captioning sponsor by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. t newshour tonight, the transition: president-elect joe biden announces his picks for top jobs in his administration despite president trump's refusal to concede. then, an alarming surge-- coronavirus infections and deaths keep rising across the we talk with dr. a fauci about the perils of holiday travel and gatherings. >> evaluate the risk for your family unit to seef it's worth something that obvious is very pleasant a that you look forward to, but the risk might be more than you like to take.

>> woodruff: and, after the storms-- nicaragua and its central american neighbors fac a daunting recovery in the wake of two devastating hurricanes. all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> change in plans. >> okay. >> mom, are you painting again? you could sell these. >> let me guess, change in plans? >> at fidity, changing plans is always part of the plan.

>> the william and flora hewlett foundation. for more than 50 years, advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world. at www.hewlett.org. >> and wh the ongoing support of these institutions: and individuals. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting.

and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. woodruff: the coming biden administration now has some big nanciled in to some key slots. that process gathered momentum today, even in the absence of a formal transitio white house correspondent yamiche alcindor reports. >> alcindor: today, tht wave of president-elect joe biden's cabinet announcements. security first?go with nat >> because it's national security. f>> alcindor: the news cam wilmington, delaware where mr. biden spent part of the day addrrssing a virtual u.s. mayo conference. jake sullivan as national security adviser, and linda thomas-greenfield as the united

nations ambassador. and, a pair of firsts: avril haines for director of national intelligence. the first woman to head the intelligence community. and, alejandro mayorkas to be secretary of the department of homeland security. the first latino to hold this position. in addition, former secretary of state, john kerry will serve, as special presidential envoy on climate change. i and widely reported that janet yellen, former federal reserve chair, will be treasury secretary. she'd be the first woman in that role. the president-elect will formally introduce his picks tomorrow, even as he continues to wait for the transition torm lyegin. the house oversight and reform committee insisted today on having emily murphy, head of the general services administration, join a briefing tomorrow topl n why she has yet to acknowledge president-elect biden and free up transition dafunds. on s mr. biden's choice for white house chief of staff,n ron klain, arged the trump administration to accept the transition. begin the >> a record number of americans

aljected the trump presidency and since then dtrump has been rejecting democracy. itut corrosive, it's harmful as mitt romney said, it's not going to cnge the outcome of what happens here. >> alcindor: underscoring that point, the michigan state board of canvassers met to certify the state's presidential ection results. >> we have a duty to certify this election based on these returns. that is very clear. we are limited to these returns. i'm not going torgue that we're not. >> alcindor: meanwhile, the trump campaign kept pursuing legal challenges, including in pennsylvania. on sunday, the campaign filed an appeal after a federal judge sternly rejected their allegations that the state wrongly allowed voters to correct ballots. meanwhile, within the republicat pay, criticism of the president's efforts to block or overturn the election results slowly growing. republican senator pat toomey of nnsylvania released a statement saying, "president trump has exhausted all plausible legal options to e result of the presidential race in

pennsylvania." another republican, ohio senator rb portman, also spoke out. he called for the transition tol begin, with ntelligence and pandemic briefings for the biden team. in a newspaper opinion piece today, he wrote: "...there is no evidence as of now of any widespread fraud or t irregularitit would change the result in any state." president trump's legal efforts, and sweeping, unfounded claims of fraud and conspiracy, also drew criticism on sunday, from former new jersey governorhris chriie. >> the conduct of the president's legal te has been a national embarrassment. i've been a supporter of the president. i've voted for him twice. but eltions have consequences and we cannot continue to act as if something happenehere that didn't happen. >> alcindor: hours later, the ump campaign issued a statement, saying attorney sidney powell is not representing the president. during a news conference last week, she had made some of the most inflammatory claims, including that venezuelan leaders were trying elections.

