contact. >> all right. mike allen, very interesting stuff. thanks very much for being here this morning. all i will say as we wrap up here is happy safe harbor day. i wonder how republicans are going to be celebrating. thanks for getting up "way too early." don't go anywhere. "morning joe" starts right now. thank you everybody, i appreciate it. >> a question about the inauguration. >> thank you very much. >> anything on bill barr, sir? >> congratulations, sir. >> he's gone. [ laughter ] >> well, i guess that's how we all could feel soon. president trump after giving a medal to wrestler gable and his

family was standing there wondering what just happened. good morning and welcome to "morning joe." tuesday, december 8th. we have nbc news capitol hill correspondent kasie hunt. see never sleeps. >> never sleeps. i want to talk about some news that broke yesterday, some personal news. i say personal news, not professional news because phil griffin who has been running this network for so long is going to be leaving now. he's -- willie, i joked with him that he was like jim brown of, you know, the cleveland browns, who left when he was the best runner in the nfl. nobody leaves on top when they're at the top of the game. phil has been at this game for 35 years, been at msnbc for 25 years. we are now finally after 8,000 years in first place. so -- >> only 8,000.

>> i say the network. so phil decided after being here for 25 years we're in first place. he decided that he was going to leave. and we're really excited for him. thrilled for him. but, you know, i'm very sad because phil called me 18 years ago. actually, 18 years ago this month, that's how old i am and said, hey, have you ever thought about having your own tv show? and being the humble, modest man i said, i said, well, phil, i was just about to call you that. i didn't know phil griffin so it was a bizarre thing to say. and he laughed. and he's always told that story, but he's told everybody afterwards that he actually found me on the beach in florida with a medal detector looking for scraps of metal. i have reminded him i had been in congress, been elected four times to congress, but he doesn't remember that part. so he still thinks that he found

me on the beach. but i remember one moment after i got up to msnbc and this is 2003. phil was pacing around the office. msnbc's numbers were horrible in 2003. he said my contract is up in a month or two, i'm going to be fired. i don't know what i'm going to do. what he ended up doing over the past 17 years has been building a network and doing it by giving us and other people absolute autonomy and freedom. and i know that both mika and willie and mike barnicle and anybody else that's associated with this program will confirm that the only reason this show ever took off, the only reason "morning joe" survived a week

was because phil gave us total freedom. now, that doesn't mean he didn't offer us a lot of sage advice. he had called me early on and he said, joe, you only have one person watching this show. it's tim russert. book every segment. >> audience of one. >> audience of one. book every segment, do every show like there's one person watching and that's tim russert and that extraordinary autonomy, mika, allowed us and phil allowed us to make a lot of mistakes, to take a lot of chances. but as you told me when another network was talking about taking -- about asking us to go over there, you said, joe, i have been in tv my whole life and you would be crazy to leave what phil has provided all of us and that is absolute freedom. never once calling us up, saying, hey, you should don't this or you should do that or

you shouldn't ask this question or -- never once. mika, i think you know better than most because i'm not a tv guy even though i have been in here a long time. you are, but it's extraordinary what -- how he has -- how he's allowed this show to exist and is responsible for its success. >> when you talk about autonomy and freedom, it was freedom to be who we are. and freedom to find our way and find what makes something work because you can't create it and, willie, you know, we were talking to phil last night. walking down memory lane and, boy, is he just a joyful leader. but we were also talking about how happy we were about the incoming president, rashida jones. >> yes. >> and the many barriers being broken there and the fact that they're working together and overlapping, that this isn't some, you know, wrenched

situation, that this is -- this is all joyful and that has been something that i have noticed about phil's leadership. he's loved every moment of it and he's enjoyed the ride, but also enjoyed the relationships, the friendships, the funny moments, the crazy moments that happen in this business just oh, dealing with us. you know? it's been fun. >> that's not been easy and, you know, mika often -- know your value. she often, willie, will joke about how early on in our relationship like until like a couple of weeks ago, we would sometimes fight and we would fight very loudly, phil and i would go back and forth. and be yelling back and forth and then the second was resolved we'd sit down and go, hey, what about the mets bullpen? and she never could figure that out. and i just told her, because she thinks that's like how -- that's a man thing. like that's how a lot of -- no.

that happened, willie, because phil griffin is my big brother. >> speaking of know your value, there's a piece on rashida -- i did an interview with her and so we put it on the front page, taking a look at everything she's bringing to the table in a know your value and very much the know your value way. she really is a symbol of the message, but what's wonderful is that we can celebrate phil, willie, and rashida at the same time. >> yeah. i mean, rashida has been a star for a long time in this building. so no one deserves this job more and as you say the handoff is seamless. phil gets to go out on top and have that nice handover to rashida in a couple of months, it will be great. yeah, you're right. i think the joy and the relationships that you talked about were the best part of it for phil. he loved mixing it up and talking about the show and talking about what was going on in the building and, yeah,

sometimes you would be sitting in his office with some existential crisis in your life, pouring out your soul to him and he'll look over your shoulder, oh, the bullpen, because he was watching espn, yeah, that happened a few times. i wouldn't be sitting without phil. i was a producer behind the scenes and when you guys called me up to do this show, it took the guy who was running the place at the time to say, yeah, okay that makes sense let's give it a try. he has something that we don't see a lot of in tv, which is executive patience. he took the time with the show. i think he got it early on and he was willing to stay with it and say, i think if we give this some time, it may work. there's always a haste by executives to say this isn't working, change something or put in somebody new. we owe him, i owe him so much. probably all of my professional career with a lot of help from a lot of other people.

but we'll be very sad to see him go, but i'm glad he gets to go out the way he wants to. >> same here. i want to say one more name too, because of course it leads to another funny story. >> oh, no. >> it will be very brief, but neil shapiro who is the president of nbc news. i think phil and neil shapiro were the only two people in 30 rock i know in fact that did not want to handcuff me and put a bag over my head after i walked into the building. like they were the only two and i don't see neil -- well, we don't see anybody, willie, because we never go into 30 rock. even before the pandemic, but neil shapiro and phil called me up and i sat there and they asked me to give the pitch and i was in 30 rock and i don't know if you knew this or not, mika, but i'm just as poor, dumb country lawyer. >> something like that. >> i started to give my pitch

and then i realized i didn't belong there and i started to sweat while sitting there. and phil turned his head and he looked at me in horror saying, i have been saying how great you are, kid. i was 40. or something. maybe 40, i forget. but i was younger. he said -- he's staring at me like what are you doing? i was wiping the sweat off. it was worse than nixonian sweat, but neil shapiro still saw through to do this. and again, i just can't say this enough. phil allowed us to fail. he allowed us to succeed. i remember several years ago our numbers were down. the lowest they have ever been. and there were stories in the paper that we were going to be canceled and i called the "morning joe" family together and i said, listen, we're fine. we're fine. don't look at the ratings.

we're putting the best shows we have ever put on. don't worry about it. guess what? this will be rewarded. just keep your head down, do your job, don't look at the ratings, don't read the paper. there's only one reason i can say that and why we can say that, and that's because phil had our back, that phil wasn't going to panic. that he believed in this show. so anyway, i'm sorry, we have talked 11 minutes and i know this the self-indulgent. forgive us, but if you love our show, or if you hate our show, you have phil griffin to blame. >> i will say one other thing, mika, before we get to the news. you will hear a version of this story after us today starting 9:00 a.m. and ending at midnight. and whatever show is your favorite is here largely by the grace of phil griffin and the patience he's made and the

patience he's exercised. hats off, we'll miss you. >> so guys, stop us if you heard this before. joe biden has won georgia. >> wow. >> georgia's secretary of state has recertified the presidential election results confirming joe biden's win again. biden has prevailed in three separate counts of the ballots. the official initial tally, a hand recount ordered by the state and the latest machine recount which was requested by president trump's campaign. the results continuously show biden with a lead of nearly 12,000 votes. the outcome of the third and final round of recount efforts comes after a tumultuous post election rift between trump and republican leaders of the historically red state. >> it's been a long 34 days since the election on november 3rd. we have now counted legally cast

ballots three times and the results remain unchanged. as secretary of state i work to secure the votes of all voters. disinformation regarding election administration should be condemned and rejected. integrity matters. truth matters. >> yeah. thank you. >> you know, at the end of this disgraceful episode and in the history of -- >> dangerous. >> dangerous, there are going to be a few names that are going to stand out as people who held the line. people that actually put democracy and democratic institutions ahead of -- >> themselves and everything. >> and partisanship and he's at the top of that list. kasie, the division goes on in the state of florida -- in the state of georgia with republicans and the polls which

of course we can believe about as much as astrology readings, it shows they were tied. i think the polls were fairly accurate in georgia in the presidential race, so if these polls are still accurate, republicans have got to figure out a way to bring the civil war to an end in georgia and that might have something to do with mitch mcconnell finally standing up and speaking out as the president continues to call -- well, last night i guess we got news that he called pennsylvania's republican speaker of the house to try to rig the election there. >> yeah. it's one of the oldest rules in politics, right, joe? if you're united and your enemy is divided, you are likely to come out on top. and that's what republicans are facing right now. democrats are largely united. they are for the most part,

national democrats are staying away from the race. they want it to be locally focused. they don't have to do all that much while they sit and watch republicans fight amongst themselves. and this is in fact a problem for them and i agree about the polling. the polling in georgia was right going in. everyone on both sides of the aisle that i was talking to had joe biden up slightly in georgia. and the senate race is a little bit closer and that's what happened. but this situation is completely unprecedented so it's incredibly difficult to make assumptions okay who is going to show up, who is going to vote, which leads to solid polling. we have two runoffs to determine the majority control of the senate. you have a president and telling republicans to vote in rigged elections, oh, that process that's not fair you should definitely participate in the process that's unfair. why? that's a very hard thing to wrap your head around if you're a republican voter.

