good day, i'm andrea mitchell in washington, where

president trump is considering preemptive pardons for his adult children and jared kushner, along with close associates including rudy giuliani. multiple sources telling nbc news that the president does not believe he or his family have done anything illegal. the white house has not commented. last night a federal judge in washington ordering the release of heavily redacted court documents detailing an ongoing investigation into a potential bribery for pardons scheme involving at least two individuals acting as lobbyists trying to influence senior white house officials. a justice department official tells nbc news, quote, no government official was or is currently a subject or target of the investigation disclosed in this filing. this as attorney general bill barr publicly contradicted the president's false claims of widespread voter fraud for the first time, telling the associated press there is no evidence of systemic voter fraud that would overturn the election results. and meanwhile, nbc news

reports that the president plans to skip the inauguration and will not invite the bidens to the white house as is traditional and may try to steal the spotlight from biden's swearing in by announcing at a public event on inauguration day that he, trump, will run again in 2024, something he hinted at during a white house holiday party last night. >> it's been an amazing four years. we're trying to do another four years. otherwise i'll see you in four years. and there is breaking news on the covid vaccine this hour. moments ago new york governor andrew cuomo announcing new york state will get enough doses of the vaccine for 170,000 new yorkers by december 15 if all goes according to plan. most likely those are front line workers. joining me now, "weekend today" co-host kristen welker, former u.s. attorney and senior fbi official chuck rosenberg, host of "the oath" podcast, and

frank figliuzzi, author of the upcoming book "the fbi way." kristen, what more do we know about these potential trump pardons? >> well, we know, andrea, that the president, according to multiple sources familiar with these discussions, has been having conversations about possible preemptive pardons of family members, of close associates. and he's been doing so against the backdrop of, i am told by one source, really feeling embattled, feeling concerned about what might happen under a biden administration. now, it is important to point out that president-elect joe biden has been very clear, he has no plans to direct his attorney general to engage in investigations one way or another. but again, the broader backdrop here is a president who is feeling as though he could be under attack. we are told that he's even had these conversations with rudy giuliani. now, giuliani has dismissed those reports, he calls them a

100% lie. but still, we know that the president has been thinking about pardons, talking about them broadly. of course he just recently pardoned his first national security adviser michael flynn. we know some of his closest allies including some of his allies on fox news have been calling on him to potentially think about pardoning not only himself but some of those who are close to him and some of those in his inner circle. so this is not happening in a vacuum, andrea. the white house not commenting, though, at this hour. we are going to get a briefing, though, from press secretary kayleigh mcenany so it's a chance to ask her about all of this. >> and frank figliuzzi, the president has obviously almost absolute power, constitutional power to pardon. but the ways in which he's discussing using it are a little concerning, more than a little concerning. they don't prevent states from moving forward with prosecutions. but they do involve his immediate family. and potentially himself as well.

>> yeah, i'm viewing these pardons and even talk of these pardons as essentially a lawful form of obstruction of justice. that's because i think either currently or in the future, eigit's likely these family members we're talking about may be under investigation for crimes to which the president may himself be a party. so this is far less about a caring father acting out of concern for his children but rather someone who may be a defendant acting out of concern that he's exposed criminally. this also, looking at this through the lens of an investigator, andrea, it concerns me that this may stymie or even defeat an investigative strategy of trying to have a family member leveraged to flip against their father or the president or even against each other. and that kind of defeats that if no one is ever facing any criminal exposure. >> chuck rosenberg, we also of course learned about this exposed bribery for pardons scheme from new court documents,

heavily redacted, so heavily redacted they're hard to discern, really, unless you really know who the players are. the justice department says no one connected to the white house is involved. it does raise new questions. first, it's someone in the custody of the bureau of prisons. what more have you been able to learn? >> what's not redacted in the documents is still interesting. to your point, we don't know a lot about it so we have to be careful not to speculate. it could very well be that somebody in prison and perhaps a friend or lawyer on the outside thought of a plan to try and bribe a white house official to get a pardon. it doesn't mean anyone at the white house accepted a bribe or did anything wrong. so you have to be careful about that. and the documents that you reference are simply an order from a federal judge permitting an investigative team, that would be federal agents and federal prosecutors, to look at information that was obtained

