good morning. it is saturday, november 28th. i'm ali velshi. we are 53 days out from president-elect joe biden's inauguration. the general services administration has certified joe biden's victory, the outgoing president has not conceded but claims he will leave office while also claiming that he won't. i hope you and your family had a healthy and safe thanksgiving holiday as the covid-19 pandemic continues out of control across the country, growing at rates seemingly unfathomable back in the spring. this chart shows when the united states hit the million case milestone, showing how fast case counts are rising, now at more

than 13 million. that last jump of a million happening in just six days. so much for turning the corner. while some of us are fortunate to tuck into thanksgiving leftovers later today, millions of our fellow americans are going hungry, the topic is important to me and you can read more in my latest piece on msnbc.com. covid-19 and its catastrophic effect on hundreds of millions of americans was not on the mind of the outgoing president this thanksgiving. he started the day once again playing golf at his golf club and then for the first time since election day, the loser of the election took reporters' questions, as you might expect his remarks made no sense and were littered with lies. >> joe biden did not get 80 million votes and i got 74 million but there were many ballots thrown away so i got much more than that. it's going to be a hard thing to concede, because we know there was massive fraud. so no, i can't say that at all.

i think it's a possibility. they're trying to -- look, between you and -- don't talk to me that way. you're just a lightweight. don't talk -- i'm the president of the united states. don't ever talk to the president that way. >> he's president for 53 more days. what the loser of the 2020 election cannot seem to comprehend is the fact that more than 80 million americans voted for joe biden, he seems to want to equate campaign rally crowd size to votes which disregards the pandemic and is just a dumb comparison in general. the soon to be former president even seemed to hedge his comments from less than 24 hours earlier and continued to toy with not leaving office, tweeting something how the winner joe biden needs to prove the outcome. he needs to prove his votes were not fraudulently or illegally obtained. the outcome was proved, the states certified the results, the gsa declared your opponent the winner. that's how we do things in the

united states of america. in the latest legal loss for the election's loser, pennsylvania's third circuit court of appeals unanimously rejected and tore apart the latest ridiculous attempt to prevent that state from certifying election results. the three-judge panel consists of two george w. bush's appointees and one of the president's own appointees which destroys any past, present or future claims the campaign may invent saying they "have no merit" aren't arguing fraud in court documents and concluding "free, fair elections are the lifeblood of our democracy. charges of unfairs are serious, but calling an election unfair does not make it so. charges require specific allegations and then proof. we have neither here." what we have is a man surrounded by power hungry sycophants.

it's time to turn our attention to a topic which demands it, as i started the show, the united states now has crossed the 13 million covid-19 case mark. more than 265,000 americans have died from the disease. daily new cases appear to be holding in the upper 100,000, a huge number which is expected to -- look at that chart, look at the right side of that chart, this number is expected to explode in the upcoming post-thanksgiving weeks and not subside touring the upcoming holidays. hospitalizations are at record highs and while we know more about how to treat the disease, hospitals in many areas are at or near capacity. medications and treatments are scarce. deaths continue to steadily climb and we're now consistently above 2,000 deaths a day. on wednesday, more americans died from covid-19 than at any point since early may, during the early stages of the

pandemic. the outgoing president barely made mention of the pandemic during his thanksgiving remarks instead of making a rib kick it kuls claim vaccines could start being delivered "next week." that's just not true. president-elect joe biden put fighting the pandemic front and center to n his thanksgiving day message to the americans. >> we fought a nearly year-long battle with the virus that has devastated this nation. it's divided us, angered us, set us against one another. i know the country's grown weary of the fight, but we need to remember, we're at war with a virus, not with one another, not with each other. this is the moment where we need to steel our spines, redouble our efforts, and recommit ourselves to the fight. i know we can and we will beat this virus. america's not going to lose this

war. >> president-elect biden who suffered tremendous family tragedy throughout his life also had this message for the mounting number of americans and families who have lost loved ones to covid-19. >> for those who have lost a loved one, i know that this time of year can be especially difficult, believe me. i know. i remember that first thanksgiving, the empty chair, the silence, takes your breath away. i understand. i'll be thinking and praying for each and every one of you that the thanksgiving, at your thanksgiving table, because we've been there. >> biden is set to receive his first classified presidential daily briefing or pdb on monday, assuring that one of the two people receiving it will actually read it and value it. it comes as he continues to round out his cabinet and team and keeps with his pledge of having that team look like america.

