eric: we have good news in the fight against the coronavirus. shipments of the second vac neon now underway as top u.s. health officials say a third vaccine could get approval as early as next month, as a new $900 billion coronavirus stimulus relief bill seems finally nailed down on capitol hill. you're looking live at the capitol where congress appears close to an agreement to finally reach a key compromise on that today, a vote is expected. hello, everyone. welcome to america's news headquarters. i'm eric shawn. hi, mollie. >> hello, eric. i'm mollie line, in for arthel neville. the first shipments of moderna's

coronavirus vaccine begins rolling this morning and we expect people to get the first doses tomorrow, as congress inches closer to an agreement on the highly anticipated covid relief bill. >> i do have optimism that it passes. the optimism is let's get it done. speaker pelosi admitted after the election that she 4e8 held o cause more pain to try cause an outcome of the he'll e, when we could have -- election, when we could have had relief for the american people, for those that are unemployed, for the small businesses, i'm hopeful that we get it done today. >> a lot of need out there. congressional correspondent chad pergram live on capitol hill following all of this and where do things stand right now, chad? >> reporter: we're waiting for final bill text. the last holdup was working out a disagreement with pat toomey, the republican senator from pennsylvania, who wanted to restrict some of the fed's

lending procedures during the pandemic. they seem to have worked that out. we hope to get bill text sometime later this afternoon. republican wyoming senator john borbore rayborasso says there'st the end of the tunnel. >> no more delays. we're not leaving until we have relief for the american people. we need relief for the american public, people who have been struggling. until we get enough people vac nateed that we can -- vaccinated until we can get the economy back on track. >> reporter: members want to see the actual bill text and liberals along with some republicans aren't pleased with only $600 in direct payment checks. many like eye y iyana pressly pd for $1,200. >> these are not stimulus checks. they're stimulating nothing. this is about basic needs,

families needed to remain safely housed, purchasing diapers, formula, inhalers o, insulin, $0 will not cover a month's rent. >> reporter: in the house of representatives, you have you to go to the house rules committee, the gateway to put most rules on the house floor then you have a debate later today, we're thinking sometime late this afternoon and case scenario, maybe this evening. then you go to the senate. that's why some people wonder if this could bleed into monday or tuesday. it takes longer to do things in the united states senate. >> there are so many people standing in the food bank lines right now. it is cold in new england. there are women and children standing in food bank lines. a lot of folks watching this very closely. they also have to fund the government tonight, is that right? >> reporter: that's right. we're on a temporary spending bill which expires tonight. if they don't get this done they'll have to approve a stopgap bill for maybe two or three days. keep in mind that the plan here was to latch the big covid bill

to a broader spending package to fund the government through next september. $1.4 trillion on that package and move it together. if they move everything through the house and senate, expeditiously later today, they'll be fine by midnight. if the senate is dragging its feet have you to do the interim spending bill. the pros of he's on capitol hill is often called log rolling. a lot of conservatives don't like it when they mesh big bills together and roll the logs down the mountainside. the idea is either you're going to vote for it or get out of the way. >> it seems to be a holiday tradition now. >> reporter: every christmas we're here. >> i know. i'm not surprised to see you this sunday. thank you so much, chad. we really appreciate it. >> reporter: any time, thank you. >> it will be a busy day. eric. eric: thanks, mollie and chad. what does the new relief bill mean to you. associate editor for the wall street journal, john bussey is here. the president wanted stimulus payments of $2,000.

