judy: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the "newshour" tonight. the vaccine rollout begins -- the u.s. undertakes its largest-ever inoculation campaign as deaths from covid-19 reach 300,000. then. making iofficial -- the electoral college meets to certify joe biden's win as the trump campaign continues to deny the election results. then, inching closer to a deal pp-- congressional leadersr closer to bridging the divide on a long-awaited coronavirus economic relief bill. anin invisible scars -- we b a new series examining thedh impact of chd trauma, made worse by the ongoing pandemic. >> we're seeing increased rates

of domestic violence, substance use and abuse, mental health disorders. we also are seeing a dramatic reduction in reports of child maltreatment. judy: all that and more on tonight's "pbs newshour." announcer: major funding for the "pbs newshour" has been provided by -- >> before talk about your inve > audrey is expecting. >>. twins. . >> grandparents. >> we want to put money aside for them, so let's see what we n do. >> i want to be closer to the twins. >> change of plans. >> ok. >> mom, are you painting again? seyou coul these. >> let me guess, change in plans?

>> at fidelity, a change in plans is always part of the plan. announcer:r consumecellular. johnson & johnson. financial services firm raymond james. bnsf railway. the william and flora hewlett foundation. for more than 50 years, advancing ideas anitsupporting inions to promote a better world, at hewlett.org. the chan-zuckerberg initiative, working to build a more healthy, just, and inclusive future for everyone at czi.org. andpo with the ongoing s of these insta -- individuals and institutions

this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ judy: we have important news on three fronts tonight. the pandemic, the elec college vote for president, and the u.s. attorney general. we start with re pandemic. the first time today, americans are getting a covid-19 vaccine, and not a moment too soon. the nation passed 300,000 dead today as vcine doses rolled out and sleeves rolled up. william brangham reports. [applause] william: new york, once the epicenter of this pandemic, saw one of the rays of hope for its first end. vaccinations began in queens,

where critical care nurse sandra lindsay ceived the first federally auorized shot. >> working on the frontin alongside my team, i saw a lot of pain, hurt, suffering, death oand so i felt a huge sen efre after i got the vaccine. reporter: in washgton, health and human services secretary alex azar hailed the start of the largest vaccination campaign in u.s. history. >> a our winst the virus i not over yet, but this week we're taking a major step toward our eventual victory. william: on sunday, the federal governme -- utilizing the military, in part -- began distributing theer pfiontech vaccine. 2..million doses initial they will reach 145 sites by the end of today, more than 600 locations total by wednesday, and by next more than 1,200 sunday, tes will have the vaccine.

approved emergencyrizationration for the pfizer vaccine on friday -- marking an unprecedented pace of scientific development, with a vaccine for a virus lyat was ondentified earlier this year. as the first shipments arrived in different states, governors celebrated. we are going to defeat covid. it starts right now. william: but initial supplies of the vaccine are limited, so frontline healthcare workers are older americans lin long-term care facilits should begin receiving the vaccine next week. how the shops are -- shots are administered is left up to individual hospitals. >> what the groups are trying to doats prioritize the people mostisk in the workplace. reporter: as initial inoculations begin, the department of health and human services planso spend on a public education campaign $250 million to encourage people to get the vaccine, and to tryan to dispel myth

misinformation. it's unclear when president trump will get the vaccine. his previous infection likely gave h some immunity. ere had been reports that top officials in the white house would receive it this week, but overnight, the president tweeted that they would wait until later getting his shots "at theward to appropriate time." y dr. anthuci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, said he'll get his shot -- also in public -- sometime in the odxt few weeks. he spoke earlier. dr. fauci: a vaccine that isec 94%, 95% eve against clinical disease and very very effective against serious disease, i mean that is a historic, unprecedented achievement. still, as the campaign gears up, e virus is killing more amicans than ever before. on several days last week, over 3,000 americans died each day. that's one september 11th happening day after day. the u.s. has one of the worst death rates in the develed world.

