votes. this as the coronavirus pandemic is worsens by the day. this morning the number of coronavirus cases nationwide surpassing 13 million. the u.s. adding 1 million new cases in each of the last two weeks. to go over some of the day's top stories a trio of correspondents joining us as well as a panel of experts. welcome. what is next for the trump team now that we have a court of appeals throwing out the request to overturn the election certification in pennsylvania? >> reporter: yeah. a great question, alex. good to be with you and to hear the trump team say it, they're going to the supreme court. we heard from the president's legal team, jenna ellis and rudy guiliani, personal lawyer, calls this decision from the appellate court an activist judiciary machinery trying to cover up allegations of a massive fraud.

so they vow they are going to fight on to the supreme court. it's worth noting the judges in this all nominated by republicans and the lead judge who wrote this pretty scathing opinion is a judge nominated by president trump in 2017. nonetheless, the attack on the judiciary system is being activists from the president's legal team and kayleigh mcenany spoke to this saying they're headed to the supreme court. take a listen. >> there is optimism. there will be a petition filed with the supreme court. it will be up to the supreme court whether to grant scirtior. and it's likely to succeed on the merits of the case in pennsylvania alleging the whole mail-in system was deem unconstitutional and going up to the supreme court. >> reporter: it's not clear that the supreme court would even

take the case the trump team is pushing. the case that kayleigh mcenany is alleging has been granted a temporary stay in terms of certification. as you know, alex, the certification in pennsylvania has already taken play, applying to anything that comes after that. the biden team, they're responding to this court decision by the appellate court saying that joe biden got 306 electoral votes. this election is over and on january 20th of next year he will be sworn in as the duly elected president of the united states. >> yep. okay. i think everyone's pretty much counting on that, except for a select few in the building there behind you. thank you very much. now to the latest from the biden transition to vote recounts in wisconsin. paid for, by the way, by the trump campaign. they're almost over and joe biden set to receive his first presidential daily intelligence briefing on monday. go to alli vitaly joining us from rehoboth beach with a

welcome to you. quite a holiday weekend on the outside but still a lot going on inside the biden camp. >> reporter: quite a holiday weekend here in rehoboth beach, rhode island. joe biden spent a smaller thanksgiving than usual here at his beach home, but you're right. monday is a pretty significant day for this transition, because after spending the first few weeks in limbo because of the lack of ascertainment from the general services administration, the letter sent and this transition barreling forward full steam. monday joe biden and his vice president kamala harris will receive their first briefing as republicans on the hill say those are things biden and harris were getting even though they couldn't bring themselves to call them president and vice president-elect at that point. really what this does is prepares them for any eventuality going forward. information they can act on right now and pretty much the foundational reason why you have a transition in the first place.

that everyone coming in to the government from the staffing level up to president and vice president will be read in on key things they're going to need to know day one. when important things come across their desk they're not just making decisions reading in with immediate information but have the full arc and background they're dealing with. crucial to begin this process. something on both sides of the aisle, republican and democrat agreed should, have been happening from the start. we're also expecting this week in the early part of the week to hear more cabinetics announced. these are going to be related to the economy. we're going to hear names likely like janet yellen, the former fed chair, who's going to be put up. we think, to be head of the treasury department. but then also we could see other picks. a lot of speculation in the ether now, conversation to head department of defense, for example. the big takeaway tracking this biden transition is, yes, setting the pace on policy. setting the pace on personnel

but setting expectation this is not going to be a white house that has a stream of news coming out of it, like the fire hose we've seen for the last four years. out of 1600 pennsylvania after flue. this is a return to normal, and they want to be seen as serious leaders in a time of crisis meaning not a lot of leaks. not a lot of tweeting the way we've seen it the last four years. a much more buttoned-up process here. >> and d.o. dnchd. parlay. thought we had it figured out, now a few more names in the mix. thank you for that. and vowing revenge after a top nuclear scientist was killed yesterday, vowing revenge by iran. blaming israel and the united states. go to nbc news tehran bureau chief alli arouzi following the latest developments for us. how is iran's supreme leader processing all of this?

