robert: american democracy under pt'ssure. >> i my job to defend the president. robert: president trump and his allies try to delegitimize president-elect biden's ctory. most republicans stay quiet. but democrats are alarmed. >> republicans get over it. stop spending all your time spreading lies about the election. robert: meanwhile, the pandemic remains relentless. biden's transition is stalled. and so congress. >> more people may die if we don't coordinate. robert: next. announcer: this is "washington week." funding 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. >> all right. let's see what we can adjust. >> we would be closo the twins. >> change in plans. >> ok. >> mom are youg paint again? you could sell these. >> let me guess. change in plans? >> at fidelity, a change in plans is always part of the plan. announcer: consumer cellular. boeing. additional funding is by the estate of arnold adams and koo and patricia yuen through the yue foundation. committed to bridging cultural differences in our communities. the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.n once agom washington moderator robert costa. robert: good eving. tonight, president trump

remains intent on using his executive power to overturn the results of this year's election. while the efforts led by his lawyer, rudy giuliani, have failed to gain traction in court, they are n etheless testing american democracy. by gi and sfeef bannon is shed i an attempt to disrupt the electoral college which convenes next month. in short, there is a pressure ampaign on state republican president-man elect biden's victories. this all comes as this pandemic continueso ravagthe nation. 250,000 americans have now died from it. wi outbreaks nationwide and hospitals strained. joining us tonight are three top deporters tocuss 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 politicscast and paula reid, white house correspondent for cbs news.t' start with the news. the trump team hit another wall

friday when georgia's republicanecretary of state certified biden's win andmi igan republicans tonight showed no signs of budging after meeting with president trump. paula, you join us from the white house. what ishe president going t do now? paula: what we've seen ove past week is a shift from this legal campaign that ha been almost entirely unsuccessful to a campaign of political pressure. and nothing was a clearer example of that than today when two michigan lawmakers came here to the white house to meet with president and he was expected to try to pressure them to try to flip that state whi of course president-elect joe biden won. but following their meeting with the president, those two lawmakerme released a sta. they said look, we've seen no information, no evidence that the outcome in our state. and they also notably said thate they belhat this process should be free from threats and midation. the president we are told is also possibly going to try to get somea pennsylvaawmakers

to come here, too. but it's clear even if this pressure campaign was successful in a state or two, it would not change the electoral map for t.e presid there is no way to litigate or pressure his way to 270 electoral votes. robert: peter, the president stymied ineorgia, michigan, perhaps pennsylvania, what is the big picture here? you recentlyr. wrote that trump is doing something that no sitting president has done in american history. peter: well, that's right. and i think this week was actually a turn even further toward the unprecedented when he moved beyond even just the ci sort of ss claims he's been making in court about no existent fraud or fra that isn't backed up by any evidence. g w he's turned toward tryin to pressure the -- the system itself tovercan -- overturn the will of the voters, calling these wayne county election officials and now today as we just talked about the michigan lawmakers. now, in the end i dot think it makes a difference in the

end. january 20, 2021, joe biden will become the president of the united state nothing we've seen far indicates that there's going to be any change in that whatsoever. but in the meantime, he is ratcheting up the pr he is putting great, enorms strain on the system. a stem that relies on faith of the voters. and what's really remarkable about thiss he is convinced a majority of his own voters and a majority of republicans that something untoward happened in this campaign. and that will be lasting impact. he'll leave. he'll leffice. he'll go home wherever he decides to go. but in the end, a lot of americans who support donald trum will believe that something -- something crooked happened in an election that his own deparent of home-security official said was most secure election in american history robert: that lasting impact is an important point. president biext year would have to deal with that sentiment in parts of this let's listen to president-elect biden speaking to this moment on thursday. presidt-elect biden: he will go down in his as being one

f the most irresponsible it's hard to fathom how this man tnks. it's hard to fathom. i'm confident he knows he hasn't won and is not going to be able to win gnd we'reng to be sworn in on january 20. robert: asma, what is the biden strategy? asma: well, the biden strategy is that a bit of a glimpse of i was with joe biden a couple of times this week when he did take reporter there was in notion of, are you at allth conrned through this attempt to undermine the democratic reprocess thatdent trump might try to be -- de ligt mizing your ownictory? and joe biden was remarkably at least publicly optimistic in insisting that he did not think that -- the end result. the biden legal team hasee holding some briefings in what we've been told is they have concerns tt the rhetoric from the trump team is no doubt very rmful to democracy.

