the u.s. and iran in the waning days of president trump's term. we'll have to see. some analysts are also saying this could box in president-elect joe biden in terms of what he can do with iran, and the reason for that is president-elect biden has said his administration may want to rejoin that iran nuclear deal. now, if iran believes that the u.s. supported or was aware of this israeli attack, if it turns out to be, in fact, israel behind this, then you can imagine that perhaps the iranians won't want to renew relations or renew some kind of deal with the united states. lee leland: the saudi byrd said he didn't any -- ambassador said he didn't think anyone would get back into the deal. a conversation with israeli

defense minister about the previous round of assassinations of iranian nuclear scientists, and he looked at me with a 2001inging in his eye and said, you know, bad things happen to bad people. [laughter] that was it. kristin: deadpan? leland: deadpan. kristin: this certainly does complicate things for a biden administration. you spent so much time over there, how bill of a deal is this in -- big of a deal is this in terms of how much it could potentially upset u.s. and iranian relations or israeli/iranian relations? leland: well, i'm old enough to remember when moving the u.s. embassy to jerusalem from tell a avive was going to start -- tel aviv was going to start a third intifada, and when killing seal money was going to start -- soleimani was going to start world war iii. neither of those things have happened. it's often times you punch the school bully in the nose, a lot of times they walk away. and that's what at least it seems they've been doing for the

past year and a half. kristin: yeah. certainly feels like such a big deal, but you're right, the world kept on turning after those two incidents, so we'll see what happens -- leland: the uss nimitz9 is on its way which is certainly a deterrent. 78,000 tons of u.s. sovereign force. there you go. all right, now to a new era at your favorite government agency, and there is a correct answer to that question. at nasa, the agency is taking a big step forward on returning americans to the moon. how they're going to continue the apollo 11 legacy after the break. ♪

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>> the video just doesn't do it justice. kristin: that was nasa astronaut victor glover tweeting occupant his first ever video from space. he's one of four astronauts now inside the international space station after that crew one

launch marking the second manned mission to take off from u.s. soil in almost a decade. now nasa is also taking the next step in returning american astronauts to the moon. the agency began assembling its space launch system this week in preparation for next year's artemis one launch, and that'll be the first in a series of artemis missions. the final goal? to send the next american man and the first american woman to the moon by 2024. joining us now to talk about this new era at nasa is curator and chair of space history department for the smithsonian national air and space museum, margaret whitecamp. the last time we spoke was for the 50 anniversary of the lunar landing, and now here we are, 20 -- which i think we can both safely agree has been an objectively terrible year. and yet space travel and space exploration has been one of those rare bright spots in this

otherwise awful year. what was the standout, breakout moment for you? >> i think really the flights of the crew dragon have been places where people are really celebrated the return of that human launch capacity to american soil and seeing 20 years of continual occupation of the international space station the celebrated with seven astronauts onboard is really a nice moment for 2020. kristin: yeah. and the impact of this public/private pickup between nasa and spacex is something that, you know, it did get a lot of attention, but perhaps not quite as much as it would have when you're not competing with things like a presidential election and a pandemic. can you help us explain why this is such a huge deal, this commercialization, privatization of space heading into the future in. >> this is really a long trend that started in the bush administration, george w. bush, and has continued. and we see it really in two different places.

we're going to see it both in the launches of commercial flights coming up, so there's going to be a second uncrewed test flight of the boeing star lauren, the is st-100, that's coming up in january. but we're also looking forward to two commercial lunar landers that are going to be coming up to launch in 2021. kristin: and this is all about making space flight more affordable and, ultimately, more accessible for everyday humans here on earth. margaret, let's talk about the future. i mean, looking ahead nasa has some big things on deck for 2021. we've got potentially the first artemis one mission, the perseverance mars rover which really a pretty aptly-named rover in the middle of this very difficult year. >> february is really going to be a time when with all eyes are going to be on march because we're going to have three different missions that are all getting there around the same time. so the perseverance rover which

also comes with the ingenuity drone, a little helicopter that's going to fly in the thin martian atmosphere, those get there in february. but we also know that the uae has launched a probe called hope which will be around mars, and that was built in california with cooperation or -- in colorado with cooperation from u.s. universities. and then china is in this game as well, it's called the heavenly questions rover, and all three of those are going to be reaching mars at the same time, february 2021. kristin: you know, president trump and the trump administration, they've really done quite a bit to do what they describe as returning american leadership, restoring american leadership in space, and there's a little bit of concern at least among the folks in the space industry that i've talked to about an incoming biden administration and perhaps a shifting of focus from space exploration to space science and what not. and this is nothing new, right?