across the nation, the spread of can.s and deaths remains une the midwest and plains states are trending better, while caoffornia, texas, and much the southeast are moving in the wrong direction. and, the virus continues to fall hardest on black and brown communities. they are more likely per capita to get the virus, andito then e from it. right now, blacks and african-amerans are dying from covid-19 at nearly double the rate of whites. the hope n is that vaccines and continued public health measures will finally slow, and perhaps, ultimately halt dhe , virudly progress. for the "pbs newshour," i'm william branghamnd judy: our seajor story -- the determining vote on who will be the next president is in, despite efforts by the sitting president to underminehe results. today, the electoral college members had their say. lisa desjardins reports.

lisa: today in historistate capitals like atlanta and in small auditoriums like this one in arizona, the unique gears of u.s. democracyoved with determination as the electoral college cast a majority of votes for president-elect joe biden. >> 20 votes for the honorable joseph r biden for president of the united states and 20 votes for the honorable kamala hris of the united states. lisa: it was unlike any vote the college and country have seen before, with some electors like in nevada, meeting virtually, and others imposing social distancing a covid tests. president trump also received a 8 >> alltes for president

donald j. trump for president of the united states of america. >> the electors have cast 18 votes for president donald j. trump for president. lisa: and in a few biden states, republican lawmakers held essentially mock ceremonies, but dehour-by-hour, the able metronome of votes for mr. bin, locking in a majority. with it came reflection, sometimehopeful. s.orges stacey abr >> this is not a moment of partisanship. this is a momentf patriotism, because came together to do something that has been done time and again in memorial for lisa: sometimes, more pragmatic like arizona's secretary of state, katie hobbs. >> it is evident that this is not the end of the discussion about the 2020 election, nor how we conduct elections going forward. thiseg is likely thening of

a lengthy debate aboutclow to m faith in our democratic institutions. lisa: in wisconsin, governor tony evers presided ov electors meeting, shortly after the ate's highest court rejected a trump lawsuit that ughad so to disqualify more than 200,000 votes that were cali. but the he today wasot the court battle. process.he arcane electoral rebekah greene teaches election law at the college of william & mary. >> usually, the electoral college meeting is the event. this year is unprecedenten the sense that we have a presidential candidate who has refused to concede, and that has kind of complicated the postelection period. >> you cannot legally certify the selection. lisa: that attention sparked some small protests like this one in michigan, as well as threats of violence that led police to escort electors into the state capital there. >> i second the nomination of joe biden for the office of the

president of the united states. clsa: that es robin smith, who spoke to "newshour" the "newshour" before casting her vote. >> it has been challenging because we have emails that are harassing. it had me it really uncomfortable where this should be an exciting time. lisa: this, as president trump on saturday kept up his drumbeat of denying the results. >> we are going to continue to go fward. we have numerous local cases. lisa:lisa: the same day, trump supporters marched in washington, d.c., that was largely peaceful but erected into violence at night. membs of the crowd tore down and burned black lives mter banners at two historiblack churches. the pastor said "fore m it was reminiscent of cross burnings." the divide continues but the ral college moves on. t five 38 38, -- the 538 votesgt go to

wash, d.c. where they will be counted. i'm lisa desjardins forou the "new" judy: as wearked deaths from 300,000 covid, a deal to provide economic relief still eludes lawmakers. nntime is g out as benefits from the cares act expire the day after christmas.ro a bipartisan offered two proposals this afternoon to break the gridlock. manchin is one of the key architects and he joins us now om capitol hill. thank you very much for joining us again. tells why your proposal is now broken upte into two sepa bills. sen. manchin: it is not just mine. been a group of people who started together in a bipartisan way. it started after the election november 4. forth.phone calls back and

we had to do something. i talkedy to susan, la, all friends, all my democratic friends. we had a dinner, and it grew. we now have a unanimous group of people that have agreed on $748 million that takes care of all the emergency needs that weave that will expire at the end of december. people will not go without unemployment checks. they will not go without food and even helping food banks and everyone else who has fed people they havnever fed before because of hard times. we are taking caref health care. we are taking care of the needs people have as a lifeline. all of the emergencies are taken care of in this bill, unanimous democrat and republican. there's no reason why this wouldn't be passed immediately if they put her on the floor. the on c thing tell