so today is the safe harbor deadline for electors. it's a deadline that some republicans have been paying attention to. of course there's the final deadline next week when the electoral college will vote. in the meantime, this is potentially going to be another casualty of the trump administration for republicans in washington and joe, just very briefly, you know, i also just want to echo the comments you guys were making. it's you and mika and phil griffin are the reason why i'm sitting here today answering this question about republican division for i don't know how many times we have had this conversation on this show over the last four years. but i'm really happy to have been able to be a part of it and i absolutely owe it to him. >> amen to that. amen to that, kasie. we'll come back to this safe harbor day, a day we shouldn't have to know but we do. it's when we start certifying this election but let's take a turn to the latest developments with the biden transition. the president-elect will nominate retired army general lloyd austin to be the next secretary of defense. the 67-year-old retired

four-star general is the former head of the u.s. central command. let's bring in nbc news correspondent mike memoli with the transition in wilmington, delaware. good morning. we heard about some other names during the process. how did the president-elect come to the general here? >> well, when this transition began and we talked about all of the nominations and appointments that a president-elect biden was gogz to have to make the one that everyone seems surest about was for defense secretary and he'd make a choice of michele flournoy as the first woman to lead the pentagon. in the end, he made a different historic choice in choosing lloyd austin, the first african-american to lead the pentagon. to understand how this decision came down, there are two important takeaways to help us understand why. the one is the important role that joe biden helped in oversee what was a major promise of course of the president obama to draw down the u.s. military

presence in iraq and the second is how significant for biden relationships are. 12 years ago, even before he took the oath as vice president, as vice president elect that he traveled to iraq to help present president obama with information about the situation there. and one of the first officials he met in kirkuk was general austin and as biden recalled that meeting months later, he said that allen -- that he had several opportunities to ask several questions all the things that he thought they needed in iraq and the only question that he asked him was how is your son? you'll remember that beau biden at the time was actually deployed to iraq and biden said this showed to him that this is man who saw every deployed soldier as someone's son, as someone's daughter and he would chair the monthly meetings to iraq. he traveled twice there in 2011

when he was the u.s. commander of forces there. this helped to drive this decision. we may see this decision announced today and biden is unveiling his health team. as the white house is holding the vaccine summit to take credit for president trump in getting to the point where we have the vaccine, biden is going to be introducing the officials who will be charged with actually making sure that vaccine is distributed to americans. and we're seeing one of those officials, xavier becerra, the choice to lead the health and human services get some pushback from republicans on capitol hill. take a listen to what senator john cornyn of texas had to say yesterday. >> biden said that he was going to nominate xavier becerra to hhs. do you have any thoughts on becerra and in general, how difficult would it be for someone who supports abortion rights and single payer to get

through the senate? >> i think it would be difficult to state the of course. there should be some deference in the president-elect's choice for his cabinet, but some of these folks are pretty radical. and -- >> you think he's pretty radical? >> yeah. >> you do? >> yeah. what are the department of health and human credentials are? not like azar who had a pharma background, but we'll take it one step at a time. >> whenever you hear this kind of pushback from republican senators who have to obviously vote on these nominations about some of president-elect biden's selections, biden's team is pointing out yet another senator who has to publicly acknowledge that biden has won this election calling him the president-elect. that's something they all take careful note of. >> sometimes it's just a slip of

the tongue, but there it was. nbc's mike memoli, thank you so much. let's turn to james stavridis, chief international strategy and diplomacy analyst for nbc news and msnbc. good to see you this morning. tell us what you know about general lloyd austin, a four-star who ran centcom among other posts. >> yes, he's a terrific person. i have known him well over 20 years, back to when i was a captain in the navy and he was a colonel in the army. he was working in the joint operations there and joint ops is a key job. lloyd has had obviously superb combat experience. principally in the middle east. afghanistan and iraq, he's a recipient of the silver star. just an unimpeachment combat

record. he has a lot of experience in the building. he was the vice chief of staff of the army, extremely well regarded, loved in the army. he was without question one of the best directors of the joint staff. willie, that's one of the key jobs in the pentagon, three-star level. so he really knows the building and as a reporter was telling us correctly has the strong relationship with the vice president. and, you know, he's african-american, 40% of the u.s. military is minority. african-americans, latinos, asians, mixed race. it is i think a very strong choice and it will be very well received in the pentagon. >> admiral, of course, there's been a tradition of having civilians in this position. but obviously donald trump selected general mattis. any concern that -- we're going

to be having another general running the pentagon and just in general do you think -- do you think that americans should have a concern or should have a preference as to whether you have the military man or woman in there or a civilian? >> i think as a general matter, you want a civilian. you want to have a strong civilian oversight of the military always. on the other hand, look at marshall and mattis, pretty solid choices, both to say the least. i think lloyd austin will fit well in that category. but to do the "morning joe" thing, we don't want to go to the bullpen and draw out a military officer. i think principally we want to go with strong civilian leadership. but lloyd i think will fill the bill very, very well. also, you know, the challenges he's got coming up are significant. top of the list i would say is

just settling the pentagon. we have had four secretaries of defense in this very turbulent period. the pentagon is really hungry for a steady hand on the tiller and this is where he has some work to do, china and the great rise of politics. i think this is a significant focus for the pentagon and lloyd doesn't have deep experience in the pacific is like the middle east. thirdly, this biden team is a wonderful, collegial group that's been assembled but lloyd has to push hard for the budget, for the pentagon, and they're going to be a lot of competing demands shall we say in a biden administration. so he'll have his hands full, joe. but i think he's a fine choice coming with a lot of experience. he'll settle the pentagon. he'll be a key member of president biden's team.

>> retired admiral james stavridis, thank you. we turn now back to president trump's ongoing attempts to subvert the election results. as joe mentioned earlier "the washington post" is reporting that president trump called pennsylvania's house speaker twice last week to request help in overturning the state's election results. the phone calls which were confirmed by house speaker brian cutler's office make pennsylvania the third state where trump has directly attempted to overturn a result since he lost the election to joe biden. he also reached out to republicans in michigan and georgia governor brian kemp. a spokesperson for cutler tells nbc news that the president did not pressure cutler to overturn the election saying, quote, it was a conversation and briefing on the changes to pennsylvania election law, the impacts of the

state supreme court and our election process and what challenges are ongoing in court as a result of those interventions, according to that spokesperson cutler made it clear what powers we have and don't have as a legislature. including how electors are chosen. let's bring in contributing writer to "the atlantic," zeynep tufekci from the university of carolina. you have written a really, really important piece in "the atlantic." it is entitled it must be your first, in which you're, quite frankly, talking about acting as if you're arguing that acting as if trump is trying to stage a coup is the best way to ensure that he won't. you write in part, quote, coup may not quite caption what we're witnessing in the united states right now. but there's also a danger here.

punditry can tend to focus too much on decorum and terminology like the overachieving students so many of us once were, conflating the ridiculous with the unserious. the incompetence of the attempt do not change its nature. however, nor do those traits allow us to dismiss it or ignore it until it finally fails on account of that incompetence and this has been, you know, something that i think has happened in the media. i think we have become a bit disoriented and a bit worn down by the many norms that president trump has broken through. and it's almost hard to keep up, but at the same time, i have often argued you don't want to -- you don't want to stop being shocked about what is happening here because it is such a threat to our democracy. could you talk a bit about what he's trying to do now and how it

does parallel with a coup? >> well, maybe if i put the name to what he's doing by calling state legislatures, it's trying to steal an election. that is what it is. he's actually calling on the state legislatures and his allies have publicly said this. they have asked for state legislatures to appoint electors who would pick him. and we are at a point what makes it more dangerous is that just a couple days ago, the republican secretary of state and republican officials in georgia are begging for their own party to stand up and make this stop and i'm quoting, before someone gets killed. every day he's saying there's a stolen election and that even the republicans are

delegitimizing joe biden's election. he is saying this is all huge illegal cover-up, in order to try to steal the election and the republican leadership is not acknowledging joe biden as president-elect. "washington post" did a survey yesterday and 88% of republicans in the house and the senate wouldn't say who won the election. i mean, when you have a situation like that where the president is relentlessly trying to steal the election and his party which already has a minority rule entrenched. there's senators in very rural states and that leads every republican, the house has been gerrymandered and it's been gerrymandered. there's a 60% republican

advantage so you have the minority rule. and the party's leader and let's name this, this is the president of the country and is claiming that the election is stolen using -- yes, it's funny in some ways that the claims with so outrageous, but they're very real and -- >> exactly. >> i mean, this may not be a technical coup. but it may be you could call it a constitutional coup, but people are using the word coup because it captures the moment in which right in front of our eyes with the tacit approval of his political party he is attempting to steal the election and i think we're focusing too much on the twitter spelling mistakes and all of that to sit back and say, wait a minute. this is not okay. why isn't the republican leadership coming out and saying this is not okay, we have republican governors and state electors begging because their state -- somebody is going to

get killed because eventually yesterday michigan's governor said armed people showed up at her house quote/unquote protesting. this is escalating and keeps saying it. and the millions of people who did vote for him, all they're hearing is that somebody stole their vote and the republican leadership is not standing up and saying it's not true. we just happen to have lost the election. >> let's put this in historical context because you are right. this is escalating before our eyes and the president held a rally where thousands of people showed up, by the way, not wearing masks. you know, applauding him and shouting and agreeing with him and going along with him, which is a whole other part of this. you write in this piece about your own experience in turkey and it reminded me very much of my parent's experience.

my mother grew up in czechoslovakia, my father in poland and talking to madeleine albright who wrote fascism, a warning that everyone should read. everyone who has come from other countries knows what they're seeing. >> if this had happened in any other country in the world, traditional u.s. state department would be out there saying this is an attempt to steal an election. the newspaper would describe it as an attempt to steal an election. a straw man is attempting to steal an election by having overturning the process. by the way, after the georgia rally and elsewhere, they're chanting lock him up for the republican governor of georgia. all he's done is point out there have been not just one, but two thorough recounts and the margin holds. that's all he's done. and they are out there chanting

lock him up, the president and his supporters. and the republican leadership, the fact that they're not standing up to him makes it really dangerous because if they were standing up to him and if everything else was going nicely, then you could maybe say, okay, we'll wait it out because people know the truth. no, i know that, you know, people are watching msnbc that might not feel like that, but 74 million people voted for him and they are hearing that their votes are stolen and their party is not telling them this is not true. this is not dangerous, i don't know what is. >> thank you. >> that's why as people not from this country who have been through such processes i can say how can you let the peaceful of power, the bedrock of democracy be assaulted like this without saying a word? if there's ever a country over party moment, if this is not it

i don't know when it is. but here we are. in your previous story, you're saying that senators weren't even acknowledging joe biden was the president-elect. this is ridiculous. this is not a game where you play around and you pretend this is that and then i'm rubber, you're glue. this is the president of the united states. the man with the nuclear codes and a lot is at stake. >> everybody should read your piece in "the atlantic." a contributing writer at "the atlantic," zeynep tufekci, thank you very much and thank you for being on today. >> you know, willie, it's interesting that friends of mine that have come to this country from illiberal democracies or from communist countries or from totalitarian countries have been the ones warning me repeatedly over the past four years saying

you don't understand. this is how the straw man in our country -- look, you know, of course that warning was from turkey. i have had friends from turkey, friends from albania, friends from across europe that have emigrated here that have been warning me for years, this is how a straw man looks. this is how a straw man acts and i will say, i have been saying -- oh, institutions will hold. so far they have, but that said, i think she makes a great point that a lot of -- along the lines, who say we don't have the language for this. we get on here and we're shocked and we're stunned and we're deeply saddened but we keep speaking in these generalities because this has never happened before. so when we call this a coup, it doesn't quite fit. we don't quite have the language so maybe it's an auto coup. donald trump is acting like a fascist, but we don't want to

call him a fascist. even though if you look up the definition of fascism, so much of what he does fits neatly in there. but we don't have the language here. because we have never seen this before. and so we just sit back dumb struck, not quite -- >> that's how it happens. >> not quite able to articulate as precisely as we need to articulate what's happening and of course in this article, she's from turkey and says we have four or five different terms for coup. because we go through it so many times in turkey. >> well, yeah, there's the temptation to mock what we're seeing because it is so pathetic and so incompetent. yes, there's been four seasons, landscaping, yes there was hair dye running down the cheeks of rudy giuliani, yes, they failed in almost every single case they have brought before the courts and as we tried to point out, 74 million people voted for trump,

