robert: president trump's pressure campaign tests republicans and the nation. president trump: we won in the swing states. robert: days before the present trump keeps making basele statements about his defeat and about the virus.tr presidenp: you do have an immunity. i hear where close to 15%. president-elect president-elect -- vaccination, masking, opening schools, key goals for my first 100 days. robert: meanwhile as the pandemic worsens, president-elect biden continues inet. ld his cab all as congress o biggersver government funding and covid relief. >> the american people are hurting. outhey need the. and the senate to stop chasing our tails and make a law.

>> we have to have bill. and we cannot go home without it. robert: next. announcer:hi tis "washington week." funding is provided by -- >> for 25 years consumer cellular has been offering no contract wireless plans designed to help people do more of what theyou like. u.s.-based customer service team can help find a plan that fits yrnou. to l more, visit consumercellular.tv.

announcer: additngnal fun is provided by the estate of arnondld adams koo and patricia yuen through the yuen foundation committed to bridging cultural differences in our communities, the corporation for public broadcasting and by contribuons to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. once again, from washington, moderator robert costa. robert: good eve ome to "washington week." tonight, the supreme court rejected a bidy the attorney general of texas to challenge the vote intl four bround states. now, the order upends president trump's attempt to stay in power but all eyes remain on the oval office as the president ends this week stil raging about his defeat. on monday, the electoral college expected to cement

president-elect joe biden's victory. and this week mr. biden carriedt on cabinet picks and congress continues to squabble over whether to pass a stimulus bill this month. all as the pandemic worsens and states gird for a bleak holiday season. joining me for insight and analysis are three top political reporters. molly ball, natial political correspondent for "time" magazine. errin haines. editor at large for the 19th. and phiserucker, white h bureau chief for the washington post. let's begin with president trump. here are his remarks at a holiday party thi week. president trump: we have tremendous cases right now, 18 states and at this moment -- [cheering] a lot of people joined in. because they can'tllow this to happen. robert: phil, you heard about the ne tonight at supreme court. yosee that video. you're talking to your

what's actually going on inside the west wing? phil: well, the bob, the pr ident cannot possibly b anything but furious with the supreme court's decision tonight and for a few reasons. ov s the lasteral days, including today, the president had called on those nine supreme court justices to act wisdom t overturn the results of the election. he is claiming that the election wasigged and that there was widespread fraud. of course, there is no evidence of that.ea and his legal has not been able to furnish any evidence of that in court. that's why so many of their legal challengese hen dismissed in courtrooms across the country. but he had all of his eggs in that supreme court case that was brought by the texas ttorney general. republican members of conudess ing the house minority leader kevin mccarthy and it was dismissed by theourt despite the fact that trump thought he had an advantage given that three of the nine

justices are people that he had hand selected for that court. but it's o now. the electoral college will be voti and certifying the final national result on monday. and in a will make official at we've all knownor some time. which is that joe biden is the hoesident-man elect. robert: are excellent points, phil. and to build off those, molly, you see the judiciary across the board not acting as pawns of psident trump but expressing their independence, taking independent steps whether they're liberal justices or conservative justices. in lht of that reality, what's next for president trump here? molly: that is really the questionsi because the pnt and his supporters in the republican party have been quite creative to date and willing to do the president's bidding and to find increasingly far-fetched ways, far-fetched ratnales, extra legal ways to tryo overturn as phil said what we know to be

the election rests and which -- and which we have no evidence there's any way to chan it under the ways that we have always conducted elections. there is that electoral college vote on monday. could there beijinks there? could something go wrong there? could the president try to pressure electors in some other way? and then there's the congressional certification. the republicans in several swing statesave urg members of congress to interfere with that process when the congress meets on january 6 to elect two -- collect the electoral votes and make it official for the last time. so there are stillressure points in ts process. that no -- no president has tried to interfere with in the past in order to overturn a and fair e but they do still exist and we have seen that this president will stop at nothing to attempt to overturn his loss in the ection. robert: errin, we just heard from molly about pressure

