11/23/20 11/23/20 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! as president trump continues his unprecedented attempt to stay in the white house despite losing the election, we look at how voters are fighting back and how trump's legal team is losing in the courts. we will speak to emily bazelon of "the new york times" and the therend wendell anthony, head of the naacp in detroit, who recently lambasted

republican electors in wayne county who initially opposed certifying to towards vote. >> you said the only ones that are at fault the city of detroit where 80% of the people who reside there are african-americans. shame on you. shame on you. you are a disgrace as it relates to the ability to have a free and impartial election in the statio amy:hen weook at how pfizer cid-19 exits privateeavily on funding. we will speak to rob weissman of public citizen. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. the u.s. soared past 12 million confirmed covid-19 cases this weekend as the number of new

cases quickly approaches 200,000 a day. over a quarter of a million people in the u.s. have died from the coronavirus. despite warnings from public health experts, including that centers for disease control and prevention, who are urging people to skip travel and indoor gatherings, a surge in holiday travel has already started ahead of thanksgiving. the department of health and human services warned over 1000 hospitals across the country are critically short of staff and the number is expected to rise. north dakota is the worst hit with over 50% of hospitals facing shortages. in washington state, the housing rights group "tacoma housing now" has turned a former middle school building into emergency pandemic accommodations for unhoused people and is demanding the formation of a community land trust in response to the housing crisis.

leaders from the g20 nations pledged sunday to distribute coronavirus vaccines fairly around world. this comes as u.n. secretary general antonio guterres said he was issuing an "sos" for less wealthy countries and is pushing for a rescue package worth at least 10% of the global economy. >> developing world is on the precipice of financial ruin and escalating poverty, hunger, and untold suffering. we see tremendous vulnerabilities emerging, especially among commodity and tourist economies. amy: president trump addressed the virtual summit by boasting of the u.s. withdrawal from the paris climate agreement and skipped sessions on the pandemic to play golf. joe biden has vowed to rejoin the international climate deal as one of his first acts in office. in other international pandemic news, india, the second most

infected country after the u.s. has topped 9 million cases of covid-19. the third most infected country, brazil, topped 6 million cases. in gaza, medical experts warn the health system is on the verge of being overwhelmed and are calling for a lockdown. president-elect joe biden will reportedly name longtime adviser tony blinken as secretary of state. he previously served as deputy secretary of state for president obama. earlier this year, blinken spoke with the hudson institute about foreign policy challenges and how he views america's role in the world. >> simply put, the big problems and asace as a country a planet, whether it is climate change, ether it is the pandemic, whether it is the threatf that weapons, to state the obvious, none of these have unilateral solutions. amy: after he left obama's white house, tony blinken co-founded westexec advisors, a consulting firm which helped silicon valley

companies pitch for pentagon contracts. in an intercept profile from 2018, william hartung, an arms control expert at the center for international policy said -- "the revolving door is a longstanding feature of the military-industrial complex, and it can lead to distorted policy decisions based on the financial interests of former government employees." blinken was also a top senate aide to biden in 2002 and 2003, when biden was pushing for the invasion of iraq war. another close adviser, jake sullivan, will reportedly be tapped as national security adviser. both sullivan and blinken served as biden's national security adviser when he was vice president. and the media is reporting linda thomas greenfield will be named the new u.s. ambassador to the united nations. thomas-greenfield was an ambassador to liberia and assistant secretary of state for african affairs under obama. she was fired days into the trump administration. biden will formally announce his first cabinet picks on tuesday.

in related news, over 50 house democrats are backing new mexico congressmember deb haaland to be the next interior secretary, which would make haaland the first ever native american cabinet secretary. meanwhile, in congress, nearly 50 groups, including justice democrats and sunrise movement , have endorsed texas congressmember joaquin castro to be the next chair of the house foreign affairs committee, who they say will focus on rooting out u.s. militarism at home and abroad. a kerepublic member of the michigan canvassing board is expected to vote against certifying joe biden's victory, potentially causing a constitutional crisis in the state if he is joined in a "no" vote by the other republican member of the board. after meeting with trump on friday, michigan lawmakers said they did not learn any new information that would change the outcome in michigan. but trump and republican leaders have been putting pressure on