>> woodruff: and yamiche joins me now. >> woodruff: joe biden today naming his pics for some to have the top jobs in his adatnistration. ore have you learned about how biden and the president are handling this moment? >> reporter: well, president trump is continudeg to that his presidency is in fact coming to an end but moremo an republicans are starting to acknowledge that, as we noted in the piece, you' seeing senator portman, senator toomey as well as senatorli alexander, repn senators, not that many but at least a handful now telling the president that it is time toll essentgive up this fight. the president, though, is not willing to do that. in fact, today, we saw, of course, michigan certify its vote making joe biden the official wnner, the pr winner.lect biden the the trump campaign said it's a procedural move and they're going to cntinue the fight i

that state. joe biden continues to make announments for the united states ambassador. this is not only signaling heo willinue to move forward to prepare to govern but is making the case this need to be moving forward. we are seeing pressure continuing to rise observe the general services administration murphy. head of that emi sources say she is continuing to feel the pressure understanding this is a mood in washington that is shiing in the direction of having president-elect biden get the resources as wel tl as signoff to start the transition. it hasn't happened yet but we need to watch that space closely. >> woodruff: yamicherewith rd to the names we heard today from presidhet-elect biden, peopl wants for some of the very senior jobs in his administration, what more do we know about them and the choices? >> reporter: well, a lot of these nam that president-elect biden has announced today are one, a lot of alums from the obama

administratiey as well as e people who joe biden says reflect america and his commitment to diversity. i want outo walk through two. the first is alejandro mayorkis, a cuban mesh who came to the united states, fleeing political issues in cuba. he said, when i was very young re united statesvided me and my family a place of reuge now i'm nominated to oversee the protection of all americans. he oversaw the innercase of daca, cg ateamers and giving them sort some sort of relief and status in america if they were brought here as minors. john kerry is the special envtoy limate change. that's a big deal, showing president-elect jebd is focused on climate change, wanting to elate the issue as a national security threat. >> woodruff: both of those areas which we saw president trump trying to roll during the obama administration. all right, yamiche alcindor,

thank you so much. >> woodruff: and nick schifrin takes a closer look at the members of president-elect biden's national security team.: >> schifhanks, judy. tony blinken will be the secretary of state nominee. t he w deputy secretary of state and deputy national esecurity advisor during obama administration. he is also one of president elect biden's closest,ost longtanding, advisors. avril haines will be the nominee for director of nationalic intelligence, oversees all u.s.' intelligence agencies. she is the former deputy director of the c.i.a. and was an aide to biden in congress. she would be highest ranking woman in the intellige community's history. linda thomas-greenfield will be the nominee for u.n. ambassador. shis a longtime foreign service officer who was the most senior black member oftate department, when she was fired at the beginning of ump administration. and jake sullivan will be the national secury advisor. he was then-vice president

biden's national security advisor in the white house and a senior advisor to then secretary of state clinton. he will be youngest national security advisor in 60 years. security team, we turn to wendy sherman, the formerf undersecretaryate for political affairs during the obama administration, who has wendy sherman, welcome back to the "newshour". tony blinken is one of biden's oldest advisors. does blinken reflect biden's caut >> i think this team represents the diversity of america, the professionalism, the experience, the seasoning that we need in a time of enormous challenge. so what i think the president-elect has doe here is put together the beginning of his team tht can reach out across america and rch out across the world. tony blinken, the president-elect, the vice president biden elect all understaat 2021 is not 2016. the world has changed, america

has changed and we've got a lot of tough challenge ahead. >> reporter: you mentioned the diversity of these pics. what this is not i team of rivals. president obama brought in his chief political priefl then secretary of state hillary clinto are you concerned among any o.oup think among this group? i don't think these are all people with a keen intellect who are ady to debate with each other. i have been inside rooms wih all of them. none are shrinng violets. they will all speak their mind. there will be rigorous debate. there was not agreement among these players in the obama administration, i don't expect there will always be agreement within thde bi administration. >> reporter: the obama national security council was accused of micromanaging by multiple agencies especially th pentagon. do you believe that will be a concern under jake sullivan? >> one of the things that's very

positive here is jaksullivan was a senior advisor and head oa policy ping for secretary clinton at the state department. so he has been both at the white house and inside a department. so we understand the push d pull. historically, nobody who sits in house to be operational.hite the white house always says it doesn't want to be operational, and then finds it hard sometimes not to try to be. but i think that jake will wan to reflect the president-elect's point of view, what he's driving for, what he's striving for, working with the vice president elect. jake will run a very honest process to hear from all parts to have the national security and foreign policy community, which is quite lar, and he will want to take those views intot account. >> blinken and the expected nominee for defense secretary