>> reporter: hi, alex. well, as you well know, iran's supreme leader is supremely anti-american and anti-israeli. so he's none too pleased this morning given the events of yesterday. in a speech this morning he was calling for revenge for the killing of mohsen fakhrizadeh, the mastermind of iraq's nuclear defensive and capability. iran's first priority after the killing was the definitive punishment of the perpetrators and those who ordered it. he also went on to pour praise on saying fakhrizadeh was the country's most eminent nuclear scientist and instrumental in iran's missile and defense capabilities. underscoring what an important figure he was to the very, very top of the ruling establishment here in iran. but the calculations here are probably a little different.

the playing field is slightly different to when soleimani was killed last year. there is a new president coming in to the white house. so i think iran has to make some very tough decisions. the supreme lead hear to make some very tough decisions. do they strike back against america and's risk some sort of huge reprisal by the u.s. and israel? or do theyed by the bide their try to revive the nuclear deal? probably tough conversations are going on in the supreme leader's compound right now trying to decide what their next move is going to be with their old enemy. >> look, play that out for me in terms of how this could impact what the biden administration, the incoming biden administration harks clearly stated they want to rejoin the 2015 iran nucleary sgreemt? agreement? >> reporter: alex, like everything with iran and america, it's complicated, it's opaque.

iran wants to just go back to the nuclear deal. don't negotiate anything. go back to the framework of 2015. now, one of the complications here is that president-elect biden said he wants to extend and strengthen the deal. talk about iran's missile program. talk about their regional influence. tehran has said, that's a non-starter. they're not going to talk about any of these things. so that initially will complicate any return to the nuclear deal. then events like this, killing iran's top nuclear scientist, is going to make them wary about any sort of negotiations and iran may well want to add certain caveats of its own to secure their own interests, which may be non-starters for the p-5 plus 1, america and the five other members of the security council. so this is not going to be a straight return to the deal from where i'm standing. it's going to be complicated. it's going to be messy, and it's

going to take a lot of political will on both sides. but with all of that said, alex, it's something iran needs. they want sanctions removed, and in order to get sanctioned removed they need to get that nuclear deal started. so my guess is, you know, there's going to be some push. there's going to be some shove, but end of the day they have to come to some sort of agreement. >> ali arouzi, thank you. always good to have you on for those things that are complicated and opaque. appreciate that. joining me, director of progressive programming at sirius sm and host of the show "zelina" and a msnbc political analyst as well. i'm going to leave the situation in iran to a foreign policy expert we'll be having. as we just said, complicated there. get to politics here and start with you, chris. we have the president continuing to blame losing the election on

these false claims that the voting system was rigged. but then he tweets yesterday urging supporters not to boycott the two georgia runoff elections in january. what do you make of the mixed megging here? >> the mixed messaging is clearly a problem. why he's doing a 180 right now. broader challenges for the republicans in georgia right now. donald trump has shown he can get his base to turn out when his name is on the ballot, but what we've seen in the three off-year elections during this presidential election, they haven't shown up. when he does these mixed messages and delegitimizes the voting system, when he attacks the republican secretary of state in georgia as the enemy of the people when he attacks the republican governor who's one of his strongest allies, for not doing enough to help him i think all of that is problematic. that being said, on the democratic side, it's also important to recognize that democrats haven't done well historically in runoff elections, and it's one of the

reasons why you see both the warnock and ohoff campaign oss to in-person door knocking. an expensive base election, turn out a lot of mrn and a lot of surrogates. you need to put everything on the table. >> including donald trump. in terms of him, he said he's going to campaign in georgia next week. do you think his claims are fraud could eventually backfire and hurt this election, hurt republicans all overall? >> donald trump proved once again he's his own worst enemy. part of a huge problem in the general election is that he so undermined early voting that he clearly hurt himself. i don't know if it would have made a dmirifference in the election. probably not. he hurt his own supporters woen vote early by mail in fact show up on election day. that's a recipe for voter -- it's really a form of voter

