. good friday morning. i'm ellison barber here at msnbc headquarters in new york. we start this hour with the latest facts on this pandemic. there are nearly 13 million coronavirus cases reported here in the u.s. we have lost more than 264,000 americans to the virus. this morning the cdc reports the real numbers could be much higher. the cdc believes they miss one for eight cases for every one counted. firefighters in silicon valley spread out to enforce public health rules like restrictions

on how many people could gather in one place. let's bring in nbc's erin mclaughlin at los angeles international airport and dasha burns at bristol regional medical center in bristol, tennessee. i know they're getting ready to open new rapid testing centers for travelers at lax. tell us how that will work? >> reporter: that's right, ellison. that center is set to open next week for results in one to two hours for anyone that wants to pay $150 for a test, building on an interim testing center opened last week. those results are available in one to two days, meant for travelers going places that need to quarantine or prevent a negative covid-19 test. it has to be said, while more testing is welcome, l.a. officials are telling people to stop all non-essential travel.

that's how serious the covid-19 situation is here, particularly in southern california, asking people to stay at home. nevertheless, we've seen an uptick in travelers at lax ahead of the thanksgiving holiday, reaching a peek last friday of 44,000 travelers, still nowhere near the numbers they were seeing last year. take a listen. >> it's pretty staggering, last year we would have been talking about numbers in the range of -- coming through los angeles alone. now we're talking about numbers in the tens of thousands. definitely not the same as last year. we're seeing more people take to the skies than we have since the beginning of the year. >> that is of particular concern because california is seeing this surge. here in l.a. county on wednesday, more than 5,000 new

coronavirus cases announced, positivity rate of some 7%. authorities struggling to get the situation under control, considering renewing a staet stay-at-home order, although officials are saying, if they do that, it will be modified. less stringent than the last stay-at-home order announced in the beginning of the pandemic. >> what challenges are medical experts telling you they're facing in tennessee, dasha. >> reporter: ellison, there are several factors specific to this region, making this battle against covid-19 especially difficult here. first, this is a rural area, which means patients are coming to hospitals like this from many miles away. this is also a population where there are high levels with comorbid difficults meaning people have conditions like obesity, diabetes, heart

disease, making them at higher risk of hospitalization and death from this disease. lastly, one of the major factors in misinformation about this disease. it is rampant here and making the jobs of health care workers all the more difficult. jared mcclellan is with me. he's a respiratory therapist. that means he's seeing some of the sickest patients. jared, tell us about that. you're seeing firsthand how people are suffering from this disease. >> we see the sickest of the sick. respiratory therapists are looked over quite a bit sometimes. we manage the ventilators and see firsthand ow sick these people are. it's scary for a lot of them and it's hard. these people are scared. their families can't come to see them. it can be pretty challenging for them. >> what condition are these

patients in by the time they get to you? >> it varies. some people come in needing a little oxygen, two days later they need the maximum amount and possibly a ventilator. it's a lot of varieties of this disease. a lot of unknowns among doctors and among us. we learn something new every day about it zblt you, yourself, are in danger every day of contracting this disease. you have colleagues who have had to quarantine, who have had to leave the hospital and put more strain on the staff because they, themselves, are falling ill. how are you doing, how is your team doing? if you were in a similar situation, jared, thank you so much for everything you do. ellison, that staffing issue --

250 staff members who themselves are out sick and quarantining and recovering from this virus. they're looking to hire hundreds more nurses and team members to help support the facilitys as they're seeing this surge in cases and hospitalizations. ellison? >> erin mclaughlin in los angeles and dasha burns in bristol, tennessee, thank you both. this morning there's growing concern over the covid-19 developed by astrazeneca. the company reported it was 90% effective. now they confirm some volunteers only got half a dose in the study. the company ceo tells bloomberg there will likely be another global trial. all of it means the wait for fda approval may be longer. let's bring in dr. steve corwin, the president and ceo -- at new york presbyterian. dr. corwin, when it comes to the