everybody, help is on the way, we are not leaving, we will not go home for christmle, we will noe this place until the bill is passed. judy: do you have reason to believe youup will get thert what you are putting forward?ind sen. manchin: there's no reason why not. we have been working and growing this group of democrats and republicans. from dk durbin to rob portman, people well respected within their caucuses. we have people all in between. lythis is the ame in town. there's nobody elsene that has hat we had done and stuck with it. nobody thought we would have a bill. we have a ll, $748 billion, close to 600 pages, and we put it to present tonight. it will be on the internet. it' onot perfect, i'm su that it's not perfect, i'm sure of that. . i remindou, this is an

emergency covid relief bill. joe biden becomes -- judy: and senator -- sen. manchin: difficult times. judy: excuse me, ite lto your news conference with republicans and democrats on board with you, which raises questions, where is the ?eadership and the rest of these political parti as we know for the democrats, one of the main sticking point has been aid for state and local governments. that money appears to be in a second proposal as well as so-called liability protections for businesses, hospitals and others,. my question on that is, why isn't there agreement there, and is that still going to hold up agreement on this? sen. manchin: we would love to have one bill. we agreed on $908 billion.

$160 billion for state and local need. there are a lot states and a lot of people, first responders, policeman, fireman, essential services that we needed in every state that are basically reducing their workforce because of a lack of revenue. the other is liability. my republican friends believe strongly businesses should not be able to sue other businesses. we as democrats believe that. d where they bren difference is the ability to be able to get in court. how do you protect the worker? it's only for two years, one year prior starting in december 2019 and it ends at the endf 2021. judy: and it's my understanding -- i'm sorry to interrupt, it is my understanding that democra supporting what the republicans want in terms of liability protection.

but what we are hearing from democrats is they are worried vulnerability jobs liken meatpacking plants where they would be at a huge disadvantage and stand to lose their jobsr protection and coverage by their employer if theyanot sick. sen.in: judy, they have workers,. all the people work bring further large comernies have wocompensation to take care of. workers comp in case they get hurt, we know tha we are worried about people who say they went into the sre and say i contract this at the place of business, because you iid not saniti i went ahead and that bill with my republican colleagues in the spirit of bipartisanship, because everyone has to give and take. they shortened the time element from five years to two years. arwhen year back, one forward.

they made some other critical i'm sure it's not good enough for a lot of people.here's the thing .if for some reason they can't come to an agreement, and the senate emd the houserats and republicans won't agree, then that stays by itself. those two are oneill. liability and state and local help. the $748 billion is the emergency bill. that takes care of every need every american has for housing, rental, basically everything needed for you to survive, get through the wo next year.of judy: as we stand here tonight, how confident are you that the aide will, 740 $8 billion, will pass whether or not on liability protection or state local government? sen. manchin: i'm as confident

as i am standing here to talk to you that this is real. athis is not ju concept. two weeks ago, we gave an outline showing how we came to 08 billion. we worked it and worked it for the last 30 days. the staff has been going around. we have been on zoom calls and phone calls continuously every day. we have comeo this after a lot oflk discussions, g to our caucuses, democrats and republicans, and representing them. no one else has done anything like this. if the leadership all of a sudden wants to reinvent the wheel, that's wh they would be doing. we would hope they would say thank you all for what you have done. sos they hit an impasse. we were able to work past that and we have a bill. i'dem confi. if they want to stay here for christmas, i will be right with judy: we saw the bipartisanship today. we will see what the leadership does. senator joe mansion of west

.virginia, thank y stephanie: i'm stephanie sy with "newshour" west. we will return to the rest of the show after thesepr headline. ident-elect joe biden gave a primetime address from dewilmingtonware this evening after the electoral college concluded voting. he sad the process handed hi clear victory and that the uthistoric turhould be celebrated, not attacked. began at ash acknowledging himrs as president-elect. early votingn began georgia's two u.s. senate runoffs to control which party controls the chamber. republican incumbent david rdue faces democratic challenger jon ossoff. s another republicator, kelly leffler, is up against democrat rafael warnock. the elections are scheduled for january 5. the trumpio administr slapped