suppression. not in the way we think of it, but it does suppress voters. now he's got a huge mixed message of the election was stolen from me, and that's the easiest place for his supporters to believe that, is in georgia. because up until now, since 1995, georgia has been a red state. now all of a sudden it's a blue state, because joe biden won it. but i would give the advance to the democrats here, because as was being said, his base will not show up for donald trump. tradition he they don't. the undermining of, if my vote doesn't count they're going to steal it anyway. why show up? and the fact you've had enormous turnout organized by stacey abrams in georgia and they're excited and motivated. we'll see. maybe a split decision. i give slight advantage to democrats in this one. >> so living to what chris suggested saying they're going

door-to-door can vision vassing like. what else do democrats need to do to win in georgia? >> make sure they're going to every single part of georgia, every single type of community. one of the things i saw in the 2020 election turnout results is has the democrats didn't just go to the urban areas. they also went to the rural areas and found black voters, found democratic voters. so it's really important to follows stacey abrams playbook, frankly, and go and find your voters where they are and turn them out. that is what the democrats seem to be gearing up for on both campaigns, that are, as you said, door knocking but not leaving anything on the table. high-profile surrogates are entering the state. continuing to be around soeshd ju social justice issues and understanding the two senate seats actually tip the favor of democrats in the senate and would facilitate potential

biden-harris administration get to the policy goals activists had been protesting about in the streets all summer long. so i think it's really important for democrats to focus on turnout but also understand that, you know, it's very difficult historically, to chris' point, to get folks to engage in a runoff election, except for the fact that it makes the difference in terms of who has majority in the senate facilitating biden to be able to do anything legislatively. make it clear for voters, they understand this is essentially game seven of i guess the nba finals. >> or the world series. depends on your favorite sport. moving north to pennsylvania, guys. a philadelphia appeals court ruled friday that the trump campaign could not stop nor reverse the certification of the results in that state. the trump appointed judge writing that scathing opinion praep manneding the president's legal team calling an election

unfair does not make it so and voters not lawyers choose the president. rick, adding it up, makes well over two dozen lawsuits from the trump campaign denied or dismissed outright. what more can they do at this point? curious, what's the end game, really? >> a good question, alex, because it's not what it appears. i don't think donald trump is under any illusion he can reverse these elections. his motivations are threefold. one, grievance and vengeance. he felt during it his administration democrats never gave him a chance through the whole mueller investigation made him the illegitimate president and intends to do the same for biden and two, an he can't in his mind process he actually lost. well, while republicans were winning, he lost. a clear message to him. he's got to justify it by saying they lost and, three, wants to hold together the republican

party and his base that voted for him because he intends to control the republican party and allvendor tentacles in the future. because there's a lot of money and hoe wants to control that and that's going to be a huge problem because the presidential hopefuls for 2024 will be as frozen as a covid vaccine until donald trump makes up his mind whether real run or not. >> you bring up 2024. i'm going there, too. new reporting from the "daily beast" saying trump is indeed already gaming a 2024 run including potentially an event he wants to hold during biden's inauguration, two knowledgeable sources said the president has in the past two weeks floated the idea of a 2024-related event during joe biden's inauguration, possibly on inauguration day. thoughts on that, chris? >> alex, reminds me of a tv sitcom that run its course and

you try to throw a very special episode in here or there. a wedding or something, just to sort of get people interested in this, and the truth of matter is, this is really about donald trump trying to stay relevant in the process. look, four years as an attorney in politics, we have all just experienced over the last four years, the party, both parties will change we'll have a new president whose policies will dictate the political landscape in 2024. a new crop of candidates with a post-trump message. in my mind it's more about donald trump trying to have a voice in the political process, but as importantly to help his overall brand as rick said. he's never going to concede that he lost, but this is his way to stay relevant to continue to monetize off his name which is functionally what he did before he became president. >> uh-huh. okay. actually, guys, i thought i would wrap this up because i think we have a shot of kamala

harris. she is honoring small business saturday. that's what we have. not exactly the shot i was told we have. you know, a slide. what can i tell you? kamala harris is supporting small business saturday walking in a shopping area in washington, d.c. with her husband doug. that's good. a lot of small businesses, as you know, suffered tremendously. is zelina, last word on the prospect of donald trump in 2024. really the point just trying to grab the spotlight on inauguration day potentially and would it mean he will not attend the inauguration? i recall michael cohen saying, i don't think he's going to the inauguration. he'll be in mar-a-lago. i was like, what? such an upturning of tradition. what do you think about that day? >> the entire four years of donald trump's presidency have been the upturning of tradition.