no doubt harmful to democratic institutions. but again, they d believe that there isny path in way um president actually will be able to overturn the results. the associated press has it that the js biden 306 electoral votes and even if 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 areer biuestions about the lasting implications regardless of when president trump leaves office about what this means and the health of democratic institutions. robert: asma, what do you think it does mean? at does your reporting tell you about the answer to those questions? asma: i mean, those to me are such unclear questions at this moment. i an, there i a remarkably upbeat attitude, at leastic pu, from the biden campaign. they have expressed a transition process and the d uncoordinated transition

process. you know, in that might mean for voters,nd civil discourse in this country, i would argue that over the last four look at my own reporting from 2016 to 2020 t. has become remarkably more difficult as a reporter to do grassroots reporting in aumber of communities. and i do worry that it will become even more difficult to have civil discoursef we can't agree upon basic information and this certainly doesn't help. state of play tonight at the e white house. but i wonder, based on my my own reporting why the president is sticking with rudy giuliani. we saw the ns conference this week. the president is not gaining ll politi he's not gaining legally right now. i'm told the president sticks with giuliani because of shared nces. they have a generati rapport. and the president insists that heas been treated poorly by the democrats and he essentially wants to give it that it's revenge in part for how he feels he's been treated over the past ur years. paula: absolutely.

and the president will be the first one to tell you that he beeves that rudy giuliani is a veryespected man in america. well, naffs certainly true at one point in time. his involvement in many.en press legal controversies has really undermined a lot of his integrity. that press cnce that we saw yesterday, that was apr bizarrs conference that very few attorneys in this country could say was reall serving his client well. in speaking with other members ofhe president legaleam, he has many different attorneys in different parts of hispu ic and private life. look, nobody else wants to be involved in this case. they know this is a losing battle. they're waiting to see what happened in pennsylvania if the math was on their side if they could take it to the supreme court when it became clear there was no way to litigate his way to 270 ectoral votes his stronger attorneys begged off. really living rudy giuliani and jen lisa:, someoneho has publicly insultd the president in the past the only ones willing to take on this assignment.e and resident is willing to

have them. robert: per, the president may have those ambitions but certain pat toomey a replllican me on the record nothing is going to change in pennsylvania. and republican leaders onl capill, this week have been pretty quiet. not fighting the president but not endorsing him in any big way. and in the states, there are calls for integrity here iss georgiepublican secretary of state brad rathensbe earlier today. >> i live by the motto that numbers don't lie. as secretary of state, i believe that the numbers that we are presenting today are correct. the numbers reflect the verdict of the people. not a decision by the secretary of state's office osr of c or of either campaigns. robert: peter, from berger to toomey to leader mcconnell what is going on inside the republicaty? peter: well, look, in some ways st story what is any of us surprised that donald tru is not accepting

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 would characterize as somehow rigged. so he lett us know w he was going to do and not surprising in that sense. it is a little bit interesting to wat theselicans, though, trying toavigate this. i think that they originally the president some room to sort of lash out for a little while and eventually reality w hit. and he would come around. but so far, hasn't happened. i think you're seeing some impatience now among republicans on capitol hill beginning to -- this is going on so long that it's doing damage to not president and the system but to themselves and the republican party in the long run. you see bit by bit and slowly by slowly tha iatience come out. whether that will lead to something in the next few days, the next week, of a more direct kind of intervention i'm not sure. that's what they're talking about. is there a way to intervene with this president? and barry goldwater and john rhodes kind of mthat we've seen in the last few

weeks. that's for sure. robert: peter,ou just referenced goldwater going to nixon in 1974. i'm reading your book about jim baker who would intervene with president trump? is there a jamesaker in this republican party who could pull president trump aside and senator romney has spoken out, play that baker role? ho could peter: well, the problem is there is nod james baker in the republican party. it's a different kind of party. it's a dferent kind of party and a president that's not all thatonterested in listening people that had any other point of view other than his own. l in n d.h.s. offic saying the election was secure the president this week just fired him. he doesn't want to hear anybody telling him anything other than what he believes. the only person i think with the kind of weight to really go to hime and hy possible impact would be mitch mcconnell. and have to be with the bofking he senate republican caucus which mitch mcconnell would never do unless he did have that backing. mitt romney will not be able to be persuasive president. you know, certainly susan collins and these others who have talked about the president

movingave -- don't have that kind of influence with him. but mitch mcconnell is probably the one person with in kind of weight assuming he were to go in with the support of his caucus. robert: asma, mcconnell is still wait gg for thergia senate runoffs to take place in january. what does this all mean for those two raceness georgia? do your democratic sources perhaps see an opening for the party to run against the president's conduct? as: i mean, that 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 the background, we saw that the vice president, mike pen was campaigning for those senate runoffs in the state of georgia today. so in many ways, i would argue this sort of longevity of this is drawn out process that the president has,ou know, put -- that republican base voters is in their vw advantageous to what's going on in the state of georgia. you know, i willay most democrats candidly are not particularly optimistic about the odds. we talked to them about the senate and thewill say it -- it will be a challenge.

