good day, i'm andrea mitchell in washington, as the country faces staggering new numbers of coronavirus cases. nearly 160,000 positive cases thursday alone. and a terrible death toll, 10,000 covid-related deaths in just the last nine days. president-elect joe biden is huddling with transition advisers in delaware after receiving a briefing from his covid advisory board this week. this hour, president trump is getting his first formal update on his administration's operation warp speed on vaccines since the election, as his

department of homeland security issues a stinging rebuke to the president's false claims, saying the american election was the most secure in american history. overnight, there was another call from the nbc decision desk, joe biden winning arizona, now standing at 290 electoral votes and still leading in georgia. joining me now, nbc white house correspondents kristen welker and peter alexander, co-hosts of "weekend today." peter, this rebuke from the department of homeland security might be a major point of frustration for a president who is still fighting a losing battle over the election result. we're reading your reporting, maggie haberman and others reporting that he is now talking about 2024? >> reporter: andrea, that's exactly right. we're told in recent days, including a meeting that took place on wednesday, the president has said to advisers that once this race is certified, if it's certified for joe biden, in his eyes, that he would announce a 2024 campaign to try to return to the oval

office four years from now. what's striking, even as you note what the department of homeland security has said, what the president's own administration has said, was that there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud, that it was the most secure election in history, the president today tweeted that it was the most secure election in history but that he also called it rigged. the president in a matter of moments is scheduled to be holding an operation warp speed meeting here at the white house, focusing on the coronavirus pandemic that continues to grow exponentially. among those expected to be in attendance, vice president mike pence and some others. unclear whether dr. anthony fauci will be there. the president over the last nine days, eight days, what has it been, more than a week and a half since the election now, has tweeted more than 235 times, and barely mentioned coronavirus at all. a couple of exceptions when he focused on the vaccine. instead, his focus has been on the election going forward. and he has been more chatty in recent days, speak to go her an

dough riffvera who said that th president was a realist who would do the right thing. but in a different interview yesterday that took place with "the washington examiner," the president projected optimism that he would win this thoining obviously at odds in the facts. when asked how long he would carry on the fight, he suggested two or three weeks longer. he says hundreds of thousands of ballots flipped from him to joe biden. we just simply know that's not true, as the dhs itself has said, andrea. >> and kristen, president-elect biden is brushing off concerns about the transition, but we heard from ron klain, the new chief of staff, last night speaking with lawrence o'donnell, his first tv interview since being named chief of staff. i wanted to play some of that. >> right now there are officials inside the department of health and human services who are busy

planning a vaccination campaign for the months of february and march when joe biden will be president. so the sooner we can get our transition experts into meetings with the folks who are planning that vaccination campaign, the nor se more seamless the transition from a trump presidency to a biden presidency can be. we need the full access that the american people want us to have. >> kristen, those seems to be the two areas, vaccine implementation and distribution and national security, the two areas that are of most concern. national security not just for crises and getting the president's daily brief to him, some republicans beginning to yield on that, but also getting those clearances for key members of the administration, so that they don't get all backed up. >> reporter: that's right, andrea. let me take your first point first about the vaccine. president-elect joe biden has made it very clear that that is his top priority, fighting

covid. that is the first event that he had when he unveiled his 12-member task force to try to tackle covid. and so we have been told that they are moving forward with trying to determine a vaccine distribution plan you know laterally becau unilaterally. then to the national security piece of this, andrea. in addition to the fact that he's not getting those daily intelligence briefings which a number of his aides say is a real lapse, there is a practical implication to that. think about the other piece of it. he's having these high level phone calls with leaders from other countries, and yet, as you reported, the state department has been withholding some key messages from some foreign officials. so there are some real concerns about that, and that adds to the urgency of all of this. and then the third piece that you mentioned, andrea, the fact that president-elect biden has started to name and is starting to fill out who will be in his west wing, of course ron klain, the first name there, is going

to serve as his chief of staff. with he know he's poised to announce 10 to 12 more people over the next several days, likely starting early next week. they want to start the process of running background checks on these picks, andrea, so they can hit the ground running on day one. so all of that is an increasing concern. i do think it's important to point out that based on my conversations, they also believe it is important for the president-elect to project calm and to project leadership, which is why you have heard him essentially say, ultimately he has confidence that this is going to turn around. but there is no doubt, andrea, that behind the scenes, the concerns are growing and mounting with each passing day that he doesn't have access to these key resources and to these key briefings, andrea. >> and peter, i know the president is going to be in the oval office, as you point out, for that warp speed vaccine meeting. if that should open up and if he should be even publicly for the first time in seven days or take questions, of course we'll hear more from you as you update us during the hour.