the state's canvassing board to delay certification. this comes as trump continues in his flailing legal efforts to overturn the election results. in pennsylvania, a federal judge dismissed trump's lawsuit to block certification there, calling the claim "like frankenstein's monster, haphazardly stitched together." in georgia, the trump campaign requested another recount saturday after the state already completed its hand recount and certified the win for joe biden friday. in wisconsin, where a recount is underway in two heavily democratic counties after a request from trump, election officials say trump observers have been obstructing the process, in some cases by objecting to every ballot being counted. meanwhile, top house democrats are demanding the trump-appointed head of the general services administration, emily murphy, brief lawmakers on why she has yet to certify

biden's win, which would allow him to finally access transition -- millions of dollars in transition funding and key briefings. ethiopia's prime minister and military have warned leaders of a separatist movement in the nortrn tigray gion to surrendewithin 72 hours, telling civilians in tigray's capital to "free themselves" or face "no mercy." human rights watch said the threat constitutes a war crime under international law. it's been nearly three weeks since ethiopia's nobel peace prize-winning pre minister abiy ahmed launched attacks on the tigray people's liberation front, killing huneds and forcing some 40,000 fugees t flee into sun. israeli media reporting benjamin netanyahu secretly flew to saudi arabia sunday evening for a meeting with crown prince mohammed bin salman. it would be the first known face-to-face meeting between top officials of the top officials.

netanyahu's reported trip coincided with talks between prince bah humbug bin salmon and u.s. secretary of state pompeo. this follows recent u.s. broker deals to normalize relations between israel and the united arab emirates in bahrain over the protest of palestinians who say normalization should only follow the establishment of a palestinian state. in brazil, the killing of a black man by security guards has set off nationwide protests declaring that black lives matter. joão alberto silveira freitas of porto alegre died from his injuries after the pair of guards -- one of them an off-duty military police officer -- were filmed pummeling him and kneeling on his back in the parking lot of a supermarket on the eve of brazil's black consciousness day. video of the killing was widely shared on social media with many brazilians comparing freitas' death to the police killing of george floyd in minneapolis.

thousands of protesters took to the streets of guatemala city this weekend to demand the resignation of president alejandro giammattei and several lawmakers, amid growing anger over proposed budget cuts to education, health, and anti-hunger and malnutrition programs, while bolstering the personal stipends of members of congress. this comes as hundreds of thousands were displaced by back-to-back hurricanes eta and iota, and as the country continues to grapple with the pandemic and a worsening economic crisis. hundreds of protesters broke into the congressional building and some partially it on fire saturday, while others were tear-gassed by police as they peacefully protested in front of the national palace. dozens of police were also beaten by police and arrested, includg journalists. in afghanistan, u.n. data shows over 26,000 children were killed or injured from 2005 to 2019. the figures were published in a new rert by save the children, which warns afghanistan is among the most dangerous countries in

the world for children as a result of the ongoing war between the u.s.-backed afghan government and the taliban. this comes as at least eight people were killed following a rocket attack in kabul saturday. the islamic state has claimed responsibility for the attack. the u.s. has formally withdrawn from the open skies treaty, a major international arms control deal signed by the george h.w. bush administration in 1992. trump announced he was withdrawing in may. the deal allows the united states, russia, and 33 other countries to fly unarmed observation aircraft over the others' territory to help reduce the risk of war. in france, protests are ramping up against a controversial new bill that would ban the publication of images of on-duty police officers and expand the power of law enforcement, including through the use of surveillance drones. press freedom and human rights groups, including the u.n. human rights council, have condemned

the bill, which passed its first hurdle in the parliament friday and will undergo another vote by lawmakers tuesday. this is journalist and cofounder of the news outlet mediapart edwy plenel speaking from a paris protest saturday. >> what this government is trying to do is for us to stop carrying out this vigilance for citizens, whistleblowers, journalists and possession are not of a press card. to be more hindered in revealing that feelings of the state. if that happens, it is the end of democracy. amy: back in the united states in kenosha, wisconsin, kyle rittenhouse -- the 17-year-old militia member who is charged with homicide for fatally shooting two protesters in august -- was released from custody friday after posting $2 million in bail, which he raised online. the killings occurred during black lives matter protests following the police shooting of jacob blake. new york congressmember alexandria ocasio-cortez tweeted -- "does anyone believe rittenhouse would be released if he were muslim and did the same thing in a different context? for people who say 'systemic

racism doesn't exist,' this is what it looks like: protection of white supremacy baked deep into our carceral systems. law and disorder." in immigration news, buzzfeed reports over 150 immigrants were arrested by immigration and customs enforcement in recent weeks as part of an operation targeting people who had been granted voluntary removal but remained in the country. luntary removal lows peoe to leave the u.s. on their own rather than facing deportation. and in reproductive rights news, a federal appeals court ruled tennessee can deny abortions based on a prenatal down's ndrome diagnosis or the race or sex of a fetus. the ruling friday partially lifted a preliminary injunction on a law that essentially bars abortions once a fetal heartbeat can be detected -- something that typically happens just six weeks into a pregnancy and before many people realize they're pregnant. reproductive rights groups have denounced the law as unconstitutional.