michelle flor nay started a strategic consulting firm after they left government, made a lot of money, gave them clients whe concerns wee more profit than national security. is that revolving door an issue, do you think? >> i don't think so. we all have to be very transparent. i have been in the privte secretary,l do some vensulting, and if you go into government, you o make it clear that you have done, who your clients have been. there are ethics rules whichac ally the biden-harris administration will follow about not beedg engn decisions which might have affected your pocketbook or your firm'sbioticbook. there are very good guidance arou tho those ethics and i have no doubt they will follow those ethical rules. >> reporter:r avil haines

coked talked about th theas inc drone strikes in afghanistan-pakistan, long time aid of joe b lden. will sok for progressives and looking for the intelligence intedgesommunity to be less politicized. >> no question in my mind avrils has not about politics, she is about policy. she is as phyicist and a lawyer. she is unbelievably thoughtful, rigorous in her assessment of a situation. intelligence.play games wth she will want intelligence to have its rightful place at the table but to understand the intelligence community does not make policy. she will maksurif thi there is another pandemic, she does not sit on that information, that bind and harris know wh

coming at them, she will not withhold information, she had been transparent. >> reporter: thank you very much. >> thank you, >> woodruff: in the day's other news, astra-zeneca became the third major company to report late breaking intelligence on the >> reporter: judy, the emolument we've all been waiting for president-elect joe biden arrived. waiting for has head of the general services administration now as tanned the transition meaning the official transition getting started. she writes we just obtained she will be releasing $6.3 million to joe biden to start this transition. this happened i'm told by sources because there was mounting pressure on the g.o.p. side to start this withenators like ro rob portman and lamarr alexand others saying the president had exhausted his legal options. the president is still fight, emily murphy is saying she's not

swayed by politics, that she hao scertain the winner of the election based on trusted sources and says joe den is the winner. we should watch for president trump's reaction.he he could fir and try to stop the process, but offiticiay ast has finally begun. this has been weeks in the make with people all over this country including th joe biden overdue.saying this is long oodruff: very important, yamiche. as you point out, this is something that has been expected since shortly after joe biden was declad the winner of the presidential election. it is now coming two weeks after that. yamiche alcindor, thank you again. >> woodruff: in the day's other news, astra-zeneca became the

third major company to report pr9ising results on a covid vaccine. it does not have to be sred at very cold temperatures, giving it potential advantage or rival vaccines. meanwhile, more officials across the u.s. warned that thanksgivingfuatherings will new infections. new jersey governor phil murphy appealed for restraint. >> please, we urge you one last time to think beyond this holiday, and past yourself to the days yet to come, and to doing to all you can to makene sure that everou love can be able to see those celebrations. let's be safe. >> woodruff: some three million people traveled by air in the u.s. over the weekend. that was the most since mid- than half from last year.wn mo we'll discuss all this with infectious disease expert dr. anthony fauci after the news summary. emissions have fallen during the

pandemic, but not enough to reduce record levels in the atmosphere. the u.n.'s world meteorological eorganization reported th findings today. it said the emissions drop amounts to "a tiny blip" over the long term. general motors is abandoning a legal challenge to california's clean-air standards. the automaker said today it no longer backs the trump 's lawsuit against letting the state adopt its own rules instead, c.e.o. mary barra said g.m. agrees with president-elect biden's plan to expand usef electric vehicles. in ethiopi the military began encircling the capital of the rebel tigray region toda federal troops were surrounding the city of mekelle after the government gave the tigray people's liberation front 72 hours to surrender. >> the beginning of the d is with reach and that oure

deferces, have now effectively encircled mekelle and now it is easy to target any military installatio. >> woodruff: ethiopian stateho broadcasting sd government troops moving in. nearly three weeks of fighting has killed an unknown number of people and displaced thousands more. israel was rife with reports today that prime minister benjamin netanyahu met sunday with saudi arabia's crown prince mohammed bin salman. it would be the first confirmedn meever between israeli and saudi leaders. netanyahu declined to confirmhi the report, bueducation minister did confirm it. the saudis denied the meeting happen. china has taken a major new step in space, launching a mission to bring moon rocks and soil back to earth. an unmanned craft blasted off early tuesday morning chines time.

no other nation has brought back lunar material since u.s. and russian flights of the 1960's and '70's. >> woodruff: dianne feinstein is setting down back in this country, the national highway traffic safety administration ordered a recall of seven million g.m. pickup trucks and s.u.v.'s. they have air bag inflators made by takata that can explode and spew bits of metal shrapnel. the problem is blamed for at least 27 deaths worldwide.ll and, on treet, stocks rallied on news of another potential covid vaccine. the dow jones industrial average gained 327 points to close at

