if it's monday, the co-vid crisis is still spiraling out of control. cases keep rising. the number of available icu beds keeps falling. and health officials keep warning it's going to get even worse. plus president-elect biden officially names his team tasked with handling the pandemic as president trump continues ignoring the crisis and focusing on his grievances. and is help finally on the way from congress? after months of deadlock, a

bipartisan deal on co-vid relief may be on the verge of coming together. >> welcome to monday. it's "meet the press daily". i'm kasie hunt. we begin today with yet another new and dire warning from the nation's top infectious disease expert. >> you'd expect that the effect of the thanksgiving surge would be probably another week from now. the problem is that's going to come right up to the beginning of the christmas hanukkah potential surge. so you have a surge upon a surge, so if those two things happen and we don't mitigate well, we don't listen to the public health measures that we need to follow, then we could

start to see things really get bad in the middle of january without substantial mitigation, the middle of january can be a really dark time for us. >> that warning, the that january could be a dark time is more ominous when you consider where we stand. more than 16,000 americans have died since i last hosted this show one week ago. 16,000 people. the 7-day average of new cases nationwide is approaching 200,000. and it's been at a record high for four days in a row. and more than 100,000 americans are now hospitalized with the virus. that's also a new record. among them is president trump's personal attorney, rudy giuliani who is in a d.c. hospital with what a source tells nbc news are mild symptoms. news of the positive test came hours after deborah birx, the white house coronavirus response

coordinator said this to chuck on "meet the press" yesterday. >> this is the worst event that this country will face. not just from a public health side. yet, we know what behaviors spread the virus and we know how to change those behaviors to stop spreading the virus. >> dr. birx also warned the vaccine will not save us from this current surge. even as pfizer's co-vid vaccine is expected to be approved for emergency use as early as this week in this country. it's going to be administered tomorrow in the united kingdom. as conditions worsen, mayors and governors are issuing new restrictions starting today. outdoor gatherings in new jersey are limited to 25 people. in california, most residents are under strict stay at home orders through christmas. about 85% of all californians, about 33 million people are

under tough restrictions right now. joining me now, jacob ward in san francisco as the new california restrictions go into effect. kathy park is in worcester, massachusetts where a field hospital has reopened, the first in the country to do so, and here with us to give medical perspective, dr. william shafer in, an infectious disease specialist at vanderbilt university. thank you all for being here. jake, in california these restrictions are some of the toughest in the nation because of the surge and it looks like they're going to last through the holiday season. what can you tell us about how things are on the ground where you are? >> it is a grim moment, but also one full of determination. 43 million californians are under some sort of stay at home order, including this five-county area that i am in right now. it's imposed it own self-imposed lockdown measures ahead of state

guidance. last week the governor announced that any region of california that had fallen below 15% icu capacity would automatically go into a three-week stay at home order. two of the regions have already hit that mark. the san joaquin valley, the bread basket of america in many ways is one of the first to hit it. it's down to 6% icu capacity. that's brought in the new restrictions. parents across the state disappointed that things like playgrounds are going to be closed. here's what one father had to say. >> i understand. i mean, we need to do everything we can, especially with a vaccine just right around the corner. it would be horrible to have a family member or a friend or something who passed away because people were being irresponsible. weeks, maybe months before potentially some relief could happen. but you got to balance that out with life.

you know? >> kasie, that determination he spoke is what the county is counting on. back in the spring we did turn an earlier surge around through stringent lockdown measures. the hope is this state can do it again now going into the holiday season. >> well, of course, people suffering from co-vid and so many other ailments relying on the icu bed space and our doctors and nurses incredibly exhausted at this point. kathy park, across the point in worcester, massachusetts where you've got a field hospital reopened, and i understand you've also been talking to some health care providers who are trying to figure out a way to combat the loneliness that is fighting covid-19. what can you tell us? >> reporter: let me start with alarming statistics. massachusetts just this weekend reported more than 10,000 positive co-vid cases.