and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. president trump's unprecedented attempt to overturn the election is continuing despite new court setbacks. on saturday, a conservative judge in pennsylvania dismissed a trump lawsuit challenging joe biden's victory in the state. judge matthew brann accused the trump team of trying to "disenfranchise almost seven million voters" by using "strained legal arguments without merit and speculative accusations unsupported by evidence." he went on to write -- "this claim, like frankenstein's monster, has been haphazardly stitched together." trump is appealing the ruling. over two dozen lawsuits filed by trump's legal team have been dismissed or withdrawn. the trump team is now focusing on delaying or blocking the

certification of the election in numerous states while trying to toss out votes in several cities with large black populations including detroit, philadelphia, and atlanta. michigan state canvassing board is scheduled to vote today on certification, but the republican national committee and republicans in michigan are seeking a delay. at least one of the two republican members of the four-person board is expected to vote against certifying the results. michigan could face a constitutional crisis if both repuicans fused to certify the vote. on friday, a group of miigan state lawmakers -- including the senate majority leader and house speaker -- were flown to washington, d.c. come to meet with president at the white house in what was widely viewed as an attempt by trump to rsonally lobby the lawmakers to block biden from being

awarded michigan's 16 electoral votes even though he won by about 155,000 votes. some of the lawmakers were later photographed drinking an $800 bottle of dom pérignon champagne at trump international hotel where they were staying. meanwhile, the naacp legal defense fund is when trump on behalf of. like detroit residents for attempting to disenfranchise voters. in georgia, the trump team has asked for a second recount even though no evidence of widespread fraud emerged during a statewide audit of the election. biden won the state by over 12,000 votes. on friday, georgia governor brian kemp certified the state's slate of 16 presidential electors but he did not clearly endorse the results. this all comes as trump's legal team is distancing itself from attorney sidney powell just days after she spread wild conspiracy

theories about the election during a news conference with trump attorney rudy giuliani at the headquarters of the republican national committee. we begin today's show with emily bazelon. she is a staff writer at the "new york times magazine" and a lecturer and senior research fellow at yale law school. she has been closely monitoring trump's election lawsuits. she is also author of "charged: the new movement to transform american prosecution and end mass incarceration" and cohost of the slate podcast "political gabfest." emily, thank you for joining us. so president trump's team has lost or withdrawn over 30 lawsuits, but they persist. of the the significance latest judges ruling in pennsylvania and then go to explain what is happening right now in michigan. >> this is an important lawsuit in pennsylvania and an important defeat for the trump campaign

because, obviously, pennsylvania is a key state and they put a lot of effort into trying to overturn the election in pennsylvania. they were asking to throw out all of the votes in pennsylvania because of unproven allegations, not really of fraud, but of the idea that because some voters were given the chance to fix errors on their absentee ballots but not every county afforded that chance to voters, that that invalidated the entire election. that is a pretty odd theory of election law. if you're going to bring a challenge like that to the procedure, you need to bring before the election takes place, not afterward, because of the problem of disenfranchisement. that was an of the reasons among many the judge dismissed the lawsuit. amy: talk about this judge in a language he used in dismissing it, the discussed eress. as we give us are,

this comparison he made to frankenstein's monster because he was saying the claims were stitched together in a haphazard fashion. i think what we saw with rudy giuliani representing the trump campaign, treating court as if it was news with the same grandstanding and lack of specific proof of allegations you're making. i think the judge was making it clear that does not fly in court. that is not what means to practice law in court. you have to provide evidence for cap --. . amy: can you talk about e difference that happens when rudy giuliani, the former mayor of new york and now the trump attorney, when he goes into the court and says actually he is not alleging fraud and then walks out of the court and in this is what will go down in history of this bizarre news conference with a person that

was described as trump's lawyer as, sidney powell work of the entire election should be thrown out because it is a conspiracy between hugo chavez who died years ago, the communists, antifa, george soros, and german voting in the country of germany -- the counting of votes in germany, that the entire election and it is country should be thrown out. cin giuliani distan himselfg down his face. what he says outside and inside, for laypeople who don't really get the difference? >> when you're inside a courtroom, have to provide some proof, especially if you're asking a judge to do something incredibly dramatic like overturn the result of an election. that is not likely -- lightly a kind of indication of desperation on the part of giuliani these other lawyers. if they had real proof of fraud,