kristen welker, peter alexander, we look forward to seeing both of you on "saturday today" tomorrow morning bright and early. joining me now are patrick gaspard, associate personnel director for president obama's 2008 transition. also former u.s. ambassador to south africa. and chuck rosenberg, former u.s. attorney, former senior fbi official. welcome, both. chuck, let's talk about these legal challenges. the president keeps telling people that there's, you know, hope here, that they can do something in michigan, they can peel off arizona, georgia, which is, you know, right on the cusp of going to biden as we look at these numbers. arizona having done it overnight. and then something in pennsylvania and michigan has a bigger margin. donald trump won michigan by 10,700 votes or something in that neighborhood. none of these cases are going anywhere, are they? >> no, they're not, andrea. look, the president would be

absolutely right if he had evidence. that's all he's missing, just evidence, right? there's an enormous difference between filing a lawsuit and filing a meritorious lawsuit. anyone can file a lawsuit. but filing a meritorious lawsuit is much harder because you need facts and without those facts, he can talk all he wants and he can file all he wants but in the end it's not going to make a bit of difference. and so what we're seeing over and over and over again, andrea, are his lawsuits being dismissed by judges who seem quite exasperated, with lawyers representing the trump campaign who simply do not have facts. by facts i mean documents and witnesses with knowledge. without those two things, it's very, very hard, in fact, andrea, it's impossible to win a lawsuit. >> and this week we saw the joint chiefs chairman, mark milley, during a ceremony at the opening of the army national museum. take a look at this. >> we are unique among armies.

we are unique among militaries. we do not take an oath to a king or a queen, a tyrant or a dictator. we do not take an oath to an individual. >> ambassador gaspard, you know transitions, and you also know that there's been a lot of nervousness about what went on at the pentagon, the firing of mark esper on twitter, then the housecleaning of top officials at the pentagon, the civilian officials, replaced by people loyal to the president and devin nunes and others who have been actively claiming that the russian intelligence was wrong and trying to declassify it under the new dni, relatively new dni ratcliffe. a lot of concern that the intelligence will be disclosed as well as possible moves in afghanistan and iraq, precipitous withdrawals. that was quite an extraordinary statement from the chairman of the joint chiefs. >> an extraordinary statement, but this is an extraordinary

time, where what we're experiencing here is unprecedented and dangerous. the chairman's remarks remind me of what stephen douglas said after losing to abraham lincoln, that at some point partisan feelings had to yield to patriotism. you put two numbers up, one was the spread between donald trump and joe biden in arizona which joe biden has certified the winner of by 11,000 votes. the other was the number of americans who have died from covid in the days since the election which also hovers at about 11,000. regrettably the president of the united states is showing more concern about the spread in arizona than over the loss of covid. i was associate director of personnel for the obama transition team. we received extraordinary cooperation from president bush and his staff. two days after the election had been called, george bush came out and told the world from the white house lawn that the most important thing that he could do in the rest of his presidency

was to assure a smooth transition at an advertisement when there was unprecedented crisis in the world. we have unprecedented crisis in this moment. before election day in 2008, andrea, george bush's staff assured us 100 security clearances. that was before the election was called. the morning after the election i got on a plane, flew from chicago to washington, d.c. and the bush administration welcomed us with open arms despite our partisan differences because they put their country first. this is what we need to see now from the rest of the republican leadership in this moment. >> it's such great, great personal anecdotes there. and just, chuck and patrick, just talk about how abnormal this is. let's share with you what our friends at "morning joe" put together, a compilation of past transitions. >> after a moment of posing for photographers, it was into the white house to continue what has been a day of transition business for the