so, no. i don't think he's going to attend the inauguration and in terms of 2024, alex, i think he has some more short-term concerns. other than 2024. those are all the legal cases that are outstanding that the moment he becomes not the president any longer he has to be concerned about that before any future presidential run. we all can dream. i wanted to married to idris elba but i don't think it's going to happen, alex. i think donald trump has more things that he should be concerned about, other than a 2024 presidential run. the american people just soundly rejected his first term as president in the first place. >> just going to say to that last point, stand in line. i tell ya. anyway, zelina maxwell, chris lieu, rick tyler go to see all three of you. up next, what happens when cove ipd testing goes on a holiday break and with one in five small business owner saying they may close if the economy doesn't help.

their very survival may be at stake today. ake today. hey, me towel su towel. there's more gain scent plus oxi boost and febreze odor remover in every fling. gain. seriously good scent who knows where that button is? i don't have silent. everyone does -- right up here. it happens to all of us. we buy a new home, and we turn into our parents. what i do is help new homeowners overcome this. what is that, an adjustable spanner? good choice, steve. okay, don't forget you're not assisting him. you hired him. if you have nowhere to sit, you have too many. who else reads books about submarines? my dad. yeah. oh, those are -- progressive can't protect you from becoming your parents, but we can protect your home and auto when you bundle with us. look at that.

now to the latest facts on the coronavirus pandemic there are now more than 13 million cases here in the u.s. just this month alone the country adding more than 3 million cases in just four weeks. los angeles county is ounder a new three-week stay-at-home ord are starting monday. residents banned from gathering with anyone outside their households public or private. indeer retail and essential businesses operate at limited capacity though most school rees main open. in france today, small shops and churches can reopen at the country begins to loosen restrictions there. officials will keep lifting that lockdown as long as the new case totals remain low, though restaurants, cafes and bars are still closed all the way until january 20th. back here in the u.s., today is small bit start, which for many business owners this year will be make or break since the pandemic began more than 100,000 small businesses across this country have closed permanently.

those still open are hoping the holiday season will give them a much-needed boost. lindsey reiser is there in new york city talking with local business owners. welcome, my friend. how crucial is this holiday season? >> reporter: alex good to see you. hope you had a good thanksgiving. it's crucial. hearing from local businesses they need this holiday season to be better than average just in order to make it to the next year. kidding around in chelsea, a mom and pop toy stay says today's sales are good, but covid good. she needs hem them to be better. not what they should be. local businesses depend on this all happening under the backdrop of covid-19. hitting a second wave here in new york city. mayor bill de blasio seeing r08ing average of cases, 3.33%. 1,500 new cases reported yesterday and small businesses

are really feeling that hurt. right now we know as you mentioned more than 100,000 have closed with many more on the way. 64% of businesses according to amx, started small business saturday. 64% of small businesses say this year it's more important than ever, and we also know sales for small businesses nationwide have plunged about 32% according to an economic tracker from h harvard. kidding around has four months of sales to make up. here's what the owner told me. >> we're a community-based business. we pay our local schools, our taxes go to our local school itschools, local police force, everything. we're also, we also are a source when i've had kids who shopped here, come back and work for me. i have -- it's a, we're part of the community. we are very much a part of the community and we're proud to be so.