from a search warrant. a filter team goes through that stuff. they don't want anything to go to the investigative team unless it's permissible or a judge clears it. in this case that's what happened, a judge said the stuff agents and prosecutors found in the search can be passed from the filter team to the investigative team. but who did what and whether anyone in the white house did something wrong, we simply don't know that yet. >> there was also that big news from the attorney general, bill barr telling the associated press that the justice department saw no widespread fraud that could affect the election outcome, but also revealing that he made john durham a special counsel, similar to the mueller status, weeks before the election, didn't announce it, and that means that john durham, the u.s. attorney in connecticut, has been investigating the origins of the 2016 russia probe, and

will continue into joe biden's presidency. chuck, what does that mean for career prosecutors in the justice department, what does it mean for joe biden? >> right, so look, if john durham has something to find, he ought to find it. and if it's credible and supported by evidence, we ought to accept that. we talk all the time, andrea, about evidence meaning a lot. i'll wait and see what john durham finds. as to the effect it will have on the department of justice in the new biden administration, john durham will report to a new deputy attorney general and a new attorney general. they will oversee his work. he's not a special counsel the way bob mueller was a special counsel. he's more like the type of special counsel that jim comey appointed when he was the deputy attorney general, that was pat fitzgerald, to look into the disclosure of valerie plame's identity, i know i'm going way

back in history here, and there are ways to do that, as long as they're done according to regulation and done properly, and john durham conducts an appropriate investigation, i'm confident that the new people in a biden administration, a new attorney general, a new deputy attorney general, will oversee this properly. let's wait and see what john finds. >> and what we've already been told is he has not found evidence implicating other officials, this wide net of former obama officials is no longer involved. kristen, the president is said to be no longer planning to appear at the inauguration but rather counterprogramming, kicking off his 2024 campaign on the same day. >> that's right, andrea, president trump was at a christmas party overnight at the white house and he said, i'll see you in four years, so really

previewed that he plans to announce he's running again. according to multiple people, that announcement could come on the same day as joe biden's inauguration. he has been signaling that he has no plans to attend the inauguration. now, no one has said this publicly yet. so we'll be trying to get the president and some of his top officials here to actually say that out loud, to see if that still stands. but that's the thinking right now behind the scenes, andrea. and i can tell you that in addition to keeping one eye on what comes next, they are also focused of course on covid-19 here. and a little bit of breaking news at this hour, andrea, i've just confirmed, according to a source familiar with the matter, that chief of staff mark meadows has met again with fda commissioner hahn, that happening today here at the white house. we're still working on trying to get a readout of exactly what happened. of course it comes as we know the administration has been pressing for fda approval as quickly as possible for the pfizer vaccine, particularly on the heels of the news coming out

of the uk, andrea. >> and that's really important because there is a second step, more than one other step in the u.s. where they independently scientifically verify the company's records of their trials which they don't do in the uk. so that's all in the hands of the fda. thanks so much, kristen welker, chuck rosenberg, frank figliuzzi. we'll keep an eye on bill barr because he is reportedly not in good steady with the president after that announcement to the ap yesterday. john podesta served as white house chief of staff to president clinton, a counselor to president obama, and joins us now. john, thank you for being with us. when you were chief of staff in the final days of the clinton administration, there are controversies over pardons, marc rich, other associates of the president, nothing that involved the president himself and anything that could be called obstruction of justice. and certainly nothing involving an offspring of the president. >> correct.

you know, they say they haven't done anything wrong. why would you be pardoning them preemptively if you didn't think they might have done something wrong? from the day i think donald trump took his hand off the bible to today, he's abused the justice system. he started by interfering in the mike flynn investigation, of course general flynn pleaded guilty twice to lying to the fbi, he just pardoned him. it went on and on through the course of his presidency up through and including the incidents that surrounded his impeachment. so i think we should expect nothing less from him. it's always been about protecting his own personal interests at the expense of the public interest. >> john, i want to turn to the confirmation battles ahead with this republican media criticism