president-elect. the president pledged personally to carter he would do everything needed to make the transition smooth. >> there could not have been a better demonstration of unity and friendship and goodwill than has been shown to me by president ford since the election. >> with the president grinning broadly, he escorted the reagans back outside saying, we're very glad to have you here. >> i must say the president was most gracious, most helpful and has been -- gone all out to be completely helpful in the transition. >> when george bush walked down to welcome bill clinton to the white house, both men were ready to focus on the future, not the pain of their bitterly-fought campaign. but they spent twice as much time together as had been planned, including an hour and a half alone in the oval office. afterwards clinton was clearly grateful for the tone bush established. >> it was a terrific meeting. the president was very helpful to me. >> so chuck, that's the way it

used to be. isn't that the way it's supposed to be? >> andrea, that's the way i imagine it will be again, just not right now. to the ambassador's point, i prepared for one transition while working in the bush administration, although senator kerry didn't win, we were ready for him and for his team had he won, to help him assume the presidency. and i worked on a second one when i was working in the obama administration, at the end of president obama's second term. and we did everything we could for the trump transition team. now, it may not be who we preferred, but that didn't matter, because what we really preferred more than a particular candidate was that the transition be smooth and seamless and that the american people be protected. and so i was at the justice department, working with members of the trump transition team, while a member of the obama administration, making sure they had everything they needed. so will this ever happen again?

you bet it will. will it happen with this president, this petulant president that we have in office right now? not a chance. >> can i make a quick point? >> i just want to share -- yes, go ahead, patrick. >> so chuck is an extraordinary public servant. i remember being 14 years old during that carter to reagan transition. i came from a democratic household, we were rooting for jimmy carter. we were immigrants from haiti and we had experienced turbulence. but in our transition, i felt i became an american the moment i saw that smooth transition from carter to reagan where they laid aside partisanship and were thinking about everybody irrespective of how they voted. we have to rise to that level and can't allow transitions to be weaponized in the way they're being by this president. >> absolutely, and that damage had already being caused around

the world. to that point, this is something, a quotation from barack obama's new memoir, "the promised land" which is coming out next week. in this excerpt, "it was as if my very presence in the white house had triggered a deep-seated panic. which is exactly what donald trump understood when he started peddling assertions that i had not been born in the united states and was thus an illegitimate president. for millions of americans spooked by a black man in the white house, he promised an elixir for their racial anxiety." and that's just an indication of his feelings looking back on how he and michelle obama felt coming into the white house, because of birtherism. such an important point, patrick, about the way people see us around the world. >> we lived every single day in that white house and those charges began of course during the campaign. they were exacerbated and accelerated during the presidency. this is a moment when we have an

opportunity to turn from that kind of ugliness. and i trust that democrats and republicans together will be mindful of that history and give this new administration a chance to be legitimate on day one. >> thank you both so much, so great to have you, ambassador patrick gaspard, chuck rosenberg, thanks to both. if the covid infection rate continues at its current pace, the country could see as many as 20 million cases of the deadly disease by christmas. in chicago, the surge prompting the mayor to issue new warnings about the holidays. why she is urging people to stay home for thinkianksgiving, that next. ksgiving, that's next but we didn't stop there. we made a cloud flexible enough to adapt to any size business. no matter what it does, or how it changes. and we kept going. so you only pay for what you use.

because at dell technologies, we stop...at nothing. ♪

♪ ah honey honey ♪ ♪ you are my candy girl ♪ and you've got me wanting you ♪ applebee's 2 for $20. it's date night in the neighborhood. try eucerin advanced repair and switch. it doubles your skin's moisture and repairs dry skin over time. so tomorrow can be a different story. eucerin - recommended and used by dermatologists. you're choosing whento get connected to xfinity mobile, to the most reliable network nationwide, now with 5g included. discover how to save up to $400 a year with shared data starting at $15 a month, or get the lowest price for one line of unlimited. come into your local xfinity store to make the most of your mobile experience. you can shop the latest phones, bring your own device, or trade in for extra savings.

that's simple, easy, awesome. visit your local xfinity store today to ask, shop, discover the latest on xfinity mobile.