joining me from rehoboth beach, delaware, fellow member of the av club, ali vitali. president-elect biden is getting close to making an announcement regarding the secretary of defense. what do we know about that? >> reporter: good morning, fellow aliv. and happy late thanksgiving. there are expected more cabinet picks from the president-elect right now but we're expecting in the terylly part of this week the picks are related to the economy. that being said, we have been hearing for weeks now the name michelle flournoy at the top of the list of people who could take over the defense department, someone back in 2016 rumored to be the pick if hillary clinton had won that election, and now she's the person who we keep hearing about as biden continues to move forward with rounding out what his cabinet would look like. you see her list of credentials, a former top pentagon official herself. if she were put in this role and confirmed she would be the first

woman to serve as head of the pentagon and our colleague reports if she were put in that post she'd bring a lot of other women with her into the pentagon effectively remaking the face of this agency. but flournoy is in the same school of thought and ties to other members of the cabinet that we know about, tony blinken who biden put up as secretary of state. these two founded a global strategy firm together in 2018 and as we go forward into confirmation battle season, that's probably something that you're going to hear a little bit about, that's not me suggesting anything nefarious. we're likely preparing to see some conversation happen regarding some of the clients that they might have had while they were in the private sector. that's the typical fodder that comes up during these confirmation battles but certainly it's a notable tie and one that we're keeping in mind as we move forward here and again, we don't know that we're going to see the defense secretary pick this week. there was some conversation last week as biden rolled out his national security and foreign

policy rolls, why this wasn't in it. the reason it wasn't, last week was focused on diplomacy. we'll see more names come up in december, we were told buckle up, there's a lot of cabinet picks left to be made and we know this week we're probably focussing in the early part of it on picks related to the economy. we've already heard from multiple sources that janet yellen is the likely choice biden is going to roll out to lead the treasury department, that's another historic pick if she's confirmed because she would be the first woman to lead that agency as well, having served in so many other parts of the government's economic apparatus, you see it right there, and we also know that she's going to have a tall order as so many of these other cabinet secretaries do, juggling crises that have become because of the pandemic, the economic recession that's ongoing and the policy priorities for democrats who want to see a lot of things done now that they have a democrat in the white house.

>> yes, those two things are related but separate issues. thank you. we'll talk to you later, ali vitali from delaware. valerie jarrett, former senior adviser to president president barack obama and author of "finding my voice: when the perfect plan crumbles the adventure begins." good morning, valerie. good to see you again. >> good morning, ali. it's a pleasure to be with you. >> you are impressed with the diversity of the picks. this is obviously something, it's not really a choice in 2020 for normal thinking people to create create a cabinet that is more reflective than we're used to seeing in a cabinet. there are a lot of women, there are minorities in this cabinet pick and we're not nearly done with it yet. what are your initial thoughts? >> well, i think that the president-elect has selected people with extraordinary experience, a track record of leadership, subject matter expertise, and whose stories

reflect the american story. each one of them particularly when we just heard recently from the foreign policy and national security team, each one of them described their background, and why they have the values that are right to meet the challenges of this moment and i think the president-elect hit the ground running with the coronavirus task force, with announcing those who were going to be in the white house initial group including his chief of staff and now we've seen the foreign policy national security team, and we just could not ask for better people to meet the daunting challenges that lie ahead and i'm confident that the rest of the cabinet will stay true to the commitment that president-elect biden made about experience, people who believe in science, in evidence, who have a track record of leadership, who are true public servants, ali, who think about the country, and not themselves, and who do reflect the american story, the essence of that story. >> you talk about daunting

challenges. in 2009, when the administration you were part of took office, you walked right into a crisis. we were in the middle of a recession. joe biden was part of that administration. so he knows crisis. he knows what it's like to do that. he seems to be forming a cabinet that's ready to deal with that crisis, which is just interesting, because this administration is treated neither the economy more the coronavirus as a crisis. >> well, that's right and i think the fact that right off the bat, the president-elect named the coronavirus task force and now the good news is of course they're able to work with the trump administration appointees to make sure that they can plan. we only have one president at a time, but it's important that they are able to plan and get up to speed, so that on january 20th, he can hit the ground running. i do wish that during this period of time, as you pointed out, ali, we're seeing this unbelievable spike that the current administration was doing more not just to focus on the

