and implement the aggressive social distancing to prevent the surge in the places where we need to do it. it's just outrageous that we are willingly leading good evening chris, thank you at home for joining us this hour. rachel is still in quarantine after a close contact tested positive for covid-19 today. as the supreme court heard arguments in a case that could gut obama care. president-elect joe biden took the stage at queen theater.

also today the team an noungsed teams from diplomacy to space explorics who will form the back bone learning from the workforce what to expect on every agency on personnel, technology and program matters. why wouldn't joe biden be preparing? he won the election. as votes continue to be tabulated. biden's popular vote lead by 4.6 million votes. a 3% margin over donald trump. the last time was when fdr unseated herbert hoover in 1942.

that's it. let's call it earth one. some might call it reality. joe biden won the election by decisive margin and is going to be the business of setting up his administration. then there's earth two. >> is it continuing to transition with the biden transition team? if not, when does it not pose risk to security. >> there will be a smooth transition to the next administration. >> that was donald trump's secretary of state. i would play you the comments except we don't have any on twitter where he frequently posts things in all caps like "we will win." the trump administration is now in day three of refusing to sign off on any transition resources. normally, those transition teams that joe biden announced today would get the lay of the land.

but the trump administration literally won't let them in the door. the office of director of national intelligence today said it will have no contact with the biden transition. the office of national intelligence. classified intelligence briefings are routine for prettiprett presidents-elect. but not this time for the next budget proposal, a proposal issued in february. one telling "the washington post," quote, they're pretending nothing happened. we're all supposed to pretend this is normal and do all this work when we know we're just going to have to throw it all away, end quote. the trump administration is also continuing to vet new political appointees for jobs in a second trump term. this after the white house warned any current political appointees that they will be fired if they are caught looking for a new job, because why would you need a new job if this administration is continuing into a second term? a day after firing the defense

secretary president trump has installed loyalists in several pentagon top jobs today. the new acting defense secretary's chief of staff will be cash patel who is mostly known for helping republican congressman devin nunes in his attempts to discredit the russia investigation. trump also installed a guy as under-secretary of defense for policy whom he tried to failed to put into the pentagon earlier this year because he was too controversial even for the republican senate. this politico headline sums it up. an official who once called obama a terrorist leader takes over pentagon policy. okay, that's defense. let's go over to justice department. no one quite knew what to make of trump's attorney general issuing a memo yesterday authorizing federal prosecutors to start investigating voter fraud. but the longtime official in

charge apparently thought the memo was bad enough he stepped down from his post because of it. it is just increasingly so weird. even as the biden transition back over here on earth one is staffing up a new investigation for the guy who won, the trump white house over here on earth two is cleaning house for a second term in office or something. do they think if they pretend the election didn't happen joe biden is just going to go away and is it that trump and his allies are in delusional denial, or is it something more sinister, an actual plan to use the defense department and justice department to make that happen? i mean, did trump fire his defense secretary an act of political spite because he wanted to punish him for a perceived lack of loyalty, or was there something very, very bad that donald trump wanted mark esper to do but he wouldn't so he removed him? is mike pompeo just kind of joking about a second trump administration to keep the boss

happy and needle the press? is bill barr just issuing memos that will keep the president and his base happy but won't actually result in any action? with this flurry of personnel changes is trump just trying to install loyalists who'll remain and cause trouble in a biden administration which would be bad enough? or he planning to use the defense and intelligence apparatus to actually do something in the next 71 days? at "the washington post" tonight david ignatius reports that there's a fierce battle under way inside the administration over declassifying intelligence about -- what else? russia. in this version of events trump is installing loyalists across the national security apparatus because he wants help releasing information that he thinks will undermine the conclusion that russia interfered in the 2016 election to help him. because trump is still obsessed with that. even in the waning days of his presidency. whatever reason, none of this is

good. but the question seems to be is this bad or really, really bad? at least one person is professing not to be concerned at all what the trump administration is up to right now. and that person is joe biden. >> we are already beginning a transition. we're well under way and the ability for the administration in any way failure to recognize our win does not change the dynamic at all what we're able to do. we've announced yesterday as you know a health group put together today, we're going to be going, moving along in a consistent manner putting together our administration in the white house and reviewing who we're going to pick for the cabinet positions. and nothing's going to stop that. and so i'm confident that the fact they're not willing to acknowledge we won at this point

is not of much consequence in our planning and what we're able to do between now and january 20th. we're going to do exactly what we'll be doing if he had conceded and said we've won, which we have. so there's nothing really changing. >> but not ruling out legal action? >> i don't see a need for legal action, quite frankly. i think the legal action is you're seeing it play out, the actions he's taking. and so far there is no evidence of any of the assertions made by the president or secretary of state pompeo. secretary state pompeo. >> what do you say to the americans that are anxious over the fact president trump has yet to concede and what that might mean for it country?