some theory that could really make it possible that they can get their wish in court, they would be clearly stating that in court. they did not do that. instead, take to the airwaves were a judge is not necessarily asking hard questions and you can make whatever allegations you want. but the mismatch shows you don't have the goods to win your lawsuit. amy: i want to turn to governor chris christie, the former governor of new jersey. there have been a lot of questions about why more republicans are speaking out -- are not speaking up. he denounced the lack of evidence in trump's election lawsuits as a "national embarrassment." he was speaking to abc's "this week" on sunday. >> what has happened here is quite frankly the presence legal team has been a national embarrassment. they allege fraud outside the courtroom but when i go inside the courtroom, they don't plead

fraud and they don't argue fraud. this is what i was concerned about at 2:30 in the morning wednesday night. i have been a supporter of the president. i voted for him twice. at elections have consequences. we cannot continue to act as if something happens here that did not happen. amy: so that is chris christie, former governor of new jersey. can you talk, emily bazelon, about the lack of republican voices that are astounding in the face of all of this? the selections are overturn, many republicans would also have their elections invalidated. >> right. although, the trump campaign conveniently does not argue that in court. it logically speaking, you're correct. i think what we're seeing is a lot of enabling. we have seen now for years elected republican politicians unwilling to challenge president trump when he says things that simply are not true. now it is really going to quite an extreme where a basic

statement like elections have consequenc and when you lose you have to leave office turns heroism.amatic act of i think republicans have a problem acting collectively. when they challenge president trump one by one, then he gets mad at them on twitter and they worry they losing support among their voters. chris christie does not have to worry about that because he is still in office, but i think a lot of current office -- logicians feel beholden to trump space, afraid to challenge him. the thing is, you're not going to win unless you all get together and say good time in court is over, the results of the election are clear president-elect joe biden is going to be the next president. they have not made that kind of collective statement. amy: let's turn to what is happening in michigan right now. you have the president bringing in the heads of the state legislature, the house and the

senate. tuesday, turn to last election officials in the state's largest county certified joe biden's victory after a dramatic reversal. we're going to talk with the head of the naacp in detroit about this, but if you can talk about what has happened right now with one of the two state saying they'res going to vote against certifying the vote -- they're only to republicans and two democrats. talk about the significance of this and what will happen. >> this is an odd situation because the state canvassing board clearly has a ministerial duty. that means the board, once it is satisfied the votes have been tabulated and the counties have certified their results -- which did happen last week in every county -- once the state board sees that, they're supposed to sign up.

it is not a choice. the statute says "shall." when you have that kind of function, you're not supposed to be deciding because you have your own suspicions, are supposed to call for an investigation, maybe just prefer president trump to president-elect biden. that is not your job. i think there is going to be a real tension here between the clear duty of these canvassing board members to sign off and certify the election a this thesef partisan bias or on based suspicions of fraud that keep simmering, even though no actual fraud has surfaced. i should also mention there were more than 670,000 votes cast in wayne county, which includes detroit. there were questions about counting like 350 of them. a tiny percentage. in most cases, it was easy to explain what happened. it is a regular event in

elections for the poll books to not perfectly balance. you can have someone who gets in line gets marked as about to vote and changes their mind and leaves. their infinite explanations. thisotion that cause of all detroit's votes should be thrown out as one of that country board member suggested, that is really not help election law works. it is telling when you say not to come the votes of the mostly black city in your state. it suggests there something else going on here. amy: we're going to go to break and i'll ask you to stay with us. we will speak with the head of the naacp in detroit and i want to get your commas on that as well, emily bazelon, staff writer with "the new york times magazine." lecturer and senior research fellow at yale law school, author of "charged: the new movement to transform american prosecution and end mass incarceration." back in a moment. ♪ [music break]

amy: "planet to your sun" by ala.ni. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. look at the closer republican efforts to overturn president-elect joe biden's victory in michigan. last tuesday, election officials in michigan's largest county certified joe biden's victory after a dramatic reversal. the two white republicans on the wayne county board of canvassers initially blocked certification saying they did not want to include votes from detroit. which overwhelmingly supported biden and the large african-american population. president trump then took to twitter to praise the republican effort, saying -- "having courage is a beautiful thing. the usa stands proud!" well, reverend wendell anthony, the president of the naacp in detroit, criticized the republican efforts to disenfranchise votes in detroit. you have extracted a black

