lifetime. >> indeed. it's a very good point, and of course mcconnell's memoir called the long game, my question is what does he think the best way to play the long game under a joe biden presidency. mitch mcconnell told his conference, don't object to the electoral college when it comes to congress. he wouldn't have sent that message if he wasn't worried it might happen. don't go anywhere. "morning joe" starts right now. so as of this morning, our country has officially a president-elect and a vice president elect so today i want to congratulation president-elect joe biden. >> the president is still involved in ongoing litigation related to the election. yesterday's vote was one step in the constitutional process. but he has taken all statutory requirements necessary to either ensure a smooth transition or a continuation of power. >> well, he lost the popular

vote. he lost the recounts. he lost the electoral college, and now he's lost mitch mcconnell. good morning, and welcome to "morning joe." it is wednesday, december 16th joe has the morning off. along with willie and me we have white house reporter for the washington press, jonathan lemire. jim vandehigh, elise jordan is with us, and nbc news and correspondent of way too early, kasie hunt. vladimir putin may have beaten him to it but we'll dive in with the most powerful republican in congress finally acknowledging who won the election. >> the electoral college has spoken. i want to congratulate president-elect joe biden. i also want to congratulate the vice president elect our colleague from california, senator harris. all americans can take pride

that the nation has a female vice president-elect for the first time. >> the president reacted to the comments tweeting that it's too soon to give up. wow. and that the republican party must finally learn to fight. but any sort of fight isn't likely to come from the senate. mcconnell issued a warning to ren republicans on a conference call, warning the caucus not to object to the election results when they are certified by congress on january 6th. according to multiple sources, mcconnell told his colleagues that it would be a terrible vote for republicans who would have to go on the record voting against the objection and thus voting against trump. we're told no one on the call pushed back on this request. however, the same cannot be said for the house where minority leader kevin mccarthy has still so far refused to acknowledge biden's victory. he has also done little to stop some of his members who are

planning to challenge the results, which could force congress to have to vote on who they think actually won the elector. willie. how many times? >> yeah, it's wild. so the idea there in the house is they don't want to include or they want to contest the battleground state's electoral college votes and not include them in the count. that's the idea in the house. go figure that bone out. obviously mitch mcconnell said yesterday he does not want to go around with that. he dispatched senator thune around, and said don't think about the house idea. it's bad for us. it could be bad for us in georgia. so what exactly, walk us through, if you can what exactly mitch mcconnell was thinking in terms of timing. he congratulated joe biden on december 15th. after the race had been called on november 7th. was he always waiting for this date, and how does the georgia

rate fit into all of this? >> so willie they had telegraphed that this was a very important date on the calendar. this was true in conversations i had before the election even happened, and obviously watching the process play out, it's impossible to avoid it now. and you know, mcconnell is extraordinarily careful in how he approaches donald trump. we have cataloged that at great length over the course of the last four years but obviously they were in an increasingly difficult position and they did have to pick a line in the sand. now they are going to have to work again, and we talked about the power dynamics yesterday on the show. he wants to help run the government. he wants to, you know, he's the one that's going to have the power after donald trump leaves, so, you know, i think those were some of the ways in which he was thinking about it, but, you know, this electoral college thing is pretty interesting because, again, this is an arcane process. we should point out, it has

happened before. people have gone to the house floor and tried to raise concerns. and joe biden, in fact, when trump was elected ads vice president had to push back against some of that. it's never been a real threat and it takes the house and the senate to actually cause a problem or cause action to be taken, so that's why mcconnell's message to republicans is so important because if any wone o his senators decides they want to go along with what's happening in the house, all of a sudden things get much more difficult from a political perspective for mcconnell. the fact that they felt the need to not just say this on the conference call but then this was a very clear example of them wanting to let everybody know that they had said this on the conference call, we're here talking about it. it was written about widely. that only happens if they want us to know those things. it says they are concerned somebody might do this, some

senator might do this, and it would cause a huge headache. >> what is the end game here? so many of them have committed to the idea, to this fantasy that the election was full of fraud and stolen from president trump. they signed on more than 100 of them. 126 of them, i think the number was. signed on to the texas lawsuit. so where do they go with this? are they just never going to recognize that joe biden is president of the united states? >> well, they're going to have to decide if they want to get anything done that requires help from the other side of the aisle. they're going to have to grapple with that. from a political perspective, this has become a rallying cry that is going to define these members going forward for however long donald trump is a force in the gop base. i mean, the republicans in the base are still extraordinarily loyal to him, and these members, especially some of the newer ones, you have this georgia person who has talked about qanon conspiracy theories in the