well, i just think it's an embarrassment quite frankly. the only thing that -- how can i say this tactfully? i think it will not help the president's legacy. >> how do you expect to work with republicans if they won't even acknowledge you as president-elect? >> they will. they will. thank you all so very much. >> all right, that's joe biden broadcasting reassuring from earth one where he is president-elect and everything is moving along just fine. but like i said there's this whole other world inside the white house moving along in parallel where everyone is pretending that none of this is actually happening. and eventually i'm wondering whether these two worlds have to collide. how worried should we be about this? joining me now is lydia gupta, she's the president and ceo of the leadership conference on civil and human rights. also the former head of the civil rights division in the obama justice department. ms. gupta, good to see you again. thank you for making time to be here tonight. we've got these two parallel universes.

where do they head in your opinion? >> i actually think there's one earth, ali. and the other one is some bizarre satellite floating out there. i don't think we should give it credence. look. a lot of us didn't expect for trump to concede, so none of this is strange or new. in fact, we predicted this very scenario. but the fact of the matter is all these legal tactics, the barr memo, the litigation losing in courts around the country, the aim really is about disruption. disruption, disinformation, sowing chaos, seeking to undermine the biden win where american voters decided this election. they overwhelming voted for biden. nothing that any of these tactics or rhetoric is going to change that on january 20th. president biden will take seat and president trump will exit the white house.

we have to make sure we're understanding these antics for what they are. they are aimed at creating fear that, you know, there's some nefarious plot that somehow trump will not leave. the choice isn't his and american voters clearly decided this election. >> i want to pull up an article i was reading in "the new york times." the "times" called officials in every state, no evidence of voter fraud. it quotes from an official frank lurose, an republican who serves as ohio secretary of state, the conspiracy theories and rumors and all of those things run rampant. for some reason elections breed that type of mythology, but the fact is that reporting by "the new york times" and our reporting here at nbc and everybody else's reporting is that there is slow counting going on. there are complexities from mail-in ballots, but no fraud. no large scale fraud or

widespread fraud being alleged. or small scale fraud being alleged except from rudy giuliani and folks like that. don't forget in 2016 an election trump actually won he was claiming even 3 to 5 million people had voted illegally, no evidence to back it up. >> right. >> he started, you know, a scam commission that also didn't find any evidence. i feel like we've all been saying the same thing for years and years. and today, "the new york times" asked a bunch of election officials and guess what? oh, they're saying the same thing, too. the doj, dragnet witch hunt whatever it is for pr purposes is going to find the same thing. it really doesn't amount to anything. we should just keep our focus on this is all very intentional. you know, it's a shame, of course, and a disgrace that it is taking republicans so long to to actually just call bs, to be honest with you. it seems like a lot of them are doing this to placate the president.

i don't think that's acceptable. more and more are coming out and congratulating the president-elect biden for his win. but this is -- do i think this is good for democracy, no. do i think it's aimed at undermining confidence especially among trump voters in a biden win and to undermine faith in a biden administration? yes, that is harmful. i'm not going to deny that. i don't think this is good for our democracy. i don't think this is good for our country. it is an embarrassment, but at the end of the day does it change the result? absolutely not. and a lot of us believe that this is exactly what trump was going to do either 70 days i think until january 20th we're going to have put up a lot of this. but as president-elect biden said today, you know, folks are moving forward. we've got, you know, over 10 million cases in this country of covid since it arrived on our shores. people are still dying. there's work to do. there's an agenda, a substantive agenda to now plan for and get ready for, a cabinet that believes in science, you know,