29,591. the nasdaq rose 25 points, and, the s&p 500 added 20. still to come on the newshour: we talk to dr. anthony fauci about the perils of holiday travel and gatherings. nicaragua faces a difficult devastating hurricanes. tamara keith and amy walter break down the latest political news. and much more. >> woodruff: coronavirus cases and hospitalizations in the u.s. are reaching record-breaking numbers a staggering rate. for the 20th straight day, more than 100,000 new cases of covid have been diagnosed daily, while hospitalization records have

been broken for 13 consecutive days. americans to stay uring what is usually the busiest travel week of the year.do or anthony fauci, director of the national institute for allergy and infectious diseases, is one of those officials and h. joins me n dr. fauci, thank you so much for joining us again. these numbers are beyond disturbing. what most concerns you >> well, what most concerns me now is, you know, the immediate situation with people traveling from different places, coming home for thanksgiving. when you leave a location ando have to go an airport or et cetera, the possibility of exposing yourself, and then going home to your home community for, you know, a wonderful, traditional thanksgiving holiday might actually, unfortunately, be a source of an even amplification of the surge that you already

just accurately described, judy. i'm concerned aboinut thahe very immediate future of the next few days,ut i'm so concerned of the numbers that are going in the wrong direction with regard to cases, with hospitalizations, deaths, all the things, the warning parameters ttht we're in middle of a really serious situation, and superimpose upon that that, as we get furer into the late fall andarly winter with the weatheng colder, forcing more people throhout most regions of th country to do things indoors more than tdoors, this is something that, you know,t obviouslyace value is a very, very challenging situation. so if we could just hang in there and adhere to these public health measures as we get more and more relief from the vaccines which will start to bed available ember, i think we should use that as an

incentive to not give up on this and to continuto push the public health measures. >> woodruff: that is true, but, in the near term, wit people defying federal government c.d.c. guidelines saying don't go d homn't go to visit grandmother or family members, what should families eow? if they gathering, despite the best advice of the experts, what suld they know? >> well, they should know that they're putting themselves and their family members at risk because the critical iues- and it's a difficult message to get across, judy, and that's the teason why we understand th and not be critical of people, but to try and elain that community spread, there's a considerable amount of that from people who have no symptoms. so what we askt peoplo do is to at least stop for a home ando

what i call a risk-benefit assessment of what you want to do in the holiday, what you want to do for the seasons where you bring people in your home. if you have a person who elderly, who has an underlying condition that makes them more susceptible to the serious consequences of infection, do you really want to have that gathering or should you say, i know it hurts not to do it because this is such a beautiful, traditional season, but, you know, hang in there with us becse there will be future times when you can do it. so maybe oa sacrificew of something that you really like would pay off in th protection of the health and safety of a loved one. >> woruff: weertainly hope most people, if not everyone, will heed that advice, but we know that some will not. but, dr. fauci, i want to ask you about what some healthcare leaders are sying around the country, not just in urban areas, but the leader of a mor healthcare group in the state of

idaho said today he's seriously concerned that, in coming weeks, they're going to have to decide who ged care an who doesn't. do you see these kids of the month ahead?ially coming in >> yeah. it is really conceivable that if we don't turn around the trajectory of this surge, judy, that that will happen. in fact, just about a week ago, there was a physician from a t large largest healthcare facility in montana who was saying that they had 25 intensive care unit beds but over 40 intensive care newton ut patients who had to be put in the recovery room or otherth places, an were talking about the difficulty they might have in not having enough trained staff. so we would want to avoidhat

to the best that we can, and the way you do that is to try and blunt the trajectory. the thing i fnd, in some that, even in places where you have that kind of situati like you described in idaho and that i just described in montana is that people in those environments still don't belie that this a problem. they say it's maybe fake news or it's just overexaggeration or it's some sort of a conspiracy. the data don't lie, ju. the data are real, and, each day,e hey comt from reliable sources, and what we see is that we're in a difficult situation, that did we sulho't -- that we shoulden though up our hands in despair because we can do something about it if we adhere to the public alth measures we talk about. we don't have to inevitably accept a dire situation because it is within our power to do

