robert: american democracy under pressure. >> it's my job to defend thet. presid robert: president tru and his allies try to delegitimize president-elect bidenct's y. most republicans stay quiet. but democrats are alarmed. >> republicans get over it. stop spending all your time spading lies about the election. robert: meanwhile, the pandemic remains relentless.bi n's transition is stalled. and so is congress. >> more people may die w ife robert: next. te. announcer: this is "washington week."in fund is provided by -- >> before we talk about your investments, what's new? >> well, audrey's expecting. >> twins. >> grandparents.

>> we want to put money aside for them. so change in plans. >>ll right. let's see what we can adjust. >> weould be closer to the twins. >> change in plans. >> ok. >> mom are you painting again? you could sell these. >> get mess. change in plans? >> at fidelity, a change in plans is always part of the plan. announcer: consumer cellular. boeing. additional funding isvi pd by the estate of arnold adams and koo and tricia yuen through the yuen foundation.co itted to bridging cultural diffences in our communities the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. once again from washington moderator robert costa. robert: good evening. tonight, president trump

remains intent on using hisiv execpower to overturn the sults of this year's election. while e efforts led byis lawyer, rudy giuliani, have failed to gain traction in court, they are nonethele testing american democracy. the latest gambit being pushed giuliani and sfeef bannon is an attempt to disrupt the electoral college which convenes next month. in short,ss there is a pe campaign on state republicans to refuseti to c president-man elect biden's vi comes as this pandemic continues to ravage the nation. 250,000 americans have now died from with outbreaks nationwide and hospitals strained. joining us tonight are three top reporteo discuss it all. peter baker, chief white house correspondent for "the new york times." asma khalid, political correspondent for n.p.r. and co-host of national public radio's politics podcast and paula re, white house correspondent for cbs news. let's start with the news. the tnomp team hiter wall

friday when georgia's republican secretary of state certified biden's win and michigan republicans tonight showed no signs of budging after meeting with president trump. paula, you join us from the white house.de what is the pre going to do now? paula: what we've seen over past weekhis a from this legal campaign that has been almost entely unsuccessful to a campaign of political pressure. andothing was a clearer example of that than today when two michigan lawmakers came here to the white house to meet with president. tru and he was expected to try to pressure them to try to flip that state which of course president-elect joe biden won. bu following their meeting with the president, those two lawmakers released a statement. they said loonok, we've see information, no evidence that would change the outcome in our state. and they also notably said that they believe that this process should be free from threats and intimidation. the president we are told is get some pennsylvania lawmakers

to come here, too. but it's clear even if thissu pr campaign was successful in a state or two, itould not change the electoral map for the president. there is no wayat to litor pressure his way to 270 electoral votes. robert: peter, the president stymied in georgia, michigan, perhaps pennsylvania, what is the big picture here? you receny wrote that mr. trump is doing something that no sitting president hasone in american history. peter: well, that's right. and i thk ink this ws actually a turn even further toward the unprecedented whe he moved beyond even just the sort of specious claims he's been making in court about non-existent fraud or fraud that isn't backed up by any evidence. now he's turned toward trying to pressure the -- the system itselfn to overca -- overturn the will of the voters,g calli these wayne county election officials and now today as we just talked m about thehigan lawmakers. now, in the end, i don't think it makes a difference in the

d. january 20, 2021, joe biden will become the president of the united state nothing we've seen so far indicates that there's going to be any change in that tatsoever. n the meantime, he is ratcheting up the pressure and he is putting great, eno strain on the system. a system that relies on faith of the voters. and what's really remarkable abouthis is he is convinced a majority of his own votersnd a majorica of repub that something untoward happened in this campaign. and that will be lasting impact. he'll leave office. he'll go home wherever he decides to go. but in the enda lot of americans who support donald trump will believe that edmething -- something cro happened in an election that his own department of home-security official said was most secure election inam ican history. robert: that lasting impact is an importan point. president biden next year would have to deal with that sentiment in parts of this country. listen to president-elect biden speaking to this momehnt onsday. president-elect biden: he will go down in history as

of the most irresponsible presidents in american history.t it's har fathom how this man thinks. it's hard to fathom. i'm confident he knows he hasn't won and is not going to be able to win and w going to be sworn in on january 20. robert: asma, whats the biden strategy? asma: well, the biden strategy is that a bit of a glimp wh you saw there. i was with joe biden a couplehi of timesweek when he did take reporter questions. and there was in notion of, are you at all conrned that through this attempt to undermine the democratic process that president trump might try to be -- de ligt mizing your own victory? and joe biden was remarkably at least publicly optimistic in insisting that he did not think that -- thees endt. the biden legal team has been holding some briefings in what we've been told is they have concerns that the rhetoric from the trump team is no doubt very harmful to democracy.