and to put that in perspective, that's more than the entire month of august. in worcester where i am one in five residents are testing positive for the virus. with the numbers trending in the wrong direction, the state believed it was critical to reopen the dcu center which is now a field hospital. this is the second time they had to open up this year, because the numbers continue to climb. and obviously they're taking care of co-vid patients but they also want to relieve the strain and stress on the hospitals in the area, because they are continuing to treat nonco-vid patients. so we had an opportunity to go inside this weekend, get an inside look at the facility, and they added a lot of new resources into this space. they have the ppe. they have the ventilators. they also have the treatments. obviously they have a lot more knowledge about the virus that they can apply to the patients. but a really unique feature we thought stood out and something they said was new to this site

was the space. they have now made it for co-vid patients only so they can watch tv. they can interact with one another to fight the loneliness and isolation that often comes with the virus. take a listen. >> the patients here can get up. they can walk around and interact with other patients. they can take a shower. we have mobile oxygen. you don't have any of that in the hospital. you're stuck in your room. nobody can come see you. you can't have any family. every one of our patient gets an ipad and can face time and watch movies. >> clearly you see the dcu center is ready to go, but they're still being challengedd with staffing. a lot of doctors and nurses are getting sick. and they're not able to call on the out of state health care workers because cases are surging across the country and they're needed in their respective states.

kasie? >> it's such a huge challenge. kathy park, thank you very much for that. now, doctor, let me go to you to talk about how serious this situation is that we are in. you heard what dr. birx said saying this is the worst event likely in our history. what's your sense of how to put the staggering death toll into that kind of historic perspective, and is there any way right now that we can do anything to slow that down? >> kasie, it is going to be a grim period of time here. grim is a word we're all using because we all anticipate these deaths will continue, that we may have a surge upon a surge, and that may come just around

the time of christmas. wouldn't that be tragic? and there are things that we can do to mitigate this. the wearing of the masks. we should all be doing this. it's beyond our imagination in infectious diseases and public health that people aren't all wearing masks. social distancing and avoiding these groups. those are the things that we know have worked. both here and in other countries. they're very solid. the vaccine will come along. that's wonderful. but it will take us a while to engage everybody and get people in line for the vaccine. that will take months. so in the near term, these are the solutions. they really do work. >> to follow up on the mask question and you reference the holidays and we clearly are --

we don't even understand yet the toll as dr. fauci mentioned that we may be facing during the holiday season. the cdc has also recently adjusted the guidance for mask wearing indoors. can you explain what it is that people should be doing if, in fact, they are seeing people inside their houses which we understand is, of course, not the guidance, but clearly a lot of people over thanksgiving did it, and the hanukkah and christmas season is going to see more of that. >> well, if we're gathering indoors, even though these are friends and family members, we need to be very careful. keep those meetings, those periods of time when we're together carefully short. keep ourselves apart. wear the masks indoors so that we understand that people can be without symptoms, come to these

gatherings, be perfectly innocent, but transmit this virus. and that's the last thing you want to do. to be a dreaded spreader of this virus to your family and friends. the only way to mitigate this is by remaining separate and wearing masks. >> and just to underscore as well, i think, there was obviously some confusion in the f beginning about what kind of mask. the cdc guidance changed early in the pandemic. we have recently learned or recently received guidance that wearing a mask can protect you as well as others. i wondered if there's anything about that that you want to underscore for people who for whatever reason, still need to be convinced. >> thank you for the opportunity. because yes, the masks work in both ways. they prevent transmission from me to you, but they also are

protecting me from others. so there's a personal motivation, and some people seem to need that to use the mask for their own protection. we always knew that. data now reinforced it. and we can say it clearly. the masks protect ourselves, us, as well as protecting others. isn't that wonderful? it's such an easy, cheap advice. it's an inconvenience. it looks kind of dorky, but that's all it is. we can all do this, and it has such a profound impact. it's not political. the virus doesn't care about that. >> undeed it is not, and whatever your reason, doesn't matter to you, just wear the mask. doctor, thank you for being here and for that important set of reminders, again. and ahead here, the president-elect announces the team that will lead his coronavirus response. and none of them or anyone from