vaccine but to contain this horrendous outbreak and in our country, we should not be seeing people lining up in food lines around the country. so why hasn't congress passed a package to provide an important relief to more workers? why are we seeing our hospitals now overloaded again and i think president-elect biden will hit the ground running but i worry about what's happening between now and january 20th. >> of course, president-elect biden did say coronavirus would be his priority, because you can't fix the economy without this virus getting under control, without a vaccine, but this discussion about janet yellen, you know janet yellen. she is going to have a heavy lift. this is a heavy job to deal with the recession that we are in. we're hoping once there's a virus, a lot of the problems that we've had will go away, but it's not a given. we've got underlying problems. we had hunger in this country and food insecurity in the tens of millions prior to coronavirus. we had wages that did not keep

up with the cost of living prior to the coronavirus. so she's going to have sort of as ali vitali was mentioning, dealing with the coronavirus economic fallout and fixing an economy that we all believe was still sort of broken. >> i'm not going to get out ahead of the president-elect's nomination but i will say janet yellen has extraordinary credentials and experience. whoever he selects will be prepared to meet these challenges and i think that as he fleshes out that team and makes the announcements i think the american public will be confident we're not going to go backwards but as the president-elect said throughout the campaign, we're going to build back better and stronger, so that it isn't just an economy that benefits a few, but that nobody gets left behind, and i am confident that those on his team will be singularly focused on that effort. >> thank you for clarifying. we've not actually, janet yellen has not been named as the

treasury secretary appointee yet, it is just widely believed that that is the case. so it's a good point to be accurate about. thank you, valerie jarrett, good to see you as always, a former senior adviser to president barack obama. she's the author of "finding my voice: when the perfect plan crumb crumbles, the adventure begins." the incoming administration is set to flip the script on climate policy. how the president-elect plans to create a greener america. wow. that will save me lots of money. this game's boring. only pay for what you need. liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. here's another cleaning tip from mr. clean. cleaning tough bathroom and kitchen messes with sprays and wipes can be a struggle. there's an easier way. try mr. clean magic eraser. just wet, squeeze and erase tough messes like bathtub soap scum... and caked-on grease from oven doors. now mr. clean magic eraser comes in disposable sheets. they're perfect for icky messes on stovetops...

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right after this show i'm leaving philly for south dakota, specifically the pine ridge reservation to talk about covid's impact on small businesses and another policy crucial to indigenous americans is climate change. pine ridge is close to the pipeline under construction to the south dakota access pipeline, it was at the center of huge protests that you probably remember making news back in 2016 and '17. these are pipelines that come from canada and that pipeline is on the standing rock reservation which is also nearby. the dakota act says the pipeline crossed under native land and adjacent rivers and thought to be a threat to the water supply but native tribes didn't stop there, they took on the government again as recently as this month filing a new lawsuit against trump's department of the interior after it cleared a

path for the keystone xl pipeline to cross ancestral lands without native permission as usual. the scrutiny is greater than ever now for a big reason, it was originally vetoed by president obama at the behest of john kerry then the secretary of state. pipelines that cross from another country to america have to be approved by the state department. this week, kerry tapped joe biden -- kerry was tapped by joe biden to become the incoming administration's climate chief, understanding that the project could now be dead on arrival come inauguration day. canada's envoy to the u.s. released a statement saying the project is "not the same project john kerry vetoed in 2015." kerry is the first of many appointments the president-elect biden will make to create his climate aid team, goal for the nation to become carbon emissions neutral by 2050. the administration will invest $2 trillion in various environmental projects to help achieve that goal. biden problems to reemerge as a

world leader on climate, which includes rejoining the paris climate agreement. on tuesday, kerry explained the only way to win the climate change fight is if every nation works in concert. >> no country alone can solve this challenge, even the united states, for all of our industrial strength, is responsible for only 13% of global emissions. to end this crisis, the whole world must come together. you're right to rejoin paris on day one and you're right to recognize that paris alone is not enough. at the global meeting in glasgow, one year from now, all nations must raise ambition together or we will all fail together. >> biden's commitment to