different doses some volunteers got, how concerned are you about the process overall? >> well, i'm not. i think the fda and the data monitoring safety board is going to be very careful about this and very careful about the way the vaccines are put out. if the trials don't meet those specification, we won't get the vaccine. i'm very confident in the nih, dr. fauci, the fda. i think if the vaccine sapp proved, believe me, i would be the first person to get in line for the vaccine. certainly the moderna vaccine and the pfizer vaccine look to be interesting and promising. astrazeneca may be a different story. that's why so many different platforms were developed. i'm very confident in the scientific integrity of our process. >> people hearing you, knowing what you know, you would take the option if you had the option

is a huge thing for a lot of people. there are two other vaccines that are far along, the moderna as well as pfizer. do you worry people could hear this snippet about this vaccine and say, hey, it took a while for this company to tell us they did the study in a different way. are you worried some of the stuff that's out there could cause confusion and possibly deter some people from wanting to get the vaccine, be it this one or any of the other ones that could become available? >> of course. of course. i think that we need a massive vaccination program to be effective to get out of this. i'm encouraged by what the biden administration, the incoming administration has said. we need people to understand that the long-term health of themselves and the economies

depended upon mass vaccination. we need to convince everybody that the vaccine is safe which is why the scientific integrity of the process has to be first and foremost in everybody's mind. i do think, i really do think that when people see the ability of these vaccines to prevent infection, people will get vaccinated. i do have trust in the american people. yes, anything that would leave somebody to believe that the results are fraudulent, that there is some sort of mistake that's been made, of course you wouldn't want to be vaccinated. >> all right. dr. steve corwin, stay with us. we'll come back to you a little later and talk about health care workers. see you in a bit. president trump took questions from reporters thursday for the first time since election day. one big takeaway, he committed to leaving office if the electoral college votes for president-elect joe biden. carol lee is covering the white house and nbc's ali vitali is

covering the biden campaign in rehoboth beach, delaware. carol, what else did we hear from the president? >> reporter: good morning, ellison. what we heard from the president, the first time he's taken questions in 23 days, the longest stretch of his presidency, was a defiance. he was digging in on the notion that he somehow won this election and he may wind up, while he might leave the white house if the electoral college votes that joe biden is the next president on december 14th, he'll never concede. he tweeted moments ago saying the burden would have to be on joe biden, that biden can only enter the white house as president if he can prove he got these 80 million votes. that is not something that the president gets to decide. that's just a tweet, but that shows you a little bit of where the president's head is at. yesterday he said it would be a mistake if the electoral college were to solidify this election for joe biden and he hinted this may not be his last thanksgiving

in the white house. take a listen. >> if the electoral college does elect president-elect joe biden, are you not going to lead -- >> i think there would be -- >> when he was asked if he would attend joe biden's ininauguration, he didn't want to share with us. he was asked about a potential 2024 run in the future and he said he didn't want to talk about that at this time. he is going to lead into a different campaign. the president said he'll go there on december 5th to campaign for them and maybe he'll go again to lean in on that race a little bit more. right now, however, the president is on the golf course and he heads to camp david later

today. >> president-elect biden has been pretty quiet over the holiday. do we expect to hear more from him about his other cabinet choices soon. >> reporter: not today. we've been told by a transition advisor we could expect more cabinet picks. these economic related, in the early part of next week. this tracks with the timeline we were the olderly on in this transition, that they were going to be releasing these cabinet picks in and around thanksgiving. on the economy, biden said his treasury secretary would be someone who is accepted by all parts of the democratic party. we know from sources that janet yellen, the former fed chair, is actually the likely pick for that role. if confirmed, she would be the first woman to lead the treasury department, as well as the first woman to lead the top economic

roles, and now being elevated to this treasury secretary role under joe biden's administration. he's also right when he says that it has been acceptable to all parts of the party. when we first reported the news that she was the likely pick, markets responded well, as well as moderate democrats, but also progressives like elizabeth warren praising this choice. as we've seen these picks start rolling out, we haven't heard much by way of disagreements from progressives. that's not to say the battles aren't coming. you cover this, too, things like health care, climate change that progressives are going to want this biden administration to be bullish and aggressive on. so far those schisms have not become evident during the transition, mostly because the transition has been delayed, as you mentioned, only up until four days ago. now the biden team taking a quieter tone over the thanksgiving holiday. biden only tweeting yesterday with a video about unit in the