points, hijinks that could be on the horizonn we electoral college meets. but regardless of what happens in the coming ds, doeshe biden camp believe that the president-elect will have a li le bit more room with republicans once the electoral college form aally movesad and casts its ballots, will that marker be enough to nudge people along and accepting the president-elect? errin: well, you know, i think that that is an open question. although, you know, the transfer of power is continuing. peaceful or not. you know, whether the president wants it to or not. and whether those who are kind of continuing to support this want to or not. a week ago today we at the 19th spoke with kelly anne conway one of president trump longest and most loyal advisors and what she told us is that she acknowledges that it appears that joe biden and kamil jars are headed to the -- kamala harris are hded to the white house and while the president has the right to his legal challenges it appears

that the electoral college is poised to certify the results of this election. and that they -- the incoming administration which she also said that she is willing to work with. now, she is a person that is still in regular contact with this president and so i d't know if that is something that she is going to remind him of on the other side of monday when the electoral college, you know, is probably going todoe g just that. and so, you know, there are levers of our institutions tt we are seeing -- are working despite the president's best efforts try to, you know, get them to give him an outcome contrary to the outcome that we've had for really more than a month now. robert: phil, that's an interesting point by conway. she uses sort of soft language, it appears, it's maybe president-elect biden. let's lisn, though, to some tougher language, some harder language from georgia's lieutenant governor jeff duncan who called out house republicans this week in an

interview with "the pbs newshour." >> it's not american. it democracy. this is not our finest moment and my hope is that we quickly move past this. robert: phil, what are you pecking up about republicans? on one side you have conwaand others slowly moving there. and then you have the lieutenant governor of georgia saying this is an abysmal development for the g.o.p.er do they go in the coming days? phil: wel bob, i think most republican elected officials of ce holders, they agree with what the lieutenant governor just said. they're just afraid to say it out loud. look, they understand hows elti work. they understand that there are people's votes counted. the re and they understand that joe biden won 306 electoral college votes and lead the popular vote by sevenillion this wasn't that close of an election. they get it. they're just not able to say so public their own political calculations because they so fear what president trump could do to them. he remains incredibly popular

ith republican base. republican governor of georgia, brian kemks for w now. the republican secretary of state of georgia, brad raffens berger and can set off that fury against any repn elected official in any state in this country when he chooses to. and republican suddenly could face a primary challenge back home in their next election. and so they're congress any antioxidant of what they ed -- cognizant of what they need to do to hold on to their own power within the republican party. and as long as trump is the leader of the party they will go along with him and why so many republica members of congress signed on to that brief to support that texas case in the supreme c robert: molly, i've been picking up similar vein in my reporting this week that herepublicans, they know conventional wisdom in washington is oh, president trump's about to go away, why don't you just break ranks? t they keep telling me, hey, he's not going away. phil said he's going to be here in 2022. he may run again in 2024. o they're just trying to surviv trying to move forward.

kabukie theater and branding protection in another way but bylly i was struc line you wrote this week. this is not a slow motion coup.h is that important to understand? molly: i wrote that a couple of weeks ago that based on what wexpertse telling me about the plausability of the attempts t overturn the election that it ju didn't seem like there was any merit to it thatould go anywhere within the normal process, the normalhe system,egal avenues that are available. and we've seen that very clearlyith the court results in all of these courts all over the country and then in the supreme court just which in its very brief refusal to hear the case genly sort of said that texas had not presented aegally cognizant state's in another court speak there's no there ere and there's no leg do here. one state telling another state how to run its elections.

so at the same time, there is a real danger for democracy in normalizing these baseless challeng thing that people do after they lose elections not to accept urem. that of is the bedrock of our democratic system is that the winners and losersik agree to the rules in advance and then abide by them. and so the question i think going forward is going to be what role does president to mp wantntinue to play in the republican party? because this is the exact same vise grip he had them in 2015 o when he threatena political debate sta to leave the party and run as an independent and we've see as polls that to this day the vast majority of republicans and tr p voters and trump supporters say that they would prefer to vote for a trump party than a republican party if they had to make that choice. so, you know, republicans are going to have to deal wit this for as long as trump wants to make them. robert: trump party.