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welcome back. with 44 days until his inauguration, joe biden rolled out his health care team. they'll be leading the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. the team includes california attorney general and former congressman xavier becerra, rochelle walensky, and dr. fauci as chief medical adviser to the president on covid-19. he'll continue his role at the national institute of allergies and infectious diseases. and while biden has his a planned team in place for the time being, they're on the outside of the vaccine rollout

while president trump is still in office. nbc news has learned that no one from the biden team has been invited to tomorrow's operation warp speed vaccine summit. as president trump seeks to claim full credit for that effort. nbc's geoff bennett is following joe biden in wilmington, delaware. and shannon petty piece is outside the white house for us. geoff, let me start with you in wilmington. of course, we are learning about the president's team here. he has gotten a few questions from republicans about the choice of becerra to lead hhs. it's a critically important sprawling agency and represents one of the most significant cabinet posts, especially amid the coronavirus pandemic. what was joe biden's thinking in terms of choosing becerra for that role? >> reporter: right. he has carved out a profile in

immigration, environment, criminal justice in california. there's a lot of thought he would have been a leading pick to lead a biden department of justice, but our reporting indicates that as other people fell out of contention to lead hss, attention turned to xavier becerra. even though test not a physician and steeped in medical policy, he has a lot of experience with health-related issues. he fought against vaping in california and worked with louisiana's republican attorney general to demand greater access to that coronavirus drug remdesivir. i'm told by a source familiar with joe biden's thinking that one of the reasons that was really integral in joe biden's selection of him as ag, rather as hhs secretary is in addition to lead the fight against the pandemic, he was instrumental in

fighting for the affordable care act. first it was passing of it. he served in congress for 25 years but also as attorney general in california he led a coalition of blue state attorneys general to fight against the trump administration's attempts to undermine the affordable care act. so in that list of folks you mentioned who are going to fill out the upper echelon of the biden health team, it's interesting you have on that list dr. marcella nunez-smith. she'll lead a new white house group focussed on co-vid racial disparities and ethnic dispar y dispariti disparities. biden has talked a lot about that. black and brown communities are bearing the brunt of case loads and case counts. >> i got to know becerra when he was part of the leadership trying to get the affordable care act passed.

involved in progressives on that front. one interesting potential angle. i want to talk about the summit that the white house is planning that's going to exclude the biden officials according to our reporting. it's pretty clear the president wants all the credit for this. he talked about it a little bit over the weekend when he rallied in georgia. i want to play a little bit of what he had to say about taking credit for the vaccine and then we'll talk about it. watch. >> let me also express our warmest best wishes and love to all those people and families suffering from the co-vid pandemic. vaccines are on their way at a level that nobody ever thought possible. it would have taken another administration five years. it took us seven months. i'll tell you what. some incredible work has been done over the last seven months. and we should always get credit for that. don't let anyone ever take it away from us. >> shannon, i don't think anyone is trying to say that the scientists who got these really ground breaking vaccines out the door so quickly deserve anything

but all the credit for the vaccines, but also the new administration is going to have to distribute them and get them out the door. that's what these logistics meetings should be about. why not have some biden administration officials there to talk through it? >> right. and that really mirrors so much of what we have heard from the current administration when we have asked about concerns we've been hearing from the biden transition about not being looped in and included. there is a sense from those involved in the planning to some extent that they have a plan that they're going to be able to seamlessly hand off to the biden administration and they don't need involvement from from transition or anybody from the incoming administration. our reporting indicates that's not the case, and there are a lot of concerns about what is going to happen once these vaccines are given to the states and how you get it from the states into people's arms, and not just at the first phase when we're talking about health care workers and nursing home