face of the pandemic over the holidays. it's a very different pace to the news cycle over here. the way we've seen news roll out of the building. >> ali vitali and carol lee, i don't know what i would do without reports from both of you. always a welgts of knowledge. ahead this hour, president trump says he's planning a trip to georgia. he'll support the state's republican senate candidates there. the reason that some in his own party think it could backfire. plus, targeting those in isolation during this pandemic, how far right groups are using the hope for a vaccine to spread disinformation. ♪ [ engines revving ] ♪

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we have breaking news this hour. a high-level iranian nuclear scientist appears to have been assassinated. according to a statement released by iran's defense ministry. nbc's ali arouzi is in tehran. what details do we know right now? why is this so significant? >> reporter: hi, ellison. we're hearing from state media that several hours ago, one of the top iranian nuclear scientists and also works on iran's missile program leading research and development was on his way back from a family weekend break in the north of the country. he had reached about an hour east of tehran when a pickup

truck exploded in front of him. gunmen surrounded the car he was in and started firing into it. iranian state media saying his family members were with him. they haven't lb braeted on exactly who or how many were with them. they say they were injured and that he was then airlifted by helicopter to a hospital in tehran where he died of his injuries. i can tell you seen yours are taking this seriously. minister zarif says this bears all the hallmarks of israeli, also an irgc member running for president in june says there will be no depth to what their enemies will go to.

they're taking this very seriously, as they did in 2012 when there was a string of assassinations of iranian nuclear scientists across the country. iran was up in arms about it, blamed israel and it was a moment of great tension. that was a time when iran was about to negotiate the nuclear deal with then president obama and the feeling was they were piling on the pressure on iran to negotiate. iran is going to feel like the pressure is being put on to renegotiate a deal that they had already signed which they've said that they are not going to do. it all remains to be seen what is going to unfold in the consuming days and weeks, but this is part of tension with the usa. ellison, although he wasn't a known figure to the people of iranian, he was very important.

>> if you anything else, ali, thank you so much for that. up next, we're going to go to georgia and the senate runoff race. many republicans are excited for president trump to campaign there, but some worry his trip may actually make things worse for his party. we'll tell you why in just a minute. great sa oo-la la! frwhen you wash them, and theyet dajust don't look the same? well now there's a solution, with downy defy damage. downy defy damage protects your clothes from the stretching, fading and fuzzing that happens throughout the wash process. protect your clothes, with downy defy damage this was the theater i came to quite often. the support we've had over the last few months has been amazing. it's not just a work environment. everyone here is family.

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successful vaccine trials are giving millions of people hope that this pandemic could be defeated next year, but the news of their advancement is giving far right extremist groups an opportunity to spread disinformation and recruit new members. nbc's willem marx is in london. how are these groups growing during this pandemic? >> reporter: hey, ellison. this is all based on a report commissioned by the german foreign ministry, an organization called the counterextremism project has worked with researchers across europe, and what they found from july through to october is not only that the far right, the extreme right wing of some of the parties in these countries, but also some of these fringe movements have been growing their online presence, as you might imagine.

they've been trying to take advantage of popular anger at lockdown restrictions, concerns about vaccination, the conspiracy theorists they might be attempts by the government to implant chips in our bodies and that sort of thing, to expand their influence and reach. i've been speaking to authors of the report from finland, france, germany and sweden. they've said some of the protest moments we've seen around the world including the u.s. is an opportunity for far right extremist groups, some with violent tendencies to find people and come at this from a very different direction but might end up having some shared narratives, shared interests, when it comes to mistrust of government of these really unprecedented government mandates that have restricted many people's movements. the science around the vaccines is not in dispute for the majority of people in europe, but there are very small numbers of people concerned about these