in chicago, mayor lori lightfoot issued an advisory for 30 days, imploring people not to host people at home, even for thanksgiving. >> while this is tough, of course this whole year has been tough, we must tell you, you must cancel the normal thanksgiving plans. >> nbc's gabe gutierrez joins me now in chicago. gabe, how are people reacting to the mayor's decision? >> reporter: hey there, andrea. there is some pushback from the business community. you remember last month mayor lightfoot imposed restrictions on businesses. that hasn't appeared to help

stop the spread at all. the situation in chicago is dire, according to the mayor. more than 12,000 new covid cases just this week. deaths in chicago have tripled over the last month. and, you know, this stay at home advisory takes effect on monday, as you mentioned, limiting private gatherings, even for thanksgiving. she's urging all chicago residents to limit nonessential central. again, andrea, this is a flashback to several months ago. earlier this year, businesses went through these restrictions. they had federal stimulus money then. there is a lot of concern from bars and restaurant owners here about what will happen over the next few months if there is no more federal stimulus money. andrea, we've been standing outside this hospital throughout the day and i can tell you, many of the hospitals here in illinois are seeing an increasing number of patients and it is concerning heading into this winter, andrea. >> indeed. gabe, thanks so much for being with us. joining us now, dr. ashish jha, the dean at brown

university school of public health. dr. jha, thanks very much. we have an nbc news analysis finding that if the coronavirus infection rate keeps going at this current rate, the u.s. could see some 20 million cases of covid-19 by christmas. mayor lightfoot of course calling on people to cancel their thanksgiving plans. what do you see as the way to get the country back on track and deal with this surge? >> andrea, thank you for having me on. we are undoubtedly at this point in the worst phase of the pandemic. i don't think we've ever had as much infection in our country as we do right now. and it is heading in the wrong direction. and as opposed to april and may when we could look to the summer to give us a break, we are not going to be able to get a break any time in the next couple of months. my expectation is that least 100,000 people are going to die between now and inauguration day if we don't get our act together. we know what to do. it's all about indoor gatherings of people when they're not wearing a mask. i just don't think we can afford

indoor dining and bars. i don't think people should be having other people over for dinners. i have canceled our thanksgiving plans with our extended family. we're just going to do it as our immediate family. it's hard to overemphasize how bad things are. hospitals are filling up across the country. we have to take this much, much more seriously. one last point is that congress has to act. congress has to get money out to states and to businesses so people can get through the next six weeks. if congress continues to fail to act, we're putting people into very difficult choices that's going to lead to a lot more deaths. >> which gets the whole economic pressure, bars, restaurants, those people need help now, as well as testing. dr. vivek murthy, the top adviser on the task force for joe biden, said this morning on abc that we should thinking of a series of restrictions that we dial up or dial down, like mayor

light where lightfoot is doing, depending on how bad the spread is. >> in new york city, for example, what you're seeing is them target their interventions down to the zip code so we're not in a place where we're saying, shut the whole country down. we have to be more targeted. if we don't do that, people will become more fatigued, childrsch won't be open to children. we have to follow the science and be more precise than we were in the spring. >> do you agree that these lockdowns and rollbacks can be targeted? >> absolutely. i wrote a long thing about this last night, about how the two states that i think are doing this right are new york and california. they both have really ramped up testing, and all of their policies are incredibly targeted down to zip codes or counties. that's the right way to do it. no one needs to be talking about a national lockdown, i don't think that's either necessary

nor helpful. but if we don't do the targeted policies, we'll see our hospitals really get into trouble. i think there's a way out of this if we're smart and proacti proactive. it doesn't seem there's political will to do those things. >> "the washington post" is reporting that more than 130 secret service officers who travel with the president have recently been ordered to either isolate or quarantine because they either tested positive or were in close contact with an infected co-worker, which is another cost, a terrible, terrible human cost of those rallies and all of his travel, running up to the election. >> yeah, you know, the white house has been a hotbed of infections, largely because they have thrown in the towel. they're really just not doing any of the things that we know are necessary to protect people. and it's one thing when the president gets infected. of course he can get world class

care and that's appropriate. but of course all the people who work around him, the secret service agents, these are men and women who have dedicated their lives to our country, and they deserve better than to be exposed to a virus that is -- where the infection is preventible just because people aren't willing to do basic health measures. >> they and of course their families and friends as well. thank you so much, dr. jha, always great to have your expertise. and stacey abrams brought a record number of new voters to the polls in georgia, possibly flipping the state to joe biden. what is her plan for the critical senate runoffs? you're watching "andrea mitchell reports." we'll go to georgia next. we'll go to georgia next laes makes a pizza, he doesn't just make a pizza. he uses fresh, clean ingredients to make a masterpiece. taste our delicious new flatbread pizzas today. panera. ythey customize yours lcar insurance. so you only pay for what you need.

wow. that will save me lots of money. this game's boring. only pay for what you need. liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. diddeodorants onlysome alumask odor? secret aluminum free helps eliminate odor instead of just masking it. and is made with 3x more odor fighters. with secret, keep it fresh every day. secret. try optum perks. it's a new way to save up to 80%. and everyone can do it. it's from optum, a health care company that's trusted by millions of people. you don't have to sign up for anything. just go to optumperks.com. and get a coupon to use at your pharmacy. that's it. i opted in. i opted in. you can, too. opt in and save big today.