residents but when we're at this broader phase of trying to get it to tens if not hundreds of millions of people and the complexities that go with that. certainly, that divide seems to continue, though, our reporting does indicate that there is work going on right now between the transition and the current administration that meetings are being further meetings are being discussed to further include them in operation warp speed, and what that plan really looks like at the nuts and bolts level. of course, as you see, the president there at the very top of this government seen focussed on getting credit on the vaccine. that's something that he raised at the rally last night. he raised it around thanksgiving time when we talked to reporters, the concern that joe biden could get credit for that. that's where his focus seems to be and there will be a tuesday summit at the white house about the vaccine and again the president expected to speak there, and again, his focus continues to be on whether he is the one who gets the credit, not, of course, the scientists and the researchers that you

mentioned. >> yeah. and of course, he was at that rally in georgia telling republicans to vote in what he called a rigged election which is the topic he's still hitting. geoff bennett, before i let you go, what do we expect from the transition this week in terms of announcements and next steps? >> reporter: you could get potentially another round of announcements. we're looking for department of defense and cia. and other key national intelligence positions. on the issue of dod, i think it was important that karen bass, the outgoing head of the congressional black caucus said on the record that her group has named jeh johnson and loyd austin, a retired four-star military general as who they want picked from to lead the pentagon. we'll see if that affects joe biden's thinking. >> thank you both for being with us this afternoon.

coming up next, the director of the national institutes of health, on america's plans to distribute the coronavirus vaccine and the challenges ahead. and later, after months of disagreement and delays, congress is inching closer to an agreement on co-vid relief. i'm going to talk to a bipartisan pair of lawmakers on capitol hill about the chances of breaking the gridlock and whether this bill will be enough to help americans who are hurting. that's coming up. g up

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welcome back. as we said earlier, the fda could approve pfizer's co-vid vaccine for emergency use as early as this week. in the uk residents are going to start getting vaccinated tomorrow. here in the u.s., the fda will hold a meeting thursday to discuss pfizer's application and alex azar says the vaccine could be distributed shortly after that. >> we hope that if everything goes well, we could be seeing the pfizer vaccine distributed within days and the moderna vaccine distributed within days after their hearing a week from thursday. >> dr. francis collins is the director of the national institutes of health. he joins me now. it's great to have you here, and especially on something that's a little bit more hopeful than what we were discussing earlier. i think everybody is relieved our scientists have done incredible work.

i want to start. we're in the process of this still, this meeting is this week at the fda. the uk has aproved it. what do we do in the u.s. here in the approval process that they don't do in the uk that has gotten us to this point, and should that be reassuring to americans? what additional information are our regulators going to look at? >> the fda's process is considered to be the gold standard by almost everybody in the world. they look at every single patient record in this very large-scale phase three trial. that's 30,000 people. half of them got the vaccine. half got the placebo. they want to make sure everything is considered as far as safety and efficacy. plus they post all this data, probably late tonight or tomorrow. all the data they have now assembled over three intense weeks working 24/7. it will be out there for people who want to study it in advance of thursday's public meeting.

the vaccine advisory committee. so it's a very intense, very public process. and it should be reassuring i think to the public that while people are maybe worried this happened so fast, were corners being cut? look at the data, and you can decide if you think so. i'm pretty confident that a real assessment of where we are is going to be reassuring to people who will be thinking about rolling up their sleeves as soon as the chance happens. >> yeah. we obviously -- there has been so much collective brain power applied to this problem in a global way. the time that has been put in to do this research just really incredible, and that it could come so fast, and the transparency of that data seems incredibly important to me also. our surveys are showing that there are a lot of people who are nervous about this, and this it is going to be a major public health challenge to convince people to get out there and do this, and of course, we're grappling with social media where a lot of disinformation can spread very quickly.