sanctions on nato ally turkey today, for buying a russian-made u.s. officials say the russian missiles pose a threat to allied security, but turkey has begun testing the weapons anyway.s the tundemned the sanctions. the united states also formally blamed iran today for the abduction and presumed death of robert levinson. the former fbi agent disappeared in iran in 2007, and his family received images of him years later. u.s. officials believe he died in captivity. eo iranian intelligence officers will fanomic sanctions. in india, thousands of farmers now called today for a new national strike -- the second in a week. the crowds staged a sit-in on a major new delhi highway, over laws they say will drive downri crops. they insisted they won't give up. >> and there is no question, we haveotest. it's the government's responsibility to provide social benefits. and if they don't, people will

have to come together. stephanie: the farmers have blockaded highways leading to the indian capital for 3 weeks. the united auto workers union ending a federal p oftoday, bribery and embezzlement. it calls for an independent monitor and staves off a federal takeover. in detroit today, u president rory gamble said it's good for his 400,000 members. >> we're putting our union back to where it should be a strong , beacon and voice for working families in america, and 're not going to let a small group of individuals disturb that. stephanie: two former uaw presidents are among those convicted in the fi-year investigation. major league baseball's cleveland indians are changing their name after next season. the franchise owner said, "theon name is nor acceptable in our world." the team will play as the indians in 2021, while it decides on a new name.

and, john le cre -- the master cold war espionage thrillers -- is being mourned tonight. pneumonia. saturday from le carre's works included "the spy who came in from the cold" and "tinker, tailor, soldier, spy". he discussed his genrelen "the macneier newshour" -- a predecessor of this program -- in 1989. >> the spy story was not invented by the cold war. it will continue after the cold war.it classical roots are much older. and any form of literaturetoo survive ane any good and to give us pleasure, and to give us relevance, d to provoke us, st surely chronicle the changes in its own time. stephanie: 8 john le carre was years old. judy: still to come on the "still to come on twshour". the president tweets that william barr is out as attorney general. russia is suspected in a major cyber attack against the u.s. tamara keith and amy walter break down the latest political

news, plus more. announcer: this is the "pbs newshour," from weta studios in washington and iththe west from walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. attorney general bill barr is out. president trump tweeted late today that barr is resigning just befe christmas. rosen will become actingje attorney general. we look at what this mea with r yamiche alcindor. she of course covers the white house for us. we knew there wereome tensions between them since the attorney general said he didn't know of any evidence that there had been widespread fraud in this election. what more do we make of i yamiche: it is tough to say. in one regard, you have a attorney general bill barr

leaving office, praing president trump, saying that he wasar at times thet of an abusive system. you have president trump tweeting that bill barr, they had a great relationship. but when you look under the surface, you understand esident trump has been taking aim at attorney general bill barr, especially afterenhe attorneyal set his office heads -- had seen no evidence of widespread voter fraud would have changed the outcome of the election. it is true that attorney general bill barr says he is resigning, but this was in some ways largely expected. there were a number of peoplm looking for be fired. a lot of people were wondering whether or not he would be fired because president trump was getting more and more angry at theha facthe was not doing more to change the results of the 2020 electiotr and president p's favor. we should note attorney general barr was seen as a close ally of the, preside had his back

again and again, after the mueller targeted president trump n unfairly had his back agd again, after the mueller investigation said it targeted president trump unfairly. , saying he should get a more -- there were also times he intervened in the case of roger stone, saying he should get a should get a more tce saying he sentence. . here in the last few weeks, another shocking and s.prising oust judy: i know the news has just broken in the last hour, but what is expected of jeff rosen, who would move up to be the acting attorney general, what is he expected tohe do in period of time he's in charge of the justice department? yamiche:yamich he could do what attorney general bill barr would not do, publicly say the election was rigged, publicly say president trump was the real

projected winner. i don't expect this inome ways, but president really wants an attorney general come out and say that president trump was wronged, t that he somehow i rightful winner of the election. this new attorney general will face fierce pressure from president trump to do sething like that.we have seen president trump take w his case all t to the supreme court, go to court after court, losing continuously. of course, today we saw the electors come and vote and officially make president-elect joe biden the president-elect. but the president will continue to talk about this and he will attorney general.judy: yamiche l be back a little later for a more important story -- another important story. for now, thank you yamiche. it is the most significant hack of the u.s. government in years. multiple agencies, including the departments of treasury andho