the second largest vote total behind only joe biden. 74 million people, not all of them buying into this, but a lot of them are. a lot of them are and the thin line that we're walking right now is if there were different people in certain positions because republicans in congress are going along for the ride. but if there was not a brad raffensperger who we showed a minute ago in georgia, holding his ground, governor kemp holding his ground, people in michigan, people in pennsylvania, it's actually a small group of people who have stood in the breach and said, no, this is not going to happen. the courts have held the line for the most part. they're saying, no, this is not going to happen. but i think you're right to point out that it's not that wild a thought to think that donald trump could have pulled this off if not for a few different people in a few different places and kasie, i pledge to you i wouldn't ask you the same question every single day so i won't do it here, but

is there any alarm -- i mean, when you see the president of the united states meddling in an election, maybe that sounds familiar from the last couple of years, interfering in the election, calling the governor of georgia, asking him to make changes, calling the pennsylvania speaker of the house, does that not raise alarms for any republicans on capitol hill? >> i think it does, willie. the next turn of this conversation i think is going to focus on, you know, there's a very sort of arcane process that's laid out for the actual way in which we select the president and it involves the house and the senate and the electoral college and there are some things that people can do on the house floor. it requires cooperation from the senate, that while it's extraordinarily far-fetched to suggest that that would actually overturn the election, it's perhaps the next phase of this

total landscaping, hair dye press conference type of situation. and that's something to watch for. i think there's some pressure on these republicans but i think the overall point that we have all been discussing here is absolutely the right one because this has happened little by little by little. you know, first, it's a tweet that's a personal insult to someone about something that's inconsequential. and republicans are asked about it and they explain it away and then the next time it's little bit bigger. the issue is a little bit more important. and it's not easy to be the person that takes the hard stand and that is willing to stand in the face of the tweets and take the heat. but you do it. so you do this little by little by little for four years and now here we are in a place where if you had asked all of the people if they would be saying the things after somebody else won a presidential election they would have told you you're insane, it would never happen, but here we are.

>> but here we are. mika, that reminds me of what you read from jonah goldberg yesterday. that if jonah had told republicans how donald trump would be acting just six months ago they would have accused him of being guilty of trump derangement syndrome and then if jonah had told them that trump would do all of these things and not only would they sit back and be quiet, but would cheer his suggestion he might run again in 2024 they would laugh him out of the room. but as kasie said, here we are. and this republican party is complicit in a weak straw man's effort to subvert american democracy and our most critical democratic institutions. >> yeah. madeleine albright writes about dictators and autocrats and how

they willingly sacrifice the followers who think this dictator is somehow authentic. does it ring a bell? we'll move on to news now. the national health service kicked off the mass immunization program against coronavirus. shipments of biontech/pfizer vaccine arrived. those over 80 and health care staff will be the first to receive doses of the vaccine. overnight, 90-year-old margaret keenan from northern ireland became the first person in the world to receive the vaccine outside of trial conditions. >> what do you say to those who might be having second thoughts? >> well, i say go for it. go for it, because it's free. it's the best thing that's ever happened at the moment. so do, please go for it. that's all i have to say, you

know? if i can do it, well, so can you. >> joining us now is senior international correspondent keir simmons live from wales which is one of the hardest hit countries in europe. keir? >> reporter: hey, mika. well, we're inside a vaccination center. this is one of 17 hospitals and health centers that have been set up across the uk. as you can see behind me, vaccination has begun. we're in here because this is exactly the kind of thing that you're going to see in the u.s. very soon. this is a community center that's been converted -- it's actually two basketball courts. just to tell you what you're seeing behind me, patients are coming in from the entrance to my right. there we see a new patient every 20 minutes or so. you can see at the back of the basketball court there, there are vaccination cubicles where they will go to be vaccinated. they're given a card that tells

them they have had the first dose and when they should have the second dose and then the chairs are arranged -- mostly empty. this is where people go to sit to see if they have had any immediate adverse reactions, just to calm themselves a little bit before they leave. and they leave by a separate exit. because of course just because the vaccinations are happening here, they're still having to follow those crucial social distancing and sanitizing procedures. there are sanitizers all around here because they are still trying to make sure that there is no infection here. what's happening here, mika, really does have some lessons for them in the u.s. so they have brought that pfizer vaccine here defrosted. they don't have the very, very cold freezer here's so they have five days to use the doses that they have here. another crucial point, they asked us not to say too much about where this is because

they're worried of course that people may descend on this place if they know. i think that's the kind of thing that they'll be worrying about over there in the u.s. what we're mostly seeing here, not so much in other places but certainly here, health workers. it is very difficult of course for the elderly and frail to get to the location like this. not for all of them, but for some of them. and there are challenges here in the uk already about trying to get the vaccine because of this distribution issue to locations where the elderly are. so this is -- this is the capital of wales, it is a city, but, you know, there are going to be other places, rural areas, remote areas. the real challenge is how do you get this vaccine to those places? i have been speaking to some of the health workers here and there and saying they're looking forward to when there are more vaccines approved because this will make this distribution easier, guys. >> nbc's keir simmons, thank you so much for being on this morning. coming up, the white house

is hosting a so-called vaccine summit today. but vaccine developer pfizer and moderna have both declined their invitation and that comes amid new reporting that the white house passed on the chance to order more doses of pfizer's vaccine when it was offered up months ago. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. g "morning " we'll be right back. before discovering nexium 24hr to treat her frequent heartburn, marie could only imagine enjoying freshly squeezed orange juice. now no fruit is forbidden. nexium 24hr stops acid before it starts for all-day, all-night protection. can you imagine 24 hours without heartburn? no uh uh, no way come on, no no n-n-n-no-no only discover has no annual fee on any card. n-n-n-no-no i will send out an army to find you in the middle of the darkest night

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and it will rip your ears off if you do through it. if you ask me, i don't believe the damn thing exists. >> a drink for mr. yeager here. >> i've got one, thanks. >> so you do you think you want a go at it? >> i might. >> since as you say the sound barrier doesn't really exist, how much -- >> how much you got? >> i'm just joking. the air force is paying me already. isn't that right, sir? >> well, sure, yeager. >> when do we go? >> well, how about tomorrow morning? >> i'll be there. >> that was the great sam shepherd playing chuck yeager film in "the right stuff." willie, one of my favorite movies of all time. >> yeah. >> and sam shepherd, my god, one of the greatest acting performances i have ever seen on the screen of one of the great americans of our time.

>> absolutely. great movie, great book by tom wolf, by the way. ed harris, great as john glenn in the movie but we're talking about sam shepherd because the former u.s. air force officer died yesterday at the age of 97. talking about chuck yeager. on october 14, 1947, he became the first pilot the break the speed of sound as he flew the experimental bell xs 1 rocket plane over california. he said the ride was nice. just like riding fast in a car. the pilot later piloted fighter squadrons during the vietnam war and he was promoted to general and he was awarded the purple heart. he was awarded the collier air trophy in december of 1948 for his breaking of the sound barrier. he also received the presidential medal of freedom in 1985. once reflecting on his life

accomplishments, yeager said, quote, i was just a lucky kid who caught the right ride. incredible life, joe, before he broke the sound barrier. he was a fighter pilot in world war ii. joined out of high school. grew up in west virginia. flew missions over western europe. he was shot down in france. escaped with help from the french resistance into spain. truly, truly an extraordinary, almost cinematic life that he lived. >> yeah. >> just an extraordinary life. mika, if you haven't seen "the right stuff," the movie, take some time out and watch it. >> believe it or not, i have. >> mika has. it's an extraordinary story about an extraordinary man. >> and today marks the 40th anniversary of john lennon's death. the beetle was shot to death outside his new york city apartment building on december 8, 1980, by an apparently deranged fan. so we celebrate the legacy of

john lennon. back now to coronavirus news. the white house is hosting an operational warp speed vaccine summit today at the direction of president trump, but pfizer and moderna, the two vaccine manufacturers awaiting government approval for distribution will not attend. the summit is supposed to promote confidence in the vaccine, but it's seen as a way for the president to take credit for the success of the fast tracked development effort. the president is expected to sign an order to give vaccine priority to people in the u.s. before helping other countries. joining us now political reporter monica alba. monica, we noticed the announcement about the vaccine came after the election and now the main manufacturers not showing up at the white house it seems perhaps they're sending a message? >> i think that's part of it, mika, but also pfizer and

moderna are worried about an apparent appearance of a conflict of interest. and that's because the person who is a key part in approvaling both of those vaccines once we get that this the final stage, peter marx, is going to be speaking at the summit and these companies tell nbc news they felt it was inappropriate to be there and appear on a panel with the person who ultimately would be responsible for giving the green light. so they pulled out even though they were invited, but all of today's event are going to be quite notable and raise some eyebrows because in some ways this is like the president taking a victory lap before the game is over. he's going to tout how fast operation warp speed was able to work. of course these are incredibly encouraging developments. we want to see a vaccine but there are questions about how much political pressure was applied here, especially with the fda and the commissioner who's been summoned to the white house several times. so we're going to hear a little bit more into the window of why

the president is trying to also take full credit for this, which for his part it's because he doesn't want his successor joe biden when he takes office next month he gets a bulk of the recognition even though the delivery of this vaccine is going to fall time his lap. nobody from the incoming biden transition team or administration was invited to attend this event. it also comes as "the new york times" is reporting that the white house passed on an opportunity to purchase and secure millions more of the pfizer vaccine over the summer when given that chance. the white house is pushing back on that though. they're saying they're still in negotiations and they're confident that with pfizer, moderna and other potential vaccine candidates they will be able to have more than 100 million people vaccinated by the end of the second quarter. so essentially into next summer which is what the hope is. of course there's still a lot of questions about how the

distribution process is going to go and that's why the president is going to sign an executive order today, though largely symbolic, where he's hoping that americans are prioritized but pfizer has made deals as you know with the european union and other countries as they have developed their vaccine. >> nbc's monica alba, thank you very much for your reporting this morning. >> you know, we ought to stop here for a minute and look at what's happening this morning. we're having the event at the white house to celebrate the coming vaccines. we just had a shot from cardiff, wales, where vaccines are now being distributed, to citizens. we've got the news from overnight from northern ireland that the first person got it, in a medically supervised situation. it's just -- this is an extraordinary time and whether you talk about the united states or across the world, scientists

have moved at a record pace. >> for sure. >> and it is breathtaking because when this started, we heard that a vaccine might never be possible. that even if we did get a vaccine it might be one, two, three, four years away. >> right. >> and yesterday the world's smartest scientists, the most gifted people working together have brought us to this place. and it certainly -- it does deserve our attention and we should stop and recognize what an extraordinary job they did worldwide. >> well, at a time when science itself is under fire, at least in america. so this is an incredible moment and certainly grateful for those who have worked tirelessly on the front lines of this pandemic, as well as in creating a vaccine. coming up, we'll speak with a member of joe biden's covid

advisory board. dr. michael osterholm. plus, the man who rescued joe biden's presidential bid with his endorsement in south carolina and now chair of the presidential inaugural committee, congressman jim clyburn will join the conversation. plus, senators chris coons and joe manchin with the latest on covid relief talks. "morning joe" is coming right back.