what do you think needs to be done by the government, by the incoming biden administration, and the outgoing trump administration to educate people about this vaccine? how do you convince skeptics to take it? >> we need a really effective public communication program. this is the time to put it out there. it's not hypothetical about a vaccine that might or might not happen. pfizer is looked at in detail this week and moderna next week. the data is going to look really good, and if people are willing to take the time to study, i think they'll be reassured. we have to have a way to have that message come across, and not just from people like me who work for the government and are suspicious. this needs to be brought embraced by health care providers and community leaders who also look at the data and particularly for those communities where distrust is at a high level. i'm thinking about all the experiences that african americans have gone through with

us the key gus the key gee in t past. we have to find ways to empower all of those other partners in spreading the word about what this vaccine is all about. and, of course, this is in the context where 280,000 people have died from this disease. we're losing somebody every minute, death to this disease. so it's not as if let's wait and see. at the moment, this is the greatest threat to our health that has happened in 102 years. that alone ought to motivate people to really look at the evidence before they get skeptical about taking part. >> yeah. i mean, it's an incredible scale. and of such incredible importance. and doctor, since you're familiar with kind of across the board where our research stands on these kinds of things and the efforts the government is undertaking to do more research, one area where i certainly get a

lot of questions from viewers, from friends, people that i talk to, is what to do for pregnant women in particular, and for very young, very small children. what's the status of research of the vaccine in pregnant women, and what would your advice be to them if they're thinking about whether or not they should get this shot? >> any time you're testing a new drug or vaccine, you want to start with people who are less likely to have a serious long-term effect in case something goes wrong. we generally don't start with pregnant women and children. now that we have vaccines that look really good, it's time to go to that next step of testing them in smaller children. so far only down to age 12, and also pregnant women. we think that should be safe, but you want to collect that data. that will be happening in the coming months, but at the present time, that would be something where you want to see

some more data before deciding to sign up your kids or yourself if you happen to be a pregnant woman. this is going to happen over the course of the spring. and certainly by the summer i think we'll be at the point where every american ought to be in a position to have access to a vaccine regardless of whether they're a kid or pregnant woman or elderly person or african american. we're going to have a lot of data on all those circumstances that ought to be possible for everybody to look at and make a wise decision. >> all right. dr. francis collins, here's hoping we can have many more optimistic forward-looking conversation with you as we try to get through this dark and difficult winter. thank you so much for your expertise today. really appreciate the conversation. and coming up next here, we'll have the latest on coronavirus relief bill talks on the hill. i'm going to talk to members on both sides of the aisle. sle. ♪

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welcome back. after months of gridlock and hardship for so many americans, a coronavirus relief bill is finally taking shape in congress. a bill that both parties have indicated they could potentially get behind. nearly a week after framework of the bipartisan pill was -- bill was announced, we're waiting to see the final text. lawmakers wanted it released today. we haven't seen it and the timeline may slide. last week nancy pelosi indicated she expects the bill to be included in the larger government funding bill which has a deadline of this friday. if it doesn't make it into that bill, lawmakers would be left with a short runway as the year draws to a close and aid programs are set to expire. garrett haake is on capitol hill with the latest on the negotiations. it's great to see you. we've been fraying to figure out the latest state of play in the

talks. there are some major outstanding issues they're trying to hammer out as they put pen to paper and write this bill. what are the final sticking points that we're dealing with here, and how close do you think we are to a problem that could actually cause these negotiations to fall apart? >> kasie, on the two issues that seem to be hanging up the negotiators on this are two issues we've heard a lot about over the last couple months in fact first state and local aid money. sources on the democratic side think that's probably an easier issue to solve. democrats always wanted more money. republicans have tried to zero out. there may be a method of controlling you that money is spent. that will make everybody happy. the thornier issue seems to be the provilsion of a liability shield, protection of companies against lawsuits related to covid-19. in the original bipartisan framework here, the idea was that the federal government

would create some kind of shield for the short-term to give states time to create their own policies on this issue. but now that seems to be fraying. the republicans would like to see a federal standard across the board. democrats have kept as best i can tell to that provision. this is a tricky one. it's not an issue, frankly, that most americans are paying close attention to. it's not something that will feel like emergency relief to a lot of people. but guess who cares about it a great deal? mitch mcconnell. he controls what will come to the floor. this particular issue is one i think we could be seeing debate over within and between the parties for quite some time still. >> yeah. that's right. it's been such a sticky situation, and it's the one thing that mcconnell mentions every single time he goes to the microphones and talks about what to do next here. >> reporter: every time. >> garrett, thank you so much. it's great to have you. joined now by two lawmakers