facts and that actually upholds the missions of the agencies that it's going to be a new day, and we have to be just looking forward on that given that american voters decided and all of this is pure distraction, noise and bluster. >> vanita, good to see you again. thanks for being with us. the president and ceo of the leadership conference on civil and human rights. she's the former head of the civil rights division in the obama justice department. thanks for your time tonight. joining me now, ben rhodes, deputy security adviser under president obama. i want to have a conversation with you about the national security apparatus, because there's a bit of a question here as to what's going on. there's understandable fear on the part of observers about whether donald trump is just playing games with changing people around in the national security and defense establishment or whether he's playing with the military because he thinks he wants to stay in office and expects them to help him do so. give me some evaluation of what you think is going on the military and national security

side. >> well, ali, here's my evaluation. the people that he's elevated to these roles at dod and at the national security agency are not the kind of people that you would turn to start a war or even to use the military to somehow stay in power. these are the same conspiracy theories that worked for devin nunes, that have been trying to undermine the russian investigation since the beginning of his administration. it includes the guy who moved that infamous ukraine call onto a secret server to try to hide it. it includes the guy who came up this theory it was an unmasking done by obama officials at the root of the investigation. these have been debunked theories. so to me the signal he's sending is less he's going to use the military to stay in power or more he's going to use the time in office to validate in some fashion his conspiracy theories by selectively releasing classified information. that's what this is about. it's about trying to exonerate

donald trump or the reality rush helped him get elected in 2016 and about trying to undermine the incoming biden administration and some right wing cloud of conspiracy scandal. >> so that's the better news of the two options i gave you that's the better one that he's not planning to use the national security apparatus and the military to stay in office. but how bad is that? vanita just made the point it's not good for democracy, it's not good, general speaking, for the country. but in the end is it work that can be undone? donald trump is using it last 71 days to rile up his base and have conspiracy theories spread around, but in the end will it matter? >> i think it's really bad, ali, for a few reasons. number one, these people are completely incompetent and unqualified. they have no business running the united states military, the pentagon, one of it largest perhaps the most powerful institution in the world and you've got a bunch of conspiracy theorists in charge. what if there's a crisis?

what if something happens around the world that requires the response of the united states government and the only people left in charge are these people? that's problem one. problem two is the relentless conspiracy theorizing. you talk about earth one and earth two. well, look, a lot of our fellow americans live in the information ecosystem of earth two. and they're going to be filled with conspiracy theory and hate that's going to seek to delegitimize joe biden and seek to launder information into perhaps the republican senate and going to undermine this nation's capacity to solve problems and further divide us. >> you touched on something really interesting, ben. sorry, i didn't want to interrupt you but you did touch on something interesting. the whole point of a peaceful transition of power is that the world knows that's how it's going to be so don't mess with the united states between election day and inauguration day because it's all good. we've got this thing sewn up and the two parties are talking to one another. the danger of not sending that message is real. >> it's absolutely real because

there's two things you have to do in a transition. one, maintain the credibility of the united states government so no one tests us from a national security perspective. two, make it easier for an incoming team to hit the ground running on january 20th. and they're going to do everything they can to prevent that from happening. you don't have the capacity for people to get in, get up to speed. i also say, ali, it's discrediting these institutions to have the secretary of state, you know, say something about we're going to have a peaceful transition of power to the second administration. and he runs to the state department that usually issues statements expressing concern when foreign officials seek to stay in power through the kinds of means we're seeing. the united states military, the pentagon, having people like this in charge it's a discredit to that institution. on his way out donald trump is doing what he's done thus far but in a flagrant way. he's kind of debasing and discrediting the united states. and he's putting his own personal interests ahead of the

nation. >> ben, as national security advisor, deputy national security advisor you did deal with the military. and the one thing that everybody who's actually served in the military or who is in the military tells me there is no discussion and there will be no discussion about the military helping donald trump stay in power if on december 13th as expected the electoral college cast its ballots for joe biden as the next president of the united states. he will be sworn in on january 20th and the military will play no role in keeping donald trump in power. >> 100%. the united states military wants nothing to do with this. and ever since that fiasco in lafayette park where you had the chairman of join chiefs of staff going to express regret and apologize for even being a part that it's been very clear the united states military does not want to be pushed into an uncomfortable position and certainly, not by this cast of characters. these people aren't in any position to command or direct the military to do that kind of thing.