it's the top of the hour. live look at the white house on this tuesday morning, december 8th. welcome back to "morning joe." >> can i stop for a second and say -- we just blew past it really quickly. but it is hard for me to believe

somebody who drew up a fan, the beatles, they were my obsession growing up. mika was freaked out, willie, one time when we were on a radio show and i offered to buy the beatles box set that came out and i offered anybody that could stump me on any beatles question, the box set. she sat there for three -- >> three hours. >> and people asking questions and the guy said, who was the name of the drummer that subbed for -- i cut him off, jimmy nichols. she's like, you're not healthy. but it's been 40 years. i mean, i sadly remember it like yesterday watching monday night football. but my god, you talk about a kid who grew up and changed the world. that is hard to believe, hard to believe all he accomplished in his short life and hard to believe that we have now -- we

have now not had john lennon for four decades, willie. >> i live not far from the dakota where he was killed, on the sidewalk on 72nd street. i walk by it not every day, but all the time and you can't help but think about his life and you walk in the park and there's the strawberry fields memorial. still 40 years later, not right now, obviously, but when the tourists are here it is packed with people paying their respects and what a life and how young they were, joe, when the beatles' run ended. people forget that. >> yeah. >> 40 years ago, 40th anniversary of john lennon's death. >> and their music still -- my kids listen to their music. everybody still listens, i want is extraordinary. kids will be listening to their music long after we're gone. but yeah, when i was in -- when i lived on the upper west side for many years i would -- every december 8th i would walk up and stand at a distance and watch

what was going on there. somehow, it's heart breaking that every year -- it's heart breaking. but we remember him 40 years after he passed away. >> let's get to our headlines now. the new numbers on the covid crisis on a seven-day average the nation has reported nearly 2,250 deaths, which breaks the previous record of 2,232 deaths set back in april during the early weeks of the pandemic. so far, the country has reported over 15 million cases and the death toll nears 285,000. many of the hardest hit counties are now in the midwest in north dakota, one in ten residents have contracted the virus and the state had the highest total reported cases by population. it is followed closely by south dakota, iowa, wisconsin and nebraska. according to the covid tracking

project, the u.s. has reported over 102,000 hospitalizations yesterday setting a new record high since the pandemic began. joining us now director of the center for infectious disease research and policy and a professor in the medical school at the university of minnesota, dr. michael osterholm. he is a member of president-elect joe biden's coronavirus advisory board. dr. osterholm, let's talk about where we stand right now. the numbers continue. there are events being held, some of them political events where people are not wearing masks. and they are gathering. we're headed toward christmas. what do you predict from the data that we have seen so far? >> well, good morning, mika. i think it's fair to say that these are the best of times and the worst of times. the best of time that we can talk about vaccine.

but the worst in times in terms of what we have ahead of us. these numbers don't reflect the surge we'll see from the thanksgiving day party cases. they're just starting to come in and i think that surge is going to really add new cases over the next seven to ten days. and then that's going to slingshot us into christmas and at that point, with the surge upon a surge now going into christmas which our initial data shows that travel appears to be up again for christmas, i think the next 6 to 12 weeks are going to be a challenge that it's hard to imagine exactly what it will represent. >> dr. osterholm, it's willie, good to see you this morning. you have been on tv and dr. fauci has been on tv since february. so, you know, ten months now. saying, socially distance, wear a mask, avoid large gatherings. you said it ad nauseam about thanksgiving and about the holidays coming up. there are millions and millions of americans who aren't going to listen to that. so what do you do with that fact? if you know people are getting

together for the holidays and you know there will be a large number of cases and hospitalizations and deaths that follow from that, is there anything else state governments or someone else should be doing right now to help mitigate this? >> you know, i think each governor is struggling right now with what to do in their own states in terms of stay at home orders, how to basically reduce the pressure on the hospitals. you know, we're long, long beyond trying to control this virus like countries in asia did where we're trying to keep the case numbers low and move on. i mean, australia yesterday had a big celebration opening their christmas holiday because of what they did to control the virus. they're back to almost normal life. what we're trying to do right now is save our hospitals. we are really on the verge of seeing a number of hospitals collapsing because of a lack of health care staff to care for the extra patients. today is not a day that you want to have a heart attack a stroke or have -- be in an automobile accident in many places in this

country, because the care is being compromised by covid-19. i hope people understand that we're bringing our hospitals to the point of collapse. >> yet, there's still some people denying that fact. i'm glad to hear you say it again today. i want to ask you about the vaccine, the first shot went into the arm in a 90-year-old woman. margaret keenan, she said it wasn't so bad, she will need a second dose. how soon do you think we'll have shots in arms here? >> well, you know, i take a look at this from both the short term and the long term. short term, we're going to have vaccine rolling out in the next few weeks. it's going to be a limited amount and there are going to be a lot of eager people to take the vaccine and thank god, but what i really worry about is the fact that we're not having

people willing to roll up their sleeves in the days ahead. 45% of americans say they won't take the vaccine because they fear it because they haven't been told the story of how these were made, what they mean, safety wise. recent data says even 30% to 35% of physicians are telling patients at this point maybe wait six months to see how these vaccines all unfold. i think we're going to be at a period in march and april where it's that last inch we'll fail at. the idea of getting the needle into the arm because we have done nothing in this country to prepare the public for what these vaccines mean. we need to tell the story of their safety and efficacy. why they are what we need to do right now. and i worry about that. i think we're going to be seeing that as a challenge coming up in the near term. >> all right. dr. michael osterholm, thank you so much for being on the show this morning. we will talk to you again soon. today now marks the so-called safe harbor deadline.

federal law requires that congress recognize the slates of electors chosen by states that have resolved election disputes by this date. the deadline outlined in the electoral count act of 1887 falls six days before the electoral college meets to formally cast votes for president. as "the washington post" explains, it's called safe harbor -- a safe harbor provision, because it's a kind of an insurance policy by which a state can lock in its electoral votes by finishing up certification of the results and any state court legal challenges by a congressionally imposed deadline which this year is tuesday. it essentially means congress has to accept the electoral votes that will be cast next week and sent to the capital or the counting on january 6th. meanwhile, georgia's secretary of state has recertified the

presidential election results confirming joe biden's win there. biden has prevailed in three separate counts of the ballots and it shows him with a lead of nearly 12,000 votes. >> boy, willie, joe biden has won in georgia more than the crimson tide. >> three times. you'd think a guy in donald trump who does not like to be known as a loser would stop going back for another bite at the apple when he knows he's going to lose again. >> yeah. yeah. that's the thing. we have been saying it for weeks. he should really go ahead and lie and do whatever he's going to do. but then put it behind him because all he does is set himself up to lose day after day after day. >> the outcome of the third and final round of recount efforts comes after tumultuous post election rift between trump and

republican leaders of the historically red state. >> it's been a long 34 days since the election on november 3rd. we have now counted legally cast ballots three times and the results remain unchanged. as secretary of state, i have worked to secure the vote for all georgians. whether it is the president of the united states or a failed gubernatorial candidate, disinformation regarding election administration should be condemned and rejected. integrity matters. truth matters. >> and then there's this. "the washington post" is reporting that president trump called pennsylvania's house speaker twice last week to apparently request help in overturning the state's election results. the phone calls were confirmed by house speaker cutler's office and he's reached out to those in

michigan and georgia governor brian kemp. joining us news from pbs news hour yamiche alcindor. pulitzer prize winning columnist eugene robinson. and garry kasparov. >> garry, so great to have you here. great to have all of you here, but i wanted to ask you what you're seeing in america. we're grappling -- we were talking about this last hour. that because we're not used to it, sometimes it seems we have language inadequate to describe exactly what donald trump is doing, so perhaps we dismiss it too quickly or mock it or ridicule it or go too far in the other direction. you understand better than us what we're seeing.

explain it to us. >> thank you very much, joe. good morning. so trump could do a lot of damage as president and now he seems set on showing he can do a lot more damage as an ex-president. and you may -- you just called him a loser. but from his perspective, he's not a loser. because he's still king of the republican party and he keeps collecting money. as we speak, trump has about 1,225 hours as president but who's counting, and how much more damage can he do to american democracy? and he will never concede. i have been saying it for a long time. he will never admit he was a failure. he's only doing it for money and his twisted ego, the damage is real. because the dictators around the world they don't care why trump is doing it, but yet --

and it weakens biden and america's ability to promote democracy worldwide because it's how america can question the illegitimate illegitimatesy of people like putin. and everything that trump calls a hoax is real. the russian hoax, it's real. and now aliens are a hoax, i'll keep my eyes on the stocks. >> so here's part of what garry wrote in his latest op-ed in "the new york daily news," entitled trump's pathetic end game, how his lies damage america. quote, now that trump is in his final days as president, you would expect his stranglehold on the gop to fade. he's a loser, a one-term pothole on the way to democracy. others consistently outperformed him at the polls demonstrating that it was really -- that it

really was all about trump. yet, most republicans in d.c. still refuse to admit that trump lost. and that biden is the next president. they listened to trump and his coterie spew unhinged accusations and threats and say nothing. they watch as he gives a 46-minute speech that would have lasted 46 seconds with all of the lies removed. nearly 90% of the 249 republicans in congress refuse to say publicly who won the election. after four years of feigning ignorance of trump's tweets, they now deaf, dumb and blind to everything the president says or does including a direct assault on the legitimacy of american democracy, which includes their legitimacy as well. and i'll add to that, they didn't see any of his tweets,

his racist tropes, his lies, they didn't see any of it and yet, the very first pick for president-elect joe biden, for example, omb director, neera tanden, all of a sudden they noticed her tweets. what hypocrites taking part in the damage to our democracy only using things when it's politically useful for them, but then cowering behind this horrid wizard of oz. really pathetic. look in the mirror, it's not pretty. gene robinson, you say in your latest piece for "the washington post" that trump is causing a crisis of faith in our democracy. reading from your column, quote, trump has always understood that the way to convince people of a lie is with volume and repetition. say it loud and say it often. none of this will change the course of events, but a substantial portion of trump

voters will see biden and harris as illegitimate. maybe not all of those who question whether the election was fair, but a sizable core of true believers. more damagingly, the republican party is being conditioned to lose faith in the fundamental act of any successful democracy, voting in a free and fair election. >> so you and garry, you say the same thing. he may have lost but his corrosive impact on american democracy has actually gotten worse. >> yeah. i mean, and i fear this is going to -- this is something that's going to take us time to rebuild and repair. he is shaking the faith of millions of americans in the basic act of democracy. voting in a free and fair election. it is -- it is a stunning thing. you know, you guys were talking

earlier about perhaps about our not having the language in this country to talk about what trump is doing. i do suggest in my column a couple of words for the office holders, especially senators and the members of the house who are refusing to acknowledge that joe biden is the president-elect. i think one word for them is cowards and another word is weasels. that's what they are. it is outrageous that they are doing this. and it is -- you know, it is hard to impress how damaging this is. garry from his -- of course in his experience in russia, the former soviet union, knows about authoritarianism. i covered south america at a time when the nations of that continent were trying to regain

their democratic institutions after long, dark years of military rule. and it's not easy. it's not like flipping a switch and saying, we're back to the way it was. it takes time and effort and fits and starts and this is -- this is real serious damage he's doing that's going to take us years to repair and to knit back together again and it's just -- it's a tragedy. >> let's stop and think about what we're saying. the president of the united states who just lost an election is calling around to state officials fishing around to see if he can find somebody to overturn the result of a certified election for president of the united states. whether it's in pennsylvania or in michigan or calling the governor of georgia last week. that's what he's doing. that's what republicans are