(children laughing) you can, too. ♪ (music swells) ♪ ♪ (music fades) (exhales) experience the power of sanctuary at the lincoln wish list sales event. sign and drive off in a new lincoln with zero down, zero due at signing, and a complimentary first month's payment. visibly fades the dark spots away. new neutrogena® rapid tone repair 20 percent pure vitamin c. a serum so powerful dark spots don't stand a chance. see what i mean? neutrogena®

a recount is under way in georgia where officials are manually verifying every one of nearly 5 million ballots cast in the presidential race with president-elect joe biden ahead. both senate races are headed to runoffs. georgia could be on the brink of turning blue for the first time in the presidential race in almost 30 years. a lot of the credit is going to the registration drive led by stacey abrams who is now all in on trying to win those two senate runoffs. she talked to nbc's blayne alexander. >> what is it about your approach that's so different? >> we started working on this initiative in 2010 after we lost every statewide elective office for democrats. it wasn't enough to register voters. we had a singular focus on

registration and engagement. it's like giving someone the keys to the car but never teaching them how to drive. we built a ground game that combined those two pieces. >> joining me now is nbc's blayne alexander in atlanta. blayne, what a great interview, thanks so much for sharing that with us. is stacey abrams and her group really going all in to register people for the special elections on january 5? >> reporter: absolutely. that is her main focus, andrea. in fact we talked about it a number of times during our wide-ranging interview yesterday. she talked about the fact that the democratic candidates, raphael warnock and jon ossoff, it's all hands on deck for democrats to get them into office and for republicans, it's all hands on deck to stop that from happening. let me talk about the democratic side. we know her group, fair fight, has already raised more than $10 million that's going to go toward those two candidates. also the fact that they're looking at volunteers. the other thing is, they're not

trying to change minds at this point. they're not trying to decide people's voting habits but more so what republicans and democrats are dealing with is they're trying to make sure that people actually come out to vote again. as you know, andrea, when you're talking about a runoff election, the presidential election is behind you, turnout can be somewhat lower. so they're really banking for democrats, they're banking on the enthusiasm from biden's victory to bring more democrats to the polls on january 5. they're saying essentially that if democrats want to see the kind of agenda items that joe biden is touting, then it's necessary to have a senate that will help him get those through and that's why they are pushing their two candidates and saying, hey, people need to come out and vote for them in january, andrea. >> thanks so much, blayne alexander. and joining me now, lanhee chen, former policy director for the romney/ryan 2012 campaign and a fellow at the hoover institution, and former democratic congressman steve israel of new york, now director of the institute of politics and

global affairs at cornell university. great to see you both. lonnie, the republicans are highly motivated, mitch mcconnell is all in, arguably that's why he's not acknowledging the reality of joe biden's victory, because he really wants to keep that trump base excited and get them out there. this is control of the senate, what could be more important to mitch mcconnell? >> yeah, 100%, this is clearly part of the nationalization of our politics, andrea. you're seeing that this georgia senate runoff, these two georgia senate races that we're seeing coming up here in january, are really going to be i think a referendum on the national environment, a question of whether people want to have essentially a biden administration that will be unchecked by a republican senate or in the alternative, whether they want a democratic senate to go along with joe biden and his governing priorities. and you're seeing folks on both sides really nationalize the race, and to a certain degree it

speaks to the nationalization of our politics, that so many of these downticket races in 2020, senate races, house races, are a function of and a question about the national political environment. so you do see people like leader mcconnell, chuck schumer on the other side, really trying to make the case about why this georgia election is more than about just georgia but about what's happening nationally in our politics as well. >> steve, stacey abrams helped register 800,000 voters in the last two years after she lost the closely-fought, hard-fought governor's race. what do democrats need to do to turn the state blue? because they're up against a lot. for one thing, i want to point out, according to jim clyburn, after the election jaime harrison in neighboring south carolina, after being neck and neck with lindsey graham, took a deep dive in the polls after the republicans hit him with defunding police and a lot of