city out of a county and said the only ones that are at all right issue the city of detroit were 80% of the people who reside there are african-americans. shame on you. shame on you. you are a disgrace as he relates to the ability to have a free and impartial election in this nation. to neden i want to go staebler, vice president at wayne state. >> i just want to let you know you,tain of racism that william hartman and monica palmer, have and will follow you throughout hisry. your grandchildren are going to think of you like george wallace. amy: this was an amazing virtual meeting. we're joined by reverend wendell anthony, president of the detroit branch of the naacp, the largest branch in the country,

and a member of the naacp national board of directors. still what this is "new york times" writer emily bazelon. reverend wendell anthony, thank you for being with us. can you describe what is happening right now in detroit? the amount of rage that was expressed that actually lead to the reversal of these republican county -- what are they called, canvassers? but then they requested to take their vote-certifying back. >> thank you,ms. goomand. if it was not so tragic, it would be pathetic. this is an attempt to disenfranchise the african-american vote and give the election to donald trump. we fire donald trump and we hired joe biden and kamala harris. in detroit in wayne county, largest city in when county, 90% almost a black folk who live here.

one of the campuses indicated, as you already said, that perhaps we should just count all the votes in the other areas and not certify the votes that comes from detroit. see is a strategy that we around the country. philadelphia, lanna, wisconsin, detroit. all of these areas are major urban centers of black folk. the suburban communities around detroit, in some cases they had issues much greater than detroit, they did not say we should not certify them. they said, let's not certify detroit. that is tantamount to let's not certify the black vote. black votes matter. black lives matter. wet this is very simply is were in a different country, this would be called a coup, a political coup. because what you've seen is the president has declared that i will not leave office unless i

win. slow the post office down. take out mailboxes. stop the mail from coming through. this -- discredit the guy who's in charge of the election process who called it the most secure election that we have had. no evidence of fraud, no evidence of voter rigging. none of that. then to have lindsey graham calling the secretary of state in georgia, he is a senator from south carolina not georgia, get him to not certify and to discount some of the votes and now we see the latest strategy since the judges in the courts around america are not going with this nonsense, the move is to not certify -- if we cannot certify, we can delay the election, we can push it back, and then perhaps we can get some new electors. but if we can't get that, maybe we can take it to the congress and do something different and come out with a different outcome. no.

we voted the way we voted in when county and around the country. we want our votes to count. certify the vote. this has never happened before. it is a tragedy before god and man. we're not in any moral position to tell any nation anywhere in the world that we should be having democratic processes. how can we go monitor somebody in another nation when we cannot monitor and check ourselves? we need the united nations, quite frankly, to come in and monitor the united states. unfortunately, we find ourselves in the situation -- this is the worst situation in terms of presidential elections we have had since we have had a nation. donald trump was fired. he does not want to leave office and he is fighting by any means at 1600y to remain pennsylvania avenue. amy: reverend anthony, explain the lawsuit that some detroiters

have brought. -- very simply, it is saying that you cannot discredit the black vote. you must certify the black vote. you cannot pitch us out and at the same time let everybody else go. -- thatwant to get in are vote should be certified. that you are violating the voting rights act. you are violating the civil rights causes of respecting and maintaining a balance of all of the people, that we should not be -- one of the things that they're overlooking, i think you mentioned it, that if you don't certify the vote, if you don't certify the election, you're not certifying all the judges, you're not certain -- certifying that senators, the ballot initiatives, not certifying the county clerks and the board of

trustees and the board of directors universities. that means that all of them will not be certified in order to preserve one man who was on the golf course when you should be on the course of trying to stop the coronavirus disease that has now killed 255,000 americans, more dying every day as we are talking somebody is dying while he is playing golf. that is what this is all about. that is why we're encouraging everybody to get on the phone, to get on the line, call your senators, collier congresspeople, and when the board of canvassers meets today at 1:00, to make sure you're on the line and make public comments and to let these individuals know that democracy today, democracy tomorrow, and democracy should prevail. weco h te meoo far to be turnedack now. amy: do you see this as an attempted coup, reverend anthony? >> i do.