the squad as you heard demanded $1,200 like last time. instead, the checks will be $600. is that enough or not at all or at least it's something? >> i think it's at least something, eric. that's probably the way to think about this. this is really -- this is money that's going to help people get through the next phase of the crisis, not through the crisis in its entirety. there aren't too many surprises in this bill from what we have been discussing. it's going to extend the enhanced unemployment insurance. it will include a check, depending upon if you qualify for it, of somewhere around $600, most likely. there will be funding for small businesses. we're going to reup that fund. there will be funding for vaccine rollout programs, for healthcare workers. these were all things that we have seen emerge in the bill over the last couple of weeks. what got in the way of it was the discussion and disagreement

over the fed's independence and ability to spend. but the basic bill will have support for small business and stimulus as well as extended unemployment. eric: that's really great news for small businesses around the country. i mean, they really targeted some businesses, $15 billion. 15. for the 32,000 airline employees who have been furloughed. so if you work for an airline, have been furloughed, there's $15 billion in there for you. also $2 billion for the concessions. like the starbucks and the asian wok and burger king and -- they've been shut at the airport concourses. it's so important to keep this money flowing until we get through this part of the coronavirus this winter. >> that's right. it's important for people to have paychecks so that they can afford to buy things that they need to buy. that's the critical part of this. and i think that while this is a good step forward in that, there

will be additional funding for small businesses and for individuals and for unemployment, it really is just incremental. eric, we're still in the middle of this crisis and it's getting worse. the daily death rate has gone up. the virus continues to spread. the case count is astronomical at this point. england is now dealing with a mutation of the virus that makes it even more infectious. so we're still very much in the middle of the crisis and there still isn't a great deal of leadership from the white house on things like mask wearing and other of ways of stemming the extent of the virus and its continued spread. so this is a good step by congress. the fed stuff, what happened with the federal reserve was really an argument over its end pens. i think that -- independence. i think that got resolved to the satisfaction of the fed. they'll be able to continue to do buyback programs, that they've been doing, buying of

assets of loans that have gone bad. they haven't done a huge amount of it. the congress had given them a very large amount of money to spend. they spent a fraction of it. so i think at the end of the day, this will still be fine for the fed and republicans who were concerned that the fed was being given too much freedom to spend on programs and that those programs might become politicized, i think they're probably satisfied with this resolution as well. eric: that was a pretty esoteric but interesting argument with pat toomey, dealing with the fed, trying to rein it in. you mentioned the new mutation of the virus, 50 to 70% more virulent in england and another version in south africa. germany, italy, the netherlands have banned flights from london. i mean, today we have flights coming in from london, the fso, dfw, chicago, o'hare, jfk.

do you think the president should enact a ban of flights from london right now like he did to china to try and stop this new strain from getting here if it isn't already here now? >> yeah, that's a decision best left to anthony fauci and other ofs that are concerned about the public health of the united states. steven fi fiddler has a story on this strain. it is more infectious. it doesn't look initially as if it's more fatal, it doesn't look at least initially that it is some das hohow going to evade te vaccines. the estimates by british authorities is it's 70 times more infectious. a piece of the virus has become even more adept at attaching itself to human cells and therefore replicating. it's more infectious. you're right, countries in europe have already cut connections with travel to

england. i would imagine that the united states is going to be very tempted to do the same thing. as you recall, it was through europe that the primary portion of the infection of the united states came initially, so probably looking at this quite concerned about this mutation. coronaviruses tend to mutate a little bit more slowly than things like the flu virus. but they do mutate. and this is something that the health authorities are quite concerned about. again, the increase in the infectiousness of an already very infectious virus. eric: the president took swift action against the chinese flights, the flights from china for nationals back in february. programperhaps egg do the same . the mutation, probably already here. we've got to stop it. john, good to see you. thank you. >> pleasure. ♪ >> speaking of china, recently

leaked documents reportedly showed china used a paid army of internet trolls to help shape and censor information on the coronavirus pandemic including fake online commen commentators flooding social media pla medias with beijing approved story lines. mark meredith has more on this, live at the white house. >> reporter: president trump has accused china of basically covering up how the pandemic began. now as you mentioned a new york times report kind of details what's been going on behind the scenes with chinese censors. fox has not had a chance to look at the documents themselves. but the new york times basically reports that china was trying the to cover up covid related deaths early in the beginning of the year, including a chinese doctor who was out warning others about the virus. president trump's top aides say china remains a real threat to the u.s. and democracies worldwide. >> this is a strategic rival but it's also increasingly a mortal enemy.

