lysol. what it takes to protect. you're fired. president trump continues to drop the ax on his administration. president-elect joe biden receives a non-governmental national security briefing as the transition continues at a snail's pace. >> and a fist bump on the floor. could it be a sign of acceptance. a covid self-test you can do

at home. plus an important message to every parent. the anxiety and depression on teens as they struggle through the pandemic. what role did social media play? we'll hear from mark zuckerberg and jack dorsey. the sexiest man of 2020. do you know who it is? let's get to it right now. i'm phillip mena. >> i'm frances rivera. in a tweet last night president trump fired christopher krebs who debunked the conspiracy theories. it continues as he continues to block president-elect joe biden's transition. >> reporter: president trump on twitter firing the top u.s.

election security official who publicly refuted his baseless claims of widespread fraud, the president directly tying the firing to chris krebs' statement who said, quote, this was the most secure election in the history. it comes as the trump administration announced the u.s. is pulling more troops out of afghanistan and iraq, leaving only 2,500 american servicemembers in each country, just days before joe biden will take his place as president. >> by may it is president trump's hope they'll come home safely and in their entirety. >> reporter: several lawmakers criticize the move includes the president's allies. >> i think a precipitous drawdown in either afghanistan or iraq would be a mistake. >> reporter: still being denied access to the top-level intelligence briefings incoming

administration's normally received, joe biden meeting with diplomatic experts outside the government. >> we don't have any of that right now. >> reporter: the biden team will face critical day one challenges on multiple fronts. leaders of some of the top medical associations join in a letter, urging president trump to share covid-19 data with the incoming administration. despite the delays, the president-elect is moving forward, naming more members of his senior staff, many of them women, reflecting promises of diversity. in washington, alice barr, nbc news. as a third coronavirus surge intensifies across the country, the death toll is creeping toward the quarter million mark. so far 11.4 million have been affected.

for now it's prescription-only. senator chuck grassley is in isolation after testing positive for coronavirus. he did not say he how had been exposed. the 87-year-old is third in line to the presidency. >> reporter: all 50 states across our nation now have covid cases on the rise by at least double digits. california is in crisis again. daily case counts are doubling here in just ten days. long lines for testing stretch from dawn to dusk. >> louisiana .a. is in a very d situation. >> reporter: hospitals could be overwhelm big christmas if no action is taken. >> if we don't take action now, we will have to shut things down again and people will get sick

and die. >> reporter: nbc news obtaining a white house report calling it aggressive, unrelenting, expanding. with a record 73,000 hospitalized on thursday, ohio begins a three-week curfew from 10:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. >> we're in an utter emergency here. >> reporter: dr. daniel johnson works the icu in nebraska. >> if we don't change the way we're living our lives, we will not get control of this. >> reporter: with many getting tested so they can go home for the holidays, doctors say it's not safe to travel. if you gather for thanksgiving, you could be planning a funeral for christmas. several european countries have reimposed coronavirus lockdowns and tough restrictions in order to curb the spread of covid-19. but while a second wave is sweeping through the continent, there are signs of hope.

the latest numbers suggest that the lockdown numbers may be working. we bring in chapman bell, live in london. chapman, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, frances. many countries across europe have seen lockdown measures reimposed, not as strict as they were in spring, but still stricter than they had been during the summer, and many countries are starting to see a decline in a total number of cases. we're seeing this in belgium, france, and the netherlands, while germany, spain, and italy, their numbers are starting to stabilize, which is a positive sign. but many hospitals are at capacity or their icus in particular are reaching overcapacity. they're having to send some patients to neighboring countries for some treatment, which has been a bit of a worry for some places, but these numbers normally follow the number of cases. in germany, chancellor angela

merkel said she wished she had imposed tougher measures and sooner, but the governor there facing protests even today in berlin against the measures as they're getting fed up with these lockdown measures even though they seem to be working. here in the uk, we're in the second lockdown, numbers appear to be stainlebilizing. deaths have dropped since early may. there's a light at the end of the tunnel, they're putting vaccination plans in place by the end of the year or early in the new year. >> we hope to mirror that here. thank you. president trump's challenges with the election will hit a wave. he has until 5:00 p.m. eastern to try to save its case in the testing results in pennsylvania. and the deadline to recount wisconsin is this evening.