of the omb, nominating neera tanden, because of her past tweets. the president-elect said, that would disqualify almost every republican senator and 90% of the administration. but by the way, she's smart as hell. yeah, i think they're going to pick a couple of people to fight over no matter what. you know how qualified neera tanden is, let's talk about that. what you see is these battles before anyone has even been vetted. >> sure. she's worked in two presidential administrations. she runs the center for american progress which of course i founded. and i've been a close colleague of hers for more than 20 years. she's a brilliant policy analyst, she's quite creative. she's a person of her word. i think that if republican senators who had actually sat down and talked to her, they would find someone who they could have an honest

relationship, work with. she, as i said, knows the depth and breadth of the federal government, having worked both in the clinton white house and then as one of the early architects of the affordable care act. so she's highly qualified for this position. most of the people who have looked at and worked with her know the depth of her intelligence or expertise, her creativity. the country is in a lot of trouble, and we need people like neera who are dedicated to finding solutions to the problems that we're facing. if the biggest thing they can hold against her is mean tweets, you know, it's just remarkable hypocrisy on behalf of the republican senators. >> and it does seem to be a new standard, given the fact that policy, legitimate policy

differences used to be what people would object to. i do want to ask you about pressure from legacy civil rights groups and the congressional black caucus to have more not only in conversations over cabinet choices but to also have a black secretary of defense. it's true that the other choices for the white house staff and the economic team are historically diverse, no question of that. but not in the top cabinet posts. so how should biden deal with this? >> well, look, i think there need to be more african-americans in the cabinet. and i think there will be. i would note that he started off by picking a black woman to be his vice president. so he's put cece rouse, head of the cia, into the cabinet. he's picked an african-american woman to be the u.n. ambassador, our principal spokesperson on foreign policy for the united states. but he ought to take the concerns seriously and i have no doubt that he'll put more senior african-americans into the

cabinet. and i think that's the right thing to do, that it's the core of his base. he's promised that he would have an administration that looked like america, and that -- as he said, i think the night that he gave his speech after the race had been called, said, you know, he remembered who brought him to the dance. so i expect we'll see that forthcoming. whether that's defense, attorney general, other senior cabinet roles, we'll have to wait and see. but i think the american people deserve the full talents of the american people and i think he won't disappoint in that regard. >> and do you have a quick response to the president not planning to be at the inaugural and to announce that day that he's running for election in 2024? >> look, he's handled the whole post-presidency the way he handled the presidency, without any grace, without anything we

expect from a president of the united states. we have a tradition of the peaceful transfer of power that goes with people who lose the election graciously accepting that and accepting the will of the people. he never did that. he hasn't done it to this day. so given the graceless way he's handled the post-presidency, what would i expect? nothing more than what he plans to do. and i think that for people who supported the biden/harris ticket, they probably are feeling today, good riddance, we don't want him in the picture anyway. so i think that president biden, vice president harris, can handle the inauguration with or without donald trump. >> thanks so much, john podesta. right now operation warp speed is briefing. secretary azar is talking about the authorization of the fda.

>> while the fda completes its review, the approval of another independent regulatory body should give americans additional confidence in the quality of such a vaccine. if all goes well, as general purna will lay out, that means we can make our first shipments of vaccine to states this month. we're on track to be able to ship enough vaccine for 20 million americans before the end of the year. of course we're all eager to have enough supply to vaccinate every american who wants it. and because of operation warp speed, we expect to be at that point in the spring. having substantial qualities of a safe and effective vaccine that's been authorized by fda before the end of the year is a remarkable achievement and it will start saving lives very soon. as always of you likely know, yesterday cdc held a meeting of its advisory committee on immunization practices which issued recommendations to our

leadership on how vaccines can be effectively and equitably distributed. these recommendations will now be used by states to develop the best prioritization system for their own citizens. states have different circumstances and are in different epidemiological situations and state leaders are in the best position to take our general national recommendations and translate them into more precise guidance for their state and its conditions. as we approach the vaccine rollout, we're also continuing to expand access to treatments for covid-19. as of this week we've distributed more than 157,000 patient courses of two authorized antibody products across the united states and allocated a total of 205,000 courses for delivery to states. more than 3,000 sites are currently signed up to offer these treatments. we've also launched a pilot program that will explore how to