vaccination groups and some of the neo-nazi white supremacist groups looking to take advantage of those people. >> willem marx in london. thank you. president trump says he's heading to georgia. the white house says his trip is planned for saturday, december 5th, expected to campaign for republican senate candidates david perdue and kelly loeffler in the upcoming runoff elections. the president confirmed the trip while taking questions from reporters on thanksgiving with false claims that the election was rigged. >> i told them today they're dealing in a very fraudulent system. i'm very worried about that. they are tremendous people. kelly loeffler, david perdue are tremendous people. they should be in the united states senate. they're desperately needed. i told them today, listen, i don't view a fraudulent system. you have a system with the flick of a switch or the putting in of a new chip can change the course

of history. >> "the washington post" reports the president's continued rhetoric has worried republicans working on the race who fear his campaign against the election could discourage some supporters from voting. joining me kurt bardella, a former spokesperson for the house oversight committee, now a senior adviser with the lincoln project. and lauren leader is the ceo of all in together. kurt, let me start with you, the president's claims of fraud, concerns from republicans saying they're worried and could have a negative impact on the republicans running in georgia for the senate, do you think there is any truth to that? could the president's words, his rhetoric end up discouraging his own supporters, republican voters from voting? >> yeah, i think it could. this is a state, mind you, that have a republican governor, republican secretary of state. donald trump is creating

effectively a republican civil war between senators perdue and le loeffler. in a special election where getting turnout is the difference between winning and losing. when you have an election that's not normally scheduled, when voters aren't conditioned to know to show up on that particular day, this can make all the difference in the world. through donald trump's rhetoric, if this special election becomes a referendum on democracy, this race becomes so much more nationalized, that works against david perdue and kelly loeffler. right now the best case democrats have to make in this election is let donald trump go up there, say his insane things, destabilizing things about democracy, he's doing the democrats' work for them every time perdue and loeffler don't say anything about this, they're putting their own livelihoods, their own professional livelihoods in peril. >> lauren, kurt mentioned

turnout. we know how critical turnout is. is turnout is everything. i want you to take a listen to what black matters matter co-founder cliff albright says about mobilizing black voters? >> we know it's a demographics of the state are changing. you've got to do work to go with those changing demographics and reach out to the entire state. >> he talks about having work to do there. what, lauren, do you think is the work that democrats need to be doing right now to try and flip those two senate seats in georgia? >> kurt is exactly right, every day that the president is involved in the georgia election is another day that, not only does he potentially risk subverting republican votes, convincing people that actually it's not worth it to come out, it's also very mobilizing for

democrats. biden did win this state and won it not with a huge margin, but for the first time in 30 years a democrat ran. that means you've got a newly emboldened and fired up base of democrats in the state who are very committed to seeing this through. the other vulnerability i think in this race is that kelly loeffler was appointed. she has not been elected to this position. you saw that in arizona with the loss of martha mcsally that when senators become incumbent through appointment, they have a much weaker position in running when it is then their turn. i'm still a bit skeptical that both the democrats will win in this race, i think there's a possibility it could split. but this turn out of the core democratic voters, particularly those black voters in the atlanta metro area who are absolutely responsible for biden's win, and i will add to that, also the suburban women

even outside of metro atlanta who voted for biden this time, it's the same coalition. the democrats are going to have to work really hard to get people out. off elections are extremely challenging for both sides. >> i'm from georgia, grew up in the atlanta suburbs. when i talk to people at home, it does sometimes feel a little bit like maybe some people are getting kind of tired of the ads and the election regardless of politics. when i was out reporting during the election, even before election day in florida, you had people says, gees, we're ready to not have all of these ads. president trump talked about potentially visiting georgia two different times. do you think his visit could mobilize democratic voters, or do you think there is some election exhaustion, if you will, setting in? >> no question there's election fatigue. the airwaves will be saturate friday now through the special election date. it's always hard to tell whether the president showing up and