past. you know, that's not something that's going to change in a fundamental way in the house. the incentives are not there. kevin mccarthy, if he wants to be speaker, he has to make sure he gets those people on his side. so long as trump is a force and this narrative is the election is stolen from donald trump, i think you're going to continue to see them pushing that narrative. i mean, the incentives are completely different from them, than they are over on the senate side, willie. >> let's stay in the senate for a second and mitch mcconnell. axios has been taking a look at how mitch mcconnell kind of beat trump at his own game, really. still in the game, and out lasted him. >> yeah, he's muscled trump out in terms of who is the dominant force on capitol hill. i think kasie put it perfectly, there's different incentives right now. mcconnell needs to run a senate that has a lot of senators up for reelection in two years. he wants to govern, needs to

govern. in the house, don't forget, a lot of these members, most of the old-timers left, they were either defeated or left town. you have a republican reference that's dominated by people that haven't been this town that long, and weren't here during the era where there was compromise. they have grown up in the era of combativeness, and most of them are trumpian, a lot of them got the seat because of trump. mccarthy wants to be speaker of the house, and believes what happens in the midterm election of a new president's term that they could win back the house in 2022. he's going to be the way he's been for a long time. whatever donald trump wants, he's probably going to do, and yes mcconnell will be the dominant figure on capitol hill. as you guys have talked a lot about, and rightly so, you're going to have trump on the outside every day doing the things he's doing today. he might not have as much power, he'll have a lot of power. it's very unprecedented.

people have played mischievous games in the past, somebody who won by a big margin in the electoral college and popular vote is not actually the president-elect. this is unprecedented and it just shows the mesmerizing hold that trump continues to have and probably will continue to have at least over house republicans. >> well, he might have power when he leaves office, but i think everybody who's covered presidencies knows, jim vande i vandehei, that when you walk out of the white house, a lot of lights go out on a lot of levels. a lot of people you thought were right there are gone or running as far away as possible. things change dramatically for previous administrations. i mean, it's shocking at times and it will be shocking to trump. he might be trying to develop a power base, but the question is who will ultimately be with him,

and what exactly will they get out of it. those are the choices some of those people are going to have to make. jonathan lemire. i want to get to the new reporting that you have with your colleague that president trump is considering pushing the justice department to appoint a special council to advance a federal tax investigation of president-elect joe biden's son hunter. you report that the president actually consulted on the matter with white house chief of staff mark meadows, and white house counsel pat cipollone, according to several officials who spoke on a position of anonymity. he was angry that outgoing attorney general bill barr didn't announce the two year investigation into hunter bi biden's taxes before the election. the fact that he didn't should tell you something. he may be willing to force a show down with incoming acting attorney general jeffrey rosen

to hamper the biden administration with an investigation of hunter. according to jonathan lemire's reporting, trump is also interested in having a second special counsel look into his own baseless claims of election fraud. rosen isn't expected to agree with either request. reading here from your report, pro trump is still weighing his options considering whether to pressure rosen to make the special counsel appointment or if needed to replace the acting attorney general with someone more likely to carry out his wishes. he's even asked his team of lawyers including personal attorney rudy giuliani to look into whether the president has the power to appoint a special counsel himself. jonathan lemire, this is desperation, and the question will be who will stoop so low as to actually follow this advice or request? >> the backdrop here, of course,

is the president's frustration with now outgoing attorney general bill barr over the last few weeks where barr stood up and in an interview with mike, my colleague, saying they have not found widespread voter fraud, that the president's baseless accusations were indeed baseless, and that obviously did not sit well with the president, and he learned last week that there has been this investigation since 2018, a tax investigation into hunter biden, the president-elect's son, which includes business dealings he may have had in china and ukraine, income perhaps he didn't report. there's a lot about that investigation we don't know, and barr followed doj guidelines and because it was an election year and because it was a candidate's family member, he didn't publicize it, try to fast track it, he followed what policy has been there, and we have learned about the probe after election day, and this infuriated the president who has been really flailing here for weeks and was