no doubt harmful to democratic inst autions. buin, they don't believe president trump actually will be able to overturn the results. has it that the joe biden was 306 eltoral votes and even if president trump is, you know, successful in one state or so, he is not going to be able to change the result. i mean, to peter's point, though, i do think there are bigger questions about the lasting implications regardless of when president trump leaves office athut wha means for the health of our country d the health of democratic robert: asma, wha do you think it does mean? what does your reporting tell you about the answer to those questions?i asmaan, those to me are such unclear questions at this moment i mean, there is a remarkably upbeat attitude, at least publicly, from the biden campaign. hey have expressed a frustration about the delayed transition process and the uncoordinated trantion

process. but, you know, in terms of what at might mean for voters, and civil discourse in this country, i would argue that over the last four yearsf i look at my own reporting from 2016 to 2020 t. hasecome remarkably more difficult as a reporter to do grassroots reporting i a number communities. and i do worry that it will have civil discoursef we to can't agree upon basic information and this certainly doesn't help. robert: paula, you laid out the state of play tonight at the white house. but i wonder, based on my my own reporting why the president is sticking with rudy giuliani. we saw the news conference this week. the president is not gaining he's not gaining legally right now. i'm told the president sticks with giuliani because of shared grievances. they have a generaor ra and the president insists that he has been treated poorly by th democrats and he essentially wants to give it right back to them. that it's revenge in part for how he feels he's been treated over the past four yrs.

paula: absolutely. and the president will be the first one to tell y believes that rudy giuliani is a very respectan in america. well, naffs certainly true at one point in i time. hiolvement in many. president's legal controveres has really undermined a lot of his integrity. that press conference that we w yesterday, that was a bizae press conference that very few attorneys in this ayuntry couldas really serving his client well. in speaking with other members ofhe l president'sal team, he has many different attorneys in different parts of his public and private life. lo, nobody else wants to involved in this case. they know this is a losing battle. they're waiting to see what happened in pennsyl math was maybe on their side if th could take it to the supreme urt whe it became clear there was no way to litigate his way to 270 v electoraes his stronger attorneysegged off. really living rudy giuliani and jen lisa:, someone who has publicly insultd the preside t in the pa only ones willing to take on this ass and the president is willing to

ve them. robert: peter, the preside may have those ambitions but certain pat toome tells me on the record nothing is going to change in pennsylvania. and republican leaders on been pretty quiet. not fighting the president but not indorsing him any big way. and in the states, there are calls for integrity here is orgia's republican secretary earlier today. >> i live by the motto that numbers don'tie. as secretary of state, i believe that thebe n that correct.resenting today are the numbers reflect the verdict of the people. not a decision by the secreta of state's office or of crts or of either campaigns. robert: peter, from wrathens berger to toomey to lear mcconnell what is going on inside the republican party? peter: well, look, in some ways that'she biggest sto what was going on here, right? is any of us surprised that

donald tru is not cepting defeat? no. we shouldn't be surprised by that. he told us that for months. he told us that for months any election result other than a victory for him he wouldar terize as somehow rigged. so he let us know what he was going to do and not surprising in that sense. it is a little bit interesting to watch these republicans, though, trying toavigate i think that they originally thought that they could give the president some room to sort of lash out for a little while and eveually reality would hit. and he would come around. but so far, hasn't happened. i think you're sing some impatience now among republicans on capitol hill that the feeling thatgihey're ing to -- this is going on so long that it's doing damage to not just the president and the system but to themselves and the republican party in the long run. you see bit by bit and slowly by slowly that impatience come out. whether that will lead to something in the next few days, the week, of a more direct kind of intervention i'm not sure. about.they're talking is there a way to intervene with this president? and barry goldwater and john rhodes kind of moment that we've seen in f the last

weeks. that's for sure. robert: peter, you just referenced goldwater going to nixon in 1974. i'm readiutg your book a jim baker who would intervene with president trump? is there a james baker in this republican party who could pull president trump aside and senaeyr romnas spoken out, is there anyone else who could play that baker role? peter: well, the problem is there is no james baker today in the republican party.'s different kind of party. it's a different kind of party and a president that's not all that interesn listening to people that had any other point of view other than his own. his ownn d.h.s. official i charge of election security saying the election was secure the president this week just fired him. ohe doesn't want t hear anybody telling him anything other than what he believes. the only person i think with the kind of weight to really go to him and have any possible impact would bch mcconnell. and have to be with the backing which mitonnell would an caucusm never do unless he did have that backing. mitt romney will not be able to be persuasive with the president. you know, certainly susan collins and these others who have talked about the president

that kind of influence with him. but mitch mcconnell is probabl the oson with in a kind of weight assuming he were to go in with the support of his caucus. robert: asma, mcconnell still waiting for the georgia senate runoffs to take place january. what does this all mean for those two raceness georgia? do your democrources perhaps see an opening for the party to run against the president's conduct?n, asma: i mhat is certainly what democrats are hoping for in the state of georgia. i think the challenge is, though, that while this is all going on in thekg bund, we saw that the vice president, mike pence, was campaigning for thosate runoffs in the state of georgia today. so in many ways, would argue this sort of longevity of this is drawn out process that the president has, you kno put -- in their view advous to ers is a what's going on in the state of georgia. you kn, i will say mos democrats candidly are not particularly optimistic about the odds. wed to them about the senate and they will say it is