combating climate change goes beyond appointing john kerry as a special presidential enjoy. npr reporting the president-elect plans to appoint another climate chief to handle the policy agenda domestically. he wants the climate to be a focal point and take an all of government approach in confronting this existential threat. more on the fight against climate change and pipeline politics tomorrow morning from 8:00 to 10:00 a.m. eastern when i'm live from south dakota. we'll have more after this break. of of ♪ spread a little something to remember ♪ philadelphia cream cheese. made with fresh milk and real cream makes your recipes their holiday favourites. the holidays are made with philly. i'm frlocker room manager best din the league.nttes. i'm here to help you protect your clothes from getting damaged in the wash. that's why i use new downy defy. that's what's up! we have an assistant locker room manager? help protect your clothes with new downy defy damage. special guest flo challenges the hand models

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. as americans mark another holiday hundreds of coronavirus cases, 44 states, washington d.c. and puerto rico are seeing cases on the rise over the last 14 days. thanksgiving day the u.s. saw over 100,000 cases of the virus, even though 20 states didn't report numbers that day and as of today, more than 13.1 million

americans have been confirmed with coronavirus, 265,648 have died so far in this pandemic. the u.s. is logging nearly 1 million new cases per week and even those numbers don't tell the whole story. the cdc has released new guidance regarding its calculation of confirmed covid cases admitting that for each single case detected at least eight are probably going without detection and as we start what will be another busy travel weekend the transportation security administration released staggering daily numbers of americans who travel by air this week. security skreenlgz hitting an all-time high since march as 1 million americans traveled through airports around the country on wednesday alone, this even after the cdc guidance was to not travel this year for the thanksgiving holiday. the tsa says tomorrow we'll see higher numbers because it's usually the second busiest travel day of the year. the virus is unrelenting and continues to make its way through all corners of this

country, rural areas continue to be some of the hardest hit and icu beds are nearing are at capacity. in northeast tennessee and southwest virginia capacity is 90% and seeing 15% of all deaths in just the last week and that's where we find dash a burns in johnson city, tennessee. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, those numbers you mentioned that tran translates nurses are making calls to funeral homes just about every single day, sometimes multiple time a day. it's the largest hospital in this part of appalachia, and they have seen hospitalizations more than double in just the last month and at this point there are more patients coming into these hospitals every day than there are coming out. and yes t is a concern for resources like beds, but it's also a concern for human

resources. this is taking a major toll on nurses and on medical staff here and to talk more about that, i want to turn to one of the heroic front line workers, chandra campbell with me. i want to give you the floor here. what are you facing? >> the acuity sin creasing. there's a single system organ failure and develops into multisystem organ failure. when we can no longer oxygenate them there's a sense of helplessness from the staff, we're exhausting all efforts doing everything we can and just still cannot save everyone. >> reporter: how has the situation changed compared to last month? >> the number of patients greatly increased and number of ventilators in use increased.

yesterday in my shift i had three covid patients pass away. >> reporter: you saw three patients pass away yesterday, chandra, thank you so much for all that you do and thank you for talking about this with us. i know it's not easy to talk about, and ali, this is the reality that these front line workers are facing every single day, and at this point, they themselves are getting sick across the health facilities, 250 staff members are currently isolating there, sick with covid and so they need all the help they can get, they're looking to recruit nurses out of retirement and back to the bedside to deal with this surge. it is very serious at this point. ali? >> dasha, thank you for bringing us that story, dasha. the first charter flight of

pfizer's new covid-19 vaccine flew an friday positioning the drug for quick distribution when and if it's approved by the fda. that decision could be made by the agency as soon as december the 10th. i want to bring in dr. francis collins, director of the national institutes of health. having a vaccine is terrific and not the same as distributing a vaccine. we have the pfizer vaccine. before we talk about distribution i want to talk about a different issue, polling that indicates a number of americans worried about a vaccine. i said before i take a vaccine i'll check with you. 42% of americans would not agree to be vaccinated for covid. what do you make of that number and how do we get it lower? >> well, i think that reflects that this has been aytu mult use