so i think americans as joe biden said shouldn't worry that joe biden's not going to be president on january 20th. he is. i think there is legitimate reason to worry, though, about what these people are up to, how that further divides this country in this kind of cesspool of theorizing and scandal monitoring that doesn't accomplish anything except donald trump's desires to set a certain narrative. >> as we said last night it will not be months to heal the damage that has been done. it may be years, some worry generations. ben, yu, sir, for making time to be with us tonight. all right. imagine for a second that i had bad ratings one night and my reaction was demanding that the ceo of nielsen, the company that tells tv shows their ratings should resign? that'd be crazy, right? that's not too far off from what senators are doing after the election results didn't go their way. we'll talk about that on the other side.

all right. welcome back. a few of you have asked so i want to clarify something. there's no new news for you to be concerned with respect to rachel.

a close contact of hers tested positive for covid a few days ago. nothing changed tonight. i think i may have worded something unusual at the top of the show that may have made you think otherwise. everything is still the same. rachel is just quarantining for her own security and everybody else's and that's why i'm doing the show. nothing new to worry about. let me talk about of people who don't believe there's any fraud in this election including two republicans who won their senate races. montana senator steve daines and iowa senator joni ernst today made very clear that, nope, there was no fraud in their senate races. we can probably expect the same line will be taken by north carolina republican senator thom tillis who today won his race after his democratic opponent conceded. so far calls to move on and accept the race have come from just a handful of elected republicans, most including the

parties top leaders continuing to go along with if not outright endorse the president's baseless claims of voter fraud. mitch mcconnell said today republican hesitance to accept the result was neither unusual nor alarming while at the same time suggesting republicans will not likely recognize biden's victory until the electoral college meets next month, december 13th. the number four republican in the senate today went further suggesting trump may have actually won the election. >> the president wasn't defeated by huge numbers. in fact, he may not have been defeated at all. >> some anonymous gop officials continue to insist officials are humoring the president and republicans tight embrace of trump is driven not by fear but of need by his supporters in the two upcoming georgia runoff contests. today democratic senator chris coons admitted that republican colleagues have privately asked

him to congratulate biden on his win because they can't do so publicly. but the questions remain, just how much damage is being by congressional republicans refusal to accept election results. and what does it say about the possibility of any, any meaningful relationship going forward with a new president-elect. joining us now new jersey senator and as of today the new vice chair of democratic policy and communications committee cory booker. senator, good to see you. thank you for being with us. congratulations on your new leadership position. you know, last time you and i talked donald trump had talked about how you were going to american suburbs and mess them up for everybody. if you could give me insight for what's going on for your republican colleagues in the senate right now and they are hesitant to congratulate joe biden because they seem to be believing in private on the down low that he did win the election. >> i can't -- i really can't. i can't understand those

calculations, but clearly the numbers just don't add up. it was not a close election. joe biden won with the most votes in american history. it was a victory for joe biden. he won the popular vote. victory for joe biden. he won the electoral college vote. a victory for joe biden he won in so-called blue states, purple states and he even picked up some so-called red states. joe biden won this election no matter how you look at it, and the baseless claims that have not been proven the trump administration has lost legal case after legal state in state after state after state. and so this is going to be a challenging time because donald trump doesn't have many stages of grief. he just has one right now which is denial. and i think that that is going to mean this is going to be a very rocky days and weeks ahead. but amidst it all you're seeing something really incredible which is almost a hopeful sign

for the resurrection of grace in the white house. you saw joe biden today not take shots at the outrageous statements of people like secretary pompeo. he didn't even attack donald trump. he showed grace and honor and showed us what our expectations can be for a president that is not going to get into the gutter. you know you cannot wrestle with the pig without yourself getting muddy. he's going to try to take all of us, democrats, republicans, independents to a higher level by demonstrating like he did today elements of grace and honor and decency, not falling into argument, accusation and reaction. >> so let's explore that for a second because that is joe biden. anybody who knows joe biden and you do know that's him, that's his authentic self, right? but there are some people including on my twitter time line right now and probably yours who would like to see someone wrestle with the pig. because they would like to see it. because there's a lot more