dealt another blow yesterday when mitch mcconnell finally recognized biden as president-elect, and according to our reporting, he's steamed about this for a few days. barr, of course, is now out. he resigned but certainly the president pushed him to do so. he wasn't unhappy to see him go, and now there's a new acting attorney general. and the president has been consulting his top allies inside and outside the white house to see if he could indeed, if there could be a special prosecutor, a special counsel appointed that could enshrine this probe, and president biden wouldn't be able to cast it aside when he takes office. this is complicating biden's pick for attorney general. that is a cabinet post he has not selected yet. when he does, that person will face questions about whether or not, you know, that person, he or she, would be the boss of these prosecutors that would be potentially investigating joe biden's son. there's not a clear sense that acting attorney general rosen who is a career person, close to barr, people close to him that

suggested he would not likely be willing to appoint a special prosecutor, and if that's the case, trump is at least considering ousting him and replacing him with someone that would, yet another destable idsiidmove from the white house. >> trying to gum up the works with a month left. we heard kayleigh mcenany continuing the fallacy and the fantasy that there's some sort of a possibility that this administration could continue into a second term. the island is getting small. mitch mcconnell walked away. president trump has turned on the three supreme court justices that he nominated. what is his end game here. is it just to continue to raise money, to keep his profile up, to show his base that he's fighting. what exactly is he doing. he's going after mitch mcconnell, still talking about voting machines and other conspiracy theories.

what's the point of all of this? >> i was in that press briefing and it was striking yet again. she and of course her boss refuse to acknowledge the outcome of the election. even as now the most powerful republican on capitol hill is willing to do so. the president's end game, he is still told people he believes there could be a last ditch effort here that indeed that certification in january perhaps a senator could break ranks with mitch mcconnell and back the protest movement that is likely going to come from the house. maybe that's rand paul from kentucky or the incoming senator from alabama, would be willing to do that. odds are longer with mcconnell's edict. the president and people around him, they start eyeing to what's next. no doubt, raising money is part of this. they have raised a ton since election day. they continue to fund the president's possible political future.

we don't know whether or not he'll officially announce a candidacy for 2024 between now and january 20th. there's mixed signals from his inner circle about that. at the very least, there's an expectation, he's going to tease the idea. keep his name in the headlines, which matters to them so much, and try to freeze the republican field to keep options open for a while. he can make a decision, whether he follows through with the race in 2024. as a final point, he's clearly going to make things as difficult as possible with joe biden in the interim and he has planted doubt about the legitimacy of biden's election, doing damage to that, into the minds of tens of millions of americans, who have listened to the baseless conspiracy fweeks. and elise jordan, here's one of the ways they are raising money for donald trump, in less than two weeks that will determine control of the senate. the president needs money to help republicans there.

that's what he's telling his supporters in his latest fundraising messages but according to politico and others, that money is not going to senators david perdue or kelly loeffler, instead almost all of it is going to a super pac for president trump. you can see on this disclosure that 75% of donations, up to $5,000 go to save america, the president's new pac. 25% then goes to the rnc. politico reports donors who give even more money can have their cash directed into a trump legal fund or other accounts benefitting the rnc. regardless of the amount given, none of the money goes directly to the georgia senate candidates. top republicans as you can imagine not happy about this. they're worried small donor donations are being redirected away from the runoffs as well. the national republican senate committee has reached out to the white house and rnc to express it concern and question the decision. that's according to two people familiar with the discussion.

so the hustle continues and this time the victim is president trump's own supporters. they're sending out e-mails saying we desperately need this money so we can reelect these two senators in a runoff and maintain control of the senate and as they put it, save america. turns out they're just trying to save president trump. >> it's really sad that republican leaders are still being bullied by donald trump even as he has lost his power, he's completely emasculated and he's on the way out the door. and yes, donald trump is going to remain a cult like figure with around 25% of the country. but his power is dramatically diminished and the fact that they are still letting the riff continue, and they still can't stop it, it shows just such weakness, and this whole episode, i can't believe that we are having to discuss who won the election, that it's even a

thing that the senate majority leader, hey, looks like joe biden won it. it shows such as disrespect for republican voters that their leaders think that they are so stupid that they actually are going to fall in line with this fantasy game that donald trump is playing hoping that the santa claus of elections is going to eventually -- what we all know is reality and that's that joe biden is the president-elect. >> we got that point. we understood everything. president-elect joe biden announced his pick for another cabinet post yesterday selecting former mayor of south bend, indiana, and former rival in the 2020 democratic primary, pete buttigieg as nominee for secretary of transportation, and multiple sources tell nbc news that biden is set to nominate