and i think there is a widespread recognition inhe democratic party that joe biden will likely haveea to with divided government. that is sort of the conventional wisdommomong most ats. robert: and i wrote this week for the post about how georgia senator david perdue on a private phone call with donors said maybe he and senator re loeffler down t are going to have to be quote alone that they can't count on president trump like vice president pence today to come down to georgia to involved, to boost republicans down there. paula, i saw you nodding. yonwant to jump i for a moment? paula: absolutely. the president has shown no interest i doing anything other than remaining here at the white house and tweeting, even as -- his thanksgiving plans were canceled. something as significant as control of the senate, today the vice president said look, this may be all we have to protect our legacy and to protect what we've done. point there's no indication the president is really going to throw his weight behind this effort. robert: meanwhie pandemic stops for no one. we're just days as paula said

from thanksgiving. and while promising news on vaccines, the biden transition is staled. is congress. when it comes to stimulus d gotiations. 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 withhe transition? >> democracy -- you're all undermining the democratic election. every one of you. and you robert: what a scene. peter, what is the story inside force? ad peter: no, it's not fully functioning. it's barely functioning. th briefing was the first time we've seen them obviously in months. this is a predent who hasn't net r met with them according to dr. fauci for months.

obviously they want to put out that image, this week, of them at the pode up. but they -- piubu they weren't willing to take questions. either the vice president or the others and the president has not taken any questanns on hing since the election. and this is an extraordinary period right now.we e lost since the election probably 18,000 -- i haven't ber.ked latest n like that have died of the covid. just sincehe election alone. that's an extraordinary death toll. that's six 9-11s and not seen the president take a leadership role on anything other than claiming credit for the olccine. the white house us before the election they had given up ying to control the virus. and they put all of their eggs in effect in the virus -- the vaccine and therapeutics baskets. but even as promising as those vaccines now l be months before most average americans are able to get it. and a lot of hardship a pain and death between now and next april that say when most americans will be able to get in a kind ofd arksine. haven't seen the president take a leadership

role on that at this very delicate momt. robert: asma, what about the stimulus?el president bideen met earlier friday with speaker losi, leader seumer. isrying to bring them together to cut a deal during the lame duck? or are they waiting until 2021? asma: he has said and democrats have been insisting that a lame duck deal is the preference. earlier this week, biden did emphasize the fact that he wants some sort of covid relief ll. and he emphasized the fact that that needs to happen now. so really hisen u is on the lame duckession. i mean, i think the question that i have and the questio that i have posed to folks but not going to -- a clear answer from thes biden team does that mean that some sort of package, a quick package takes precedence over that package? and we don't have a clear answer of that. what i will say ithat one o biden's long-time economic dvisors, jared bernstein, in a reporters this week, did emphasize thatonpeed in addi to size and content

are all key factors for any imulus bill. but he said that in his view, at least, this was one of biden's economic advisors, and in his view, that speed is perhaps the most important factor right now just givhe fact that people are going to be entering the holidays with unemployment expiration and possibly being evictedrom 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 relief programs that they had put in place earlier year. and when it comes to the coronavirus, and its econo,c impaccording to our sources, on the task force, these doctors have made it clear to the vice president that this is a dire situation. earlier th week, the told the vice president we could see up to 2,000 deaths a day by christmas. it's easy to see not only the human toll but also the

economic tol the situations going to get worse. but at this point it does not appear that any sort of economic relief is a priority here at the trump white house. robert: paula, quickollowup, is the president still listening to dr. scott atlas of stanford university who's been critical of governors and their responseso the pandemic? dr. scott atlass still here -- at the white house. he does media appearances. he does not answer questions from reporters and according to my sources on the task force, he will often attend meetings but he will not speak. and some people suggest that perhaps he's there to report back to p tsident. now, these other doctors, though, they made it clear to the vice presidt, that 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. and i can say one thing after covering this, for nearly a year now, is the federal government has failed in its that this tly is a threat and