they're coming at us from so many different ways. one of the great achievements of donald j trump was to big to the fore this concept of china as a significant existential threat to this country. >> reporter: president trump blasting china overnight, in a tweet tied to the stimulus negotiations, writing why isn't congress giving our people a stimulus bill, it wasn't there fault, it was the fault of china. get it done. give them more money in direct payments. the president surprised many people when he suggests it's possible china, not russia, may be responsible for the massive cyber breach. republicans on capitol hill, cyber experts, say all signs point to russia being responsible for this, not china and that this hack is of great concern. >> i was disappointed in the president's comment. but i think we have come to recognize that the president has a blind spot when it comes to russia. this is a very dangerous and damaging invasion of cyberspace which has enormous national

security implications. >> reporter: president trump called into a radio program early this morning, having a chance to speak with his personal attorney, rudy giuliani, railing against the election, after a contentious meeting on friday where his campaign continues to look for whatever options he can have to basically change the results from last month's election. we have already seen a lid called at the white house. we're not going to hear from the president today. i bet we'll see plenty for tweets this afternoon. >> no doubt, never dull. mark meredith, thank you, live at the white house. thank you. eric. eric: well, the continuing federal criminal investigation into hunter biden coming as his father, the president-elect, is putting together his administration. the probe is raising questions and putting pressure on who will be picked for attorney general. rich edson live in wilmington, delaware, covering the biden transition for us. good morning, rich. >> reporter: good morning, eric. any president or president-elect

choosing an attorney general, that's an important decision. it's all the more sensitive for president-elect joe biden as anyone he no, ma'am mates -- nominates if they're confirmed will oversee a justice department that is likely investigating his son, hunter biden. the president-elect's sell ex for white house press secretary was speaking with chris wallace this morning. he said biden is still picking or going through the process of choosing an attorney general and she says anyone he does select is going to lead an independent justice department. >> he will not be discussing an investigation of his son with any attorney general candidates. he will not be discussing it with anyone he is considering for the role. it will be up to the purchase you view of a -- purview of a future attorney general, his administration, to determine how to handle any investigation. >> reporter: president trump and republicans say this situation calls for a special counsel.

one that president trump could appoint that would carry this investigation into the next term in office, a term that biden will oversee. >> i think it's really important to conduct an independent investigation, if hunter biden is cleared then we have confidence that he did nothing wrong. if he's not cleared, we have confidence it wasn't a partisan witch hunt that resulted in charges being filed. >> reporter: congressional republicans could also initiate their own investigation, though they would have to control at least one house of congress. doing so requires them to win at least one of the special elections going on in georgia for the senate next month. eric, back to you. eric: rich, we'll have a report live in a few moments from georgia on that race. thank you. mollie. >> georgia runoff, a little more than two weeks away. the winners will determine the balance of power in the senate. next, what president trump just tweeted about the crucial races.

ok everyone, our mission is to provide complete, balanced nutrition for strength and energy. whoo-hoo! great tasting ensure with 9 grams of protein, 27 vitamins and minerals, and nutrients to support immune health. and nutrients to new projects means you need to hire.gers. i need indeed. indeed you do. the moment you sponsor a job on indeed you get a short list of quality candidates from our resume database. claim your seventy five dollar credit, when you post your first job at indeed.com/home.

molly: republican lawmakers doubling down on calls to have democratic congressman eric swalwell stripped of his

intelligence committee duties over his past tie toss to a suspected chinese spy. molly.doug luzader has more on s from washington. >> reporter: there are renewed calls today for congressman eric swalwell to step down from the house intelligence committee because of his connections with a suspected chinese spy after an fbi briefing this week about what they know about swalwell, republicans today are still expressing outrage including one of the two members of congress who took part in that briefing. >> the one answer that i got out of that briefing was there is no way eric swalwell should continue to serve on the intel committee. and the challenge here is the leaders of both parties are the only people who select to go on the intel committee. >> reporter: democratic leaders continue to circle the wagons, expressing confidence in swalwell, even in the wake of