each vulnerable populations with these treatments and offer treatments in even more convenient location. as we mentioned, americans need to know that this treatment is a possible option for patients who are at high risk for severe covid-19 but who have not been hospitalized. that includes all americans over the age of 65. that's the definition we're using in this case for risk of severe covid-19. receiving this treatment, if you're in that category, could help keep you out of the hospital, potentially helping to save your life. so we want to encourage the news media and all americans to spread the word about availability of covid-19 treatments and i want to encourage americans to start playing the role they'll have in an eventual vaccine too. vaccines will only bring this pandemic they cano an end if en americans choose to take these vaccinations. we now have highly promising efficacy data that i believe

many americans are encouraged by and excited about. but i want to encourage americans to get prepared and to get educated now. visit the cdc's website to find out more about the vaccines we're developing and the process they've gone through. if you have questions now or have questions further down the road, talk to your health care provider about the importance that safe and effective vaccines have to our own health and the health of our communities. these vaccine products will be assessed with the same rigor that americans can expect when it comes to any other vaccine or drug that is reviewed by the fda. as each one of us here has said, we're excited to take this vaccine, and we will encourage our family and friends to do so too as appropriate. now, i apologize that i won't be able to stay throughout today's q&a because of another media engagement. but i will be back next week for the full hour. but before i close, i would like to just make a plea to individuals who have had

covid-19 and recovered. if you're within three months since recovery from covid-19, we need you to donate plasma. over a quarter million courses of convalescent plasma have been used on your fellow americans to help prevent severe consequences from covid-19. we unfortunately have so many individuals who have gotten covid-19 and have recovered now, fortunately, but we need donations. please contact your local american red cross, your local american blood bank, or go to coronavirus.gov for more information about how you can volunteer to be a donor and give the gift of life. with that i will turn things over to the extremely capable hands of our leaders, dr. moncef slaoui and general gus purna. i will see you at this briefing next week. thank you very much. dr. slaoui.

>> thank you, mr. secretary. just a few points to add to the excellent summary the secretary has provided, very, very rich week in new data information. so on the americana vaccine moderna vaccine side of things, the final analysis has been completed with 94.1 efficacy against moderate and severe disease. importantly, there were 30 cases of severe disease in the trial, all 30 in the placebo group, so 100% efficacy. there were 7,500 and some elderly people with age over 65 and efficacy in that population against moderate disease was 87.1%. and efficacy against severe disease was also 100% since there were no cases in the vaccine group. i think those are very important

data to keep in mind. it is exceptionally good data, and in fact remarkably similar to the data that you have already seen coming from -- with the pfizer vaccine and obviously as the secretary said, the fact that an external regulatory agency of the highest caliber and standards equivalent to those of the fda, the uk mhra has approved the pfizer vaccine. they have not been involved in any of the politicization that surrounded the development of this vaccine, and i hope this will be another evidence for the american population that the data with these vaccines are clear, are transparent, and demonstrate that they are effective and safe for use in

the general population, because as the secretary said, vaccines are useless if they are not used to vaccinate people. i think also really great progress with two other vaccines in the pipeline. the johnson & johnson vaccine, which is a recombinant human adenovirus 26 vector, has now recruited a little bit more than 28,000 subjects in the phase iii trial. now, the break through that we hope with this vaccine is that it's a one-shot vaccine with very fast efficacy achieved, and 100% compliance, so to speak, since everybody who got one shot got the full vaccination schedule. it will be very important, by the way, for all americans who go to the moderna or the pfizer vaccine, to have their first vaccine dose and then come back either three or four weeks later

to get their second vaccine dose to complete the immunization schedule. the next vaccine in the line is the astrazeneca chimpanzee virus live vector vaccine. the phase iii trial was conducted here in the u.s. under operation warp speed oversight, so different than the uk/brazil trials that have been communicated about last week. it's progressing very well, we have about 15,000 subjects recruited in the trial. both the johnson & johnson trial and the astrazeneca trial are likely to complete their efficacy requirement, which is the number of cases accruing in the study, somewhere between very late in december and the middle of january, given unfortunately that the pandemic is extremely active, there is a lot of transmission in the population. in closing on this side of the