time as the vaccine is being prepared and people are concerned whether it's being prepared in a way that's politically driven as opposed to scientifically, that maybe corners are being cut. i want to reassure anybody who is listening that this is being done in a fashion that is absolutely focused on safety and efficacy plus nothing else. politics have nothing to do with this. we have done this at exceptional speed figuring out ways to deal with some of the down time that normally takes eight years to get a vaccine and here we are on the brink of having two of them probably in less than a year but that has not sacrificed in any way the rigor of assessing these and large field trials involving 30,000 or more people assessed sk scientifically with no political interference. i hope when people see the evidence for the safety and efficacy and that's going to be very publicly declared in the coming weeks, when the fda has their open meetings about this,

they will be reassured that this is something that can be trusted and will be safe for them and their families and can save potentially hundreds of thousands of lives. >> i want people to understand, coming from you, the reason i said i'm going to ask you, is you come from a long line of medical work and scientific work. you are the head of the human genome project so you know of what you speak. i believe you on that. let's put the politics out of it for a moment. i think you're right, that was a big part of it. there's another part of it that troubles me as well, and that is the news on the pfizer medication, vaccine the news on the moderna vaccine and the news of the astrazeneca vaccine. most of it has come from the companies, not peer reviewed articles, not regulatory bodies and we did find out there was a mistake with the astrazeneca data that was presented. these companies declare whatever they declare, the stock goes up.

om of the executives sell the stock and that contributes to the idea am i getting my information about the efficacy and safety of these vaccines the way i should be getting them? in a normal world we wouldn't be getting it through press release either. >> and again, this is not a normal world, is it, and everybody's anxious to find out the information, but i want to again reassure people when the company says we see 95% efficacy, they say that based upon the work of a group of independent scien tipss and w st upon the work of a group of independent scien tipss and cie dsmv, the data and safety monitoring board, they look at the unblinded data to see whether the vaccine works. they see it before the company does and then if they see something that looks like a good result, they tell the company, look what we've got here and the company gets as you might imagine excited and says they want to make a press release about it but the actual observation does not come initially from them but from this group of independent scientists who we know really

well and trust completely. i know it maybe makes people a little uneasy and the data needs to be. published in a peer review journal. nobody wants to wait a few weeks to find out what happened. part of that is the pressure to get the answer. >> dr. collins, i always appreciate it. you're always reassuring to me. dr. francis collins is the director of the national institutes of health. we appreciate your time this morning, as always. >> i've give you one more suggestion. >> as the coronavirus rages on -- sure, why not? i'll take all your suggestions. >> sure, we still need people to participate in clinical trials for vaccines. there are four more of them in the works and for trials for people who are infected, a new website which is going to get put forward on monday but i'll tell you about it now, combatcovid.hhs.gov. it's one-stop shopping for people who are interested in taking part in trials and helping us get the answers. >> combatcovid.hhs.gov.

i will tweet this out and i'll put your handle in the twitter and we'll send this out to people if they want to be involved in covid trials. that was a really good thing to remind me of. thank you for that, dr. collins, director of the national institutes of health. i will tweet out that website. as the coronavirus pandemic rages on, small business owners and their employees are bracing for an unpredictable few months ahead. there will be a vaccine, but it might be a while before you get it. if you're a small business owner or a worker facing tough decisions, as covid cases surge, send me your questions at mystory@velshi.com. our experts may answer them on the air this weekend and every weekend between now and the end of the year. lx the assassination of iran's chief nuclear scientist brings america one step closer to a major conflict. andy kim, an expert on foreign policy joins me to discuss how america can avoid war in the 53 days before a new president is sworn in.

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today i'm pleased to announce nominations and staff for critical foreign policy, national security positions in my administration. this team will put our country and our people safe and secure and it's a team that reflects that america is back, ready to lead the world, not retreat from it, once again, sit at the head of the table. >> president-elect joe biden unveiling new cabinet nominees this week, among them many familiar cases from his days in the obama administration including key picks for his national security team which might prove reassuring after a tense last four years and what looks to be a tense 53 days left of the trump presidency, as a top iranian nuclear scientist was killed on friday in an apparent assassination. iran has pledged revenge, meaning that biden's new cabinet level national security picks