>> reporter: so the city things. and not qualifying here because not in a low to middle income code here in chelsea. also the city is letting them have displays, show merchandise on the sidewalks enticing people to come in. the owner told me they used the quarantine time to beef up online sales and website. social media presence. hopefully people will choose some of these small mom and pop places instead of the big box stores so some of the money stays local. >> hope today brings in what the small businesses need. it's an uphill battle for them. and wisconsin reports a drop in covid cases, but the state remains sixth in the nation in per capita for infections. go to msnbc's corey coffin from milwaukee. good morning to you.

you spoke with a patient battling coronavirus. that must have been tough. what did they tell you? >> reporter: yeah, alex, good afternoon to you, too. such an emotional interview. his name is tom bevens, 62 years old and staying here at the hospital in milwaukee, and this is one of more than 100 patients they have at this facility. now, tom told me that he had a double lung transplant last year. was recovering from that obviously trying to be very careful, despite that was diagnosed with covid in late october and has been in the hospital trying to recover from that and other applications. i asked how that compared, what he's fighting through now, compared to what he did last year. he told me, it was more emotional for the double lung transplant last year. such a massive operation, but wouldn't wish this on anyone and what he's fighting through now with covid-19. not even on his worst enemy. something else that makes it even tougher is that as he's going through this in the hospital on thanksgiving, no

less, his wife also just lost her mother. their mother-in-law unfortunately just passed away from covid-19 as well. he's urging people, he says, if this is never affected you, even if you're not worried about catching it, think about people like me, your family and loved ones who could catch it, and he also has other things that made this whole thing more complicated and they're worried about the long term and why he remains in the hospital. recently they found blood clots not only in his leg but in his lung, something to watch carefully after that massive operation. we have that interview coming up. preparing to have it turned around and get it on-air in the next couple of hours and looking forward to bringing that to you soon, alex. >> no worries. sounds like pretty powerful. wait for that, corey coffin, thank you for the preview nonetheless. going to the electoral college. president trump's last resort to overturn the election. turn the. turn the. get a freshly made footlong, from subway®!

you can even order on the subway® app! did i just get picked off by deion sanders? you sure did! now in the app, get a free footlong when you buy two. because it's footlong season™!

another day another setback for the trump campaign. a federal court appeals blocked joe biden from being declared winner in pennsylvania's 2020 electoral votes but president trump invited republican state legislators to the white house last wednesday, although no one is disclosing exactly what was discussed. joining me, a democrat from pennsylvania, a member of the judiciary and financial services committees and always good to welcome you and see you. thank you. congressman, are you concerned about the wooing of pennsylvania electoral voters? how likely is it the state voters would go against the electorate? >> i'm a former state representative from pennsylvania and saw it as one more desperate attempt by president trump to overturn the electoral results. i loved what judge stephanie

bibous said in her decision in the third circuit court of appeals saying voters not lawyers decide a president. ballots not briefs decide a president. she had it exactly right and president trump will fail in overturning any of these electoral challenges. >> move be to covid. talking about the case numbers passing the 13 million mark across this country. treasury secretary mnuchin says he's taking back $455 billion in emergency care acts funding's millions lost unemployment benefits and small businesses going under even on this small bit saturday. the virus is tightening ribses in many states just like yours. are your colleagues outraged and is there anything they can do? >> certainly congress has an important role to play. i'm outraged. i'm frustrated. the been since may that we've sent additional relief to folks. and look where we are with the numbers. we have more than 260,000 people

dead in this country. we have 13 million cases and the numbers are on the rise. especially in my district and in my own state. we have more than 10,000 pennsylvanians dead of coronavirus. so for government to act in some austerity way for the secretary to pull back money, resources that really ought to be going to those who are suffering, those who are hungry, those who can't pay their bills, those who are worried about their own health or family members' health, i think it is so short-sighted and a mistake. you saw this week that more than 125 economists pleaded with us and with government to do its duty to send more relief to folks. that we should send direct cash payments, like payments for the people, a bill i've introduced, because stimulus is an effective and equitable to revive families, economies and every american. >> so if we look at this