vaccine, i would just like to remind you that fortunately the investments we have made in scaling up and starting to stockpile manufacturing of the vaccines allow us to feel confident that we will be able to distribute 20 million -- enough vaccine to immunize 20 million people in the u.s. in december, that's 40 million doses, and 30 million people, 60 million doses, in january, and 50 million people or 100 million doses in march. so between december, mid-december -- sorry, in february, and end of february, we will have potentially immunized 100 million people, which is really more or less the size of the significant at-risk population, the elderly, the health care workers, the first line workers, people with comorbidity. i'll close there, of course, i'll be happy to answer your questions later on and pass to

general purna. >> thanks, dr. slaoui, as always, incredibly informative for us. so, team, today i want to talk about three things, allocation update, our distribution in support of the state plans, our ability to empower them, to execute their plans, and then third, just to reinforce the challenge, my word, to secretary azar's comments at the end about learning about vaccines. so, you know, first, reference allocations. we have provided 64 jurisdictions, which a reminder, 50 states, eight territories, and six mega cities, as well as five federal agencies with their allocations of the vaccinations that are going to be available in the month of december. what we've done is, we believe, for planning purposes only, we

had to pick a date. and i've coined the phrase "snap the chalk line" so that we could plan on actual doses that will be available. for example, a week and a half ago, around 20 november, through tiberius, we provided 54 jurisdictions and five federal agencies their allocations for the pfizer vaccine of a total of 6.4 million doses that will be available. a week later, on 27 november, we provided the 64 jurisdictions and five federal agencies their allocations for the moderna vaccine at 12.5 million doses that will be available. again, we are planning to be ready when eua is approved. it is not about getting in front of eua. it's just making sure that we have everything locked so when eua decision comes, distribution

to the american people becomes immediate within 24 hours. that's our goal. that's what we're striving for. and that's what we're working to. you can't execute if you don't have a plan. and that's what our emphasis is as we work through all that process. we are going to send half the doses based on allocations to the jurisdictions and agencies because it is a two-dose regimen, as dr. slaoui just talked about. so half the allocation will be sent out, then for pfizer, then for moderna, we send out the second half of allocations. two reasons. one, to ensure we don't overadminister, and that we have the second dose on hand. and second reason is to make sure that we don't overwhelm limited storage capability and capacity at the state level.

we want to augment their plans, enable their plans, not constrain them from the greatest distribution capability that they have. we utilize a tiberius platform that we developed, right, which is a capability that takes in all the informative data from the states, hospitals, doctors' offices, pharmacies, only on the specification of vaccine as it is delivered and vaccine as it is administered so that we can maintain the flow of vaccine to the american people. as i've talked about, our goal is to distribute within 24 hours after eua. and the first push is, then we want to maintain a cadence, a deliberate, planned, coordinated cadence of delivery of vaccine as it becomes available. the only way you can do that is

if you see yourselves. and we have to see ourselves from point of administration all the way back to point of fill finish. and in doing so, then we can coordinate, collaborate, plan together the distribution of vaccines down to the states. we have requested that the states lock in their microplans for final distribution of both vaccines. so for example, this week we've asked the states and total jurisdictions to have their microplans in tiberius by the end of the week or for december. this way we can ensure that we understand all the places where they want the vaccine delivered and at what quantities they want the vaccine delivered. and then we can coordinate with pfizer to ensure those boxes are prepared and ready to be distributed upon eua.

addresses in the system, coordination with mckesson, the master distributor, through fedex, ups, and down to the administration sites. really a key effort by everybody. we've asked for the states and jurisdictions to have their microplans ready for the moderna vaccine by the 11th of december, which allows them to do the same planning and in theory what happens is, the vaccine comes in to where they want. it enables their plan for immediate administration of the vaccine to the priorities that their governor establishes at each state. here's the key. the states know their people, their populations, the best. as they follow through with eua, eventual eua guidance and the guidance that was put out yesterday, then you have leaders taking responsibility and

directing a priority of vaccine into administration or shots in arms. our responsibility is to enable their plan, to empower their plan, and that's why we've asked for the microplanning and the detail work to happen accordingly. after the initial pushes about it out for phase and hfizer and then every week, based on the availability of vaccine, as dr. slaoui alluded to, in december, in january, february, march, we are going to push allocations as vaccine becomes available. we are not waiting for a cluster of vaccine to be available and then push. we want to have this cadenced delivery of vaccine so states can best manage it to the priorities as they've developed it. we visualize each week

additional vaccines getting out and eventually we just continue to build on the amount of people that get vaccinated and hence on our way to ending this pandemic. jurisdictions and -- >> well, we've heard a lot of news, so let me summarize as i bring in dr. ashish jha, dean of the brown university school of public health. a lot of information, starting with secretary azar. let me suggest first of all, he said that we are on track to be able to ship enough vaccine for 20 million americans before the end of the year, that's 40 million doses. that would be the pfizer. the antibody treatment can be available for all americans over 65 and subject to risk of severe covid. that is the infusion to try to keep them out of hospitalization. there has already been a quarter million courses of convalescent plasma.