something about it. >> woodruff: one very quick qun tion about the decis people to travel over thanksgiving. many colleges, in essence, have given students the green light to go home. was that a mistake? should more colleges d universities said students have to or should stay on campus? >> well, you know, it reallype s on the college, judy. i don't think it's going to be a of the colleges have done really well in that they've tested the students beforey've come in, they've done surveillance testing, and the level of infection in several of those colleges that have done it right is really low. so, under those are circumstances, i think it's different from colleges that have not done that and you really don't know the status of many students. there could be a lot of undetected community swith people that are asymptomatic. i think that's thiing you're d that's the thing youe referring to about being careful

about sending students home. but the colleges that have done it really well and have a low level there, you know, you might say if people really need to go home, they can, but some might prefer to stay in the sfe environment where they are. it will be an individual deseason so there's not a one size fits all on that. woodruff: the vaccine, dr. fauci, good news, several manufaurers have said they have a vaccine that seems to be quite effective. we know pfizer, just th das ago, submitted a request for emergency use thorgz from the f.d.a. how quicklyo you think that approval could be given and then erw quickly could what oth government approval has to happen be given so this vaccine could actually ge in pople's arms? >> the projection is, if all goes well with the application for an eua, the emergency use authorization,hat there could

be a vaccine delivered towards the middle and end of december and we project it is very likely that we will have vaccine doses the projection is that there. will be million doses for 20 million people, and then as we get into january, february and march, that wilincrease inementally so that, hopefully, by the time you get into the middle towards the end of the first quarter of 2021, you will have accounted for and vaccinated those who are in ther higherority groups, according to the recommendation of the c.d.c., so tht, as you get into april and then may, you can really,stn earstart to get the broader, general population vaccinated.ng but it's go start, if things go as planned, in december, middle to end of december. >> woodruff: is it a good idea, dr. fauci, for som governors to be making the decision on -- to be doingheir

own vaccine safety review, as we know we've heard abut from governor cuomo of new york, governor newsom of california? >> well, you know, it is understandable, though i disagree with it, judy, that some of these governors, you m know, wiybe good intentions of wanting to make sure they tyassure, you knowthe saf their citizenry, but what they're missing -- and i would appeal to them on that -- that, even though they have what they perceive and maybe the reality of mixed signals from washington, that the process of the decision of whether or not a vaccine is safe an effective, that is made by a comelpl independent group, not by the federal government, not by the company, it's made by an independent group of scientists, vaccinologists, ethicists, stat tigs, they do -- sta status sta.

and whhan they tt, the career scientists make the recommendation and then decis about whether it's safe to be distributed. sot what i think sun fortunais, e dyhathat is not fully appreciated on ttside, and that's why you have well meaninn gos questioning it and saying, well, who's making this decision? is it being pressured in any way? if we can make them understand that it is not being pressured, that it's done in an independent, transparepe fashion, i hhey would then realize that that's good enough. >> woodruff: one other thing, how important is it that the biden transition team have access to information that is now in the hands of the trump administration and its vaccine program? >> right. saying that, as you know, we've discussed this befenore, i have involved and advised six adenistrations, and i have

through five transitions, and i can tell you that transitions are really important. it is important to have that smooth passing on of the information. used, you know, the metaphor of a relay race that, when you really want to get a really good, smooth relay race, when one person has the baton and is running along, you hand it to somebody who is also running along with you for a while, and then you givthem the baton. if you were to stop and give itw to someoo is stopped, you would waste a lot of time, so it'such more eicient to have a smooth transition from one administration to another. because, in my expernce, that has worked very well in the past. >> woodruff: but that doesn'tp seem to be hning right now? >> well, obviously, it's not because there's not the interaction with the transition team that -- i have not had interaction with them. >> woodruff: dr. anthony fauci, thank you very much for joing us. >> thank you, judy. thank you for having me again. i appreciate being on with you.