-- it will be a challenge. and i think there is a widespread recognition in the democratic par that joe biden will likely have to deal with divided government. that is sort of the cotentional wisdom among m democrats. robert: and i wrote this week for the post about how georgia nator david perdue on a private phone call with donors said maybe he and senatorlo fler down there are going to have to be quote alone that they can't count n president trump like vice president pence today to come down to georgia to get involved, to boost repu.icans down the paula, i saw you nodding. you want to jump in for a moment? paula: absolutely. the president has shown no interest in doing anything other than remaining here at the white house and tweeting, even as -- his thanksgiving plans were canceled. something as snificant as control of the senate, today the vice president said look, th may be all we have to protect our legacy and to protect what we've done. it's so important, to this point there's no indication the president is really going to throw his weight behind this effort. robert: meanwhile, the pandemic stops for no one. we're just days as paula said

from thanksgiving. and while promising news on vaccines, the biden transition is stal so is congress. when it comes to stimulus ns negotiat and it isn't easy to get clarity on the administration's plans. >> wile get through this. and we will get through this together. thank you all. >> mr. vice president -- >> are you not -- are you really -- >> why is the federal government -- >> what is going on? >> you're not working with the transition? >> democracy -- you're all undermining the democratic every one of you. and you -- robert: what a scene. peter, wha is the story inside the task force? is it fully functioning or adrift? peter: no, it's not fully functioning. it's barely functioning. g,e meet the public briefing was the first time we've seen them obviously in months. this is a president w hasn't net r met with them according to dr. fauci for months.

obviouy they want to put out that image, this week, of them at the pode up.bu they -- podium. but they weren't willing to take questions. either the vesident or the others and the president has not taken any questions on anything since the election. and this is an extraordinary period right now. we've lost since the election probably 18,000 -- i haven't checked lates number. 18,000 americans or something like that have died of the just since the ele alone. that's an extraordinary death toll. at's six 9-11s and not seen the president take a leadership role on anything other thai ng credit for the vaccine. the white house told us before the election they had given up ying to c the virus. and they put all of their eggs in effect in the virus -- the vaccinendherapeutics baskets. but even as promising as those vaccines now look it'ng to be months before most average americans are able to get it. and a lot of hardship and pain and death between now and next ril that say when most in a kind of varksine. and we haven't seen the president take aeadership

role on that at this very delicate momt. robert: asma, what at the stimulus? president-elect bideen met earlier friday with speaker losi, leader schumer. is he trying to bring them together to cut a deal during the lame duck? orre they waiting until 2021? asma: he h said and democrats have been insisting that lame ck deal is the preference. earlier this week, biden did emphasize the fact that he wants some sort of covid relief bill. and he emphasized the fact that that needs to happen now. so really his urgency is on the lame duck session. i mean, i think the question that i have and t question that i have posed to folks but not going to -- a clear answer fr the bid team is does that mean that some sort of package, a quick package takes precedence over the size of that package? and we don't have a answer of that. what i will say is that one of biden's long-time economic advisors, jared bernstein, in a q&a with some business reporters this week, did emphasize that speed i addition to size and content

are all key factors for any stimulus bill. but he said that in his view, at least, this was one ofn bi economic advisors, and in his view, that speed is perhaps the most important factor right now just given the fact that peoe are going to in be ent the holidays with possibly being evicted from their homes and felt speed was the most important factor. robert: paula, what are you hearing on the stimulus? i'm told paula: we saw treasury has started to roll back some of the reliefrograms that they had put in place earlier this year. and when it comeso the coronavirus, and its economic impact, according to our sources, on the task force, these doctors have madet clea to the vice president that this is a dire situation.r earlis week, they told the vice president we could see up to 2,000eas a day by christmas. it's easy to see not only the

humanoll butlso the economic tol the situation is going to get worse. but at this pointt does not appear that any sort of economic relief is a priorit here at the trump white house. robert: paula, quick followup, is the president still listening to dr. scotttlas of stanford university who's been critical of governors and their responses to the pandemic? paula: scott atlas is still --. cott atlas is still here at the white house. he does media appearances. he does not answer questions from reporters and according to he will often attend meetings but he will not speak. and some people suggest that serh back to the president. now, these other doctors, though, they made it clear to e vice president, tha he and the president must get out. they must get out and get the message to americans that they have to start taking measures to mitigate this spread. nd i can say one thing after year now, is the federal government has faile in i messaging to convince people that this tly is a threat and