holding rallies is making a difference. ultimately it didn't in this last election cycle. he continued to run these massive in-person rallies, endangering the health of tens of thousands of people, setting off super spreader events in the states where he visited, and he still lost by a very significant margin. i'm not convinced that the president showing up is helping them. he's a lame duck president at this point. he's been discounting the value of the election process. how do you show up and say the system is broken, but go out and vote for these people. it doesn't make any sense. >> republicans are outspending democrats on ads according to the atlanta journal constitution. we heard all the time that a lot of times elections come down to money. we've seen situations in the past where candidates had a lot of money behind them. thinking of jon ossoff prior to this last election. how important are those ads

going to be and how important is it that the campaign is having in a pandemic? >> i think both campaigns at the end of the day will certainly have enough money and resources to make their case and communicate their messages. i think right now, honestly, there are people who are burned out and fatigued and voters probably not tuning in right now, especially during this thanksgiving holiday week. this is the last thing you want to see on tv is a political add. i question the effectiveness of it right now. i think everyone is going to have all the money they need when we get down to the final 30 days here. again, ultimately how you spend the money is more important than how much you have. we saw in south carolina harrison raised $68 million and lost by a significant margin. particularly when you're campaigning during a pandemic time where in-person voter-to-voter contact isn't

possible, finding new and innovative ways to reach voters, that can be the difference in winning and losing, in a special election when turnout isn't what it normally is, every voter is going to matter. every vote counts. if donald trump wants to parachute in and have super spreader rallies and help get them sick so they can't turn out to vote because they're sick or dead -- >> kurt, i like the christmas tree. >> especially in 2020. >> exactly. we need it. coming up, as stores push black friday deals, not everyone is able to spend. more than ten million jobs have disappeared since the pandemic started. what economists are looking at as we head into the new year. first, a special moment that keeps health care workers going. i'll take you inside one michigan hospital where they just celebrated a patient's birthday after taking him off a ventilator.

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welcome back. i'm not an anchor. if you have been with us watching the last 39, 40 minutes or so, you might be like, yeah, we know, it's very obvious to us. you're not wrong. i'm not an anchor. i'm usually out there, not in here, covering the pandemic in the southeast and the midwest since april. there are a lot of moments that replay in my head, a lot of faces. a lot of hurt and sadness in the world and it never goes away. right now it seems like it doesn't even take a break. but in between all of the bad, i promise you there are still little grimmers of hope, reminders that so many people, our neighbors, our friends, total strangers are really good and we do care about each other and maybe we're all a little braver than we think. i had one of those moments this week on the critical care floor of a hospital in lansing, michigan. it was a patient's birthday. his name is william. he said we could tell you that

much. for privacy reasons we can't tell you his last name or his age. you won't see his face but you'll hear his voice. william has been in the hospital because of covid-19 for more than 30 years, the first patient sparrow hospital has successfully taken off a ventilator in 2 1/2 months. on wednesday, he had a birthday. >> you want to see his cupcake? how cute is his cupcake. >> and we'll sing happy birthday once we call leslie. >> buenos dias. good morning. >> good morning. good morning. >> i was told it was somebody's birthday in here. happy birthday, sir. >> thank you, sir. >> we've got a cupcake here for you. >> happy birthday. >> this is for you. >> okay. look at this. ♪ happy birthday to you ♪ happy birthday to you

♪ happy birthday dear william ♪ happy birthday to you >> thank you. >> you bet. happy birthday. >> thank you. thank you. >> you're welcome. of course. >> i'm happy. >> good. >> you enjoy your cupcake. >> i'm glad you're doing well, buddy. you look awesome. >> thank you. >> keep it up. >> you remember him? he took care of you in the icu. that's bob. >> we're going to get you home. >> explain to me what the situation was with this patient and why this birthday is such a big deal. >> this patient has been with us for 31 days. he started down here on our stepdown unit, and unfortunately had a downward spiral and ended up in our critical care unit on a ventilator. he was successfully ex-tu extub.