that classified fbi briefing. house speaker nancy pelosi was part of the fbi briefing but didn't comment about it. swalwell was connected for a time with accused chinese spy christine fang. he was eventually warned by the fbi. he would later become one of the president trump's fiercest critics, accusing him of collusion with russia. when we caught one the congressman this week he wasn't interested in talking. some who have studied china's expanded intelligence efforts say this could be typical of the country's spy work. >> i think china is flooding the zone, running lots of these operations. i'm sure that christine fang was not the only chinese intelligence officer operating in this way, trying to infiltrate the social networks and different political campaigns. >> reporter: house republican leader kevin mccarthy wants the fbi to brief house leaders about swalwell and every member of the house intelligence committee. in washington, doug luzader, fox news.

molly: doug, thank you. eric. eric: we'll have more on the congressman and ms. fang and china later on in the newscast. meanwhile, former un ambassador nikki haley becoming the latest high profile republican stumping in georgia ahead of the january runoffs that will decide which party controls the u.s. senate. president trump just made a big announcement a few moments ago about the republican candidates in those races. while the democrats are also pushing hard to get the vote out in the peach state for their two candidates. charles watson is live in coupling, georgia, north of atlanta, where the former ambassador, ms. hailey, will be campaigning for senator kelly loeffler today. hi, charles. >> reporter: that's right, eric. we can expect her a little later today. first, the president making some news. he again will make another visit here to georgia in the coming weeks to rally up some support for the republican senators, despite his ongoing feud with election officials in this state. last night, the president

tweeting as badly as we were treated in georgia by the republican governor and republican secretary of state, we must have a massive victory for two great people, kelly loeffler and david purdue on january 5th. i will have a big rally for them on monday, january 4th. when, and the president isn't the only one in the administration to keep the senate red on monday. ivanka trump will make campaign stops around the atlanta suburb and nikki haley will join senator loeffler's bus tour as the incumbent senators release a new ad with football great herschel walker. >> i'm herschel walker. with everything on the line here in georgia, i know who i'm giving the ball to. >> this is about saving america from socialism and protecting the freedoms that make us great. >> reporter: democrats john ossoff and raphael warnock are

rallying their base to the polls in heavily democratic counties. >> i think the purpose of public policy is to make things better for the next generation and that's what i intend to do. >> reporter: and solve and warnock -- ossoff and warnock will appear at a get out the vote event in atlanta tonight with louis farrakhan. eric. eric: how about that all right, charles. reporting from cumming georgia, thank you. molly: a second coronavirus vaccine just shipped nationwide and now we are learning that a third could soon follow and that one is very different from the others. dr. nicole saphier will be here to explain, next. ♪ i'll be home for christmas ♪ if only in my dreams

♪ bundle auto and home, and save up to 25% with allstate. bundling just feels good this time of year. saving is easy when you're in good hands. call a local agent, or 1-800-allstate for a quote today. tired of daily insulin injections? omnipod delivers insulin through a discreet waterproof pod to help simplify life. just one small pod replaces up to 14 injections. it's game-changing. and the wireless controller helps deliver the right amount of insulin. get started with a free 30-day omnipod dash trial today. go to omnipod.com for risk information, instructions for use and free trial terms and conditions. consult your healthcare provider before starting on omnipod. simplify diabetes. simplify life. omnipod. or psoriatic arthritis, little things can become your big moment. that's why there's otezla. otezla is not an injection or a cream.

it's a pill that treats differently. for psoriasis, 75% clearer skin is achievable, with reduced redness, thickness, and scaliness of plaques. for psoriatic arthritis, otezla is proven to reduce joint swelling, tenderness, and pain. and the otezla prescribing information has no requirement for routine lab monitoring. don't use if you're allergic to otezla. it may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. otezla is associated with an increased risk of depression. tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts or if these feelings develop. some people taking otezla reported weight loss. your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. upper respiratory tract infection and headache may occur. tell your doctor about your medicines and if you're pregnant or planning to be. otezla. show more of you.