seriously and now they have the challenge of trying to convince people to take a vaccine for something they haven't even convinced them is a and there's a lot of concerns about the vaccine and how quickly it moved. the challeng enormous. and it's just not clear how they're going to meet this moment. robert: and the biden team has its own challenges. they're frustrated. here is president-elect biden this week. president-elect biden: if we have to wait until january 20 to start that planning, i puts us behind over a month, month and a half. i and s important thait coordination. there be now. robert: peter, emily murphy at the general services administration won't allow the transition to happen. high level intelligenc briefings. federal funds. what does that mean for president-elec biden? peter: well, i think you saw the president-man elect put his finger on it. many instances in many areas of the government, it may not make that big of difference because

the team coming i just left four years ago, his team is full of people who have a lot government experience. they know where the bodies are buried and how t system works. but the one area where it clearly has a great deal of urgency is on this issue of the covid pandemic and particularly the distribution of this vaccine as he described it of course. they need to be able to hit the ground running on day one. to -- theistribution of th going and make sure it's heading in the right direction. day or a week delay. rd even a that means every week of delay are peoe who are going to die as a result of this. so that's why there's a sense of urgency there. here the one sver of good news, though, bob, i would say. you saw the president take vaccine. the not, the point is he is invested in it. and that means if- assumingpr ident-elect biden is also invested in this vaccine, we may have a situation wre politically, at least it's not drawn on partisan lines. you have to convince the pubc at the vaccine is safe and something that they want to take. if you have both president trump a incoming president

biden endorsing the vaccine, that will go a long wayoward taking the politics out of that equation for many americans. robert: inside the biden transition team, asma, do you see any kinof back channeling to try to get ready despite the g.s.a. not approving a? transiti asma: from -- what we've been told at least, as it regards to covid, you know, they don't have the information they say eed. point is he does and he continues to work with a number of public health officials who were part of the obama administration. so there is expertise and know how. but the challenge for them they say is they don't have access to crent real time information. so they're relying on say the public dashboards that we all lay people rely on, too, for what'soi on around the covid crisis. so they don't have access and saying to both vaccines ployment but also clear information on say personal pment ive equi and so they're trying to compensate for that in other ways. earlier this week, biden and

harris both met with a group of bipartisan governors and they were able to get some informa governors about what are some of the resource problems that they've had with the federal government and what are some of the stockpilingas concern well as vaccines, and by speaking with governors with republicans and democrats, they were able to get somethat information. robert: and asma, quickly, are we going to see any cabinet nominations next week? asma: joe biden hinted that might see a treasury secretary announcement somewre around thanksgiving. robert: paula, what are you looking for next week when you open yourotebook? paula: well, i'm looking to see what the president is going to do p with hisdon power over the next two months. i'm looking at this every single day. this is incredibly significante becaong before any outcome of the election, someone suggested to me that if the president did not win, given his significantebt and his enormous really blanket power to people or commute flair sentences that there was a danger there that there could

be a lot of grist happening here. so - grift hap ning here. so we'reooking at whether the president is trying to pardon any of his friends, associates or familyembers or if this is any sort of exchange or grift for people looking for a part looking for a commutation. robert: i thought you were going to talk about maybe pardoning t turkey next week. asma: that, too. robert: that, too. we will have to keep an e for that. as me i'll keep watching. leader mcconnell, what's he going too and when will he speak out? what is he going to say? peter, we're going to have to leave it there but we'll get to you in the era and keep talking politics throughout all of this. thank you so much for being here. that's allhe time we have for tonight. peter baker, asma khalid, and paula reid. thank you so much for being here at "washington week." you all keep taking our conversation continues as i eid on ourra, on our social media and website. and before we go, i would like bid farewell to "washington week's" long-time associate director mary francis

after a great run at weta she will now be able to actually relax on friday nights during her retirement. wish her all the i'm robert costa. good night from washington. announcer: corporate funding for "washington week" is provided by -- [music]

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narrator: hollywood s architect the paul r. williams story has been made the richard h. driehaus foundation itvs, the independent television service with funding provided by the corporation for public broadcasting the washington dc commission on the arts and humanities the american institute of archicts and ariel investments ♪ie lonn: paul williams was one of the most gifted architects of the 20th century. bunda: his legacy of dings is so strong and so compelling and so wide raing. karen: he had a teacher who very clearly told him, "you cannot be an architect. wesley: he was the first african american architect to have a major crossover appeal to a white clientele, movie afars, movie moguls, uent people of all kinds.