that they need to take it nd seriously now they have the challenge of trying to convince people to take a vaccine for something they haven't even convinced them is a threat. andhere's a lot of concerns about the vaccine and how quickly it moved. the challenges are 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 frustrasd. here president-elect biden this week. president-elect biden: if we have to wait until january 20 to start that planning, it puts us behind over a month, month and a half. and so it's imp that it be done, that there be . coordinati now. robert: peter, emily murphy at the general services administration won't allowan th tion to happen. high level intelligence briefings. federal funds. president-elect biden? w petel, i think you saw the president-man elect put his finger on it. many instances i many areas of the government, it may not make that big of difference because

the team coming in just left full of people who have a lot of government experience. they know where the bodies are buried and how t system works. but the one area where it early has areat deal of urgency is on this issue of the covid pandemic and particularly the distribution of this vaccine as he described it of coeyse. eed to be able to hit the ground running on day one. to -- the distribution of this ing and make sure it's heading in the right direction. because you can't afford even a day or a week of delay. that means every week of delay are people who are going to die as a result of this. a sense why there here the one sliver of good news, though, bob, i would say. you sawhe president take credit for the vaccine. and whether he deserves it or oinot, the is he is invested in it. and that means if- assuming id president-elect is also invested in this vaccine, we may have a situation where politically, at least it's not drawn on partisan lines. you have to convince the public that thecine is safe and something that they want to take. if you have both president trump and incoming president

biden endorng the vaccine, that will go a long way toward taking the politics out of that equation for many americans. robert: side the biden transition team, asma, do you see any kind of back channing try to get ready despite the g.s.a. not approving a ansition? asma: from -- what we've been told at least, as it regas to have the information they say they need. you know, one thing to peter's 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 a know how. but the challenge for them they say is they don't have access to current rl time information. so they're relying on say the public dashboards thate all lay people rely on, too, for what's going on around the covid crisis. so they don't have access and saying to both vaccines deployment but also clear formation on say personal protective equipment stockpiles. and so they're trying to othersate for that in ways. earlier this week, biden and

harris both m wh a group of bipartisan governors and they were able to get some information frogothose rnors about what are some of the resource problems that they've had with the federal government and wha a some of the stockpiling concerns as well asacnes, and by speaking with governors with republicans and democrats, they were able to g some of that information. robert: and asma, quickly, are we going to see any cabinet nominations next week? asma: joe biden hinted tha we might see a treasury secretary announcement somewhere around thanksgiving. robert: paula, wokt are you g for next week when you open your notebook? paula: well, i'm looking to see at the president is goin to do with his pardon power over the next two months.is i'm looking at every single day. this is incredibly significant because long before outcome of the election, someone suggested to me that if the president did not win, given his significant debt and his enormous really blanket power to people or commute flair sentences that there was a t danger thet there could

be a lot of grist happening here. - grift happening here. so we'reooking at whether the presidt is trying to pardon any of his friends, associates or family members or if this is any sort of exchange or grift for people looking for a part in looking for commutation. robert: i thought you were going to talk about maybe pardoning theurkey nex week. asma: that, too. robert: that, too. we will have to keep an eye out for that. as me i'll keephi wat. leader mcconnell, what's he going to do and when will he speak out? what is he goio say? peter, we're going to have to leave it there but we'll get to you in the extra and keep talking politics throughout all of this. thank you so much for being here. that's all the time fe have tonight. peter baker, asma khalid, anda paid. thank you so much for being here at "washington week." and we'll keep taking you all close to the news as wer can. conversatn continues as i said on our extra, on our te. al media and web to bid farewell to "washington week's" long-time associate director mary francis sirarni.

af great run at weta she will now be able to actually ayrelax on fr nights during her retirement. wish her all the bmt. obert costa. good night from washington. announcer: corporate funding for "washington week" is provided by -- [music]

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narr: hollywood s architect the paul r. williams story has been made possible in part by the richard h. dri foundation itvs, the independent television service th funding provided by the corporatiostfor public broadg the washington dc commission on the arts and humanities the american institute of architects and ariel investments ♪ wi lonnie: paul iams was one of the most gifted architects of the 20th century. linda: his legacy ro buildings is so and so compelling and so wide ranging. karen: h chad a teacher who vearly 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 stars, movie mogul a affluent people kinds.