molly: big, big news on the covid vaccine front with the assistant health and human services secretary saying johnson & johnson could soon be the third drug maker to get approval for its shots, this as moderna's version just shipped out nationwide today. joining us now, dr. nicole saphier, fox news medical contributor and also of course the author of make america healthy again. to talk all of this vaccine, really fairly good news today. doctor, thank you so much for joining us. we appreciate it as we head into the christmas holiday week. i want to talk first about the great news about johnson & johnson and potentially they'll be seeking the authorization they need, the fda approval they need in january and february and perhaps we'll see another -- a third vaccine rolling out to the public early next year. your thoughts on this new potential vaccine? >> well, that's right, molly. in terms of scientific discovery, every day we are having another success. these are incredible feats. we are in the midst of a devastating pandemic.

from a scientific perspective, you're looking at now we have johnson & johnson who have just announced they enrolled 45,000 participants in their phase three clinical trial. and now the thing about johnson & johnson, it's a very different vaccine than the moderna and pfizer which use that messenger rna technology. the johnson & johnson are using what's called a viral vector. they take a virus, another one that causes a common cold and render it so it's not able to infect anybody else. they take a piece of that spiked protein and put it on the viral vector and that's on the vaccine. that's similar to the astrazeneca vaccine and the ebola vac seen one of the biggest benefits to johnson & johnson, it requires one injection. that's huge news. all of a sudden, all of the logistics in terms of getting the second dose to americans are completely gone with johnson & johnson. they'll be giving us some of the interim data over the next month or so.

hopefully we can see an eua and some sort of approval of this early 2021, maybe end of january, early february. molly: thank you for breaking that down so swiftly and easily. i read it and understand it. i'm glad i don't have to repeat it and try to explain it. one thing i read about the johnson & johnson, it's described as more rug ed. it doesn't have to be refrigerated at as low of a temperature. does this mean this is good news for rural america and some of the far-flung places that might have challenges as far as the cold temperatures that are needed for the pfizer vaccine that came out first. >> there's definitely a spectrum in terms of how difficult it is to store the vaccines. pfizer requires a negative 97 degrees fahrenheit. it can only remain in the refrigerator for five days. moderna doesn't require as much of a deep freeze and can stay

refrigerated for 30 of days. johnson & johnson likely won't require the deep freeze and will likely have less stringent refrigerator requirements. with the viral vectors, it takes longer to sin the synthesize thl vector vaccines. i don't know how much they'll be able to mass produce the johnson & johnson vaccine. i don't believe we've been given estimates on the doses, amounts that they expect to be readily available. i think that will be one of the challenges, is getting the mass production of the johnson & johnson vaccine as opposed to the mrna vaccines we see in pfizer and moderna. molly: interestingly, today, earlier today dr dr. murthy he d on meet the press that realistically for the general population in american they're looking at mid-summer to early fall when the vaccine will make

it to the general population. different states have different priorities. in massachusetts, the general population expects to see the vaccine in april to june. what do you think about that potential timing, for much of the general population, is he being cautious to say summer or may we potentially see people, the general population getting vaccinated in spring, if everything rolls as brilliantly as we all dream that it may here in the beginning of the new year. >> well, dr. murphy is highly qualified, definitely someone who will be a strong person to oversee the vaccine rollout. i think it's easier to say it will be available to the general population and then be able to move it up because then all of a sudden people are going to applaud you as opposed if you say it's going to be the beginning of summer but then it gets pushed back for some reason to the end of summer, then you would get criticized. i think he's being a little smart and extending that timeline and really hoping for the best. i mean, everything that we've seen so far, every other timeline we've seen shows us

that we'll probably be able to offer the vacation -- vaccine to general public sometime by late spring, early summer. i'm hopeful for that timeline. i think he's just being more cautious in what he he's saying publicly. molly: i've been so heartened to see the sleeves being rolled up and the first vaccinations, some of them on live television. you were talking a moment ago about the folks involved in the trials, the 45,000 involved with johnson & johnson, so grateful to those folks all over that helped to get us here. but knowing that there are trials still in place for johnson & johnson, should we be cautious about the optimism for that or do we think there is as likely that this vaccine will be as successful as we saw with moderna and pfizer? >> sure, the good news is they've gotten to phase three and a lot of vaccine candidates don't actually make it to phase three. they've had to show some level of safety and efficacy to get to phase three. what comes out of phase three,