the other socialist memes, none of which applied to his positions on everything, but they just poured so much money in, and he had a ton of money, much more than lindsey graham, but those messages alone. that's what centrist democrats are arguing with nancy pelosi, that that messaging from the left doomed a lot of marginal races. >> andrea, you are exactly right. in a state like georgia you've got to have a message that resonates with those swing voters. stacey abrams is a miracle worker, she registered 800,000 more voters. if you take a look at the suburbs in atlanta, the growth in cobb county, gwinnett county, those are generally moderates voters. house democrats flipped the republican seat, a clean flip of a republican seat in those northern atlanta counties. how do you do it? we can't do it with a message that talks about defunding

police or invokes socialism. the tough part as you rightly point out, those were not jaime harrison's positions. i don't believe those will be the positions of warnock or ossoff. but the republicans will paint those positions onto them and what democrats have to do is be able to just repel those messages and fight on their own message turf. >> lonnie, some republicans, we're beginning to see cracks, we heard from chuck grassley, the most senior member of the senate, and lindsey graham, saying that on national security grounds the presidential daily brief should be afforded to joe biden. what will it take to see other republicans joining? we've had more foreign leaders calling joe biden than members of the senate who served with him for 30 or more years. >> yeah, i think it's going to be more of a trickle than a wave before we get to some of these election certification dates. i think when we get to election certification dates, as states

over the next few weeks certify their election results, there's going to be less and less cover for republicans to continue indulging the president in this notion that somehow he's got a pathway to victory. look, there are very legitimate national security concerns here, andrea. i think for this transition to work well, if you look back to the 2000 transition, when the bush transition was delayed because of that contested election, the 9/11 commission subsequently looked back and said, hey, that delayed transition actually hurt our national security interests. in the same way, we're in a very difficult situation internationally. to not have this situation resolved, i think republicans do need to recognize that not having a formal transition process in place for the biden team is a challenge and is a problem that has greater implications than just politics. >> lanhee chen, steve israel, we'll have to leave it there. quickly, steve. >> my former colleagues say it's

like mikey and wheaties, let mikey do it first, they're not willing to. >> good analogy. thanks so much. we'll talk soon. health officials in california are rushing to implement new restrictions as the state now passes a million coronavirus cases. california congresswoman barbara lee joins us next. stay with us. this is msnbc. we're all finding ways to keep moving. and at fidelity, you'll get planning and advice to help you prepare for the future, without sacrificing what's most important to you today. because with fidelity, you can feel confident that the only direction you're moving is forward.

our most advanced formularonamel repair.ou can feel confident helps you brush in vital minerals to actively repair and strengthen enamel. so you don't just brush to clean, you brush to build. pronamel intensive enamel repair. it's about the humans, this human, that human or these humans. it's about getting more than health insurance and a partner who listens and acts.

humana calls it human care. it's about offering a range of medicare advantage plans many that include prescription drug coverage. it's about talking to your doctor from your couch helping you find cheaper prescriptions before you even ask. and a plan as low as a zero dollar monthly plan premium in many areas. call or go online to speak with a licensed humana sales agent and get your free decision guide. it's about helping you find specialists and schedule appointments. and covering you in emergencies wherever you are. it's saving big on prescriptions like humana medicare advantage prescription drug plan members who saved an estimated 7,800 dollars on average on their prescription cost last year. it's about feeling your best with silver sneakers fitness programs and it's knowing that your dental and vision care are included with most plans. humana, a more human way to healthcare. call or go online to speak with a licensed humana sales agent and get your free decision guide. good morning, mr. sun. good morning, blair. [ chuckles ] whoo. i'm gonna grow big and strong. yes, you are. i'm gonna get this place all clean.