they need donations, please, he appealed to americans, to contact the american red cross, their blood banks, or the government websites. moncef slaoui, the head of operation warp speed, said that the final results are in for moderna, it was 94.1% efficacy against moderate or severe disease. 30 cases were severe but they were all in the placebo group, not those who got the vaccine, so it is 100% efficacy for those who got the vaccine from severe disease. there were 7,500 in the test group over 65, and the efficacy in that senior group was against moderate disease, 87.1% effective. the efficacy, as i say, against severe disease was 100% effective for moderna. so this is all new information. he also talked about johnson &

johnson, that there was great progress on that, that they have 28,000 subjects in phase iii, a breakthrough because it is a one-shot vaccine. and on astrazeneca, the phase iii trial conducted in the u.s., which has not had problems with the data, that has 15,000 people recruited, that both johnson & johnson and astrazeneca are likely to complete the efficacy requirement by late december to mid-general. then from general perna, he's confident by the end of february there will be 100 million people, 50 million people, rather, 100 million doses, of people who have been vaccinated. i think we got those numbers right. let me start with the 20 million people by the end of january -- by the end of december, rather, and what you heard about the moderna results from moncef slaoui. >> that's right, andrea, thank you for having me on, that was all very helpful, all averagely good news and consistent with how well things are going on the vaccine front. i have to say, as i was link to

it, on the one hand i was getting a little choked up because it's been such a hard pandemic and now you can really see how this ends or how it gets under control. also a little bit upsetting, we should have done this for therapeutics and testing nine months ago and we didn't, so that has meant a much harder last nine months than we needed to have. but let's look forward. 20 million americans are getting vaccinated in december, that would be terrific. the cdc yesterday laid out two groups that should be the first priority, health care workers and people in nursing homes, both workers and residents. i agree, those are two great groups to begin with. and they are about 20 million folks, about 24 million, so maybe not everybody in those two groups will be able to get vaccinated in december, but most will. and that really will begin to help a lot. and then in january, as we get into other people, essential workers, other health care workers, high risk individuals, we will start seeing the

horrible death numbers from this disease just starting to take a turn in the right direction. and i think february will be the month that things will start feeling a little bit better. a lot of execution risk between now and then. but can't help but feel really positive about where we are right now on this. >> how long would it take for the vaccine to take effect? do we know that, what is the lag time? >> we don't know a lot. we don't know what happens after the first -- after pfizer, you have to wait 21 days, with moderna, 28. we don't know what happens between the first and second dose, do you have any protection? i suspect you have some but not enough. then after the second dose, when does protection really, you know, become optimal? i suspect a couple of weeks. but we don't know. and there is some data that we're going to be able to look at, as these companies are in record fashion sending in data to the fda, that will start becoming public in the days and weeks ahead. we'll be able to answer some of

these questions. we just don't have a lot of that data out yet. >> the other disturbing fact, we're reporting this morning, we're learning that dr. hahn from the fda was again called back to the white house today, the second day in a row. there seems to be -- there's a lot of indications that there's a lot of pressure from the white house, from mark meadows, to speed it up, to try to compete with the brits. and we have more bureaucracy, we have, i think thankfully, the fda going over all the data with an advisory board, independently, over the scientific data from these companies. >> yeah, look, we're not in a competition with the uk. we're in competition with the virus. we're in competition with disease. and a really key part of getting vaccines out is building confidence among the american people that these vaccines are indeed safe and effective, as i believe they are. but that requires careful examination of the data, input