backing this bill and have been involved in the process of writing it. the chairs of the house problem solvers caucus. tom reed and josh gottheimer. congressman gottheimer, let me start with you to pick up on the thread i was talking about with gard and the -- garrett and the problems around the liability question. are you confident you can resolve this in a way that won't sink it? we know mcconnell backs this very strongly, and that means that this whole thing potentially could fall apart over this issue if it's not where he decides is an acceptable place. so where are we now? and do you think it's solvable? >> i think we'll get there. thank you for having us. the problem solvers caucus which tom and i co-chair along with a group of senators, democrats and republicans have been working around the clock for weeks. we've gotten through most of the issues, and there's plenty other ones that are tricky. we recognize that we've got to

get something done. we can't go home for the holidays without helping people. between the 200,000 people a day diagnosed with co-vid, people in food lines for the first time and the small businesses who are going out every day, we have to deliver something. i think we'll work through this. it's tough. you're right. it's tough. i'm feeling we have good momentum and we're almost there. >> i'm sensing optimism. i'm sure for many people who are stressed out, it's a relief to hear that tone in your voice. congressman reed, let me ask you about where president trump stands. we know his support or lack thereof has been critical for getting other members of your house republican conference on board with something. what do you need from the president to get more support in your conference, enough support to get this over the finish line, especially if there are concerns, perhaps, among progress ives and you need more republican votes to get it done?

>> yeah. i think the republican votes will be there. as we represented in the problem solvers caucus, we're 25 republicans, 25 democrats that josh and i co-chair. and we're reflective of other members outside the caucus and in congress. i think what the president will bring to the table, and as we have demonstrated and kept them informed working with others over the last few months trying to get to the point where we're rais razor close to a deal getting done. there are points that need to be resolved at the end, but i think the president wants to get a deal done. he made a commentary last week, we're getting there. we're getting closer. i will tell you i think the president recognizes that for purposes of getting through co-vid, we got the vaccine coming up this week. getting this relief bill to the table, to the signature phase and delivering this to the american people is part of something i think he wants to be part of. and i know his team has been

working with us in order to get this done. >> congressman, let me ask you about something that's been at the forefront for members of your party and that is aid for state and local governments. we've heard a lot of republicans express concern about sending money to blue states. it does seem as though your bill includes some money for state and local governments. is that issue resolved? are you happy with where things stand, or is it under discussion and potentially a problem you'll have to resolve here this week? >> i mean, we had a three-hour call yesterday, and i think we're within inches. not just of the entire package, but of that issue as well. i mean, it's -- we had the meeting this morning about it. we're continuing to go back and forth. the bottom line is it's a tough one, too, but we've made enormous progres, and the point is on all of these issues, i think when you look at the package and totality, it's a short-term emergency relief

package to get us through the first months, through the tough winter into the new administration, and so all of our focus has been how do we help people through the tough time? how do you make sure and state and local governments can pay cops and firefighters and teachers. how do we have food assistance and have eviction moratoriums so people aren't thrown out of homes? this is our focus the last weeks and i think we'll get there. >> congressman reed, let me ask you about -- gottheimer listed off a series of priorities and places. we know people need help. there's bipartisan agreement on those things. one thing that hasn't been on the table in these conversations has been an extension of the program that lets people take paid leave if they have co-vid or if a relative does. why has that not been part of this conversation? >> well, obviously there's been a lot of issues that have not made it into this emergency

relief fund negotiation and bill, because as we put this together and we laid out the 0 $900 billion, we were trying to find the common ground areas to get to 80 % type of lines. and when it came to not only lead but other issues, the direct payment issue, and things of that name, we said this where we can agree. this is critical we get the relief flowing now. we missed an opportunity before the presidential election. that's water under the bridge. we built this from the water up. working in a bipartisan, senators with us in the problem solvers caucus and us standing with senators, we're in the best position to deliver relief to the people back home, and i will tell you, that is needed given where we're at with the virus. >> all right. congressman reed, before i let you go, i have to ask you about "the washington post" report over the weekend that nearly 90% of your colleagues on capitol