we don't know. astrazeneca did not show the same level of efficacy as the pfizer and moderna did, knowing that astrazeneca and johnson & johnson used similar technology, is it possible that it's going to show us it's a little lesser efficacy compared to mrna ones, possibly. ultimately, we don't know. to be considered for an eua approval it needs to have over 50% efficacy, anything over 50% at this point is going to be a win, as long as they can prove it works in large populations and that it's safe. that's what we're looking for. i just hope we can get there. we have to remember that the far majority of candidates, whether it comes to medications or vaccines, don't actually make it this far so again, this is an incredible scientific feat to have so many already in late stage clinical trials that really just shows us what incredible researchers, scientists and technology we have. molly: and so much gratitude to those amazing scientists all over that helped to make it happen. dr. nicole saphier, thank you so

much for your insights. we really prio appreciate it. >> thank you. molly: eric. eric: molly, we have a correction. a moment ago our reporter charles watson in georgia reported that democratic senate candidates john ossoff and raphael warnock will appear at a get out the vote event with, quote, supporters of minister louis farrakhan. a fox news dot-com report says a panelist at the event offered on harry membership to far kahn to an african-american fraternity last year, that is one panelist at the event that's being held later on today, reportedly. scientists say a new strain of covid-19 has emerged in england. early research indicates it's likely to be more contagious than the current virus is and that the current vaccines they say should still be effective against it. that's the good news. trey yingst is live in tel aviv, israel with more on this new strain.

trey. >> reporter: eric, good afternoon. a number of countries are banning flights from the united kingdom after a mutated strain of covid-19 was discovered. the netherlands, belgium and austria among others have halted arrivals as boris johnson said there is no evidence suggesting the new strain is more lethal. the strain was discovered back in september. it's just now spreading out-of-control. in israel, officials are taking new precautions. all arriving passengers from the united kingdom will be required to enter two weeks of quarantine in a military run coronavirus hotel. this comes as israel has launched a massive vaccination campaign, just yesterday israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu got his shot and linde me here today at the hospital, medical professionals are lining up to get theirs. take a listen to what the hospital's ceo had to say to fox news earlier today. >> the vision is that israel

could lead the world by the number of people that are taking the vaccination per population. we can be number one because we have a spread of community clinics all around the country and hospitals all around the country. >> reporter: we were at this hospital earlier in the year with doctors and nurses inside the coronavirus intensive care unit. this vial here, a pfizer vaccine, is going to give these people new protection and encouragement as they continue the fight against covid-19 across israel. eric. eric: trey, in a few moments we'll talk to gordon chang about china and how it allegedly hid and lied to the world about the coronavirus many thank you. molly. molly: one of california's top democrats warning governor gavin newsom about the recall effort against him that is now underway. supporters collected more than half the 1.5 million signatures

needed by march 17th to trigger a special recall election. christina colemans is following this for us in los angeles. >> reporter: the latest recall effort against newsom got started last spring but gained momentum in recent weeks. the petition led by a group called the california patriot coalition has more than 860,000 signatures. organizers claim rising homelessness, crime rates, unaffordable housing and covid restrictions are fueling this effort. it's the sixth time newsom faced a recall petition but the first one to gain this much traction. so much so that former san francisco mayor, willie brown, and elder statesman in the california democratic party, says newsom should take this recall effort very seriously, warning in an op-ed in the san francisco chronicle this weekend, quote, newsom knows he got a target on his back, on him, and that a recall may indeed make the ballot. the talk now is centered on how to turn a recall to his