>> woodruff: and a note, this interview with recorded earlier this afternoon before the news about the transition occurred. >> woodruff: over the past three weeks, two massive hurricanes, eta and iota, have slammed into central america, in almost the same location. hurricane season ends one week from today. and this one set records-- 30 named storms, and 13 hurrilines. for thosng already under the specter of cov-19, after the storms, the question now is of sheer survival. ck schifrin is back with this report. >> schifrin: this was supposedto

e virginia morazan mesa and instead, it's a rern tome. nothing. >> ( translated ): here was thea kitchen. wa living room, beo bedrooms and the hallway. >> schifrin: thih is where their house once stood. >> (ly translated ): it's sand that's left. what else can i tell you? nothing was left, not even thele nothing. and it hurts because i've been left on the streets, entirely on >> schifrin: puertzas, also known as bilwi, bore the brunt of nicaragua's strongest sorm, ever. hurricane iota slammed nicaragua's east coast last week, with wind gusts of 155 miles an houul homes,rized into piles of lumber. streets, flooded. residents in these low-lying the areas, had no choice but to evacuate by boat. they crammed into nearby shelters to ride out the storm, hoping their homes had survived. but many, didn't.

>> ( translated ): i've been shak. i'm not okay, i've been left tormented because this hurricane, i felt, was very strong, too strong. >> schifrin: it was the send category 4 storm that t the same coast, in two weeks. hurricane eta struck just 15 miles north, of iota's landfall. the hurricanes' damage, extended well beyond northeastern nicaragua. from panama to southeastern mexico, torrential rains engorged rivers and left huge swaths of land under water. some parts, the downpours triggered deadly landslides. in guatemala, the village of quejá, a mountainside gave way, and buried dozens of people. after rescue efforts were called off,he area was deemed "camposanto," sacred land for the dead. guatemalan government crews flew to isolated villes to distribute aid. but they haven't even reached places like san juan cotzal.

so the local ixil ma community, have to save themselves. on sunday, volunteers from the local catholic church collected food and donations. but delivering that aid is a challenge, when the storms destroyed bridges that used to maria toma talked to us late last week. >> ( translated ): t are have beenot of landslides, major losses to property and communities have noween left out of touch. tomaisited homes to document the storms' impact. she kept the community apprise throa local media collective. they say the county never had the resources to cope with a storm the magnitude of eta. >> ( translated ): there are no firefighters, either volunteers or from the municipality. there are no relief agencies. families woke up only to sink their feet into water that was alreadrunning inside the house. that's how eta took us byri se. on schifrin: iota brought ly more devastation.er its rains ling over the weekend, killing more livestock

and turning the region's cornfields into lagoons, just weeks before harvest time. >> ( translated ): there is a concern going into next year, 2021, how will families eat? ere will they get money to eat? where will they get the corn,th beans, what is most heavily consumed here? >> schifrin: across the region, hundreds of thousand are living in shelters. their concerns of covid-19, put on pause. >> ( translated to do if we were left without a home, without a bed, without dishes, we don't have anytng. >> with covid-19, it's always a balancing act between evacuatin people safely suring that they're in higher ground or in shelters to protect them from the hazards of these kinds of hurricanes. refugees internati climatenages displacement program. she fears authorities haven't a bee to offer covid mitigation, like hand washing, temperature checks, and social distancing. >> what we're seeing in theis region heris a little more ad hoc and a little more haphazard, unfortunately. and so what we might find is

more people have been put at risk to covid due to evacuation, but only time will tell to what extent that really, really is. >> schifrin: early reports in honduras, already show high positivity rates. around the city of san pedro sula, as many as 100,000 flood victims crammed into more than 80 shelters. but even that's not enough.op 500 are now living under this highway overpass, with no running water. neople are facing displacement due to the hurriand it will be even harder for them to build back or bounce back from that devastation and impact eicause covid-19 has made livelihoods pretty precarious and teous already. slammed by the year's most powerful atlantic hurricane, anh pandemic, storm victims face an uncertain and treacherous road to recovery. and many of them have nowhere to go. for the pbs newhour, i'm nick schifrin.

>> woodruff: while the trump >> woodruff: here to break down all the latest, i'm joined by politics monday duo amy walter of the "cook political report" and host of public radio's "politics with amy walter,"itnd tamera keh of npr, she also co-st the "npr politics podcast." very good to see the both of you. let's start about the news breaking this hour, tam.he finally,erson in charge of the g.s.a., the general services administration, two weeks after joe biden was declared the winner of the election, the winner of the elet ction juste gday authorized the administration t forward for

the trump administration to share resources with the biden campaign. but this happened only after michigan certified the resultsn of its voteafter a few more republican senators spoke up. it didn't hap a result of president trump. so it's taken a while but it'spe finally had. >> that's correct, and the g.s. a.m. administrator in her letter to the biden campaign, the biden transition says she made this decision indseependeny on precedent and that she faced absolutely no pressurefr the trump administration or from the white house. that letter was published by cnn shortly before president trump tweeted that he was going to go ahead and recommend that shet star transition, even though he's planning to continue to fight. so president trump's tweet very much out of sync with the argument thate g.s.a.