wrestling than we expected. this may end on december 13th. maybe then donald trump will accept it once the electoral college has cast its ballots. but until then it's kind of outrageous. >> look, you know, walk the mall and see who we have built monuments to. whether it is lincoln in the middle of a divided nation doesn't pile on, but says with malice towards none, with charity towards all. take someone like martin luther king who didn't beat up o'connor by bringing bigger dogs and bigger fire hoses but by calling to the moral imagination of a country to dreerths am, to aspi be our best selves. i really believe that this has got to be a moment where we just

don't see the resurrection of grace in the white house, but all of us have to begin to ask ourselves how we can be a part of a civic revival of grace as well because right now our democracy is hurting. it really is. it is broken. it is bruised. it is wounded, and what is going to heal it is not simply standing up like i do and other democrats and say we're right, you're wrong but finding ways to stand your ground but also to reach out your hand, a hand of redemption, a hand of healing because if we continue in the way of donald trump we're going to just continue to tear each other down which is playing into the hands of our adversaries, the chinese and russian media are having a field day about the behavior of donald trump and the crisis he's causing our democracy. we are americans and we all need to commit ourselves to the difficult challenge of putting more indivisible back into the nation of this one under god. >> senator, may your noble words come true. may that be what actually ends up happening because we can use it. new jersey senator cory booker. always appreciate your time, sir. thank you. >> thank you, ali. >> want to know how long the

last few weeks have been? justice amy coney barrett was confirmed to the supreme court two weeks ago. today the supreme court with amy coney barrett heard a case that could have an impact on the health care of 20 million americans. supreme court reporter extraordinaire nina totenberg joins us next. with. hope you got dental. with. a insurance marketplace. they guarantee you won't find a lower price anywhere for the plans they offer, so you're not just picking by chance. no copay?... sweet. with health insurance plans constantly changing, having the wrong fit could mean missing benefits or costing you thousands. healthmarkets' fitscore instantly ranks plans both on and off the government exchange to find one that best fits your insurance needs. in minutes, you can find out if your current plan is the right fit, or if there's another one that can get you more coverage or help save you money.

and best of all, their services are completely free. healthmarkets designed its fitscore forever technology to do all the work for you. it continuously scans the market to compare your plan against any new options year after year, so you don't have to stress about picking your health insurance plan. funny, that came up the last time i was at the doctor. it looks like your blood pressure's a little high. and i've also had anxiety, headaches, insomnia, and panic attacks. sounds like you've been shopping for health insurance. healthmarkets has options from both on and off the government exchange. they can find you the right health plan and make sure you get all the subsidies you deserve, without playing games. you might even qualify for free health insurance with no monthly premium. healthmarkets is the number one ranked health insurance agency in america. having helped enroll people in millions of policies while earning an a-plus customer satisfaction rating from the better business bureau, you can trust healthmarkets.

for this free service, go to healthmarkets.com or call right now. call or click now to enroll or see how your plan compares. call the number on your screen, or visit healthmarkets.com understanding how to talk to your doctor about treatment options is key. today, we are redefining how we do things. we find new ways of speaking, so you're never out of touch. it's seeing someone's face that comforts us, no matter where. when those around us know us, they can show us just how much they care. the first steps of checking in, the smallest moments can end up being everything. there's resources that can inform us, and that spark can make a difference. when we use it to improve things, then that change can last within us. when we understand what's possible,

we won't settle for less. the best thing we can be is striving to be at our best. managing heart failure starts now with understanding. call today or go online to understandhf.com for a free hf handbook. can take you to deep, depressive lows. or, give you unusually high energy, even when depressed. overwhelmed by bipolar i? ask about vraylar. some medicines only treat the lows or highs. vraylar effectively treats depression, acute manic and mixed episodes of bipolar i in adults. full-spectrum relief for all bipolar i symptoms, with just one pill, once a day. elderly patients with dementia-related psychosis have an increased risk of death or stroke. call your doctor about unusual changes in behavior or suicidal thoughts. antidepressants can increase these in children and young adults. report fever, stiff muscles, or confusion,

which may mean a life-threatening reaction, or uncontrollable muscle movements, which may be permanent. side effects may not appear for several weeks. high cholesterol and weight gain, high blood sugar, which can lead to coma or death, may occur. movement dysfunction, sleepiness, and stomach issues are common side effects. when bipolar i overwhelms, vraylar helps smooth the ups and downs. north dakota has a meter system for tracking the risk of contracting covid across the state. if you're county is in the green, the risk of contracting covid is low. red, of course, is the opposite. in red counties the risk of contracting covid is high. this is a covid risk map for north dakota, last updated by the state yesterday afternoon. the entirety of north dakota lit up red. the risk of contracting covid high in 53 of 53 north dakota counties. yesterday the governor of north dakota announced that hospitals in his state are at 100% capacity. not just in parts of the state, across the entire state.