he's improving every day and making grade strides to go home. we wanted to celebrate the little milestones. it happens to be his birthday today. that worked out perfectly. we were able to go in, present cake and sing happy birthday. >> i want to bring back dr. steve corwin, president and ceo of new york presbyterian. i know this is something you've probably been a part of, something you've probably seen other health care workers do for patients. i know this is not necessarily an abnormal sort of thing, but it feels like right now, especially in the pandemic, it feels bigger in some ways. it felt bigger in that moment for a lot of the health care workers who were there and in that room. they know this man, they know him well. tell me why are moments like that so important for health care workers and especially right now?

all right. we've lost dr. corwin. i will tell you, it's a unique experience for me. the last time i had been in the hospital on an icu floor, as soon as i walked in, the nurses were saying they needed to intubate another patient. it had been the third of the day. to see people celebrating something, it felt great. i know it felt good for that patient. i hope he'll go home soon. after a tough year, people are looking for ways to keep up their holiday traditions. how stores are reimagining black friday to keep everyone safe and why economists are worried about 2021. got to hand it to you, jamie. your knowledge of victorian architecture really paid off this time. nah, just got lucky. so did the thompsons. that faulty wiring could've cost them a lot more than the mudroom. thankfully they bundled their motorcycle with their home and auto. they're protected 24/7. mm. what do you say? one more game of backgammon?

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to learn more, visit paycom.com today may be black friday, but this is still 2020. this year many retailers have reimagined the day and they're building momentum towards next year when one or more vaccines could bring shoppers back into stores. nbc's blayne alexander is live outside atlanta in dunwoody, georgia. black friday was already becoming more of an online experience for so many americans. this year, those still shopping in person is completely different than anything they are used to. what can you tell us? >> reporter: absolutely. they are already expecting this will be a record setting year for online sales. believe it or not, even in the phd is it of a pandemic, many of the trappings of a typical black

friday are still in play. macy's opened their door at 5:00 a.m. we saw people stream inside when the doors opened. we've seen a steady stream of people going into perimeter mall, many before sunrise. even the usual clamoring for parking shots is certainly still alive and well. when it comes to the long lines you see, people lining up thanksgiving night and spending the night and rushing the doors, not seeing much of that this year. instead, experts are predicting that the vast majority of shopping is going to be done online. consider this. already in the month of november, there have been some $60 billion spent in online shopping. experts predict between today and cyber monday, those two days are going to set a record for the highest number of online sales ever in history. certainly expecting a lot of people to go online. but there are still plenty of people coming into the brick and mortar stores. malls like this one and many around the country are upping their cleaning frequency,

upgrading their air filters. of course mask are largely required in most stores for entry. other things as well. if you don't want to go inside among a crowd, some stores are allowing you to use your smart phone and set a phone when it's time to go inside. you can also buy online and pick up in the store. something else that's benefiting a lot of shoppers, ellison, instead of all the deals being focused on one day, black friday, or this weekend, many of the deals are being spread across the entire month of november. so that kind of relieves the pressure on people all having to rush stores at the same time. so certainly a lot of changes this year. and then finally, when you look at shopping habits, the national retail federation predicts that because a lot of people are spending so much less on things like travel or entertainment, that retail services are actually going to see a boost because more people are going to be buying either here or online, ellison. >> fascinating stuff. i heard someone say earlier today that this year people who

are shopping in person for black friday are gaming out where they shop based on the safety precautions those stores are taking, not necessarily the deals, which is mind-boggling to think of but it is 2020. blayne alexander in atlanta, thank you for that. i want to bring in politico's chief economic correspondent ben white. ben, some americans are finding work after the massive job losses in the spring in we're seeing weekly job loss claims over 700,000. can you talk about how far we still are from where we started the year? >> ellison, good to be with you. and we're pretty far away from where we would like to be in terms of people getting jobs back, still 10 million or so away from that. as you noted, weekly jobless claims every week break records. the initial record was back in the '80s and we break it every week now. you see the food lines in multiple states. there's a lot of people hurting out there. as your last piece suggested,

there are folks with money to spend. we'll hit probably a record on retail sales. but it suggests we have this bifurcated economy, where those of us who work from home, have stayed in our jobs, have stock market investments, have done relatively well. but tens of millions of people have seen their unemployment benefits run out, who are worried about feeding themselves and their families this holiday season. it's important to remember while we've had some economic healing and there will be decent sales on black friday and throughout the holiday season, there's a big, wide swath of the economy that's not doing well. tens of millions still unemployed and getting unemployment benefits. when you talk about this k-shaped recovery, which is those at the top doing pretty well, a lot of folks in the middle and lower income strata not doing well, we see that right now and it's important to keep in mind. >> ben, there is some concern about what lies ahead next year, obviously. i want to show you, read to you a headline that we've from our digital team. they said this.