every time a new presidential administration comes in nasa sometimes gets its priorities realigned. but what are you hearing about how folks are feeling inside nasa as the country prepares for this transition? >> well, at the smithsonian we're really looking at this in a nonpartisan way, and in many ways that really is what you see when you look at the platform that the biden presidency ran on. so this transition team has said according to that platform that they're looking to continue the emphasis on human space flight and then add in a return to focus on earth observation which is something that really goes back to a plan that sally e ride helped define for nasa in the 1980s, looking both outward for exploration and also inward to be able to really bring all of that science and technology for the benefit of humanity here on earth. kristin: continuity of purpose, continuity of mission, always one of the most important things or biggest struggles that nasa

has had to deal with during any presidential shift in power, i should say. margaret, thank you so much and happy holidays to you with. >> thank you. happy holidays to you and yours. leland: millions of americans are struggling to make ends meet this holiday season. among those the same americans who live in harm's way to protect all of us. we're going to introduce you to a program to make sure military families have food on the table this holiday season. ♪ sam adams boston lager. a perfect balance of malt & hops... sorry. i was gonna buy that six-pack. ah, ten bucks. that includes mine. yep, ok. ♪

kristin: washington, d.c. archbishop wily making history today, becoming the first african-american to be appointed as cardinal. gregory was one of 13 men and the only american elevated to a cardinal's rank in st. peter 's basilica at the vatican with, as you can see there, a lot of the participants wearing masks. ♪ ♪ leland: military families have been hit especially hard from the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, and operation homefront is now helping to bring america together through its critical financial assistance program for those families. the ceo, brigadier hyten pray, here with us along with a recipient, wesley. appreciate both of your service

and both of you all joining us as well. general, why do you feel as though at this time military families have been hit so specifically disproportionately by the pandemic economically? >> well, thank you, leland are, for the continued support of our work and military families. this whole time the pandemic has had a difficult impact on many american families, and as you noted, our military families are particularly hard hit. often times they're dual-income families, and when they lose a job or have hours are reduced, they get into difficult financial circumstances. leland: major, want to understand, i know that your wife who's a police officer had her hours cut, something you don't think's going to happen to somebody who's there serving all of us. you were laid off as well from your job. tell me what this help from operation home front meant for your family. >> well, operation home front is

just, it's not just an organization that helps during the pandemic, but prior to the pandemic they helped me if some other veterans out. during the pandemic it's also stepped up and continued to help other soldiers like myself. leland: give me a specific, though, in terms of how they helped and what it meant for your family. >> well, in 2017 they helped put a roof on my house. and and then during the pandemic they provide food for myself and my family. leland: general, are you hearing more and more stories like troy, and if so, are donations matching the need? >> yes, we do, have heard a lot of requests for assistance. to date, this year, we've seen 3,000 requests for covid-related financial assistance, provided almost $800,000 woft of financial -- worth of financial relief. and we're seeing that trend continue and to increase. and there's a lot of military

families that are struggling to make ends meet. leland: operation home front.org. how is your organization doing? obviously, the need there is there, and it's increasing. have donations tracked along so you all are able to help these folks? >> they have kept pace pretty much with the need. we have seen some of our donors fall off because of their own financial circumstances. we've seen others pick up the ball and help us out. the challenge is we never have enough resources to make ends meet, so as we take a look at looking towards the future, we need additional support. leland: yeah, for sure. troy, real quick, have you been able to get the barbecue business back on its feet? >> yes. leland: good. well, we've got the video there of your little guys running around and some of the help that has been provided there. gentlemen, appreciate both of you being with us, and we'll put the web site up there, operationhomefront.org, for people to help, major, just like

you, troy, can and obviously help the general spread some christmas cheer going on. thank you to you both. >> thank you. leland: the general made an interesting point, so the longest food pantry line that we've seen across the country has been at military bases because so often it is the second income that comes from the loss but by -- hospitality industry. they're the first ones to get cut. kristin: yeah, that's a great point, especially around the thanksgiving holidays. everybody wants more food on their plate. that was a really nice segment, i enjoyed watching it, and it was nice to be back in the studio with you, lee leland -- lee rand. leland: it'll happen again tomorrow.

♪ ♪ eric: well, coronavirus infections do continue to surge and spread across our country. that as health experts believe that they are bracing for another wave that potentially stems from all the thanksgiving travel we've seen this long weekend. millions of americans ignored cdc guidelines to stay home. meanwhile in los angeles, that county preparing to implement a new stay at home order. that starts monday. because covid-19 infections in length a. have been surging out of -- in l.a. have been surging out of control. hello, everyone, welcome to "america's news