hospitals are completely full because of the surge in covid positive patients arriving at their doors. the governor says the state is running out of health care staff to tend to all those beds, and so he's authorizing -- listen to this -- authorizing covid positive nurses to care for covid patients as long as they're asymptomatic. and while the situation is particularly dire in north dakota it really is just one snapshot of a picture that's forming across it country tonight. yesterday covid hospitalizations in the united states reached their peak, their highest peak actually since july. we continue to clock new case records in this country day after day after day. it's clear it's against that backdrop that republicans were back at the supreme court today trying to take health care away from tens of millions of people in this untry. the supreme court heard oral arguments today in the latest case championed by republicans to try and strike down the affordable care act. the lawsuit is remarkably backed

by the trump administration. it's a u.s. law the trump administration is supposed to be backing that law. they're actually joining the lawsuit against it. if successful more than 20 million people could be kicked off their health insurance without any alternative. put it another way. 20 million people who currently have health insurance during an uncontrolled public health crisis would suddenly not have it if the republicans win at the supreme court. during oral arguments today at least five of the nine justices indicated in their remarks they might reject this latest challenge to the affordable care act. those justices included not just the liberal minority on the court but also the chief justice roberts as well as one of the president's picks, brett kavanaugh. now, warning, reading between the lines of justices questioning is a risky game. this case will not be settled once and for all until the court issues its official ruling sometime between now and next june. there's reason for cautious

optimism tonight for people who would like the affordable care act, obamacare, to remain the law of the land. joining us now nina totenburg, legal affairs for npr. all around supreme court whisperer. nina, it is great to see you. make sense of this for me. we would have seen this once before because chief justice roberts didn't kill obamacare the last time he had a chance to do so using a legal argument about it. what do we see now? >> this was a little bit like groundhog day. you know, you've been here before. twice before there's been cases that were serious challenges to the affordable care act. this was the third one. and i think at minimum there appeared to be five justices who clearly weren't ready to strike down the entire law which is what the trump administration and a bunch of republican dominated states are asking the court to do. and they maintain that it's a

very complicated sort of legal question. they maintain that because the congress in 2017 got rid of the penalty if you didn't have health insurance, that because of that, the tax -- it's no longer a tax. the penalty is no longer tax, and that's what saved it last time was chief justice roberts vote saying it looks like a tax, it walks like a tax, it is a tax. and the congress has the power to levy taxes. well, it's no longer a tax they said and therefore -- therefore the law and all the language about a mandate in that single provision of the statute infects essentially the rest of the law. and the whole thing, pre-existing conditions, medicaid, all those provisions

should be struck down at the same time. and i would say there were five justices who i think more than they usually do sent pretty strong signals that they're not buying that argument. that in the words of chief justice roberts in another case that you want to act with a scalpel not a bulldozer when you're dealing with a congressional act. >> and justice kavanaugh said that during oral arguments. he said, quote, it does seem fairly clear tat the proper remedy would be to sever the mandate provision which you were talking about and leave the rest of the act in place. the provisions regarding pre-existing conditions and the rest. that was what kavanaugh said. chief justice roberts said a similar point saying the congress lowered it when they left the penalty at zero. so the mandate, the penalty it's the same terminology, but

they're basically saying if that's the problem they can sever that, get rid of it and the affordable care act, the body of it including the provision to cover pre-existing conditions can remain, and then it would be up to congress to make it work in some fashion, to fund it the way it needs to be funded. >> well, and the chief justice said something even more interesting. he said i think they wanted us to strike it down, but that's not our job. it was a pretty -- it was a pretty telling and somewhat snarky comment aimed i think principally at the trump administration and republicans in congress who try to repeal this act over and over and over again and failed. >> i think they tried 50 plus times or something like that and roberts is just saying this is your job not ours. 19 nashgs gre 19 nina, great to see you. thank you for being with us. npr's legal affairs correspondent and a supreme court expert. thank you. do you know what you're doing for thanksgiving this

year? what are you going to do to make it safe in the middle of this pandemic? it'd be helpful to hear what dr. fauci is planning to do, and i'll tell you what that is on the other side.