reminds me of t.r., teddy oose. elt and the bull i mean, i'm struck by her -- yes, not a slow motion cou but it is a very serious moment for earlier friday, senator chris murphy of connecticut gave a passionate speech saying we just can't ignore, he said, speaking for democrats, how serious this is for amecan democracy. what are you hearing from other democrats about this reckoning for the country beyond just the exercise on branding an political protection for president trump on the republican side? molly: i'm from georgia and the stakes are hfor them in this moment. they're dealing with this senate runoff in which they need republicans to believe th turning out to vote is actually going to make a difference and them participating in a relged ction is really not a message that necessarily energizes or gvan ices voters. now, -- galvanizes voters.

now, when the predent was in georgia last weekend and gave a essage to republicans saying election from me but don't let them steal it from david perdue and kelly loeffler.i n't know how effective a message that is going to be. but i mean this is a state where issues of voter suppression have been at py for years. and the republican party has been accused of largely doing nat voter suppressnd so the thought that is now potentially impacti their voters, the idea that if the system is not working, whye participn it? whether that could have an effect on depressing those voters is remarkable to consider indeed. but listen, it's exactly what molly was saying. we know the outcome of this election. what is less clear is what this entire, you know, fiasco in the wake of the election, what effect is that going to ha really on our democracy and in our electorate'sen conf in just the idea of one person,

one vote going forward? robert: phil, can you just take apple? bite at this book with kara lenig, a very stable genius, it's about the testing of america. phil: that's exactly wh this is, bob. it's a testing of our country's foundational principles of our country's democracy and look, even as the is going to meet monday, and that outcome seems clear, joe biden will probably almost certainly b cetified as the president-elect, will be sworn n at the inauguration the reverberations of trump's challenge to thelection results could continue for years. you could have a situation where joe ben is acting as the president, is the presiden , through ea and, you know, 30%, 40% of the american p think he is there illegitimately. think he lost the election. and that could have devastating consequences not only for the biden presidency but for americans' faith and trust in ou govement, in our system in our democracy and who knows

what sorts of changes could be around the b that's the kind of country we're living in? robert: speaking of n devastation, let forget as the president fights on, more than 3,000 americansed di on thursday from covid-19. a higher deaths toll than pearl harbor. or t september 11 attacks. and since the start of the pandemic, over 290,000 americans have died. now, the f.d.a. is moving swiftly on vaccine approval even as the president pressures them to go faster. president-elec bid told americans on friday to be confident in the vaccine. president-elect biden: i want to make it clear to the public. you should have conidence in this. there's no political influence. these are first rate scientists taking tir time, looking at all of the elements that need to be lookedt. robert: molly, what's the split e?reen her election on one front, president-elect bidenn the other, speaking as he did this week? olly: well, all of the

been talking about and the potential undermining of he incoming president really have worrome effects on presidt-elect biden's ality to respond to the pandemic from because so much of what he wants to do depends on americans believing tst h the president and listening to what he is saying. a and arge swath of the american public is too suspicious of him, of his legitimacy, of anything, you know, he wants to encourage americans wear a mask for 100 days. but you don't have the power, the federal government doesn't have the power to compel tha so he needs americans' confidence in order to get that to work. same thing for a vaccine. can't compel people to take it. needs the states to distribute it and needs pple to be willing and -- to believe in this vaccine, to believe that it's safe so that the country can move on from thisandemic and so that this can unfurl in

fashion. americans don't - are n listening, have already turned away from this new administration, it tremendously complicates their ability to do the coronavirus response that they have in mind. robert: err, what's your big picture takeaway of ben's announcement on the cabinet this week, the 19th has beenin in-depth coverage? errin: yeah. i mean, there were a slew of nominations announced this ek, even more women, even moree of kwlor as you had civil rights organizations meeting with, president-elect biden and vice president-elect k harris to their case not only do they want to see african-americans i you know, the administration, but they want to see them in they want to see them in decision-making roles not just a seat at the table o but reallyve proximity to power and to make real the --

what joe biden was saying about racial inequality being one of the four crises that he feels that andse kamala har will inherit when they take office in january i spoke with marsha fudge, the nominee for the secretary ofg housnd urban development, somebody who had been considered forgricultu secretary, a role that has gone to tom vilsack which some people have raised objections because of h role in the ouster of sh shiraud a decade ago and she feels that h.u.d. is an agency that can confront racial ineqlity and she also saidhat she spoke with tom vilsack and that he may be open to hearing some of therns that, you know, black leaders have expressed and others over how he may approach this role if he is confirmed this time. and so, you know, i think lived experience has certainly been atssue in how this administration is taking shape. and i think that we'r seeing