going along with. i guess it's worth asking them too, are they okay with the president whose lead is being followed by people going up to say the home of the michigan secretary of state armed and chanting outside her house while she watches a christmas movie with her 4-year-old son? are they okay with all of that and a lot of them are calling biden behind the scenes to congratulate him. they don't have the baseline obligation to acknowledge what happened in this election. >> well, this really comes down to two things. the politics and it's money. president trump is using those two things to hamstring republicans who are scared of the people who put them in office. this is about president trump, but it's also about a republican base being led down the hallway of conspiracy theories and being sold this lie that the president was the victim of this mass conspiracy to steal the election from him. it's not just that the president

is doing this. what he's doing is enabling people who are using dangerous language. who are making death threats against election officials who all they wanted to do was count the votes and help america really go forward with this democracy. when you look at the way that the president is talking and i have been talking to people who are from belarus, who are from haiti, from afghanistan, people who fled turmoil, political turmoil in their countries to come to the u.s. and they say in the echoes of president trump they see all of the turmoil that they left and the reason why they fled and came to the united states. so what we're seeing in president trump is the actions, not completely, but the echoes of the actions of what dictators act like. we have to remember apart from the politics there's the money aspect of it. there's the fact that he's bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars into the republican party and he's doing that in this kind of shady way where he can use a lot of this for his own lavish lifestyle. he can use it in ways not just in the campaign way, but in all

sorts of other ways to influence the republican party for years to come. that's why you also see the republicans because they're thinking of their own political futures and the money they'll need to run the campaigns and i say this all the time, i think you have to keep saying it. if this is happening anywhere else in the world we'd say their democracy is on the brink of failure. people i'm talking to are saying that america is fragile. it is not something you can kind of neglect and it will continue to go on, you have to care for. we are seeing democracy being chipped away at the idea that we don't have elections that people can trust. >> hey, garry, i know a few months ago i saw a tweet i loved of yours. and i almost put a plus one on there. someone asked, tell us something

about you that people on twitter may not understand and you had said that i'm a conservative. and i wanted to put a plus one to that because while both of us have been deeply concerned with donald trump's breach of constitutional norms in the horrific way he's handled himself in the presidency, you obviously for more personal reasons than me, but you, people like sikorsky, appelbaum, conservatives across great britain and the west have seen the conservative movement split in part. and seeing characters in poland and hungary and here in america with donald trump and the republican party behave the way they're behaving. people that used to be on our side when we were all cold war warriors. what has happened over the past ten years?

do you believe there's any way to stitch conservatives back together or is this ultra white right, racist nationalism just a way of life for the conservative movement in the future? will this split remain? >> i believe that both conservative and liberal factions are more than politics. they are in danger of being hijacked by nativists and nationalists on one side and the far left radicals on the other side. what we see is a republican party that is -- that is donald trump and more republican congressmen believe in santa claus than will say that joe biden won the election. we should not be mistaken. the election fraud will be a test in the states. i have little hesitation about the republican party recovering from this -- from trump's lies

and trump's dominance. but at the same time, people in the center whether they're center right or left, they understand that we need mainstream politics and that's why i helped to found the democracy initiative to guarantee that the center is not decimated anymore. we'll have people who believe first -- value the democracy and then we'll start to argue about the differences on the socioeconomic issues. >> all right. >> garry kasparov, thank you for being on this morning. great to have you. still ahead on "morning joe," one of a handful of lawmakers working on a bipartisan coronavirus relief deal. senator chris coons is next on where the negotiations stand right now on capitol hill. we'll be right back. did you know you can go to libertymutual.com to customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need? really? i didn't-- aah! ok. i'm on vibrate. aaah!

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well, it appears congress

will avoid a government shutdown for now. majority leader mitch mcconnell says he'll pass a one-week resolution a stopgap bill to keep the government funded through the end of next week. senators are still considering a larger funding bill as well as another coronavirus relief bill which they hoped to wrap into this funding bill. however, issues such as state funding and protection liabilities as well as another round of relief checks are all still up for debate. joining us now, democratic senator chris coons of delaware. he is also a member of the foreign relations committee, and senator coons, chris, what's standing in the way of relief checks? >> well, mika, we have had a more than six-month impasse from when the house passed a broad, solid relief package for dealing with the covid-19 pandemic and

recession to now. and you just mentioned, the key critical issues. whether or not there should be another round of stimulus checks to families and individuals. whether there should be more support for state and local governments and whether or not there should be some liability relief for employers and business owners. a group of us met last night for several hours to try to hammer out the liability relief to help reopen the economy, help businesses operate safely. and yet, also ensure that those who have been harmed through reckless behavior get some help and some relief themselves. >> so what would be the argument against another round of relief checks? >> well, i support it. i think many in the congress have supported it, but frankly, most of the republican caucus in the senate has opposed it. the 908 coalition the group of senators that's put together this next proposal really was trying to stay below a trillion dollars simply because there's

been pressure from the republican majority here for months to not do another really large relief package. what i'm hearing from delawareans up and down this state is that many cannot pay their rent or mortgage. many have lost their jobs or are afraid they're not going to be able to make it through the rest of this winter and i think another round of relief checks would help make sure that our economy doesn't dip even deeper into the recession in the months that come between now and when we have the vaccine. >> so senator coons, you understand the politics of the senate very well. mitch mcconnell has been more optimistic about this $908 billion appropriate than he has about anything else in the last six months. do you see something getting done by the end of the year and is it even conceivable for you to go on recess without taking care of the people of delaware, the people of america, who may lose their jobs and their livelihoods if you don't. >> that's why we have to work even harder and get to the table with some fresh thinking and

some new ideas. because bluntly, i don't understand how any of us can go home for the holidays and look our constituents in the face or the mask because so many are suffering. this is part of why we have a federal government is to deal with disasters. and in this particular case, a disjointed federal response, different standards and different direction and frankly the way in which our current president donald trump has failed to give us a positive and consistent message has made this worse. we have a chance to work together in a bipartisan way as we did months ago in passing the c.a.r.e.s. act and deliver the relief the american people need. >> so is it a perception going to be outside true, is it real that mitch mcconnell and other republicans are receptive to this? >> they may agree to some version. but those two sticking points, he doesn't want to provide any more relief to state and local

governments and he's demanding broad, long standing changes to the law in how people get hurt are able to be compensated. we wanted a lot more support for the teachers and paramedics and nurses who work for state and local government. and he wants a very broad change to the law in terms of how people who get harmed through the recklessness of others can recover. that's a conversation we're trying to close. this is the art of legislating and we need folks to bring their best ideas to the table. but i remain optimistic. one of the things that joe biden and i share is an optimism about the ability to solve problems. >> it's december 8th, so you don't have a lot of time ahead of you to get this massive deal done. is it a chance you have to go home and face your voters without passing anything? >> yes, there's a real chance of that happening. this has lasted months and

months and many of my caucus have found it incredible that we have had deals on the table over and over in recent months and we haven't been able to close the deal. anyone who is watching, you need to call your senator's office and say deliver another round of relief. it's what will help this country get through this winter. this pandemic has infected nearly 15 million people, taken nearly 280,000 american lives. if we're going to slow the destruction of this pandemic, we need to provide more support for state and local governments, for hospitals, for schools, for the distribution of the vaccine. and for relief for individuals, families and small businesses that need help reopening. >> all right. before you go, i'm just curious in your republican counterparts and the meetings do they recognize joe biden as the president-elect? >> well, look, i have had a number of private conversations with senators who want me to

convey their congratulations to the president-elect, but are not yet willing to say so publicly. it's my job to keep working with them, but i will tell you it is a striking moment we're in that president trump still has the republican party by the neck. and is insisting that they ignore reality which is that there is no chance that joe biden will not be sworn in as president of the united states on january 20th. the certifications in states, the lawsuits that have failed, it is clear that trump is out of time. as garry kasparov would say, check and mate. >> well, we can ask him. senator chris coons, thank you very much. coming up, yesterday marked the 79th anniversary of the attack on pearl harbor that drew the united states into world war ii. for the families of black veterans who served and were denied access to the full range of gi benefits, congressman jim

clyburn has introduced new legislation that aims to repair the economic harm. he joins the conversation next on "morning joe." joe. how about no no uh uh, no way come on, no no n-n-n-no-no only discover has no annual fee on any card.

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all right. joining us now the third ranking democrat in the u.s. house of representatives, majority chip jim clyburn. he serves as chairman of the house select committee on the coronavirus crisis and has been selected to cochair joe biden's presidential inaugural committee. we have so many questions for you. let's start with inauguration in the age of coronavirus and not exactly knowing exactly if president trump will leave the white house or where he will be or even if he will attend. he says he won't. what is inauguration going to look like, jim? >> well, thank you very much for having me, first of all. look, we know what we're in and

joe biden admitted very clear that he is going to lead by precept and example. and so we will be setting an example with this inauguration. it is going to be -- what you might call a hybrid. he'll take the oath in the traditional way, but all of the inaugural festivities are going to be 80% -- what you call virtual. so that's what it's going to be like and i think the american people, especially those who looked in on our convention saw what kind of connections can be made virtually. i thought the convention went extremely well and that's what we're going to do here, run this pretty much like we did our national convention. >> congressman, it's willie, good to see you this morning. president-elect biden's position on this transfer of power has been look, i don't really personally care if president trump is there, but i do care

for the sake of the country to show a smooth transfer of power and to remind people that this is how we do things in a democracy. do you think it's important that president trump be there to hand over the reins of power to joe biden? >> well, i do believe this though, that the american people believe in the peaceful transfer. now, does he have to be there? i don't think so. should he be there? yes. but this is not the only thing that the president should do that he has not done, but the country still functions. all of our democratic institutions are holding and i think that we will have that do the same. so the president can participate, if he cares to. but if he doesn't, this country will move on without him. >> i know you're still planning this out, congressman.

you have over a month until january 20th. but will we see, for example, president-elect biden on the west front of the capitol for the swearing-in? have you figured out how that's going to happen? >> we haven't not figured out how it will happen, but you can see the construction workers back here, back through the window here. so i can see them at work. so i would suppose that he will take the oath in the traditional fashion. we can't do that while socially distancing, but the other stuff, the luncheon afterwards probably won't take place, as well as the festivities of the evening will probably be disbursed out around the 50 states. >> that makes sense. congressman, yamiche alcindor has a question. >> good morning, congressman. thanks so much for taking my question. my question is on the front page of "the washington post" today we see a story about the pushback and the push to try to

convince african-americans who have faced a history of racist issues in the health care industry to try to convince them to take the coronavirus vaccine. what are you hearing from your district, from your constituents, about the vaccine and what do you think needs to be done in order to try to convince more african-americans and more americans broadly that the vaccine is safe? >> i think that those of us who are in office like myself, once again, should lead by precept and example. we believe in the precepts as to what we think ought to take place in order to prevent this virus. i would hope that i and others will lead -- will be an example. i will take the vaccine as soon as it's made available for me and by showing how it should be done i hope people will follow suit. of course, i know -- i have been around, i'm from south carolina. i know all about the tuskegee

experiment and that's not the only experiment i know about, but that's the popular one. so those tales have been passed down for generations within the black community and that kind of doubt is there. i often talk about the polio vaccine. i was around for that. there were two. there was so-called the jonas salk vaccine and the albert saban vaccine. the salk vaccine was a shot in the arm and the other one was a lump of sugar. who would not prefer a lump of sugar over the shot? so that kind of disparity in the past still take hold in the african-american community and so i would ask the people who can to help us to educate, today is the today, yesterday was yesterday. let's move forward. >> congressman, gene robinson has a question. gene? >> congressman, good to speak with you.