you know as well as i do. you may not say it, but if you are in a different country, if the leader says "i'm not leaving until i when," if the leader says to all of his people "don't cooperate with the upcoming administration," if the leader says that i am going to fire the -- if heat are at ships the military around and tries to get his own minions into position, if he has his cohorts calling other states, which they don't have anything to do, if you slowing down the postal service, if he is saying, take out the mailboxes and take out the machines, if he is saying bringing legislators into his house and having a meeting and then they are of that is hotel the trump towers, if he is doing all of that in another country and is now saying at the very last minute "ok, those of

you who have the responsibility to certify the election, why don't you see if you can delay and put it off until another day?" if we were in another country, that would be considered as a coup. you know it as well as i do. weain'tom line is , going for it. this is the united states of america. we are democratic, supposedly the nation. we have a constitution and encase people did not get the , we got thepeople voting rights act. we got the right to vote 150 years ago. black men did. women got it 100 years ago. we got the voting rights act 55 years ago. and now we find ourselves in 2020 still trying to fight the same fight. this is not a time for us to revisit torch wallace standing

in the doorway sang "segregation today, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever." saying "noy are voting today, no voting tomorrow, no voting forever." no. we have shed too much blood, sweat it too much pain, shed too many tears. our vote must count most of certify the vote. it, deal withth it. amy: as you pointed out, this is all happening during the pandemic. so people risk their lives to go out to vote. and who are the hardest hit communities when it comes to the pandemic and people dying? communities of color. african-americans, one of the worst hit in this country. and of course, detroit, large african-american population. you mentioned the flying in of the state legislators, the head of the house and the senate come the statehouse and the state senate, michigan legislators

that trump met with on friday. they go to trump hotel and arsine drinking and $800 bottle of champagne. emily bazelon, i want to bring in the issue of fundraising. you think part of white president trump is doing this that if in fact he can accomplish this he will accomplish endless fundraising to fund his so-called election fraud, his attempts to overthrow the election -- which then he can personally use. >>'s fundraising appeals, and clear in the fine print up to 60% of the funds raised can be used for retiring campaign debt and other expenses rather than this litigation. so i think we see right there evidence for what you're talking about. amy: and do you think this can succeed today in michigan and what it means? remember, also we are talking about wisconsin thing told they have to recount their votes.

>> i don't think president trump's effort to overturn the election will succeed. i think american democracy is hisally withstanding assault pretty effectively. that said, i completely understand reverend anthony's distress and called action in michigan today because this vote of the state board of canvassers could make things more complicated. if the board of canvassers members don't their job and certify the election, it is going to throw into confusion what happens next. i think the answer to what happens next is it will be a court case filed a presubly when you look at the previous cases, there's nothing quite like this in michigan law but there have been county boards that have refused to certify under the past. the state courts have ordered them to do so. when i look at those precedents and with the loss has any michigan, it looks to me like the state board of canvassers would be ordered by a court to certify the election and then

count the vote will way democracy is supposed to work. it will be a fellow in the process and i think will be embarrassing to the state of michigan. amy: before we go, i want to ask about something else you have been writing about, emily, and that is the senses and how that fits into future elections. tothe census is critical future elections. i think sometimes it is hard for people to focus on it. we kind of taken for granted. it is how weome the population. and those totals are used to decide districting. that means how many house seats each state gets is determined by the count in thsenses and the same is true about carving up legislative districts according to the one person, one vote role within states. we care about the census because it is how we allocate millions of minds of dollars in taxes. it is critical for the census to

be accurate. what we have seen in the last couple of years is the trump administration's efforts to basically sidelined people who are not citizens or are a document from the count. they have currently order the census to provide data that would allow president trump before he leaves office to strip undocumented immigrants from the apportionment totals. that would increase the power of republicans in the house of representatives. it is a pretty naked power play. what we saw last requested says bureau officials saying we need more time to do our count right, more time to do our job and we have yet to see how that plays out to the end of trump's term. amy: emily, if they could attempt fails, it is still a coup attempt. at what point will there be serious legal consequences for trump and those who bet him? >> that is a good question. i don't think we will have an answer to that until after he leaves office. what i do want to make clear is this was incredibly well

conducted election under seriously adverse circumstances. we had the pandemic. we had a president who was assaulting in particular vote by now for many months. and yet thousands of election officials did their job and made sure that people could vote. it was not perfect. there were still long lines. we still had problems with voter suppression but in terms of being able to trust the integrity of these results, of the people who did this work, i did a lot of reporting to the country and it is important to remember one of the sad things on the election is we were incredibly lucky and the election went well -- not just like, a lot of people's really hard work went into making sure that was the case. amy: reverend wendell anthony, you get the final word here. you talked about 1:00 michigan time being the time of the state board of canvassers committee