the independence with which she made the decision. has had one loss after another, afteanother, numerous court losses, and today after the o michigan boaelections certified the election results in michigan, a state where heo was tryingerturn the results, the trump campaign put out a statement essentially saying, ah, certificatia tht's just a procedural step. clearly it wasn't just a procedural step and it caused a handful of republican senats to come forward and say, hey, get on with it, and the o course, this decision was made. it kind of feels like president trump said, i highly recommend that this boulder continue rolling down the hill. >> woodruff: and, amy, even though the president says he'son going tonue to fight, this is a significant -- veryri significant,cal move, in fact, on the part of the government services administetion to say th

transition will begin, there will be cooperation, but, y, it's taken many daysish and what is reported to be a lot of presre from the white house not to do this. >> yeah, i mean, judy, so much of this has ben kabuki the whole time. it's been pretty clear pretty much since theay that the election was called that there wasn't really a path for the president, and, you know, tam noted thathere were not thatma senators or members of congress who were republicans who called out the fact that the g.s.a. was not moving this process along or called out the fan that so may courts had overturned this attempt to call into question the results. but i think one thing to take away from this, judy, is the fact that the guardrails of our system actually worked, andhat you hadepublican secretary of

state in georgia, for example, going against his party. many, obviously, the president and many inis party pushing him to not certify or toti qu the integrity of the results in georgia. you had, today in michigan, onee abstention by blican but the other republican on the board voting to certify the haection. yojudges who were appointed by republicanpushing back on the lawsuits and deeming them not credible and worthy. so we have multiple instances where we can look back and say, at the end of the day, washington politicians may not have been particularly brave in stepping out and saying what was ear to everybody at the time, but those in local office, those who are doing the job, the day-to-day job of keeping our democracy in tact did it.

>> woodruff: and, aou say, amy, most republican po legs in washington are still not supporting the idea of a transition. but before we wrap this up, tam lelk about what joe biden did today. , as he laid out his choice for some of the top jobs in his anistration, cabinet secretaries and so forth. what is this adding up to? what does it lok like to you, the biden admioinistr priorities will be? >> well, there aren't a lot of irprises on this lisfact there are no surprises on this list. these are all people who have rved in multiple administrations, who have lying level experience, who are widely respected, and it's also a diverse group. you know, there's the first female direcr of national intelligence, the first latino homeland security director. so what you have is essentially what biden said he was going to do, and you have -- we also havt

there that janet yellen would be named treasury secretary making her the first female treasury secretary following her previous stint as the first female fed chair and alo on the previous council of economic advisors. so what you have is, you know, a few people making history, and,e also, you ha people who are well known and well liked both earound the the world ande in the u.s. because people know them, they have been aroun for instance, tony blinken is someone who has been by joe biden's side for years. >> woodruff: andamy, what do these pics say to you about what joe biden wants to do? >> well, to be sort of predictable andoring and bring in experience, and that was the sort of campaign theme. wunderneath it all is il be the things that donald trump was not, whi was predictable and

boring. president trump came in, the person who came in with no government experience tho ht that iuld be important to bring people in who also didn't have tremeous amount of experirsce. rex til overt at secretary of state, ben carson over at h.u.d. this canedidate, president-elect campaign, specifically on it's important to have experience, it's importt to delegate to peple who have done this work before and, also, what he's saying, judy, is to folks in washington, to the republicans, there's not a re for you to object to, i'm not here throwing somebody s who's makingatement to the political class, i'm putting somebody who's experienced. i mean, they may dispute the term "boring" but they cannot dispute the tem experienced, somebody who knows their way or people who know their way arwaod ington. all right, two women who know their way around washiton, amy

walter, tamera keith, thank you both. >> you're welcome. >> woodruff: mexico has been hit hard by the covid-19 pandemic, and its economic fallout. the country's celebratedlm kers have helped raise funds for those who have lost jobs in the industry-- one hith a ritory and recent remarkable international success. city earlier this ar, beforexico the pandemic, and continues his series on mexico's art scene tonight, and the next two nights, as part of our ongoing arts and culture coverag canvas. >> brown: an introductory class at one of mexico's top film schools. this is the renowned "centro de capacitacion cinematographia, or