land security, were successfully infiltrated, and the perpetrator appears to be russia. nick schifrin report nick: judy, the victims include the very agency designed to protect the country from cyber attacks. e department of homelandri se, treasury, and commerced were breactween march and may when they downloaded an update two n software called solar wind, thatbe ownst to them was infected with malicious code but the . but the hacks were only scovered recently. in the last few days, government agencies and companies around the world have rouhed to figure whether they were victims, as well. th suspect russian intelligence. to discuss this we turn to dmitri alpeerovich, co-founded of silverado policy accelerator, a washington based think tank. welcome back to the newshour. how widespread is this and hope did it h >> this could be one of the most

consequential cyber espionage events to date. this vendor is used by hundreds thousands of organizations globally including some of the most securegeies. some of the biggest fortune 500 the fact that russian intelligence may have had access izations over th course of the last nine months is very troubling. we believe fewer than a few hundred organizations were coromised, but we may still learn over the last couple weeks about who they may be. nick: they have so many clients, yet it seems as if the perpetrators only use this to steal from a cple in -- agencies. how important is that? >> it is importa because we are dealin with some of the best russian intelligence behind this. what they want to do is have a

cherry pick of the best targets, the most hard to get targets so we might very well see really ground breaking announcements in the coming days about who may have been hit by this attack. nick: and as that selectivity by thet perpetrators, is ty it has taken so long to detect them? >> it is. they were very stealthy. their operational tradecraft was phenomenal. they wanted to make sure they could use this access through thisd backdoor olarwinds for as long as possie without being detected. nick: the attack is believed to be perpetrated by the equivalent of the cia in russia, notheir military intelligence, the gr you, which hacked in 2016. why is that distinction important? >> it important because the grus responsible for some of the most destructive attacks in

history. the fact of the matter is, they are not known to do destructive iooper.they do traditional espionage and steal data for decision-makers in russia. while this is really bad, we have to be thankful itivas not destru nick: just because we know how easy to get them out? it >> yes, luckily we know the intrusion vector, so the indicators are out there. the cybersecurity agency has dicted all u.s. agencies to shut down solarwinds if they ha this rsion that is compromised, until a patch is out. ldevery organization she following that big vice -- that advise government or not.the you very muc

judy: we begin a new series this week looking at an underrepoed public health crisis in this country. childhood trauma. americans.illions of in our first piece from our correspondent and producer, we lay the problem and what's at stake. "invisible scars: ica'ses childhood trauma crisis." >> make sure you clean up afterwards. reporter: this hotel room inif oaand, cnia has been home to iesha james and her sons for folo months. it's quarters for three growing boys, ages 15, 13, and 12. but they'd rather be here than t where their apartm a drive-by shooting in august upended their lives. jeremiah, the oldest, was hit in the leg. >>hat was the entry wound. where was the? >> it came like here.

reporter: malachi, the youngest, ges grazed in the arm and hand. >> i heard my yo screaming and my oldest saying, mom, i've been shot. it seemed unreal, like this c't be happening. reporter: jeremiah now gets physal therapy twice a week. while the physical injuries are healing, the family's emotional wounds from the shootinare still with them. >> there's some good days and there's some bad days. it's definitely a lon of ptsd in reporter: iesha's family's story highlights a public health crisis in this country that's often ovlooked. those affected are at much greater risk for short-term and long-term alth impacts. and amid a global pandemic, the problem is only getting worse. the issue -- childhood trauma. everyone iimpacted differently by life events, but when we talk about childhd trauma -- which is a broad term --ta we'ring about experiences that take a lasting emotional and/or physical toll. and in the middle of a pandemic, kids today are increasingly