-- you know, the folks who were part of the coalition that got joe biden elected are absolutely committed to being a factor in how he intends to govern. : and all of those people, phil, who are nominated are going to have to face nate republicans led by leader mcconnell who continues to be at theenter of these stalled negotiations over a stimulus. is the president going to lean in, phil, between now and late january in the stimulus negotiations to try to he jump-start phil: you know, bob, there's been no indication so fart t the president is planning to do that or that he's frankly thate ged in these stimulus negotiations. he has had almost all of his time occupied since the election on the challenges that he and his team have been making in court and in the public arena to the election results. he's not doing much by the way of governing. certainly not on the coronavirus pandemic. oo and this stalemate has been in place in congress now for ny months. has been a long time since

that first round ostimulus money has -- has disappeared and tens ofillions of americans remain out of work. the lines at food banks a very long. a lot of people are hungry, are hurting, are out of work struggling to keep their rent and pay thei and what you have in congress making a deal at oint.lly not is they're not getting anything done for those people right robert: molly, you've written a book on speaker pelosi, pelosi, terrific read. what's the problem with the stimulus? there's such an impetus to get somethg done, millions of americans struggling, why doesn't it happen and where is the speaker this mix? said the speaker surprised if the congress has to stay past christmas. that is the kind of threat in the past sometimes has worked to motivate people. but she has felt throughout simply ess that she partner. and a lot of that i think does

have to do with the president's inconsistent engagement in this process. he has largely as phil said beend disengacept when he eighs in to drop the scramble the talks rather than be helpful. most republicans agree the thing that would get their members unified and off the mat since they do take their cues assiduously from president trump were if the presidentut his shoulder to the wheel on pretty much anying. they would do prey much ything if he made it clear that he wanted them to. and instead he has been disengaged and the -- it's been in game of hoto pottween different groups of republicans. whether it's the senate republicans, whether it's th bipartisan group that decided to take matters into its own hands and made some progress or whether it's been the white housetsf. so all that has meant today they bought tmselves se more time passing a weak extension of the government spendingheeadline. thathope to use as a vehicle to pass further

coronaviru already too late lot of ded to r people and a lot of businesses. robert: errin, what's the real world cost for not getting the stimulus done? errin: the real world pain that so many americans are going rough, whether they ever get the coronavirus or not. look, we're certainly in a hopeful moment given the approv of the vaccine and, you know, joe biden is i guess doing everythat he can do from outside of the white house over the next 4 days. but there is no vaccine for housing evictions and no vaccine for food insecurity and no vaccine for losing your paycheck. and so that is where voters are really looking for congress to do something. d that inaction is impacting their lives on a daily and sometimes hou basis. robert: and the most interesting thing i heard this week was senator josh hawley, a conservative from missouri, was workg with senatorernie

sanders, democratic socialist from vermont and try -- in trying to include direct payments to americansn this stimulus package. it's reflective of theising populism on the right & president biden will dealing with all that. but we have to put our note boorks down and leavet there tonight. anot close. many thanks to our reporters for being here. moy ball, errin haines, and phil rucker. thank you so much. and thank you all for joining us. it means a lot. we will keep taking you as close to the news as we can and our conversation will continue on the "washington week" extra c you can find on our social media and our website. we'ltalk about pelosi, the book from molly ball. phil rucker's book v ay stable genius and talk about what's going on at the 19th and at "the washington post." all of our reporting coming up on the extra. but for now i'm robert costa. good night from washington. me [captioning perfby the national captioning institute,

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