advantage. brown says the key to getting ahead of this is to make it look like an attempt by out-of-state trump supporters to upset california politics with newt gingrich and mike huckabee recently weighing in. brown says if newsom can make it about trump, newsom wins. brown notes that newsom faces criticism in the way he handled the pandemic yesterday it was announced the rose bowl won't be played here in southern california new year's day because of a surge in covid cases here and covid restrictions. newsom hasn't publicly commented on the recall efforts, though he was asked directly about them last week. a soak spokesperson for the govr called it a distraction. polls show kneesome with generally -- newsom with generally positive approval ratings, around 60%. molly: interesting politics happening in california. christina, thank you. eric. eric: the chinese government reportedly orders its propaganda operation to suppress

information in the coronavirus pandemic. downplaying the s severeity of e disease. remember when beijing said it wasn't contagious. wait until you hear what gordon chang has to say about that. at visionworks, we know it's easy to forget to use your vision benefits before the year's up. this is us making sure you don't. use 'em before you lose 'em, backed by our 100-day guarantee!! visionworks. see the difference.

that cannot be extinguished. it rages on to give us a glimmer of what we can do, and of who we can become. because hope fuels opportunity.

university of phoenix is awarding up to one million dollars in new scholarships through this month. yes, hope is alive and well. see what scholarship you qualify for at phoenix.edu. how did you find great-grandma's recipe? we're related to them? we're portuguese? i thought we were hungarian? grandpa, can you tell me the story again? behind every question is a story waiting to be discovered. (chime) they were able to give me a personal loan so i could pay off all of my credit cards. (chime) 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. eric: back now with one of our top stories, china and coronavirus. you know, newly leaked documents reportedly show that the chinese government was actively manipulating online discussions about the coronavirus pandemic. it is said that beijing created a, quote, army of internet trolls to censor inconvenient information about the virus and china and they say it all started when it first broke out. gordon chang is with us, senior fellow at the gatestone institute, author of the coming collapse of china. gordon, does this surprise you? >> no, it doesn't, eric. because beijing in addition to

the coronavirus epidemic, they've been doing this for years, where they try to control the internet and use it as a weapon and they've got those troll armies that just post all sorts of things in order to create a narrative or to distract from another narrative which is what they did in the coronavirus case as well. eric: what type of things would they do? we know they lied, it seems, to the world health organization because they said coronavirus wasn't contagious and you know what happened to the doctor who discovered it, he was muzzled. >> yes. well, they certainly did this. there's really two major sins here, eric. first of all, as you point out, they knew the coronavirus was highly contagious but they tried to tell the world it was not and they did through the world health organization and they maintained this position for weeks. and then they leaned on countries to accept arrivals from china, even though at the same time they were locking down wuhan, the epicenter, and other portions of their country.

so xi jinping, the chinese ruler, must have thought he was spreading the disease by forcing countries to take those arrivals. you put those together and we know that the spread of the disease beyond china was malicious. so whatever the origin of this bug was, whether it's natural or engineered, china turned it into a biological weapon. eric: so what you're saying, it is not beyond imagination to consider the fact that the government knew it was so contagious, still let people leave and knew they were spreading this killer virus around the globe. >> absolutely. because doctor doctors in wuhanw this was highly contagious, no later than the second week of december. a harvard medical school study suggests they should have known in august. they did not tell the world it was contagious, until they released this on january 20. so for those five weeks or those five months, beijing was trying to deceive the world and clearly

they kept this up, even after january 20th, because after that date they were trying to tell the world that this was no more dangerous than saars, the epidemic that infected only 8400 people worldwide, killed 810 according to official tallies. so they knew it was far more deadly, far more transmissible than sars after january 20 of when they were maintaining this false narrative. eric: gordon, do you think they did this out of embarrassment? out of an attempt to save face? did they do it out of incompetence or neglect or did they have a nefarious plan to spread this around the globe to try kill people, to be aggressive and try to take over power? >> that's a critical question, eric. we don't know what was in the minds of chinese leaders. we do know that if after having seen what the coronavirus did to cripple their own country, if they wanted to get even with everybody else, they would have