vulnerable. >> we're seeing increased rates of domestic violence, ineased rates of substancese and abuse, increased rates of mental health concerns and mental health disorders. we also are seeing a dramatic reduction in reports of child maltreatnt, which is not a good thing. reporter: dr. nadine burke harris is a pediatriciannd california's first surgeon general. >> if we want to be preventing mental health concerns, if we want to be preventing dependence, if we want to be preventing cardiovascular disease and cancer, we see that adverse childhood experiences is a root cause for all oe things. reporter: that understanding is largely the result of a landmark study by researchers from kaiser permanente andhee cdc in

late 1990's. they lookeat 17,000 patients' histories of "adverse childhoo experiences"- or "aces." 10 potentially traumatic early life events, inclungcal, emotional and sexual abuse, exposure to domestic violence, and divorce. researchers correlated those "aces" with health issues in adulthood. the findings shook the world of medicine. >> having four or more adverse childhood experiences. that is associated with more than double the risk of ischemic heart disease, the number one killer in the united states of america. two and a half times the risk of stroke, triple the risk of chronic lung disease. reporter: in fact, having four or more "aces" is associated with significantly increased sks for at least 5 out of the 10 leading causes of death in u.s. but how exactly can adverse experiences cause these disparate healan effects? ther is in the science of stress. >> so when we experienceme ing stressful, our body releases stress hormones.

prolonged activation of the biological stress response tt can lead to long term health problems, changes in the way the ,ain structure and functi changes in our immune system, our hormonal system, and even the way our dna is read and transcribed. reporter:n the heart, stress hormes can make things go haywire. >> those cause our heart to beat stronger and faster. soarhey actually exert more and tear on the lining of the inside of our arteries. reporter: and that could show up attack or a stroke. a heart reporter: and in the brain -- >> we see mri studies thatthhow for children who are exposed to high doses of adversity, there are structural and functional changes in their brains. reporter: t a areas that can be affected are responsible for key functions like processing ndar, controlling impulses, as well as learning remembering.

all issues iesha james says she's seen in her boys, who experience considerable trauma even before the shoong. , iesha took malachi and mickel in when they were just one and two. >> my maternal cousin while , carrying both boys was into prostitution, drugs, alcohol. reporter: those early traumas - hers -- had wide-ranging impacts on their daily life. >> abandonme, you know, separation anxiety, you know, all became a major issue. almickel wasn't evenng. he was two going into his third year of age, and it was just a ry hard time. reporter: and when faced with stressful situations they , struggled with how to respond. >> i cried. lots of crying. i didn't know how to speak my emotions. the only way i knew how was crying. reporter: later, the kids

struggled in school, hads, behavioral iss and they dealt with physical health problems too, most notably severe asthma which can be , associated with trauma. >>th we ended up i er sometimes two and three times , every other month. reporter: the james family's experience with trauma is, unfortunately, not unique. just over 60% of adults in the u.s. have had at least one adverse childhood experience and 15% have had four orore. women and communities of color are at greater risk of experiencing significant trauma, in marin, just north of sand. francisco, dedtrus hyde treats ma in one of the most affluent countie in the country, but he's also spent years practicing in low-resourced communities. >> in my experience, these traumatic events in childhood are the memories that are most imbued with shame. and that makes it incredibly difficult to talk about these haexperiences, whether the resources or not. reporter: hyde is also personallyffected by trauma.

>> one of the more significant traumas of my fe, was my parents' divorce. they divorced when i was when i inrauma world, we tend to consider divorce as one of the top 10 traumas. reporter: later in his adolescence, he experiencedtr anothema. a sexual assault by someone he trusted. >> undoubtedly one of the things an individual being vulnerable is previous trauma. d set up r me a need that the man who came into my life noticed, i believe, and took advantage of. reporter:av he says hg conversations about trauma -- as hard as it may be -- is vital. >> to people who haven't shared try totories yet, please do so. that is where so much healing can occur, is in the telli of our stories. >> this is treatable. reporter: for dr. nadine burke

harris, that's the key takeaway. >> what the science shows is t's never too late t actually begin healing from the effects of early adversity. number two, what the research shows that although it's never too late, early detection and early intervention dramatically improv outcomes. reporter: with that in mind, late last year california launched an initiative to train medica screen for "adverse childhood experiences." and those screenings are now covered under medi-ca the state's medicaid progr. iesha james and her family have benefitted from the growing understanding of aces and their health impact. her sons' pediatrician -- dr. dayna long at ucsf benioff children's hospital in oakland. >> it is a piece of informatn tht allows me to help guide and shape a treatment plan with an understanding that this kid is a experienciot, and it is