from external experts, as you said, andrea. the fda is taking a few extra days, not weeks, but eight extra days, to make this determination. i wish we had a vaccine yesterday. i think we should let fda do its job. they're not going too slowly. they're not being excessively bureaucratic. they're trying to be careful. if we could shave a couple of days off, great, but i would rather get this right than to be just a touch faster. that's what i think the fda is doing and i think we should let them do their job. >> dr. jha, as always, thank you very, very much, a lot of news coming out of that briefing. the first bipartisan covid relief proposal in months to try to break that congressional stalemate is already being dismissed by senate majority leader mitch mcconnell, saying that the president will only sign a much smaller package. >> i hope our democratic

colleagues will finally let us pass a bipartisan bill that the president will sign into law and do so soon. >> joining me now, maine's independent senator angus king, part of that bipartisan group who proposed the $900 billion compromise relief package at least to get us through march. what do you think about mcconnell saying, the president won't buy it so let's not waste time? >> it's a little hard to say what the president will sign. i think he would definitely sign the bill that we proposed yesterday. this is a bipartisan bill, including republicans and democrats in both the house and the senate. it's a compromise, it's a big compromise from where the house was six months ago. so -- and the white house has been talking about numbers approaching $2 trillion and then $1.5 trillion. this is under $1 trillion. it's a four-month proposal and it deals with the hardest issues of unemployment insurance, of

schools, of state and local localities that are really hurting, of small businesses in particular, opioids. we've seen a huge expansion of opioid overdoses, unfortunately, during this pandemic. it is not a comprehensive proposal but it will get us through the darkest days that are ahead of us. and i hope that the members of the majority leader's caucus will come to him and say, hey, this is a reasonable proposal, it's sitting there, it's ready to go, let's do it. i think we could pass it and get well over 60 votes in the majority leader just would wave the green flag and let us get to the floor. >> joe biden has spoken about his relationship with mitch mcconnell in greater depth than we've heard from him. in a "new york times" interview with tom friedman published today, he said that there are a number of things that when mcconnell controlled the senate, the people said couldn't get done and i was able to get them done with him, i was able to get

them to raise taxes on the wealthy. i think there are tradeoffs, not all compromise is walking away from principle. biden added, he knows me, i know him, i don't ask him to embarrass himself to make a deal. so they do have a relationship. but do you think the president-elect is being a little optimistic given the way mitch mcconnell has been behaving, not even acknowledging that joe biden won? >> well, i think that buzzer going off, by the way, is a vote on the senate floor, i'm in the basement of the capitol. i think there will be opportunities. i think a lot of the result, andrea, will depend upon mitch mcconnell's caucus. if he has a majority, it will be very narrow and he may not have a majority at all. but that means people in the center of the two caucuses should have a great deal of influence. and i think the direction, he can either go toward total obstruction or he can say, let's try to get some things done on behalf of the american people.

and the place to start, by the way, is this covid relief package. the package that he's presenting, apparently, i'm told, has nothing in it for food, for nutrition. and the one thing we've all seen in the last few days are these monumental lines at food banks of people who have never, ever had to go to a food bank before or get any kind of public assistance. this is a serious matter, and we're headed in -- i love the news about the vaccine, but december, january, february, and march, are going to be tough. and they're not going to get any better until the vaccine is widely distributed. this is the time to take action on behalf of the american people and for senator mcconnell to show the american people that congress can work. we've given him a responsible proposal on a silver platter. i hope he'll take yes for an answer. >> sources are telling nbc news that the president is considering pardoning his three eldest children and jared kushner. your reaction to that?

>> well, you know, the pardon power is very broad and undefined in the constitution. but i remember seeing the president last summer, he said something about, somebody asked him can you pardon yourself, he said, yes, but why would i want to, i've done nothing wrong. the question is, if you provide a pardon, is that an implicit suggestion that he's done something wrong? he wants to have a life after this election. for him to provide pardons as a kind of general get out of jail free card to members of his family or to rudy giuliani i think unnecessarily taints this period. i hope he doesn't do that. i think he can, he has that power, but i think it would be -- it would not be appropriate under the circumstances. and if he does provide such a