are already facing a potential conflict in the region before they even take office. joining me to discuss these latest cabinet selections and the challenges ahead on the world stage, democratic respective andy kim of new jersey, a member of the house subcommittee on readiness and the subcommittee on intelligence, emerging threats and capabilities. congressman kim, good to see you again. thank you for joining us. >> good morning, thanks for having me. >> congressman, let's talk about this. there are a bunch of things that could worry americans, the more distant is that we need to reestablish america's presence on the world stage as a leader, as an honest broker or even just a broker, between warring factions or adversaries. we have cry in a, we have russia, china and taiwan doing things, we have north korea and most immediately we have iran, that says it's looking for revenge for the killing of the top nuclear scientist. nobody's taken credit for his killing. typically if it were america,

america does take credit for these things. iran seems to be suggesting it's israel. israel has not taken credit for this, but the bottom line is, that is a tinder box waiting to happen and we don't have a new administration in office yet. >> you're actually right. this is such a dangerous place and presidential transitions are already times of such concern given that other countries, other actors can try to test us, try to take advantage of the situation. it's so important that we do everything we can to try to make sure that we are not escalating situations that could provoke that kind of retaliation, that kind of conflict that we know we cannot stand right now, so these are the types of steps that we need to make sure we report on. president-elect biden is doing everything that he can to reassure the world that american global leadership is coming back and that we're going to have a steady hand at the wheel, and now we need to make sure that we are holding that down for 53

more days. >> you were a diplomat, you worked in the white house under president obama, you've worked on issues in asia and the middle east. are you worried? i'm a little bit worried that donald trump may be pursuing something that looks a bit like a scorched earth policy and pulling out the troops from afghanistan, on january 15th, five days before the new administration is sworn in. i don't know what role america has had in iran but the last event in iran but donald trump has been highly inflammatory toward iran and there are reports he was considering a strike on iran again before the inauguration. >> the president has not shown any indications he's at all interested in a successful transition here. we have seen him on the national security side making decisions

just in his own interests, and this is something that we are continuing to see at this stage, so what we need to make sure and i hope that his allies and his supporters are pushing him to do so, is to show that we need to make sure that we have that kind of successful transition as possible. the biden team is ready. i've worked with many of them in the situation room before, tony blinken, jake sullivan, avril haynes, this is a group of top officials i have the faith in to be able to guide us through these tough times. they need to be given opportunity to do so and that is what i hope to see happen. >> what do you think about the names in contention for defense secretary? michelle flournoy, general lloyd austin and others, what's your take? >> i think those are all a great all names, these are people that have been tested, these are people that know how to make a decision, these are people that understand what is at stake and that is what i see across the

board with what the biden team has put together is this is a team that understands what is at stake and what has to happen for the american people entrusting us to do, save lives. whether it's responding to the covid crisis or all the other crises around the world, here in new jersey, one out of every 582 people in new jersey has died of the coronavirus. over one out of every 1,250 americans in this country has died of the coronavirus crisis. this is a national security crisis, and the biden team is positioned to be able to come in and understand that and recognize that and respond with the urgency that's needed. >> congressman, good to see you. thank you for joining us, democratic congressman andy kim from new jersey's third district. have yourself a great weekend. >> thank you. coming up in the next hour on "velshi" deeper into the

escalating tension in iran and have a live report from tehran from msnbc's tehran bureau chief ali arouzi and what it means to have this tension in the last 50 days of trump's presidency. biden's national security picks may have been big reveals of the week, but all eyes are on the former fed chair, janet yellen, to take the rein tz at the expected treasury secretary nominee. still to come what yellen could achieve as the possibly first woman to hold the could havetted job and bridge the gap between moderates and progressives. sele, sele, and let the grill monitor your food. it also turns into an air fryer. bring outdoor grilling flavors indoors with the grill that grills for you.

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dr. janet yellen is the front-runner. i think she has got the most capability of bridging the gap between the more progressive reform-minded democrats, the more centrist democrats, got a proven track record, most recently chair of the federal reserve, she had a successful tenure, she has international prominence, good for the secretary of the treasury so i u would put her as the strongest leading candidate. >> that was last sunday on this very program, former fdic chair sheila bair, trying to speak the former secretary into existence and succeeded. yellen is expected to be nominated for the position and the former federal reserve chair is supremely qualified, if yellen is nominated and confirmed by the senate not only the first woman to serve as head