democratss and two republican voting. what are you calling for when it comes to that point and when it legislature, are there people that you hold out that are speaking out and what are you demanding of democrats and republicans right now in michigan? just want people to do their jobs. that is all they have to do. their charge is to certify the vote. 83 cap is any michigan has certified the vote. ordinateion and dashboard has assessed you shall certify the vote. it is not if not, should i, you just go into your job and certify the vote. the issue now becomes whether or it,they have the will to do

if someone interviewed or suggested let's delay this, that is the real issue. we are demanding that they do their job. you're simply saying at 1:00 on i canvassers meet, people should be on the line. people should be monitoring the meeting most people should state their case right now. indicateould call and we want you to make sure that you don't tamp with this election. you have said that you have seen nothing that should discord or disconnect you from the election, so therefore, go ahead and do the right thing. don't tamper with it. don't delay it. don't have a court cases. because court cases means delay. that means we have to go through process. the process we have already undergone. we voted. people stood in line. we went to the polls. we passed out literature. we made phone calls. we did robo calls.

we were on the radio, we were on tv. we knocked on doors. we had parades. we had folks to come early and do what they were told, vote early. vote absentee. do your mail and thing. they told their people to come and vote on election day. folks did what they were told. now you are mad because all of the votes came in early and you lost? he was defeated in michigan 15 times by the number of which he won michigan in 2016, trump. so we're simply saying do not tamper with the millions of people in the state of michigan who voted to fire donald trump and to hire joe biden. this is hypocrisy of the highest order. history is not going to remember him well.

history is today story. dealing with certifying the election. we did it. we voted. let the vote be counted. let every vote count and count every vote and let's do that with certification. amy: reverend wendell anthony, thank you for being with us, president of two towards naacp, also serves on the national naacp. in 2016, president trump won michigan my just over 10,000 votes. president-elect joe biden won the state in 2020 by over 150,000 votes. i also want to thank emily timesn, "new york magazine" writer and cohost of the slate podcast "political gabfest." back, covid-19 vaccines rely heavily on taxpayer-funded research. vaccinestizen says the belong to the people, not private corporations. what does that mean?

coming up in a moment. ♪ [music break]

amy: "if you got a problem" by joy oladokun. this is democracy now! i'm amy goodman. as the coronavirus pandemic intensifies, a third major drug company has injected good news into the race for a potential vaccine. astrazeneca says late-stage trials show its covid-19 vaccine developed by oxford university is up to 90% effective. between 70% and 90%. last week, drug giants pfizer and moderna reported their vaccines are almost 95% effective. the new vaccine manufactured by oxfordstrazeneca could be easier to distribute than the others because it does not have to be stored at ultra-freezing temperatures. it could also be cheaper because astrazeneca has pledged not to make a profit on it during the pandemic and agreed to price doses at about $2.50 each. the associated pss reports pfizer's vaccine costs about $20

a dose, while moderna's is $15 to $25, based on the companies' agreements to supply their vaccines to the u.s. government. as many as 14 billion vaccine doses would be required to immunize everyone worldwide. corporate watchdog public citizen says the vaccines belong .o the people taxpers actual pay twi when the tmpet ainistrion also gave moderna an additional $1.5 billion to secure doses in advance. for more, we're joined by rob weissman, president of public citizen. welcome back to democracy now! explain what it means to say that these vaccines should belong to the world, not be the property of a private corporation. out the investment

in these vaccines, as for most drugs, has been underwritten -- underwritten by the taxyer, by the government. in the case of pfizer, it did not take direct money from the government to finish their vaccine but are relying heavily on a publicly funded invention as the core of what they're trying to do. in the case of the moderna vaccine, which should be the nih health vaccine, the government owned a portion of the vaccine we believe, funded 100% of the development at madrona and -- at moderna the government has pledged $1.5 billion for the vaccine that we coinvented and 100% pay for. so these are vaccines that the government has investment interest in an ownership interest moderna in the case of moderna and therefore when we think about how it is going to be procured and distributed in most important produced and supplied in the u.s. and around the world, the government has

got to say, we're going to exercise our powers. i will say, though, even if the government had not paid for the vaccine, even if the inventions were not a product of public investment ovemany years, in light of the pandemic, we should still say we cannot tolerate , givingnomalies corporations the power of control who can make a vaccine and how it will be supply. what we should do is say this is technology the world needs and we are going to share it as widely as we possibly can to make sure we can produce as much vaccine as we need as quickly as possible to get not just the u.s., but the entire world out of the pandemic quickly. amy: this is critical. there's a difference between vaccines and vaccinations. moving into this issue of who gets vaccinated. you have the moderna and pfizer shots,s both are double