practically speaking, there are millions more that are going to lose benefits the day after christmas. unless congress acts now. is thery hoe hope for a new rel package, get into the budget bill to keep the government open? >> i certainly hope so, alex. i'm talking to my leadership and members of my caucus to say in the next two weeks while we are down, might be three weeks, which ugly, two weeks of session, maybe a third, while we pass budget bills we have to, we have to send money to people who are suffering right now. i think about my district. people are contacting me regularly telling me about their health woes, their economic pain, their unemployment. their inability to stay within their housing. we have people on the edge in my district and i would say in every district across this country. it didn't have to be this way. and i am very optimistic and hopeful for the future. maybe you saw president-elect

biden's address for thanksgiving. he said, we will find our purpose through this pain. we will tackle this virus. we will have the hope and the prospect of vaccines, but in the meantime, we have to be in it together and one way to be in it together is to send more resources to people. we have two bills -- of course, i'm sorry, go ahead. >> no, no. i want to get specific on what's happening with small business owner in your state. they're angry with the legislature because they're using federal emergency covid funds to balance the state budget. yes, balancing the budget is always important, but what do you think how this particular money was spend? is that what you intended when you voted for it? >> no. sadly the pennsylvania legislature repurposed money that was intended for covid for familiesance for small businesses, to fill a budget hole. and that's really a desperate measure that i think is short-sighted. an austerity claim the

legislature, majority in legislature, is making, is absolutely short-sighted in the time of a pandemic. what government needs to do is to step up and send stimulus. send economic relief. send dollars to local governments so that our schools will be able to reopen safely. so that our businesses can reopen safely. but to grab that money and put it into a budget hole instead of facing the fact we need more revenues. i say that purposefully to our federal government. the federal government owes states more revenues so that they went repurpose covid money like that. we all have a role to play. and we have to know that we're in this together. sadly, we had this, these numbers go out of control. it didn't have to be that way. what i hope people will do is to take time of thanksgiving to count their blessings but also recognize the suffering of others, and demand of us, demand

of government, that we perform this generational duty to protect folks during the pandemic and an economic collapse. >> well said, not surprisingly, congresswoman, have a great holiday weekend. good to see you. >> thanks. what is all the talk about president trump pardoning himself? is it even possible? exploring the pockets and prosecuting the soon to be ex-president, next. resident, n

president trump could issue a criminal justice overhaul before he leaves office by commuting the sentences of his former allies. according to the "new york times" now that the president pardoned former national security adviser mike's flynn, two former trump campaign advisers rick gates and george papadopoulos hoping for a similar deal. joining me, msnbc legal analyst and former federal prosecutor general glen kirchner. good to see you, my friend. first question.

can his pardoned be challenged in court? >> there are what i call the presidential pardon purists who say just because the constitutional says the president shall have the power to grant reprieves and pardons, somehow they become magically unchallengeable in court, i couldn't disagree more. because you can think about all sorts of pardons that could be issued by the president that would be an abuse of his authority as president. for example, if the president decided to announce he was pardoning all white defendants, that would violate the equal protection clause, it would be unconstitutional, and it would absolutely have to be challenged in court. the same could be said if the president set up a pardon kiosk at the front door of the white house and charged people $1 million per pardon, please make out the check to donald j. trump that would be unlawful, abuse of discretion and would have to be

challenged in court and finally no less than bill barr, testified before congress, that it would be "a crime" for a president to swap a pardon for the silence of the person pardoned. there are plenty offy was and reasons to challenge presidential pardons in court. >> okay. what about donald trump who, as you know, is also facing himself a handful of legal challenges. could he legally pardon himself? >> could he pardon himself? yes, because all it takes is president trump directing somebody to type up, not that we still have typewriters, type up a pardon saying i, donald trump, hereby pardon president donald trump. he can try it. i maintain it would be challengeable in court, and perhaps the best argument in favor of that is in 1974. the department of justice office of legal counsel issued a legal