i'll give you a hand. and i'm gonna put lisa on crutches! wait, what? said she's gonna need crutches. she fell pretty hard. you might want to clean that up, girl. excuse us. when owning a small business gets real, progressive helps protect what you built with customizable coverage. -and i'm gonna -- -eh, eh, eh. -donny, no. -oh. california has now surpassed 1 million total coronavirus cases. the state is now rush to go put new restrictions in place as the covid crisis surges. and trying to get a handle on demands for testing, resulting in scenes like this one at dodger stadium in l.a., where testing lines wrapped the entire arena. megan fitzgerald is at dodgers stadium. megan, how are they handling this turnout? >> reporter: andrea, a big part of the process here is they're trying to control the surge by testing. if you take a look behind me

here at dodgers stadium, one of the largest testing facilities in the country, they have a pretty good process going here. the cars are pulling in. they're trying to make it to this location here where they're actually going to get the kit. then they're going to pull up through the line here and they're going to swab the inside of their mouth and give that test kit back to the attendant before taking off. now, here at the facility, they can test some 13,000 people a day and they're expanding their hours here, and in other facilities across the state here, to try and test as many people as they can. the county, los angeles county, said just yesterday they tested some 40,000 people. and they say this is essential to try and stop the spread. >> there's no possibility of containing this virus if you can't identify who are the people who are positive, whether they're symptomatic or asymptomatic. then we get in touch with them, we do our case interviews, we do our contact tracing. >> reporter: here's the good

news, despite being in the middle of a spread here, a surge, we're told that the death toll has not ticked up. so certainly that's something that is good news to report, andrea. >> it's good to see you. it underscores what dr. jha was telling us earlier, that new york and california are doing the best on testing, that's an absolute example of it. megan fitzgerald, thank you so much. joining me now is california democratic congresswoman barbara lee. congresswoman, great to see you again. first of all, your reaction to the surge in california. i know the state is doing everything possible. how do you bring those numbers down? >> yes, andrea, first of all, good to be with you. this is a grim milestone for us to meet. i know governor newsom, i know our health experts are doing everything they can do. and the public has -- of course many are weary from this pandemic and some are becoming less guarded. we need to remain compliant,

especially with the holidays coming. i mean, in my district alone, 25,000 people have passed away. over 150 -- excuse me, 25,000 cases, over 101 deaths yesterday. we're estimating about three people a day are dying. but i have to say, there's no testing strategy. and i'm here in washington, d.c. we have to pass the h.e.r.o.e.s. act so we can put forth a national testing initiative so that clear directions are there for our state, for the public to be able to, as speaker pelosi says, crush this virus. >> now, congresswoman, i also want to talk to you about our new vice president elect, kamala harris, your fellow californian, an inspirational figure to men and women around the country, particularly women of color, who will be our next vice president. she also leaves a vacant seat in

the senate, where she was the only black woman in the chamber. should governor newsom choose a black woman for the seat? you certainly, one of our other colleagues, come to mind. or should he listen to the activists pushing for him to choose either becerra or padilla, an hispanic man, as california's first latino senator? >> andrea, the governor is going to make the best decision based on the criteria, based on his set of facts, based on who he thinks would best represent the state of california. it would be an honor to serve in the senate. i have to tell you, african-american women since the beginning of the senate, since the founding, i believe it's been ten years that african-american women in total have served. there will be a void in terms of

the voice and the perspective that will be lacking. but i have to say, the governor has many, many people on his list. he has several black women on his list. he has a full complement of diverse individuals on his list. and he will definitely make the decision based on who he thinks will best serve the state of california. >> congresswoman barbara lee, thank you so much, we will be watching and waiting. and presidential playbook. as the days drag on and the president still has not acknowledged his loss, what's going on inside the white house? you're watching "andrea mitchell reports." we'll answer some of those questions, next. ings were made for better things than rheumatoid arthritis. when considering another treatment, ask about xeljanz... a pill for adults with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis when methotrexate has not helped enough. xeljanz can help relieve joint pain and swelling, stiffness, and helps stop further joint damage, even without methotrexate. xeljanz can lower your ability to fight infections. before and during treatment,

your doctor should check for infections, like tb and do blood tests. tell your doctor if you've had hepatitis b or c, have flu-like symptoms, or are prone to infections. serious, sometimes fatal infections, cancers including lymphoma, and blood clots have happened. taking a higher than recommended dose of xeljanz for ra may increase risk of death. tears in the stomach or intestines and serious allergic reactions have happened. don't let another morning go by without asking your doctor about the pill first prescribed for ra more than seven years ago. xeljanz.

we started by making the cloud easier to manage. but we didn't stop there. we made a cloud flexible enough to adapt to any size business. no matter what it does, or how it changes. and we kept going. so you only pay for what you use. because at dell technologies, we stop...at nothing.