georgia is planning to finish its hand count today and certifica certify it by friday. even when tabulated, joe biden leads by 13,000. tracie, president-elect joe biden is focused the future even though president trump refuses to concede. >> right. they're watching the recount, but they're working toward establishing this new government especially when it comes to dealing with covid-19. today president-elect biden is meeting with frontline health care workers. yesterday it was national security officials outside the government since he still has not been granted the classified briefings his team says are critical to their mission. >> i'm not being critical. i'm just stating the obvious. you know i've been unable to get the briefings that ordinarily would have come by now, and

there's no responsibility more important than protecting the american people. >> in all of these elections we duo through a process. there's a way to deal with the disputes. it's called the courts. the courts are dealing with whatever disputes there are, whatever evidence is provided. and we're going to have an orderly transmission from this to the next. >> he seas it's going to be orderly despite some of the challenges we're seeing right now. that's what we're hearing from some republicans. others say there's no reason president-elect biden shouldn't be getting briefings at this point. now it's time to get a check of your wednesday weather with nbc meteorologist janessa webb. janessa, good morning. >> good morning. we continue to see the devastation across nicaragua and

central america. it's now a tropical storm. that's good news, but we've already seen 20 inches of rain for this area as the system pushes offshore. at home, you'd better have your parka. the chill is on across the ohio valley to the northeast. our current windchills are in the lower 30s. so we're below the freezing mark for new york city. look at that.place, but that is allow for a lot more sunshine throughout your afternoon for ohio to the northeast, and still very comfortable air for the south and southeast. you need to get to dallas. 73 this afternoon. watching a storm system in the

pacific northwest, we'll talk about that coming up. >> looking forward to hearing that. thank you, janessa. when we come back, the devastating impact on teen mental health. in the spotlight, lawmakers grill the ceos of twitter and facebook. (sound from wind chimes) neighbor 2: (laughing) at least geico makes bundling our home and car insurance easy. which helps us save even more. neighbor 2: hey, sarah, hey, peter! neighbor 1: touché. neighbor 2: ahhh! neighbor 1: pret! neighbor 2: en garde! for bundling made easy, go to geico.com ...crunchy oat clusters with a hotouch of honey...ombine... ...plump, juicy raisins... ...and tasty fiber... ...into one delicious cereal? it took a lot of branstorming. get it? kellogg's raisin bran crunch. two scoops of delicious. feelit could be a signighed down? that your digestive system isn't working at its best. taking metamucil everyday can help.

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it took a lot of branstorming. get it? kellogg's raisin bran crunch. two scoops of delicious. we erie back with our weeklong series about mental health. this morning, the impact on teens and hoping to help others from suffering the same strategy they have. >> reporter: it was the call that changed their lives. just four days before his 13th birthday, brad and april's son haden died by suicide. >> it was the middle of the lockdown in april, and he had broken his monitor that he got for christmas. he broke it on accident kind of getting mad. we went in the kitchen and i

hugged him and kissed him on the head. >> reporter: that was the last time he saw hayden. >> i might have missed him by a minute from saving him. >> reporter: his death, brad said, was a casualty of covid. >> you said you felt if your son had still been in school, he would still be alive. do you still feel that way? >> 100%. covid is terrible thing, i don't want to discount that. human condition is not meant to be socially isolated. it's just not. >> reporter: just two days after he buried his son, brad made a video now viewed more than 100 million times. warning other parents of the hidden dangers of covid. >> i don't want nobody to ever see what i saw and to feel his pain. >> why did you all decide to speak publicly about your pain? >> suicide is a very -- i don't know. there's a stigma. i lost my dad to a suicide.

so it's always been a very painful subject. i think it's important to let people know that it's okay to show your feelings about it and not be ashamed. >> reporter: in september one report found more than half of the kids surveyed thought of suicide or self-harm. in fact, 11 to 17-year-olds had been more likely than any other age group to experience symptoms of anxiety and depression during the pandemic. they created hayden's corner. >> to meant to have a conversation about suicide even if your kid's not suicidal, you can't fathom it. >> reporter: experts say parents should be aware of behavioral and personality changes. if a child becomes more irritable or withdrawn for more than two weeks or talks about dying, they should reach out for

help. >> this is not political. this is parental. >> what would you say to over parents to give them hope? >> you've got to keep going forward. you can't give up. they wouldn't want that for you. >> reporter: experts say it's not only important to monitor the shifts in your child's behavior, but it's to make sure your kids can stay connected albeit from a distance so they can still feel like they belong. experts say it's important for your child to maintain a consistent schedule and find important and meaningful ways to disconnect and relax. phillip? >> it's such an important message to get out there. >> if there's someone who needs help, the prevention line is 1-800-273-8255. we'll be right back. spray, wipe, rinse. ...crunchy oat clusters with a hotouch of honey...ombine...