quote, why economists are getting worried about 2021. the picture is at best murky and there is growing trepidation that an uncontrolled covid-19 surge triggered by the thanksgiving weekend could further weaken a slowing recovery. based on everything you know right now, the possibilities that are up in the air right now, how concerned are you? >> i'm significantly concerned. i mean, i'm hopeful in that you've talked today about the vaccine hopes, and they're very encouraging, we could get multiple effective vaccines by late winter or spring, that could make an enormous difference. but the big problem in the economy right now, ellison, is that all of the expanded benefits passed by congress in stimulus packages to help nurse this economy along until we get out of the covid nightmare have largely expired. and this lame duck congress is not going to approve any new funds. it will be up to joe biden when he comes into office in january, probably with a republican

senate, to get more money to people while we wait for the vaccines to take effect, because if you were reliant on expanded unemployment benefits and other programs to kind of keep you going while you were out of work during covid, you've lost that money. that's why we see food lines. there is hope on the horizon. vaccines are terrific. the economy has the opportunity to really bounce back strongly in the spring once these vaccines hit. but we have this gap in time where people are suffering and it would be good for the federal government to step in and help them. washington just hasn't been able to do that. so i do worry about the near term economy quite a bit and the people suffering in it right now. i have much more hopeful outlook for the spring and the rest of 2021, assuming these vaccines work. there is a lot of pent-up demand among employers to get people back and get this economy going again. it's these few hard months during the winter when we do need to be helping people more. >> do you think any of that help is on the way or do people need

to wait until a new administration? what could that help possibly look like? >> right, right. this is the big problem, that it's not on the way immediately. there were talks towards doing another stimulus package during the lame duck, obviously before the election there was a lot of back and forth about trying to get a new stimulus bill passed. none of it happened. it's not happening now. it probably waits until january, maybe early february. the biden administration coming in would like to do a very big stimulus, $3 trillion or more to help state and local governments that are laying off people, to reenhance these unemployment benefits, to make sure people are whole or at least partially whole while we wait for the vaccine to get here. but it's taking too long. if he's dealing with mitch mcconnell as senate majority leader and a smaller stimulus, it won't be as big as it needs to be and people will suffer. i don't want to leave people with an unhopeful message on this holiday weekend because there is great hope out there

for vaccines and an end to covid-19, a return to a somewhat normally economy. it's important to remember we're way far away from that. we've lost 22 million jobs to this thing and we've only gotten half of them back, which is nowhere near enough. it would be ideal if stimulus were happening now. it's going to be really important that it happens when biden gets into office. i'm just not sure it's going to be as big as we would like it to be. >> ben white, thank you so much for that. >> thank you. and that wraps up this hour. i am ellison barber. yasmin vossoughian picks up our coverage after a short break. then break it. every emergen-c gives you a potent blend of nutrients so you can emerge your best with emergen-c. ♪ ♪ you're all, you're all i need ♪

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good day, everybody. i'm yasmin vossoughian. glad you could join us the day after thanksgiving. today we have the latest reaction to president trump's combative interaction with reporters on thanksgiving. that included a small but significant concession on the reality that he is facing ahead. >> reporter: are you not going to leave this building? >> certainly i will. certainly i will. and you know that. >> but that comment came after a string of false claims about election results across this country and disinformation to fight the facts surrounding his defeat. >> you have to really take a look at what's going on, uh, they're finding tremendous discrepancies in the votes and nobody believes those numbers. i know one thing. joe biden did not get 80 million