in the pfizer vaccine has to be kept at 100 degrees fahrenheit below zero, moderna not quite as cold, but the pfizer vaccine would require holding refrigeration. even states and in the united states that they don't have the ability to keep it that cold, let alone countries in the developing world. >> that's right. there will be some technical problems with getting it distributed. i have a safe if the world cares, you solve the technical problems. the hard limit we face right now is they're not going to be an of supply because these companies cannot make enough fast enough. if they try to license this to other partners as they are doing, it is still going to be too slow. they will spend too much time debating the details and the licensees are not going to be able to make enough of it. so what does that mean? it means people in the developing world will wait longer, maybe 3, 4, maybe five years to get a vaccine that will hopefully be fully distributed and as u.s. within the course of

the next nine months or so. we already have 171 people in the developing world who fall into deep poverty under $3.50 a day since the pandemic started. you will see these poor countries crushed by an ongoing pandemic when it has been salt in the rich countries. of course you willave hundreds of thousands of lives lost that could be sav ithe vaccine was distributed immediately what is the solution? we need more suly. and we can get more stuff like of the u.s. government said,e are going tshare this technology -- every manufacturer that has capacity, the abity to make a quityroduct, we will show you how to do it and encourage you to do it as much as you can as fast as we can. an we will have built more facilities to make more because the world can't wait. amy: so talk about what this would mean for all of these vaccines. haveave astrazeneca, you

the pfizer and moderna vaccine, johnson & johnson will be talking about there's coming out, and what does it mean not charging during the pandemic but then charging? where you be set up have a situation in the world where it is guaranteed everyone who wants a vaccine gets a vaccine? >> what we should say is in the united states, the leading power on this, the most poweul in the country and as the home to two of these companies that developed these early vaccines, we should say we're going to share the technology, surely intellectual property rights, patent, and the kn-how. we will actually show people, show companies how to make this vaccine and do it through the world health organization -- which has a facility set up to do this -- do directly with companies. we are going to produce as much as we could leave -- quickly can.

andsomething to moderna pfizer for their research, but -- scaling up quickly as possible. amy: can you talk about india that can mass-produce vaccines? will they be able to get access to the know-how to manufacture these vaccines? where we are right now is the authority as invested in the company's oil will depend on what kind of deal the companies cut. the companies are licensing around the world, but it is to sler process. there's no transparency so we are not likely to know what the terms are of those license ands. how much information know-how they're transferring over, whether they're permitting a company like the large indian manufacturers to sell outside of india around the world? today limit the country they can get into? as y are alluding to, what

these companies are saying, well, we will do what we call a nonprofit price -- not nonprofit, what we call a nonprofit price for a while during the pandemic. there is an ongoing need for this vexing and we don't know,, were our ongoing shots. well, we not committed to that nonprofit price over the long-term. so they worried about -- they're worried about what is happening in your four and five and try to control the technologies so they can make profits for many years to come. we just can't tolerate that. a than what we think is fair. share the technology. get everybody vaccinated. the alternative is what we are about to venture into where people in rich countries get access to the vaccine, countries selectively able to get out of the pandemic but people in poor countries will be living for years and years with huge consequences both to their health and the well-being of their economy. absolutely intolerable situation. amy: speaking about rich and poor, since president trump signed the cares act nearly

eight months ago, benefits have expired as the pandemic intensifies, but senate republicans and the white house have refused to advance multiple relief measures passed by the democrat-controlled house. on friday, congressmember alexandria ocasio-cortez took to the house floor to call out senate majority leader mitch mcconnell for sending the senate home for thanksgiving without finalizing a coronavirus relief bill. hungry.ountry is going thanksgivingefore and the senate broke. i don't care what party you are, it is an abandonment of our sponsor building's -- responsibilities. amy: alexandria ocasio-cortez is wearing a black. tweeteditizen recently in all capital letters -- "why is the senate on vacation while americans are dying with no relief?" 10 seconds, rob weissman? >> it is unconscionable.

we have rising hunger d homelessness, tens and minds of people out of work. the senate has refused to act in may and people are going to suffer as a result. hopefully, we can get a deal done quickly but this is all resting at the feet of mitch mcconnell and donald trump. amy: ro

joining us on this edition of nhk "newsline." i'm raja pradhan in tokyo with the latest at this hour. we start with a developing story out of washington. a key government agency has given president-elect joe biden formal approval to begin his transition to the white house. the announcement by the u.s. general services administration unlocked funding for the incoming administration.