traumatic and it's influencing them on a biologic level, so that we can actually get to a place of healing. reporter:y' and t not just relying on traditional medical interventions. she and a team of colleagues connect families in need with resources, like food, school interventions, and therapy. and they coach them on stress relief techniques like meditation and breathing. >> we can't make the stress go away, but they are able to regula the stress through techniques and tools. reporter: iesha james is working hard to incorporate those tools to her family's day to d life. >> it just opened all of us up deal with things before just getting into them verbally, combatively, you know, beating our head up against a brick wa, slamming doors. reporter: and while life isn't perfect, things have gotten beer. the boys asthma is under control. they're having fewer issuein school. and they're also able to better manage their sess. which, in times like this, means everything.

for the "pbs newshour," i'm cat wise in california's bay area. judy: just hours after members of the electal college cemented his victory, president-elect joe biden is addressing the nation tonight. we turn to our politics monday duo for analysis. that's amy walter of the cook political report and host of public radio's "politics with amy walter." she also co-hosts the "npr hello to both of you. as we speak, joe biden is speaking elsewhere. we are following a bit of it. it has been an extraordinary month since the election. dejoe was declared the

winner, but there has been ganstant protest from president trump, constant challenges. where does this leave joe biden right now? >> in many ways, president trump's challenges and efforts to overturn the results of the election are pretty much nearing e end of the road, certainly with the supreme court refusing to take up or accept the texas lawsuit attemptinto overturn results in several key stes. there aren't really results in several key states. -- this leaves joe biden with the elecral college, they have voted, it's official, he is the president-elect. what we see in these remarks is the president-elect making an extensive case for why he won, or how he won, or specifically

trust that he won, that he is rightfully the president-elect. it's not normal for a prutident-elect to do that, it's also not normal for a candidate or president to refuse tooncede and argue he will continue fighting on and ntinue attempting to delegitimize the person who will follow him into the white house. judy: it is extraordinary. and the fact that month after the election, joe biden has to defend the fact that he won the it's a measure of how successfup president tras been at casting doubt on the results. >> that's right. during these remarks, what you hear president-elect b doing is going through every single one oll the cges not in great. detail, but outlining the challenges of president trump

hand what the results re, and as such, why he, joe biden, is the duly elected president of the united states come january 20. it is just remarkable when you think about all the ways in which president tmp has pushed the boundaries both of our norms and institutions. this is also what president-elect biden talked about in his remarks. foror all the pushing andll of the attempts to undermine t will of the electorate, from going specific state legislators,-r hiking officials in the states including governors and etaries of state who wer republican, trying to get them to overturn the results, those institutions helped as well as the folks who dude the -- do the y to day work, a group

president-elt biden also singled out. people who are the poll workers. the folks who showed up and counter the ballots, even as they were feeling so much pressure, in some cases people yelling at them, or hearing the pressure from email and social media. the fact thathey did their jobs and did it well was a really striking sort of reality of how -- what the president-elect noted was it spoke to the strength of the american democracy, that it is the local level, the average person was the one who did the most toio keep the instit going. biden also said, there were some recounts, buthere were 80 some odd gal challenges filed including twice in the supreme court and not a single one of them was successful. we do ha a clip right now to

share of a portion of what the president-elect had to say just now. let's listen. mr. biden: one of the most amazing demonstrations of civic duty we have seen in the country. it should be celebrated, not attacked. more than 81 million of those votes were cast for me and vice president harris. that is also a record. more than any tic it has receivthe history of america. . it represents a winning margin of more than 7 million votes over the number of votes cast for my opponent. together, vice president-elect harris and i earne306 electoral votes, while eeeding d2 70 electoral votes needed to secure victory -- 270 electoral votes needed to secure victory. judy: we can see joe biden reminding everyone, not only did hein, but he won big.