of the department but she would become the first person ever to hold the three most important economic positions in the country. despite her stellar resume yellen has if she is nominated and appointed as treasury secretary would have her work cut out for her, coming into a position during a recession caused by the pandemic, she could face one of the most partisan iterations of the united states congress in recent history. she labair is back with me once again. i don't want to curse any nomination if janet yellen is getting it but seems conventi conventional wisdom she's getting the job. sheila was the chair of the fdic under presidents george w. bush and barack obama. good to see you again. let's talk detail. we're honing in on who this might be, let's have detail on this. you had said last week that someone like janet yellen will be able to moderate between the more centrist parts of the democratic party and the more progressive parts of the democratic party. joe biden had said his pick would be somebody accessible to

work, who would get the approval of all parts of the party. what does that involve for sheila bair? when she was fed chair, she could keep interest rates low or raise interest rates. what does it mean for treasury secretary to moderate that? secretary to moderate that? >> well, i think first off i think her top priority is going to the pandemic. we still don't have another pandemic relief bill. and hopefully the party will be unified along with a lot of swing vote republicans in terms of the need for more fiscal stimulus, more cash payments to households. on the issue of reform, she's probably going to have some challenges. we have the system of financial regulatory body, the fed, the sec, the cfdc, this whole alphabet soup of regulators.

her job as secretary of treasury, also chairs the oversight counsel. she will have to bring those parties together on scones us, especially in better oversight of the non-bank sector. that's going to be a challenge. she's got good diplomatic skills and knows a lot of people who will be appointed to her key post. i was an early supporter of her nomination to become chair of the fed and she got that one, too, so i'm quite proud of that. >> that's a big deal, though. not just being the first woman to lead treasury, but she has held all of the important economic positions in the country. not the first woman to do that,

the first person to do that. >> she's been an inspiration to young women and we need more women in financial services and regulation. i think she'll be a great pick. >> let's talk about economic security. to a lot of people, that's their wage,s that food security. to some people, including donald trump, it's the stock market. the s&p is up 15% this year. if the stock market is your gauge, the stock market's good. as i traveled around america -- because banks don't fail, haven't failed since the recession, people don't think of that as a problem. they do use the stock market as a proxy and polling indicated that lots of people who didn't even like donald trump that much thought he was really good on the economy. the fact is our economy is both really good and really bad at the same time and it feels like janet yellen is going to have to address that issue.

there are low-wage issues who are food insecure, who may be losing their homes because of coronavirus and don't have health care. but if you're invested in stocks and you have properties, life is good for you right now. >> that's right. we all have 401(k)s or a lot of us do so we're happy about that. the people in the service sector, low and middle income families are getting hit the hardest. and i do think jel i don't know and the treasury department advocating for relief on the hill, working with the fed, i do think working families will be her guide post. the stosht even the unemployment rate. it doesn't capture all the people who have just fallen out

of the workforce. there are a lot of skewed metrics we use to gauge the economy that are is reallying in to do in. in a consumer-drrch economy, we have to care about the financial well being of working cls families and, frankly, both how will janet yellen do in that environment in. >> i think she'll do well. she was confirmed, it was a good, solid confirmation. she proved herself as chair of the fed. i think swing votes, particularly republican swing votes are going to be looking for people exactly like janet yellen, who are going to be policy driven, data driven, will try to navigate that consensus

position, do the right thing. won't be friendly to wall street but also won't veer off and do something debt minutal to the economy. i think she has a lot of appeal to centrist republicans more broadly. also why i think she'll be a smart pick for president-elect biden. >> sheila bair, thank you for joining us. i am headed today after the show, i'm headed to south dakota, one of the states worst hit by pandemic. we're going to talk to workers who are semi-trying to stay afloat our business experts may answer your questions on air tomorrow. coming up, pulitzer prize

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now in theaters. rated pg. good morning. it's saturday, november the 28th. i'm ali velshi. coronavirus levels are reaching historic numbers across the country. hospitalizations have risen for over two straight weeks, hitting

peak levels on thanksgiving day. according to the covid tracking project, 90,481 people were hospitalized on thursday and the number of patients in the intensive care over the holiday hit an all-time high of 17,802. the latest spike taking a toll on thousands of health care workers battling on the front lines. those folks have to deal with real life people in real life-and-death circumstances. >> we never know if we're going to walk into a good day where you can see your patient finally leave, who has been there for two months or if you're going to sit there and hold the hands as they pass. and sometimes i can handle it and some days i can't. >> i really hope covid doesn't last for much longer, but we all know that it will. i am