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abundant solar and wind energy, but it's not available all day long. use less energy from 4 to 9 pm for a cleaner california. in today's quick hits, spike lee says his next project will be about the origin of viagra. he's taking from the screenplay. do the right thing. candy giant mars is buying the company behind kind nut bar and granola to buy into healthier snacks for around $5 billion. conan o'brien will end his nightly talk show in june,

capping off a 28-year career in late night television. conan's not done yet. he'll be moving to hbo maxx to host a variety series. the senate hearing committee grilled jack dorsey and facebook's mark zuckerberg over the handling of the election. our jo ling kent has the story. good morning. >> reporter: hi, frances. in the span of a month, mark zuckerberg and jack dorsey both taking the stand yet again by video, answering tough questions from both republicans and democrats. a lot of the focus was the fallout of the 2020 election and what conservatives believe to be anti-conservative bias on the platform while democrats were really concerned about misinformation and disinformation spreading across the platform. another interesting thing that came up is whether the platforms are doing enough to curb misinformation and bias of any

kind by labeling content. senator dianne feinstein bringing this up with both dorsey and zuckerberg asking whether it's enough to label a tweet or flag a tweet saying that there may be more information that contradicts what, sea what, seay, president trump is saying. both companies confirmed president trump will lose his special status once he leaves office in terms of what he's able to tweet what is left up because right now he does receive an exception. the big question now moving ahead is how will these tech company bess regulated if the companies maintain control of the senate and they don't. there's a lot of uncharted path ahead, and both dorsey and zuckerberg say they're open to different levels of regulation, and they appear to be waiting on congress to make the next move. frances? >> we'll see how that makes a difference in our feeds. thank you, jo. next on "early today," janessa is tracking storms on

the west coast. move over, "people's" sexiest man alive dons a hazmat suit for the big reveal. ♪ it might be a small one or a giant leap. maybe it's a memory of you alone. or one with him... or them. it could feel like magic. or it might just warm your heart. your next memory is out there, it's just waiting to be made. to new memories. hilton and our family of hotels. try nature's bounty sleep 3 a unique tri layer supplement,

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sure. is it michael b. jordan? >> are you michael b. jordan? >> yeah, i am. >> oh, my god. >> look at this. >> whoa. >> oh, my god. >> man alive! michael b. jordan. >> what a reveal for "people" magazine.

sexiest man alive, michael b. jordan. he appeared on "jimmy kimmel live" in that suit. fans guessed after some clues. kimmel even flashed back to their last interview where he presubjected jordan would be the frontrunner for the 2020 award. >> not a big shock. >> or as you said, anthony fauci. >> he deserves it too. >> some are into the fauc. >> health is sexy. it would be a familiar sign of the season, but this year there's more to it. we're talking about the star that will sit atop the rockefeller christmas tree. here's nbc's harry smith. >> reporter: on the "today" show we saw it. if only for a moment, a glimpse of the star atop the rockefeller center christmas tree. funny how a thing not even lit yet it cheers us up.

it reminds us year after year through thick and thin there's always a christmas tree. the depths of the great depression, workers happy to have a job, working the great complex, pooled their money to buy the tree. this year many feel we really need the tree. all of the loss, the anxiety t pressure of making things work, making ends meet. the tree will bring welcome light. and though darkness will give way but for a few weeks, we will gaze and dream like those workers years ago of better days ahead. harry smith, nbc news, new york. >> this year, this season, things have different meanings. we're all looking at it from a different perspective. >> as much as we don't like the crowds congregating, it wouldn't be the same without the tree.

birthdays we're celebrating. chloe turns 46. mike epps turns 60. perkins turns 60. kevin knee land is 67. ♪ with triple cheese and bacon or chili cheese. try my sauced and loaded fries. it's pretty delicious.

seasoned curly fries, with triple cheese and bacon or chili cheese. try my sauced and loaded fries. it's pretty delicious. i've gotten more calls today than in the last couple of days. right now at 4:30, breaking news. new hope on the horizon. the vaccine process being made as covid cases spike across the bay area and the country. and testing made easy. the bay area company getting the green light to sell new at-home kits. we'll show you how it works. plus, the rain across the bay area moving out. but wet weather is on its way. here's a live look at san francisco where it's clearing up. meteorologist kari hall is timing out the rest of the week ahead. "today in the bay" starts right now. a v