opinion that a president cannot pardon himself. it would be unlawful. it would be unconstitutional. so there you have an opinion from the department of justice announcing a belief that it is unlawful, and unconstitutional. so that should also be challenged in court. >> okay. next question. regarding the split among democratic members of congress with the divide between literally following the law versus politics playing. right? some say the department of justice should not investigate the president after he leaves office, and others say, no one should be above the law. where do you stand on that? >> yeah. just as no pardon is above the law, no president, no person is above the law. so there are people who say that you can't prosecute a sitting criminal president. you have to wait until he leaves office, and now those same people are saying, you shouldn't prosecute the president once he leaves office. i can tell you, alex in my 30 years as a prosecutor i doubt

with countless victims and in murder cases families of victims never once told the victims the way to heal, achieve accountability or justice is by declining to prosecute your perpetrator, your attacker, the person who committed crimes. the only way to achieve justice or work towards that goal is by holding accountable the people who commit crimes. that includes the president, who i contend has committed many crimes against the people of the united states. >> okay. in this potpourri of legal issues go to the supreme court. you know it recently ruled against new york's covid restrictions on houses of worship in that 5-4 split. the judges using majority to lock in that decision. the remaining four justices descented with justice sotomayor says -- the court apparently

divided, a contagious virus affecting millions each week spreads most easily. what do you take away about the dynamic of the nation's highest court now, glenn? >> first of all, it's never an easy task to balance first amendment rights whether freedom of religion, free speech, freedom to assemble, against public safety issues, because the government also has to protect and promote the safety of the public's so first of all, that's a difficult balance to strike, but here's what i take away from the 5-4 you know cage-match struggle over the majority opinions coming out of the supreme court. when you replaced ruth bader ginsburg with amy coney barrett, you went from 5-4 decisions being decided one way to 5-4 decisions being decided the other way. here is the point that proves to me, alex, we should not be in a place where the beliefs, the judicial beliefs or personal beliefs of one justice will

govern supreme court precedent for the entire country. i think all of that militants in favor of expanding the favor of justices on the supreme court. so there is a true diversity of legal opinion, and we're not always in this 5-4 struggle over how the entire country should be governed. >> well, tell you, explaining the supreme court, topic of a lot of discussion these days, expanding the supreme court. your premiere show "capital crimes" at 10:00 p.m. on msnbc. you cover an interesting case. don't give it away but a sneak peek? >> i won't give it all away. this is a case i investigated, indicted and tried as a federal prosecutor involving a very accomplished career con man by the name of allbreck moot accused of killing his wife in their posh georgetown home. this investigation took me from

his relationship to a supreme court justice to presenting at the united states, which he did and took me to a pre-tile interview with general david petraeus when general moot subpoenaed him to testify at trial. a case like no other and i hope people will tune in and watch. >> ooh! i'm going to. that sounds really good. you did a great job promoting it. good job. glenn ker kerishner, koch t tonight here on msnbc. amid the ravages of the pandemic the trump administration is thinking about the death penalty allowing return of firiing squad executions. why? we'll take a look at that. ♪ [ engines revving ] ♪

it's amazing to see them in the wild like th-- shhh. [ engine revs ] for those who were born to ride, there's progressive.

a u.s. court of appeals struck down president trump's latest attempt to overturn pennsylvania's election certification. all three judges agrid the

president's claims have no merit one saying charges of unfairness are serious but calling an election unfair does not make it so. charges require specific allegations and then proof. we have neither here. joining me, senior politics reporter for "dbusiness insider and a representative from politico. does this mean donald trump exhausted all resources in the state of pennsylvania? >> yes. effectively, yes. the presidential election results have been certified, there is a separate case over that, but this is really a last-ditch effort mostly argued by rudy guiliani to block the certification and throw it to the state legislature mainly over claims that included things about different standards for appearing or giving voters opportunities to fix issues with their ballots and stuff over vote counting and republican poll watchers being allowed in cases they're not. it's not a case about fraud and now the appeals court