the president-elect biden is expected to name retired army general lloyd austin as the secretary, would be the first african-american to hold that office. do you -- two quick questions. what's your reaction to that possible or probable nomination, number one? number two, do you expect the president-elect to name congresswoman fudge as agriculture secretary? >> well, first of all, thanks, home boy, for the question. look, i know -- i don't know him well. i have met the general, lloyd austin, and we worked together on diversity issues. in fact, when i spoke with him several days ago, he reminded me of some meetings we had right

down here on eighth street at the marine barracks and over at the pentagon in my earlier days. working very hard with the military on the diversity issues. so the general worked with us on that. i talked to other people who worked with him very closely. chairman bass of the black caucus likes him very much and she's worked with him pretty closely. and he and the vice president seem to have got very well when the vice president was in charge of events over there. so i look for this to be a pretty smooth -- i think hearing. and a confirmation and i like him very much. i think it's going to be a good fit for us. as for marcia fudge, i look for

her to be in the cabinet. i spoke with her last night and i have been with speaking with other people. i don't know if she'll be the secretary of agriculture, but she will be a member of the cabinet. at least she will be nominated for a cabinet position. >> all right. before you go, tell us about the bill, you just introduced to give black world war ii vets full gi bill benefits. >> well, thank you very much for that question. i hope that people hear about the legislation will do me a favor and look up sergeant isaac willard from south carolina. it's a great book written about isaac willard a federal judge in south carolina. it was willard, his experiences that led truman to integrate the armed services, and led to the wearing in to write the opinions he did in what led to brown v

board of education. this man was blinded by police officers while he was in his uniform, returning home from world war ii and sergeant joseph matters up in massachusetts, ths denied services coming back from world war ii, was accepted into harvard, and was not given veterans benefits. so we have decided to honor these two sergeants who gave so much to help this country be what it is today by putting forth this legislation to give those benefits to those veterans, their children, grandchildren and other descendants the same thing that their fellow black servicemen got when they kbaj with world war ii and blacks just never got. >> congressman jim clyburn, thank you very much for that and all of your efforts.

still ahead, senator chris coons told us moments ago that it's possible lawmakers could go on holiday break without passing a coronavirus relief bill. coming up, we are going to talk to senator joe manchin who says lawmakers have just one choice. to pass a bill quickly. plus, milton listments spiked after 9/11 and a similar thing is happening at medical schools amid the pandemic. we'll talk about the so-called fauci effect next on "morning joe." fauci effect next on "morning joe. when it comes to autism,

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throughout the pandemic we've all heard the stories of health care workers facing trauma and burnout on the front lines of the virus. and they are now inspiring the next generation of health care workers. according to the association of american medical colleges, overy'all applications to medical schools is up 18% and

driven by the example the health care heroes and public health figures like dr. anthony fauci have set. top medical schools such as stanford and boston university have seen over 11,000 applications for 90 and 100 and ten seats, respectively. medical school admission administrators are dubbing the wave the fauci effect. and we thank all of those. we thank dr. fauci and all of those working on the front lines continuously. still ahead, breaking news overnight. a 90-year-old british woman becomes the first person in the world to get a coronavirus vaccine shot outside of trials. plus, when the president isn't trying to cyber bully state officials into helping him overturn the election, he is apparently calling them on the phone. we'll have new reporting. "morning joe" is coming right back.

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♪ you can count on me ♪ i'll be home for christmas ♪ if only in my dreams ♪ thank you very much. thank you, everybody. appreciate it. [ applause ] >> one more question about the inauguration. >> thank you very much. >> any news on bill barr, sir? >> congratulations, sir. >> he's gone.

>> well, i guess that's how we all could feel soon. president trump after awarding the medal of freedom to u.s. wrestling champ dan gable yesterday leaving the oval office and a confused gable and his family just standing there wondering what just happened. good morning, and welcome to "morning joe." it's tuesday, december 8th. along with joe, willie and me we have nbc news capitol hill correspondent and host of "way too early" kasie hunt. so, guys, stop us if you have heard this before. joe biden has won georgia. >> wow. >> georgia's secretary of state has recertified the presidential election results, confirming joe biden's win again. biden has prevailed in three separate counts of the ballots. the initial election tally, a hand recount ordered by the state, and the latest manual recount which was requested by

president trump's campaign. the results continuously show biden with a lead of nearly 12,000 votes. the outcome of the third and final round of recount efforts comes after a tumultuous post-election rift between trump and republican leaders of the historically red state. >> it's been a long 34 days since the election on november 3rd. we have now counted legally cast ballots three times. and the results remain unchanged. as secretary of state i have worked to secure the vote for all georgians. whether it is the president of the united states or a field gubernatorial candidate, disinformation regarding election administration should be condemned and rejected. ip tegty matters. truth matters. >> yeah. it does, thank you. >> at the end of this

disgraceful episode in the history of the republican party -- >> dangerous. >> dangerous. there are going to be a few names that will stand out as people who held the line. people that actually put democracy and democratic institutions ahead of just -- >> themselves and everything. >> and he is at the top of that list. kasie, the division goes on in the state of florida -- in the state of georgia with republicans, and the polls, which, of course, we can believe about as much, as i believe, astrology readings, the poll suggests these races are tight. the polls actually were fairly accurate in georgia in the presidential race. so if these polls are still accurate, republicans have got to figure out a way to bring this civil war to an end in georgia, and that might have something to do with mitch mcconnell finally standing up and speaking out as the

president continues to call, well, last night, i guess, we got news that he called pennsylvania's republican speaker of the house to try to rig the election there. >> yeah. it's one of the oldest rules in politics, right, joe? if you are united and your enemy is divided, you are likely to come out on top. and that's what republicans are facing right now. democrats are largely united. they are, for the most part, national democrats are staying away from the race. they want it to be locally focused and they don't really have to do all that much while they sit and watch republicans fight amongst themselves. and this is, in fact, a real problem for them. i agree with you about the polling. the polling in georgia was write going in. everyone on both sides of the aisle that i was talking to had joe biden up slightly in georgia and the senate race is a little bit closer, and that's exactly what happened. but this situation is completely unprecedented. so it's incredibly difficult to

make assumptions when you are looking at who is going to show up, who is going to vote, which are decisions that lead to solid polling. we have two runoffs that are going to determine majority control of the senate, a president going down there and telling republicans to vote in rigged elections. that's a very difficult message to deliver. that process that's not fair, you should definitely participate in that process that's unfair. that's a very, very hard thing to wrap your head around if you are a republican voter. we will see. today is the safe harbor deadline for electors. it's a deadline that some republicans have been paying attention to. there is the final deadline next week when the electoral college will vote. but in the meantime this is potentially going to be another casualty of the trump administration for republicans in washington. >> let's take a turn to the latest developments with the biden transition. nbc news has learned the president-elect will nominate lloyd austin to be the next secretary of defense.

the 67-year-old retired four-star general is the former head of the u.s. central command. let's bring in nbc news correspondent mike memoli with the transition in wilmington, delaware. mike, good morning. we heard some other names during this process. how did the president-elect come to the general here? >> well, when this transition began and we talked about all the nominations and appointments that a president-elect biden was going to have to make, the one that everyone seemed surest about was for defense secretary and biden would make a historic choice of michelle flournoy as the first woman to lead the pentagon. in the end, biden made a different historic choice in choosing lloyd austin, the first african american to lead the pentagon. as i have been talking with transition officials to try to understand how this decision came down, there are two important takeaways that help us understand why. one is the important role that joe biden played in the obama administration in helping oversee what was a major promise, of course, of president

obama to draw down the u.s. military presence in iraq. second is just how significant for biden personal relationships are. 12 years ago even as he took, before he took the oath, he traveled to iraq on a fact finding trip to present eastbound information there. one of the officials he met was general austin. as biden recalled that meeting months later he said that he had several opportunities to ask several questions, all the things that he thought they needed in iraq, and the only question that he asked him was how is your son? you will rather that beau biden at the time was deployed to iraq. and biden said this showed to him that this is a man who saw every deployed soldier as somebody's son, as somebody's daughter. and biden would end up chairing monthly principles meetings on iraq as vice president. he traveled to iraq twice in

2011 when he was the then u.s. commander of forces there. and so that, i think, helped drive this decision. we may see this decision announced as soon as today when we will also have a jarring split-screen moment when biden is unveiling his health team as the white house is holding this vaccine summit to in some ways take credit for president trump in getting to the point where we have a vaccine. biden is going to be introducing the officials who will be charged with actually making sure that vaccine is distributed to americans. and we are seeing one of those officials xavier becerra already get some push back from republicans on capitol hill. take a listen to what senator john cornyn of texas had to say about this yesterday. >> biden said that he was going to nominate xavier becerra it hhs. do you have any thoughts on becerra and in general how difficult would it be for someone who supports abortion rights and supports single player to get through a republican-controlled senate? >> i think it would be

controversial to maybe state the obvious. i think most of us feel like there should be some deference in the vice -- in the president-elect's choice for his cabinet, but some of these folks are pretty radical, and he's pretty radical. >> yeah. >> you do? >> i don't know what his health and human services credentials are. it's not like alex azar who used to work for pharma and had a health care back ground. but we'll take it one step at a time. >> whenever you hear this kind of pushback from republican senators who have to obviously vote on these nominations about some of president-elect biden's selections, biden's team is quick to point out what you heard from john cornyn there. another senator calling him the president-elect. that's something they all take very careful note of. >> nbc's mike memoli.

thank you. up next, we will talk to someone who has known general lloyd austin for decades. retired four star admiral james steph reatis joins the conversation next on "morning joe." conversation next on "morning joe.