hill have not said or acknowledged, rather, that joe biden is the president-elect. i know you personally have congratulated joe biden, but i'm wondering what you think this means for a country that is battling the biggest crisis in a generation to have almost the entirety of your party not accept this transfer of power in a straight guard way, the way we always have in our democracy? >> well, you know, obviously i offer my position of recognizing the president-elect on joe biden's position as that title. and what we have to do is ensure that every vote is counted, and we're at that point. that has to come to a conclusion, and i am confident, and as the president said, when the electoral college votes, and that process is completed, the transition of power will occur in america, and that's when america is different. we go through the transition of power in a peaceful, honorable way. we're going to do that again here in short order.

>> all right. congressman tom reed and congressman scott gottheimer. i want to thank both of you, and here's hoping for all the people out there hurting, that they can understand that it's the kind of work that you guys are doing here that we unfortunately don't see enough of these days in washington that actually is what it takes to get help out the door to those people. so here's hoping that for the holidays we can have a little more of that here in our country. thank you both for being here today. coming up next, it's going to be a big day in the georgia senate races after a big night last night. we'll explain that coming up next. next when i was laid off... ...it was absolutely terrifying. i felt like i was just fighting an uphill battle in my career. as a little kid i knew that i wanted to work with computers. ♪ so when i heard about the applied digital skills courses, that definitely appealed to me. you're learning how to create spreadsheets,

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the last day to register to vote in georgia ahead of the state's two senate runoffs. and last night we saw potentially the dienl debate night of 2020. it was an unorthodox debate because david purdue decided to skip the debate. john ossoff stood next to an open podium. kelly leoffler continued to

refuse to call joe biden the president-elect. joining me now is shaq brewster. it is great to see you as always. what is the latest on the ground there? obviously republicans are split there. it is a really difficult message to drive home and use to convince people to get out and use their vote? >> yeah, that is exactly the concern among republican elected officials here and that is why you're seeing a push back against the president and anyone questioning the integrity of their election. president trump was here on saturday campaigning for the republican candidates and it was at that rally that he claimed that he won the election. he said that the election was rigged. he said at one point that there

were ballots falling from ceilings. that's what you heard them bushing back on over the course of the weekend. up to this morning where they said today was a disyfgs campaign and they went through a conspiracy video that went out there. it was very unconventional, and there was a conversation they had with a lecturn and a moderator. let's look at how they dodged some specific questions they asked. >> do you support expanding the supreme court? >> i'm not too focused on it. >> should members of congress be

parr barred from trading stocks? >> what is at stake in this election is the american dream. >> one thing that stuck out with me from that debate is that more than $300 million has been spent on television ads alone. so voters here, they heard many of the attacks from these campaigns. they know the framing of these messages. this is an opportunity for both candidates to counter those attacks or deflect and really address those claims head on. kaci? >> a barn burner in georgia. thank you as always, shak. thank you for being here. chuck will be back tomorrow with more "meetth press daily. weekday mornings here on msnbc.

c ...even in early stages. tell me more. it's for people 45 plus at average risk for colon cancer, not high risk. false positive and negative results may occur. ask your prescriber or an online prescriber if cologuard is right for you. i'll get on it! that's a step in the right direction.

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sabrihelafter the yearya, too? ofknwe just had,?is. the usual gifts are just not going to cut it. so we have to find something else. good luck! what does that mean? we are doomed. (laughter) that's it. i figured it out! we're going to give togetherness. that sounds dumb. no, santa, we're going to take all those family moments that make the holidays and package them. oh, you are getting so big! woahh! it's down to the wire, the team's been working around the clock. i'm not sure it's going to work. it'll work. i didn't know you were listening. hmm. (laughing) that works.

good afternoon, i'm katy tur, it is 11:00 a.m. out west, 2:00 p.m. in the east. the first vaccine could be approved for you in the united states as early as this week. public health officials warn it will not do anything to slow the current