thanksgiving is an important family holiday. i mean, every family is different, angie. if you have someone in the family, an elderly person, a person with an underlying condition who whatever that underlying condition may be, diabetes, obesity, hypertension, someone on chemotherapy for one reason or another, cancer or autoimmune disease, you really need to make a decision. do i want to put that person at an increased risk from people coming from all parts of the country usually at a crowded airport without necessarily knowing they're infected, without having time to get tested or time to do quarantine? make your own decision what kind of risk are you willing to take? >> what kind of risk are you willing to take?

that's the question on the nation's top infectious disease expert posed to the entire nation today on the subject of thanksgiving. just over two weeks away. but like we said earlier in the show things are bad in america right now. we're well on our way to posting 200,000 new coronavirus cases every single day. more than 241,000 people have died from this virus, and deaths are increasing nearly every day. with those stats any hope we might have of returning to a pre-pandemic normal by the holiday season is gone. the cdc even updated its thanksgiving guidance today. the agency is now recommending no travel, small gatherings and virtual family get-togethers for the big day. the doctor told my colleague andrea mitchell that the faucis for their part will be having a virtual but still festive family meal. but also said we might have a few things to be thankful for on the holiday. fauci said most people or the people most at risk could possibly get the vaccine by the end of the year.

asked whether he would take the vaccine when it's available to him, here's what he said. >> well, i'm going to look at the data, but i trust pfizer. i trust the fda. these are colleagues of mine for decades, the career scientists. and they look at this data and they say this data is solid, let's go ahead and approve it, i promise you, andrea, i will take the vaccine. and i will recommend that my family take the vaccine. >> joining us now, laurie garrett, health policy analyst, pulitzer prize winner. she's been my guru from the absolute beginning. laurie, you published an article today and i want to quote from it. in october when the united states was seeing 50,000 new cases per day the cautious institute for health metrics and evaluation at the university of washington predicted that by around inauguration day death could reach 2200 daily with a cumulative total of 186,000.

but since that october 22 announcement, the daily infection total has more than doubled and dentals have risen to more than 1,100 per day. the these trends go unfettered for 70 days the official death tally could top 400,000 around christmas and hospital wards across the country will be full. i learned from you, laurie. you are not an alarmist. everything that you said that will happen has happened. are you actually worried that this is where we are headed? >> absolutely, ali. and what makes it bone chilling for me is recognition that we still have 71 days of the trump administration, and they show no inclination to do anything that could slow this train wreck down. and we're looking at states all across america that already have full hospitals, already have exceeded their health care worker personnel. you know, the thing that's

interesting to think about is when you and i first started having these conversations, new york was the epicenter, and we had a unique situation here in the tri-state area of the east coast united states. we got through it a horrible nightmare, but we got through it because doctors and nurses came from all over the country to help us. today this is situation out of control, and at least 43 states, almost every place in the country, every county is showing an increase in this disease. nobody can spare health care workers. nobody can spare supplies. nobody can spare hospital beds. and i hate to say this because i don't want to sound ghoulish, but we're approaching the point where no one will be able to spare morgue personnel and coroners. >> that was a whole issue about the curve. i want to read again from your article today about the vaccine. let's be clear what this pfizer study shows so far.

for 90% of the volunteers who got the vaccine as opposed to the placebo the infection did not occur for days no one is going to wait a year to find out. what's the implication of that? >> the implication is whether it's this vaccine the pfizer product, the next one waiting to get up at bat, the moderna vaccine or any number of others. we're rushing them through, and we're going into widespread use with very, very short-term data. now, good news with this one is there's no evidence of side effects. so at least we could probably say it won't hurt anybody, but will it provide protection that really keeps you from getting infected with the coronavirus for the next year or five years or best yet the rest of your life?