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former nato supreme allied commander retired four star navy admiral james stavridis chief national security and diplomacy analyst. fo tell us what you know about general lloyd austin, a four star who ran centcom, among other posts. >> he is a terrific person. i have known him well over 20 years, back to when i was a captain in the navy and be he was a colonel in the army in the pentagon, working in the joint operations center there. it's a very key job. lloyd has had, obviously, superb combat experience, principally in the middle east, afghanistan

and iraq. he is a recipient of the silver star. just an unimpeachable combat record. and i think equally important here, he is has a lot of experience in the pentagon, in the building. he was the vice chief of staff of the army. extremely well regarded, loved in the army. he was without question one of the best directors of the joint staff. willie, that's one of the key jobs in the pentagon at the three-star level. so he really knows the building. as the reporter was telling us correctly, has a strong relationship with the vice president. and he is african american, 40% of the u.s. military is minority. african americans, latinos, asians, mixed race. it is, i think, a very strong choice and it will be very well received in the pentagon. >> admiral, of course, there has been a tradition of having civilians in this position.

obviously, donald trump selected general mattis. any concern that we are going to be having another general running the pentagon, and just in general do you think that americans should have a concern, or should have a preference as to with whether you have a military man or woman in there or a civilian? >> i think as a general matter, you want a civilian. you want to continue to have strong civilian oversight of the military always. on the other hand, look at the other two faces there. george marshall and jim mattis, pretty solid choices to say the least. i think lloyd austin will fit well in that category. but, no, we don't, you know, to do the "morning joe" thing, we don't want to go to the bullpen and always draw out a military officer. i think principally we want to

go with strong civilian leadership. but lloyd, i think, will fill the bill very, very well. and also the challenges he has coming up are significant. top of the list, i would say, is just settling the pentagon. we have had a four secretaries of defense in this very turbulent period. the pentagon is really hungry for a steady hand on the tiller. secondly, and this is where lloyd has some work to do, i think, china and the rise of great power politics. i think this is going to be a significant focus for the pentagon and lloyd doesn't have deep experience in the pacific like he does in the middle east. and then, thirdly, you know, this biden team is a wonderful collegial group that has been assembled, the national security side of it, but lid loyd is goi to have to push hard for the budget for the pentagon and there are going to be a lot of competing demands in a biden

administration. he will have his hands full, joe. but i think he is a fine choice coming with a lot of experience. he will settle the pentagon. he will be a key member of president biden's team. >> retired admiral james stavridis. thank you very much. coming up, a turning point in the fight against coronavirus. we will go to nbc's keir semmims on this morning's rollout of the first vaccine overseas. "morning joe" is back in a moment. nt how about no no uh uh, no way come on, no no n-n-n-no-no only discover has no annual fee on any card.

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the u.k.'s national health service kicked off its mass immunization program against coronavirus. shipments of biontech pfizer vaccine arrived from the u.k. from belgium on sunday. the nhs says that people over 80 and some health care staff will be first to receive doses of the vaccine. overnight, 90-year-old margaret keenan from northern ireland became the first person in the world to receive the vaccine outside of trial conditions. >> what do you say to those who might be having second thoughts about having this? >> well, i say go for it.

go for it because it's free and it's the best thing that's ever happened at the moment. so do, please, go for it. that's what i say, you know? if i can do it, well, so can you. >> joining us now is nbc news senior international correspondent keir simmons live from wales, which is one of the hardest hit countries in europe. keir. >> reporter: hey, mika. we are inside a vaccination center. this is one of 70 hospitals at health centers set up across the u.k. as you can see, vaccination has begun. this is exactly the kind of thing that you are going to see in the u.s. very soon. this is a community center that has been converted, that's actually two basketball courts. just to tell you what you are seeing behind me, patients are coming in from the entrance to my right there. we see a new patient every, i

don't know, 20 minutes or so. you can see at the back of the basketball court there there are vaccination cubicles where they will go to be vaccinated. they are given a card that tells them that they have had the first dose and when they should have the second dose. then these social distanced chairs behind me you can see are arranged with mostly empty, this is where people sit just to see if they have had any immediate adverse reactions, to calm themselves a little bit before they leave, and they leave by a separate exit because, of course, just because the vaccinations are happening here, they are still having to follow those crucial social distancing and sanitizing procedures. there are sanitizers all around here because they are still trying to make sure that there is no infection here. and what's happening here, mika, really does have some lessons in the u.s. you brought that pfizer -- they brought that pfizer vaccine

defrosted. they have five days to use the doses that they have here. another crucial point, they have asked us not to say too much about where this is because they are worried, of course, people may descend on this place if they know. i think that's the kind of thing they will be worrying about in the u.s. another point. what we are mostly seeing here are health workers. it's very difficult, of course, for the elderly and frail to get to a location like this. not for all of them, but some of them. there are challenges in the u.k. already about trying to get the vaccine, because of the distribution issue to locations where the elderly are. this is cardiff, the capital of wales. it is a city, but, you know, there are going to be other places, rural areas, remote areas, the real challenge is how to get the vaccine to those places. i have been speaking to some of the health workers here and they are saying they are looking forward to when there are more

vaccines approved because that will make this dibution easier. >> nbc's keir simmons. thank you. coming up, florida police with guns drawn raid the home of a covid whistle-blower. what happened and why next on "morning joe." "morning joe." ♪ ♪ ♪ you're all, you're all i need ♪

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we know where we agree. we can do this. let me say it again. we can do this. and we need to do this. so let's be about actually making a law. >> joining us now, senator joe manchin. >> hold on a second. making a law is a good thing now for mitch. i like that. the democrats actually had a law for him to compromise on for six months, but he wants to make a law now. let's make a law. that's very exciting. >> joining us now -- >> it's like schoolhouse rock.

i'm just a bill, yes i'm only -- >> i love schoolhouse rock. >> somebody showed mitch schoolhouse rock before that speech. >> we are so old. >> regular order. >> nobody knows what we are talking about. all right. joining us now, senator joe manchin of west virginia. i be he was been working on another covid relief bill. senator, thank you so much for being on this morning. tell us where it stands on getting relief. >> first of all, always good to be with you. i appreciate it very much. i am glad joe isside about regular order. i am, too, i am glad to see mitch mcconnell says we can do this. yes, mitch, we can do it, and we have done it. we will have you a bill, mitch. we will have you section by section this afternoon. so we have come through in truly a bipartisan fashion. we have a couple of other sections to work out. that should be done by tomorrow. and we should have relief to the people coming soon. >> hey, so, joe, it's so

exciting. and i have been doing a lot of interviews for a book i have done, and everybody wants to always ask first, hey, is anything going to get done in washington? mitch doesn't want to get anything done. i say, wait, hold on a second. mitch mcconnell's extraordinarily powerful, extraordinarily bright at what he does, but you're looking at the wrong person right now. you look at joe manchin and you look at the people around him, republican susan collins, lisa murkowski, mitt romney, democrats, also that are getting involved in this, and i think mark kelly, kyrsten sinema, governor hickenlooper when he comes into office. there are going to be a lot of moderates that are going to be in the joe manchin caucus on both sides of the aisle. don't you think even with somebody like -- and people laugh when i say this, but lindsey graham, pre-trump,

lindsey graham was always trying to get in the middle of getting things done there. >> let me just say that mark warner and all of my friends have been working. we have gene shaheen involved. so many good people involved. there is a lot of good people that have been working hard. chris coons, tim kaine and lindsey graham, they are working hard right now. mike crapo. these are great people. angus king. these are people that are willing to say, hey, i am here for one purpose and one purpose only. to defend and honor and defend the constitution of the united states of america. and all of my people and i respect the states in this great country of ours, i am so proud to be a part of this with them. and we just said, joe, after the election, we have to do something. our leadership has found -- has hit an impasse. one was down at 500 million. you know, when you look at dealing in good faith, the house passed a h.e.r.o.e.s. act at

3.2 trillion and they went back to 2.2. mitch mcconnell had an act at 1 trillion in july. he sent us home for vacation in august. he came back in september and dropped his number to 500. the skinny, he called it. how in the world do you deal in good faith when you start out at one figure and cut it in half? he says, well, i am going backwards, not forwards. there is a need out there. the this is a truly an emergency relief package. that's what this is, an emergency that takes us through the first quarter of next year. if we don't do it by the end of this month in december, people with food assistance, people with shelter, people with basically their small businesses that will not be able to open back up and can't make it through three months. and this is -- and joe biden said this is a down payment. president-elect joe biden, when he becomes president, can bring another package forward if he sees the economy is not coming

back. this is an emergency bridge. it is so needed. we can not fail. failure is not an option. >> senator, good to see you. we talked to your senate colleague chris coons about an hour ago and he said the big sticking point is mitch mcconnell doesn't want to give money to state and local governments. seems like more than a sticking point. it could be a deal breaker. so where do you see the negotiation points as you move through this and try to get something done? where do you need mitch mcconnell to come to you and where are you willing to go to him? >> the first $3 trillion that went out in march, we heard areas got money, people got money that didn't need it, dead people, this and that. we are putting basically restraints, fraud and abuse, basically. we are putting money towards fraud and abuse. on top of that, my republican friends said, listen, we just want this to be made on need base. i agree wholeheartedly. if my state or your state can show the loss of revenue and the

additional expenses they incurred trying to fight this pandemic, we are trying to make them whole. if we don't keep them, guess what? essential services fall through the floor whether it be policemen, 9-1-1, first responders, firemen. this will fall through. if you don't have essential services, you know, people say i don't like government. you don't like government until it's taken away from you. you don't like your garbage service until it's taken away from you. that's what we are dealing with. we have do this. if he says that's a deal breaker, you go home, mitch, and tell the people in kentucky that basically we don't care about the state government or your local governments and we are not going to give them money. i agree with my republican colleagues. unless they can show that they have actual losses and it will be audited and they will be held responsible. that's the way it should be done. >> what's your confidence right now as we sit here on this tuesday morning at 8:36 that there will be a deal done dunn? you don't have a lot of time, as we talked with senator coons about. you don't have a lot of time

before the holiday recess. is there going to be a deal? >> we are going to have section by section this afternoon. you will be able to see exactly what we have agreed on and what we are still working on. you will see a working document that can turn into a bill very quickly. and this working document section by section is ready to be drafted. we are going to put that out so people know this is for real. two sections won't be put out today, which is liability and state and local with the formula. we have agreed in principle on what needs to be done. you can't get money unless you need it. it's essential if you need it and you can't be losing services on the front line. we are agreeing to that and coming up- last night was a great meeting. we had 12 congress and senators. we had ten senators equally divided, five r's and five d's, and the problem solvers with josh and tom. everybody is working in good faith. i was so encouraged last night. so, yes, what you said is 100%. that's me. now, if you want to cut that a little bit, maybe 75%.