categorically rejected all claims and the trump's campaign to overturn the result. this is the end of road for them. >> look at the fiery exchange with reporters when the president confirmed for the first time he would leave the white house if joe biden was certified winner. listen to this. >> just to be clear, if the electoral college votes for joe biden will be concede? >> if they do that they make a mistake because this election was a frayed. >> but the --. just so you understand this election was a fraud. >> if the electoral college does elect vice president joe biden will you not going to leave the building? >> certainly i will, and you knee, but i think there will be a lot of things happening between now and the 20th. >> between you people -- don't talk to me that way. let me just you're just a lightweight. don't ta to meek -- i'm the president of the united states, don't ever talk to the president that way. >> hmm. okay. well, the president says you know that i will be leaving,

right, then backtracked on twitter. what he said, biden can only remain in the white house as president if he can prove his 80 million votes were not fraudulently or illegally obtained. can you make sense of this, please, natasha? >> ultimately, it's not going to be up to the president whether or not joe biden is a lewalloweo the white house. we expect joe biden will be certified winner and inaugurated january 20th. once that happens, donald trump will essentially be irrelevant? right? a trespasser in the white house if he decides to stay and not concede to joe biden. it just won't really matter what his attitude is towards the legitimacy of the election. what will matter is that the votes were certified and that joe biden was, in fact, elected. so he has to say this, because

he has to try to save face with his base, who is relying on him, relying on him at this point to put up a fight. that, of course harks to do with his positions for 2024. what he's been telling allies he is preparing to do. run for election again. so he has to maintain this base. he has to maintain the mirage that this election was illegitimate and that if he tries again in four years then real be able to win. >> people i've spoken with know him well questioning whether or not he would truly do that. one thing the president may be focused on, grace, we know he'll campaign in georgia next month for senators kelly loeffler and david perdue for a runoff january 5th. if he truly that believes the election is rigged, he's been saying all since november 3rd, why bother? >> yeah. the really interesting conundrum he's in. you can't say, oh, this election was completely fraudulent and i can still win and we need lefler

and perdue to win in georgia. down campaigning in the state, according to reports i saw, an event, a lot of people questioning. if this election was a scam, isn't it already decided? isn't the fix in from the start? muddying lawyers like linwood and sidney powell files lawsuits, with no evidence making baseless claims of fraud. a real conundrum for republicans. >> with regard to the first presidential briefing monday, what will be most pressing there. >> definitely lly coronavirus. the biggest danger has been the inability of joe biden and his team to have full visibility in vaccine distribution efforts and into everything the government has been doing to try to respond to the pandemic.

that's the number one item on the agenda next week. other things obviously have to do with, i guess, national security threats facing the country now, which joe biden has a lot of experience with due to his eight years at the vice president. he understands a lot of these issues, but, of course, these are constantly evolving threats. that will are vb important to be briefed on to be ready on day one of the presidency. his national security advisers jake sullivan told me last week had the transition been delayed longer it might have had real serious plarcimplications hittie ground day one. because it only lasted these 20 days they believe they'll be prepared to take over and be effective january 20th. >> grace, can't let you go without asking about the recent article you wrote for "business insider," the trump is trying to reinstate use of firing squads and electrocutions in federal -- what is behind this?

>> uncovered by republicans. found the doj entered a proposed rule change in the federal register that would allow for some federal executions to be carried out via firing squad, electrocution or poisonous gas in the state specifically allowing for those measures. now we have 28 states with the death penalty in addition to the federal government and some of those allow for other methods besides lethal injection. obviously posing problems in excuses over the years. this isn't categorically replacing all federal executions with a firing squad or electrocution, just providing for more options, but we expected this probably won't go into effect in any meaningful way geeven the remainder of the executions scheduled before trump leaves office will be done with lethal injection and biden will probably not pursue use of the death penalty in executions at the federal level when he comes into office. >> nonetheless, there are five more federal executions scheduled during this lame duck period by the president. thank you so much. with countless small businesses on the critical list,

today could possibly make or break many of them and you can help them survive. we'll tell you how, next. , nex but not every tomato ends in the same kind of heinz ketchup. because you can't be everyone's favorite ketchup without making a ketchup for everyone. 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.

♪ bfinding the right words can be tough.n it comes to autism, finding understanding doesn't have to be. together, we can create a kinder, more inclusive world for the millions of people on the autism spectrum. go to autismspeaks.org