done what in fact they did. so we can infer that this was malicious because there's no other explanation that fits the facts, eric, that they deliberately spread this disease beyond their borders. there is really no question about that. whether it was for whatever reason in their minds, this was an attack on the world. eric: and finally, gordon, some would say it's crazy that they would unleash a virus and they would want to kill their own people, this sort of thing. they've suffered tremendously from that. what would you say? is that a defense of them? what would you say to that? >> we don't know the origin of this. scientists are going to be debating this for a very long time, whether this was naturally occurrinoccurring or whether thn accidental release from the wuhan institute of virology. some say it was purposeful. we don't he know that. we do know what chinese leaders did to respond to this and that is where they've committed this

crime against humanity. which, you know, looks like this was an attack on everybody. this is the first time that one nation has attacked all the others on the planet. eric: a crime against humanity says gordon chang. certainly intentional or not is that. gordon, good to see you. thank you. >> thanks, eric. molly: uproar at a private school, a so called anti-racist manifesto signed by some faculty and why some parents are so upset, next. look at this human trying to get in shape. you know what he will get? muscle pain. give up, the couch is calling. i say, it's me, the couch, i'm calling. pain says you can't. advil says you can.

research shows people remember so to help you remember that liberty mutual customizes your home insurance, here's one that'll really take you back. it's customized home insurance from liberty mutual! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ if ththen i'm not a real potato reciidaho potato farmer.shes, genuine idaho potatoes not just a side dish anymore. always look for the grown in idaho seal.

help the world believe in holiday magic.thing and this year was harder than ever. and yet, somehow, you all found a way to pull it off. it's not about the toys or the ornaments but about coming together. santa, santa, you're on mute! just wanted to say thanks. thanks for believing.

molly: turmoil at one of new york city's top private schools after dozens of faculty members signed an eight page anti-racist manifesto with a lengthy list of demands. alex hogan is live in new york city with this story. alex. >> reporter: hi, molly. as we near the end of 2020, we really have seen institutional changes addresses race in all aspects of life, from policing to company culture and education. one school in manhattan releasing a list of anti-racist measures to create an

anti-racist institution. the measures include explicitly addressing being ain' anticipate anti-racist in the curriculum and creating a training program for parents. the head of the school stating community members have braved with us this summer in conversation with me and listening and information sessions, we have much work ahead of us. that's why i'm committing all of us, students, faculty, staff, parents, alumni, and social leadership to you achieving the following goals and vision through action. well, some parents and others are firing back at the school. the blog the naked dollar releasing a list of recommendations about what other measures to take. the list includes ensuring there's no correlation between race and placement in add a vaned class -- advanced classes, including courses on black liberation, mandatory race plot lines in all school plays and playing the student debt back of all black faculty.

the school responded, saying it's a set of thought starters created by a subset of faculty and staff. so the school this morning telling fox that while it welcomes debate really across the board, that it doesn't support all of the language in this memo. molly. molly: alex hogan, thank you very much. eric. eric: and molly, we'll be back as you know later on this afternoon, 4:00 p.m. eastern, three hours from now, with more news on this -- in the east coast, cold sunday. molly. what's up, tom? heyyyy what's this? ah, got him. classic. your cousin. from boston. it says "bad boy" in gaelic... i think. get outta here, debbie! high five. i brought sam. boston lager. we're all friends now.

robinwithout the commission fees. so, you can start investing today wherever you are - even hanging with your dog. so, what are you waiting for? download now and get your first stock on us. robinhood.

keeping your oysters busihas you swamped.

you need to hire. i need indeed indeed you do. the moment you sponsor a job on indeed you get a shortlist of quality candidates from a resume data base claim your seventy-five-dollar credit when you post your first job at indeed.com/promo laura: congress is back in session. right now lawmakers are beginning another round of covid stimulus negotiations after inching closer to a deal late last night. welcome to america's news headquarters, i'm laura ingle. leland: laura, nice to be with you and nice to be with you at home on a sunday. i'm leland better. the first shipments of moderna's covid-19 vaccine are officially out for delivery as top u.s. officials say there could be a third vaccine that lb. -- will be ad