but i can tell you, willie and joe and mika, there is not one senator, one congressperson that should go home for christmas if it's not done. i don't know how you face the people that lost rent, food assistance, shelter, the basic necessities of lives. we say we are going to go home and have a nice christmas? good luck. >> yeah, good luck with that. hey, so, joe, we got a couple of questions and some other areas to talk to you about if you have a minute. >> sure. >> yesterday we had the israeli ambassador of the united states on talking about israel felt safer with a strong u.a.e. that they saw iran as a major threat. i know that the administration has already agreed to some sales of f-35s and other weapons systems for the u.a.e. to defend themselves against iran and the israelis are good with it. what's the sense of that vote in the senate? when is that coming up? and do you agree with the

israeli ambassador that this could be good for defense in the region? >> well, it's something that ron has said. was that yesterday he said that? i read an article that netanyahu said that was not part of the agreement. for relationships between israel and the u.a.e., that was not part of the agreement. then he says, well, he wouldn't be opposed to it. i just want to look at basically where we are. i am on armed services. you have been on intel before, joe. and on that there, what does that do? does it open us up to making sure we treat all of the emirates, all of the arab countries the same? they are all going to be asking for these highly touted weapons. on the other hand, if we don't, is russia going to come in and fill the void or even china, so we have to be cognizant of that. and we have a new administration coming in. i would like to know where tony blinken, president-elect biden stand on this issue. and if they want to take another look so we can work out some

other things. so there is an awful lot on the table right now. i want to build relations and continue to build -- we have good relations with the u.a.e. i have been there. you have been there. you know we have a good relationship. we want to continue to foster that. i want to make sure we don't circumvent a new administration to where they have other things they want to make sure we are all in agreement on. >> yeah. all right. willie, i know you got a question for joe about somebody close to his state's heart. >> yeah, i had a couple of questions for you. i will ask you about chuck yaeger, one of the all-time great west virginians who we lost yesterday at 97 years old. a veteran of world war ii and vietnam and the man who broke the sound barrier in 1947. what are your thoughts about chuck yaeger this morning? >> i knew chuck quite well. when i became president in 2004, in 2005 chuck started coming. i invited him to come back. we had a one-shot deer hunt and

we gave all the food and the money we raised to feed the hungry. it's hunters feeding the hungry. chuck is a big sportsman, big hunter. i called him. he said, sure, i'll come. he stayed with me two weeks every year the governor mansion. he had his own bedroom and suite. my heart goes out to the entire yaeger family. they were wonderful people. he was from an area below charleston there. tougher than nails. we used to sit up at night and talk about the stories. i have read the books and seen the movies. he would tell me the i intricacies. i said, chuck, when you became the test pilot, how did that happen? he said the hotshot test pilot they had before, he wanted $150,000 to continue to go on to break the sound barrier, to test the bell one. and they knew i could build the darn plane. he said chuck was a mechanic. he could build anything. and he said, so they came to me. and they said, we'll pay you,

let's say, $60 extra a month for hazardous flight play. he said, heck yes, sign me up. i will be there. i said when you broke your ribs, chuck, what happened? he says we were out having a good time, me and my wife. got on the horses, i fell off, broke a rib. he says that's true, joe. he could barely close the door. he says, that day we weren't supposed to break the sound barrier. it was not on the plan. they would drop me at 35,000. he says, i would flip on one rocket, then the second rocket and they tell me do this, do that. he said, i knew if i didn't break the sound barrier or go for it today, that i would probably figure out i couldn't fly and i would lose that $60. this is the truth, guys. bob hoover was his pilot, one of the greatest pilots in the world. bob hoover was flying the camera plane and he said they dropped me down, joe, and i hit the first drop. i said, hey, bobby, start taking

pictures because i'm coming by. he said i hit all the rockets at one time and away we went. those kind of stories, to hear that in living color, sitting with the man who did it. and he never -- he was unbelievable. and i went back with him. he said, joe, come back to the base out there in california, air base. he says, they are going to celebrate the 60th anniversary. so i went out in 2007 as the governor as his guest at andrews and stayed with him and watched him go up again in a t-38 and break it again. >> wow. incredible. senator joe manchin. it's always fun to have you on. >> mika, i got other stories, but i can't tell these other stories on television, on live television. but i got other stories when i'm together i will tell you all. >> on the boat. >> on the boat. you are welcome anytime. >> on the boat. all right. up next, thank you for being on. coronavirus vaccines are already

getting underway in the u.k., a will be available in other countries soon. now some tech companies are working on immunity passports that could help life return to normal. that is next on "morning joe." e enjoying freshly squeezed orange juice. now no fruit is forbidden. nexium 24hr stops acid before it starts for all-day, all-night protection. can you imagine 24 hours without heartburn?

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of trying to cover up the extent of the pandemic. in a search warrant an investigator with the florida department of law enforcement said a person at rebekah jones's home, who was using her email address, illegally gained access to a state-run communications platform and sent a group text on november 10th telling people that it was time to speak up before another 17,000 people are dead. jones has denied sending the text. jones says she was fired from her job at the department of health in may after making her accusations and has since maintained her own data base independently tracking the spread of the virus. jones posted video of the raid and said state police pointed a gun in my face. >> come outside. outside. >> who else is in the house,

ma'am? >> my two children and husband. >> where is your husband? >> calm down. >> you want the children now? >> calm all down. >> mr. jones, come down the stairs now! police! come down now! >> seven warrant! >> come down the stairs. >> my children! he just pointed a gun. my children! >> wait a second. so they are pointing guns at her children and you've got two or three guns drawn in that video because of an email that was sent? really? wait, wait, wait, wait. what the hell is that? what's going on in florida? you draw guns because of an email that was sent? >> or a group text? >> or a -- sorry, a group text.

well, that makes sense. what the hell is wrong with those people? >> florida department of law enforcement commissioner rick swearing general said the agents knocked and called jones but she refused to d refused tothem. agents then entered the home in accordance with normal protocols and seized several devices that will be ferenorensically analyz. he said at no time were weapons pointed at anyone inside the home. >> was it outside the home? >> the statement added the health department did not comment on jones -- >> it looked like a drug raid. it looked like a drug raid. >> joining us, state attorney for palm beach county, dave arrenbrg. >> if you're trying to come in to get a -- get my phone, like and a judge signs a search warrant, do cops -- will three cops come to my door with guns drawn? i don't know.

maybe -- >> that's how they do it? is that how they do it in florida? >> what's going on here? >> yeah, you know, joe and mika it was just 24 hours ago we were talking about rebecca jones being a whistleblower in florida and minutes later, her home was raided by florida department of law enforcement agents and her computer seized and phones taken. as for whether it's normal for cops to come in with guns drawn, it is pretty normal when they execute a search warrant to have guns brandished because they are walking into a strange situation. they don't know what awaits them, and there have been tragedies where cops have been gunned down inside a stranger's home where it gets a little squirrely is the fact that there was a search warrant to raid her home at all when she's not being accused of hacking into the state and stealing data or disseminating viruses. she's being accused, as joe said, of sending a message to essentially a group chat. normally when you have search warrants like this, it's for much more serious felonies like

child pornography or drug trafficking. this is a low-level, nonviolent third-degree felony that accuses her of accessing a computer network. >> and this -- let's just describe the backdrop here because this is a state that is experiencing a terrible, terrible experience with the coronavirus. and a governor who is really under fire for poor management but also for not wanting to give the public complete information on the dangers of this virus. am i characterizing the back drp to this? can you add to it? >> you got it, mika. this has been going on for months. rebecca jones has been a whistleblower accusing the desantis administration of hiding data that showed they knew about the spread of coronavirus before the state let on. she was told to change data that showed there was a greater spread in rural communities and then you had the situation with

medical examiners who were told to delete data that conflicted with the state's lower death tolls. so this is the background to all of this. and so when they raided her home it was because she had been a whistleblower and they accused her of sending this message to this secure group chat, this database that's only supposed to be used for emergencies. what's really interesting, mika is that in the search warrant itself, it says that in this supposedly secure, secretive database, this group chat that everyone on that group chat had the same user name and used the same password. so this isn't exactly ft. knox. in fact, i wouldn't be surprised if everyone used the password of the word password. >> state attorney general for palm beach county, i'm sure we'll be talking about this again. it's not the end of this. thank you very, very much for being on this morning. we've been talking about the covid vaccine as the uk's

national health service kicked off its mass immunization program. and this afternoon, the white house will host a summit aiming to instill public confidence in the vaccines. once the coronavirus vaccine is distributed to the public, proving you have been vaccinated will be vital. and tech companies are designing ways to show it. nbc news correspondent jo ling kent has more. >> reporter: with vaccines on the horizon, new health apps are springing to life. ibm and clear, the tech company known for expediting security screenings at airports are creating new apps to take in realtime vaccination information. they could eventually be used for admission to concerts and live sports. so here's how it works. the app gives you a health pass to show before you go into big stadiums like this. to streamline the process, to make it safer and faster for you to get to your seat. it will flash green if your health information meets requirements. >> the stadium or venue would

not see your personal health data. everything is opt in and you control your information. >> but how much information will clear have, even though the stadium may only see the green? >> secure identity platform. we don't hold your health date. >> reporter: the l.a. football club said health pass is part of their reopening plan next year. >> how much do you need technology like this to be able to fill these seats again? >> it's going to be a must. it's an expectation of government officials that ultimately will decide when and how we can bring fans back. we also want to know that when we get up to go to a concession stand, when we walk into the team store, that the other people that came through the gates and are here with us are also safe. >> reporter: for live events, ticketmaster is exploring several options, including a smartphone verification system for vaccine status and negative tests. the australian government has

said it may require proof of vaccination in the future for entry into the country. a glimpse into a vaccinated future and a new normal. >> joining us now, professor of history at tulane university, walter isaacson. he took part in the pfizer vaccine trial, and i'm texting with my friends at pfizer. it's quite an exciting time. you took part in the trials. you told us a little bit about it before. but it was part of your civic duty, you felt. what do you make of the process moving forward and how complicated do you think it will be in this transition? >> i think it's going to be somewhat complicated because the trump administration did not execute a deal with pfizer to get a second round of 100 million doses. and those are going to go to other countries. i think the people who ran "operation warp speed," the vaccination program for the government, moncef slaoui, they

bet on a whole bunch of vaccines and now we'll have a shortage in december, january and february until all of the vaccines come into place. you have to remember that we call it the pfizer vaccine but it was actually invented in germany, a company named biontech did it so the united states doesn't have the rights just to secure it. >> walter, you obviously mentioned you participated in the pfizer trial. you've studied the history of this country very closely. can you speak to what we were discussing earlier which is the unprecedented nature of this process. the fact that we just learned about this 11 months ago, at least scientists did and already now, today, in the uk, a shot has gone into an arm, a sfb successful vaccination, we hope, the beginning of more to come across the country and around the world p. that's such a good question because this is a huge, historic moment because about 300 years we've had vaccines and

what you take the virus or germ that you are trying to vaccinate against, try to deactivate it and put it into a person's system. for the very first time, we're doing something that's just a tiny piece of genetic coding. a piece of rna that will make a little bit of a protein that will fool your body into thinking, okay, i've got to have an immune system reaction whenever i see this protein. that is so cool because it took pfizer or biontech actually and moderna, the other ones doing the rna, two days to code the rna you need for these vaccines. so as the head of moderna told me, we'll never have a pandemic again. we'll see it coming and within two or three days, we'll be able to say, here's the way to stop it. so for a million years or so, there's been this battle, and i think we've turned a corner here. but we still have a few more

months to go. >> a few more months. let me ask you, walter, really quickly, i've been asking what joe biden can learn from past presidents. what about one of the most brilliant minds of our times, one of the great innovators of our time, steve jobs. obviously there were things in personality you don't want to emulate, but, my god, a lot that you do. what's the big takeaway that jobs can teach biden? >> well, steve jobs would say make things simple and make it so that you feel you personally control the data. i like this idea that on my iphone, i'm going to be able to prove i've been vaccinated. but i want control of that. steve jobs very much believed in privacy. i think it's a free country. i have the right not to get vaccinated probably. but also, if i run a restaurant or if i own a sports team, god willing, i have the right to say, i want you to show me that you have passed a certain

threshold in terms of being vaccinated and testing negative. i am surprised that the technology companies have not done more in this past 11 months. contact tracing, proving negative tests. those type of things. i think steve jobs -- >> ooh, all right, grabbing walter's audio there. i think he's saying steve jobs would have gotten this done, but he makes a great point, even people with the antibodies. we should have proof. walter isaacson, thank you. and that does it for us this morning. stephanie ruhle picks up the coverage right now. >> hi there. i'm stephanie ruhle. it's tuesday, december 8th, and here's what's happening this morning. just five days after the u.s. marked 14 million covid cases, we have already reached 15 million. that is 1 million cases in just five days. to put that into context, it took us 99