♪ president trump's frustration with the election results may hit a whole new level in the days ahead as a potential north carolina victory for the president corresponding to georgia likely victory for the president-elect win for joe biden. if that sounds familiar, that's the same margin of victory that president trump crowed about in the 2016 referring to it as a massive landslide. joining me associated press and washington post deper to yal page editor. jonathan, first to you. what is going on in that white house? who is telling him what? what is the family saying? you know, how is he sort of crying against the wind? >> well, first let's be clear,

andrea the president has largely abandoned his day job. but for the most part, this is a white house that has been gripped with paralysis. because of the coronavirus outbreak that took place that evening, the election night party, there are people who are sick, mark meadows or those isolating because they had expose sure to a positive case. very few voices in the president's ear. there are some. ivanka trump, jared kushner, started talking to him about perhaps the next step but not pushing him out in terms of forcing him to make a decision. others want to see this play out. they want to see these legal challenges go forward, though they grow slimmer chances of success by the day. the president himself also vacillates between anger that he's in this situation, that he is indeed losing, railing against the so-called rigged election making these baseless

accusations, but also recognizing his predicament and starting to chart forward what could come next. certainly he's not cooperative with the transition and that's a dangerous level on national security matters. but trying to eye what comes for him indeed a possibly 2024 run or very least trying to keep that idea out there, keeping that notion alive to maintain his relevance and perhaps his ability to make money once he does leave the white house. >> yeah. money is a big part to play in this. and the fundraising for these legal challenges also is permitted to go to in this new pac go to paying off campaign debts. a lot of questions about how that money is going to be used and whether people are misled in what they're contributing to. ruth, president-elect biden is brushing off the concerns about the transition, at least now. president obama reacted, though, for the first time about the recent behavior of both president trump and leading republicans in an interview with "60 minutes." >> they appear to be motivated

in part because the president doesn't like to lose and never admits loss. i'm more troubled by the fact that other republican officials who clearly know better are going along with this, are humoring him in this fashion. it is one more step in delegitimizing, not just the incoming biden administration but democracy generally. and that's a dangerous path. >> this really sends a terrible signal overseas about our process of democracy, which has worked for more than two centuries. >> it sends a terrible signal every place. it's both practically bad and symbolically bad. it's practically bad because as president obama knows, who took office in the midst of an economic crisis, it is very

difficult for a new administration to hit the ground running. he had the benefit of an extraordinarily capable and dedicated and sincere transition effort from george w. bush. and it's symbolically bad, although i think our allies and other countries are understanding that while the president is, as jonathan says, sitting in the white house trying to cling to a job that he really seems to have zero interest in actually performing, our allies are understanding that he is not the determinant of his own fate, our laws and our constitution are. and he will cease to be the president on january 20th, 2021. so, that bad signal is a signal that can be overcome by reality. >> there was the instance from bush to obama of a terror threat during the transition on inauguration day. and both teams working in the situation room together, ruth. >> that was an example.

and andy card, bush chief of staff, and john podesta, bill clinton chief of staff, wrote for us in the washington post the other day about the dangers of -- transition where you're trying to put blockades in place of the person succeeding you rather than helping him. >> jonathan, ruth, thanks to both of you for helping us finish up, winding up a busy week. and we have breaking news from the west coast just as we were reporting with barbara lee a bit ago and megan fitzgerald, the governors of california, washington and oregon responding to the spike in covid cases on the west coast, issuing a travel advisory, asking people to self quarantine for 14 days after entering from another state. that does it for us for a busy edition of andrea mitchell reports. chuck todd is up next with "mtp daily." have a great weekend.

you're watching msnbc. weekend you're watching msnbc. what are you doing?

art class. it's abstract expressionism. when you start with a better hot dog from oscar mayer, you can do no wrong. it's all for the love of hot dogs.

♪ ♪ heart monitors that let your doctor watch over you, just like you watch over your best friend. another life-changing technology from abbott, so you don't wait for life. you live it. ♪ we're running out of room. we're running out of medical care providers. if we don't start making different decisions, we're going to see huge spikes in the number of people who aren't going to make it through this pandemic. >> i lose sleep over this, that we get to a point where, you