we have no idea. >> yeah, and we don't even know that getting the coronavirus gives you that degree of immunity. the president likes to tell everybody he's super immune or whatever it is he says, but the science doesn't know as much as that yet. you and i will continue to talk and give our viewers as much information we can. laurie garrett is a health policy analyst, a pulitzer prize winning journalist, a columnist at foreign policy magazine. i recommend you read today's article. it's a lot of detail. when you become the president of the united states you get to learn all sorts of important classified and top secret information. when you leave office it's not like you unlearn all that information. they can't wipe the drive. normally that's not a problem, but with this president we should be concerned. from actual insurance companies. funny thing about health insurance, you don't think about how much you need it... until you need it.

he's not going to be okay. with so many changes to health insurance plans, are you still sure you have the right fit? having the wrong fit can cost you thousands. new plans are available that can save you money. that's why i love healthmarkets, your insurance marketplace. they guarantee you won't find a lower price anywhere for the plans they offer. their new fitscore instantly compares thousands of plans, both on the government exchange and off, to find the one that best fits your insurance needs. call or visit healthmarkets to find your fitscore today. in minutes, you can find out if your current plan is the right fit, or if there's another one that can get you more coverage or help save you money. best of all, their service is completely free. healthmarkets designed its fitscore forever technology to do all the work for you. it continuously scans the market to compare your plan against any new options, year after year. try the new fitscore today, you may even qualify for free health insurance with no monthly premiums. don't get stuck with the wrong plan. healthmarkets

can find you the right health plan and make sure you get all the subsidies you deserve without all the hassle. they even have other options most don't even know about that can save you thousands. they work to help you and do it all for free. don't assume that your plan is still the right fit. the healthmarkets fitscore makes it easy to find the right plan for you. having helped enroll people in millions of policies while earning an a+ customer satisfaction rating from the better business bureau, you can trust healthmarkets. for this free service, go to healthmarkets.com or call right now. call or click now to enroll or see how your plan compares. call the number on your screen or visit healthmarkets.com

it's moving day. and are doing the heavy lifting, jess is busy moving her xfinity internet and tv services. it only takes about a minute. wait, a minute? but what have you been doing for the last two hours? delegating? oh, good one. move your xfinity services without breaking a sweat. now that's simple, easy, awesome. xfinity makes moving easy. go online to transfer your services in about a minute. get started today.

consider for a second all the times in the last four years that donald trump has used his position as president to leak classified information.

there was that time just four months into his presidency when he invited the russian ambassador and foreign minister into the oval office. according to multiple reports trump preceded to divulge highly classified code word sensitive information to the two russians causing a total freak out among his own career intelligence officials. or how about the time trump decided he wanted to discuss highly sensitive details about north korea's nuclear weapons program in the middle of a dining open area at his country club where anyone willing to pay the membership fee would walk right up and listen? at least one club member managed to post a few photos of the meeting on his facebook feed. and the president tweeted out a picture of a failed iranian satellite launch that experts told nbc news was very likely classify fied. or how about recently when trump boasted about a secret weapons system directly to bob woodward? the list goes on and on. in just 71 days donald trump will transition from president to ex-president.

once that happens, once he leaves office, he will pose an unique national security problem. as shane harris at the "washington post" writes, all presidents exit the office with valuable national secrets in their heads including the procedures from launching nuclear weapons, intelligence gathering capabilities including assets deep inside foreign governments and the development of new and advanced weapon systems. according to harris current and former government officials are now starting to worry trump could expose even more state secrets as soon as he leaves the white house. in fact, experts have not ruled out, quote, that he might trade secrets perhaps in change for favors to ingratiate himself with prospective clients. the post adds when trump leaves the white house, trump will be facing a crushing amount of debt including hundreds of millions

of dollar s in loans he's personally guaranteed, end quote. given that and the president's track record it sure makes you wonder what's in store after january 20th? as rachel says, watch this space. "way too early" with my friend kasie hunt is up next. is the state department currently planning to engage with the biden transition team? if not, at what point does it hamp or pose a risk to national security? >> there will be a smooth transition to a second trump administration. all right. we're ready. >> and so far, there is no evidence of the any of the assertions made by the president or secretary of state pompeo. secretary of state pompeo. >> wow, the president-elect moves forward with