pardon, he should tell the american people what offenses he's pardoning them for. >> i know you've got to go vote. are you voting on anything controversial now? >> well, we've got a couple of nominations and we do have a federal reserve board nominee coming up that is somewhat controversial. i'm not sure how the vote is going to go. >> judy shelton? >> judy shelton was voted down last week. this is a new nominee today, and i'm not sure what the outcome is going to be. but this is an opportunity, you know, we're doing all these nominations, we ought to be doing covid relief, in my view. and this is the opportunity to do that. i'm going to go up, i'm going to vote on the nominations. but in the meantime i'm continuing to work with those -- that bipartisan group in the senate and house. we have another telephone meeting, i've been on more conference calls in the last week than i ever have in my

life, and we're going to have another one this afternoon, where we're refining the proposal and putting it into legislative language, so we'll have an actual bill to present to the senate next week. >> senator angus king from maine, thank you very much. and coming up, dangerous game. republican officials in georgia are calling out what's been threats and calling on the president to stop his false claims about election fraud as workers there are getting death threats. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports." stay with us. this is cnbc. s. stay with us this is cnbc for a flare-up? enough, crohn's. for adults with moderate to severe crohn's or ulcerative colitis, stelara® can provide relief, and is the only approved medication to reduce inflammation on and below the surface of the intestine in uc. you, getting on that flight? back off, uc. stelara® may increase your risk of infections, some serious, and cancer. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you have an infection, flu-like symptoms, sores, new skin growths, have had cancer, or if you need a vaccine.

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we need you to step up and if you're going to take a position of leadership, show some. someone is going to get hurt. someone is going to get shot. someone is going to get killed. >> joining me now, jacqueline alameny and national political reporter for "the washington post" and moderator of "walk week" on cbs, robert kos that. the president is going to campaign for the senators left there in purdue in georgia this saturday. as the ap is reporting, some republicans worry that he will use that platform to amplify his baseless allegations of widespread voter fraud. of course, he has not denounced what joe degenova, his lawyer, did in threatening to kill chris krebs, the oust the cyber security official. >> the president has been relentless in making baseless glams about the election in georgia and the election nationally and politically speaking, he has pulled senators

loeffler and purdue into this rip tide where they were part of this conspiratorial claims about the election and they seem to show no willingness to depart from president trump. but the vexing position, though, for those senator sess that georgia is changing. pkt biden won the state and there is a new electorate that seems to be animated by the president's flames on the left and those on the right may be animated, as well. >> jackie, you and your colleagues are reporting that maybe one reason the president is doing this, the team is doing this fruitless effort is they're raking in the cash. $170 million in donations and a good chunk of that is in a super pac where he can use it for his own expenses. >> that's exactly right, andrea. the president and his legal team are continuing these baseless

attacks out of ulterior motives. the president around the president have consistently encouraged him to face reality, that joe biden is president-elect and decisively won, but the president sees this as a way to turnon the blow of his loss and pad his political future. aside from the fact that words matter, there are potential political ramifications for people like loefler and purdue and the president's potential to depress the vote as republicans continue to buy into these baseless claims and maybe question the, you know, american democracy in general and aren't motivated to turn out and vote in the special election come january. >> and robert, what are your sources telling you? nbc is reporting that the president could kick off his 2024 run launching it on inauguration day to try to steal thunder from joe biden? >> the reporting is accurate.

he wants to be on the american scene dominating the republican party into 2021. this is not someone like president nixon going to california to nurse his political wounds after he left office. this is a defiant president who wants to stay in control. will republicans enable him out of office as much as they are enabling him while he's in office? that to me is tbd. >> and not inviting the bidens to the white house, it's extraordinary. an extraordinary transition. thank you very much, robert and jackie for in shortened version. because of that briefing, we'll have more to say, a lot more on all of you, as well. that does it for this edition of andrea mitchell reports. chuck todd is up next with mtb daily. up next with mtb daily.

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the team's been working around the clock.wire, we've had to rethink our whole approach. we're going to give togetherness. logistically, it's been a nightmare. i'm not sure it's going to work. it'll work. i didn't know you were listening.

it's wednesday, the justice department is investigating a potential bribery scheme in the ask of a presidential pardon. but no government officials were apparentlily probed. sources tell nbc news that president trump has been discussing parts of another nature for his family members and close associates. plus, the fight on capitol hill over covid relief could now collide with the battle to avoid a government shutdown. as mitch mcconnell looks at ways to step up pressure on congressional democrats for a much