7 million more votes than presidentrump received.i think it was something like 47% to 51%, which is a significant margin in today's divided country, but still, there is this need to prove his bona fides. >> indeed. the reality is president trump is unlikely to go quinto the night, biden will be president biden, and he will have a lot of wor to do to reach the share of republican voters who don't believe that he is aimate president. and also, he will have wor to do with members of congress. as joe biden pointed out in his remarks, more than 125 house members, members of congress, republicans, sided with president trump and the texas attorney i generaln an effort to overturn the results in other states. that points to the kind of work that joe biden has ahead o him,

the kind of division that exists, but also points to the fact that president still has remarkable sway over s own party. it's not clear whether those members of congresknew that there was no chance that the supreme court would go along with this. to support presidemp and ticket show their support, or whether they tught this had a chance. people who study declining democracies have aued vigorously that letting president trump continued the democracy.gerous for the joe biden's argument is democracieholding just fine. judy: holding just fine, and yet there is a question lingering about how much this hobbles his do when there has been thiso unprecedentedel l of

questioning raised about thi legitimacy o would. -- of his when. win .> that's rig there was consternation after the disputed 2000 election. many democrats believed george w. bush was not put into office in a legitimate way. there were questions afters 004, questiout voting machines in ohio, but none of those are today, and certain did not get the stamp of approval from a president orresident-elect or leaders of the party like we are seeing today. the question to me is whether or t what we are seeing right now in termsf the level of loyalty to presidentmp t on following through on what so many of these members of congress have tnow are totally unfounded claims,

that they were never going to get their day in the supreme court weather that goes away when sitting in the white house, when he's no longer tweeting at the , whno longer has the same elite pulpitll -- pulpit, and raises e question on joe biden, who ran on the idea that he could unify the country, and that voters were ready to ratchet down the division, whether that's engh to bring -- iny don't thinke expects them to completely end polarization, b if just keeping the heat down is enough to make bipartisanship somethint an at least have a chance. judy: j something we wit have to wait and see how it unfolds. for now, amy walter, t yra keith,ha both. -- tamara keith, thank you both.

we turn once again to yamiche alcindor in wilmington, delaware. you were able to listen to his entire speech. tell us more. yamiche: that's right, president-elect biden just a few feet away from me, delivered a speech that was both victory la and a stern warning from the nation not to go down the rabbit holetryi to believe in conspiracy theories, and believe that american democracy is a work and has survived this contentious election. president-elect bid talked a lot about the fact that he won a historic three, that he and vice president-elect harris got the most votes of every -- ever of any ticket u.s. history of the that while he brought dozens of, court cases, he has not been

able to prove tan legitimacy of ne. and the people who are being targeted by those who don't believe joe biden won ia way that's fair, that those threats are unconscionable, and he said never again should we have to deal with this in a democracy. he said democracy survived officials who were able to stand tall and do their jobs. i also hrd an appeal for voted for him as well as people who didn't, saying that there's a lot of work to be done and the uphill battleg fac the nation, saying he will go to work to dedy: in just a few seconds,s. tell us what pre trump is saying tonight. yamiche: president trump has been lashing out a democrats, saying essentially that the election is still rigged, even though he has not put up any evidence for that. we also saw the president do sothing interesting we also saw the president do something interesting. and he got the-- officiafter

he got the official 270 both, he annound that attorney general bill barr was leaving office. judy: as if we couldn't handle any more news today. tomiche alcindor staying o of all of it, both with the outgoing pinsident and the ming president-elect. thank you. and speaking of political tranistions, you wl want to tune in friday night. it's hard to say it, but our t long-time political anald friend mark shields joins david brooks and me for his final friday night regular appearance. rest assured, he will still contributeo the program. we have a special farewell in the works. please tune in on friday. onthe "newshour" forht. that is i'm judy woodruff. for all of us at the "pbs newshour," thank you, please stay safe and see you soon. announcer: major funding for the "pbs newshour" has been provided by --

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♪ ♪ ♪ -today on "america's test kitchen"... julia makes bridget a showstopping pavlova, jack challenges julia to a taste test of vanilla, lisa reviews cocktail gadgets, and bridget makes julia the perfect liday eggnog. it's all coming up right here on "america's test kitchen."