c.c.c., in mexico city. today, young students are learning the finer points of camera work. audio, scripting, scene building. it's a school that keeps enrollment under 200, but faces high demand, due in part to the stunning scess and increased international profile of mexican directors, three in particular:u alfonso cuaronlermo del toro and alejandro gonzalez inarritu,who togetheunt for five of the last seven best s.rector awards at the osc always the expectafthere's success. >> brown: alfredo loaeza is the >> (ctranslated ): the shape of water, there were like 600 applicants, no? and then the next year it was like 500. you know, and then cuaron, and it's like 0. so it's, sometimes people are very appealed by, you the flashes that they think comes with t job.

>> brown: but loaeza, who's also a graduate of this school, is more focused on making sure students find their own voices. >> ( translated ): some of them, they do want the expectations, they do want to win an oscar or want to be recognized in streets ororking with champagne or atever. and i-- we eourage for that. >> brown: it's a bit of a paradox: enormous success for mexican filmmakers, the so-re called "amigos," but largely achieved after they left mexico. and until cuaron's "roma," about the life and struggles of ado mestic worker in 1970s mexico city, none of those recent oscar-winning films were set here. fernanda solorzano, one of mexico's leading film critics, says the success of the three amigos led to a renewal of mexican cinema, t at some cost. >> ( translated ople only think of them when they think of mexico filmmakers. and there is a new generation, maybe two generations already of

filmmakers that have made good movies that haven't been that commented or look, you know, they don't have that spotlight. film culture here icohriving city: we met solorzano at the sprawling cineteca nacional, a hub for mexican and international cinema, where ten theaters show films that oen can't be seen elsewhere. it's also a shrine to the rich history of filmmaking here, with facilities for delicatean restoratiodigitization, as well as archive vaults that house thousands of old film reels. it's a reminder of what's called the golden age of mexican cindma, between the 1930's a 1950's, after the bloody revolution, when the nation's film indusy produced more than 100 films a year, like fernando de fuentes' "vamonos con pancho villa," reaching audiences throughout mexico and beyond. but at big-box movie theers around mexico city, work by mexican filmmakers can be hard

to find. >> ( translated ): some audiences are still a bit notti pay et to see a, you know, a hollywood film, because they know that it's going to be entertaining or entertainment and they're not sure about the mexican film so i think that's a that's a that's a thing we have to overcome as audiences. >> brown: part of the problem, o in a countverwhelmed with violence, poverty and corruption, is subject matter an>> ( translated ):people reject the fact of going to a movie and watching what they see in the news every night. so it's hard for peo have a weekend, you know, like they want to enjoy. and so it's it's a tough sell. >> brown: fernanda v is one filmmaker addressing the serious issues directly. a recent graduate of the c.c.c., her first feature film,¡ identifying features,' won a pair of awards at the sundance film festival earlier this year. it's a gut wrenching story about a mother in search of her son, who's disappeared on his way to the u.s.

valadez acknowledges the ikallenge of showing films hers in mexico, but is firm about their importance. i believe film and art in general can be enjoyable in a way. it's not entertaining, but can still be enjoyable because you have an emotional connection throh art and art, it's like of the ¡three amigos' has paved a path for mexican filmmakers. there's now even an expectation at international film festivals. being perhaps an an thatlike goes to the olympics and oh, it's american. so it's a good athlete. so for filmmakers, if you're mexican, oh, you must be a good filmma you're mexican. but then every generation wants t,to make something differf course. i believe it's good for us to think about doing films in: >> bro the meantime, mexico's most famous directors

remain veractive, working on new films, with a new generatiol ady finding its own success. for the pbs newshour, i'mje rey brown in mexico city. >> woodruff: on the newshour >> major funding for t newshour has been provided by: to learn more, go to consumercellular.tv

>> and with the ongoing support of these institutions

. hello, over, and welcome. here's what's coming up. >> t brand of american democracy is important not just for america itself. it's important for the world. >> donald trump still trying to reverse the election. i speak to former australian prime minister kevinudded about the global impact. and the fox effect. why he's calling for a special quiry. a massive five-fil epic explores black lives, black history in britain. i speak with director steve mcqueen about his small acts. and -- >> the roll-outlans are in place. supplies are ready to