former michigan governor jennifer granholm to lead the department of energy. governor granholm has yet to confirm the news. sources say that biden is expected to nominate gina mccarthy as his domestic climate coordinator. mccarthy was the former chief of the environmental protection agency under president obama. and an aide to new york governor andrew cuomo is expected to be biden's pick for deputy white house climate coordinator. a republican mayor in western kansas has resigned after receiving threats over her support of a mask mandate. this is bad. dodge city mayor joyce warshaw announced her resignation in a letter to city officials in which she voiced her concerns over her safety after receiving threats via phone and e-mail. the threats came after warshaw

was quoted in a usa today article on friday showing support for a mask mandate saying quote we just felt like we had to do something so everybody was aware of how important it was for everybody to be responsible for each other's health and well being. it is worth noting that the city commission imposed a mask mandate exactly one month ago. we'll follow that and this story out of the state department. amid the raging pandemic, secretary of state mike pompeo and his wife continue to do white house parties and their own parties. inviting more than 900 guests to an indoor holiday party at the state department. yesterday, though, only a fraction of those guests actually attended the reception after public health officials warned that it could turn into a super spreader event. according to officials who spoke

to the "washington post," about 70 people reportedly rsvp'd, but even fewer than 70 showed up. pompeo was scheduled to speak at the event, but he reportedly cancelled at the last minute tapping another speaker. the state department did not respond to questions about why pompeo's speech was cancelled. other questions might pertain to why he would hold super spreader events amid a raging pandemic when top health officials are begging the american citizens to not gather for christmas, to not gather for thanksgiving. to stay home and try and mitigate this virus until a vaccine is in full effect across the country. this man is -- this man just can't help himself. whether it's some sort of desperate need to run for president symptom dome day or j doesn't care about the health of other americans. he keeps holding parties or going to parties at the white house like it's important to him

to be seen in some social setting. it's some desperate need to keep going as if nothing was going on with this pandemic, despite well over 300,000 people being dead. still ahead on "morning joe," the latest on the campaign to get americans vaccinated against the coronavirus. and new questions about whether the state of florida manipulated covid data to help republicans in the election. we'll have that new reporting. but first, bill karins with a check on the approaching nor'easter. bill. >> yeah, here we go. biggest winter storm in two years for the northeast, and it is already moving in. we're seeing fleegd rareezing r sleet in north carolina, snow throughout the ohio valley, and it's going to arrive quickly in the mid atlantic. 70 million people impacted. areas of red will be hit the hardest. here's the snowfall map.

that pink is 18 inches of snow from central pennsylvania to hudson valley, to central new england and southern new england. notice the sharp cut off south of philadelphia, around washington, d.c. you want to be off the roads by this evening f. snow moves in this morning between 9 to 11:00 a.m., a wintry mix and glaze. only about 1 to 2 inches, possibly rain later this evening. let's move up the coast, let's go to philadelphia. snowfall around 10:00 a.m. to noon. snow changes to sleet late this afternoon. you're going to get a bunch of inches of snow before the changeover. the roads will be difficult around philadelphia, going throughout the afternoon, around sunset, especially, and then up towards new york city, you want to be off the roads by about 5:00 p.m. snow will start lightly during the afternoon. it will be heavy from 5:00 p.m. to midnight. new york city could have 6 inches of snow on the ground by midnight tonight, and then finally, about 8 to 12 total by the time the storm is over, and

boston, snow develops this evening. heaviest early tomorrow morning, this will be a block buster snowfall event. thankfully, the winds won't be too high, we're going to see a lot of power outages, but paralyzing to be on the roads later this afternoon and this evening in philadelphia through southern new england. more updates on the storm throughout the day. stay here on msnbc, and tomorrow morning at this time the rockefeller christmas tree will be covered in a foot of snow. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. oe." we'll be right back. joint pain, swelling, tenderness.

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as front line health care workers are getting the coronavirus vaccine, there are some questions about the timing for top government officials. two sources tell nbc news that vice president mike pence is likely to receive the vaccine by the end of the week, possibly on camera, though nothing has been

finalized. president trump has said he is open to receiving the vaccine, though it's unclear when. as for the incoming president and vice president, dr. anthony fauci recommends they take the vaccine as soon as possible. >> for security reasons, i really feel strongly that we should get them vaccinated as soon as we possibly can. you want him fully protected as he enters into the presidency in january. >> joe biden says he will get the vaccination publicly when it is his turn, and you know who else says that, willie, the ceo of pfizer who doesn't want to, like, jump the line. it's kind of cool. >> i think that's a good example. let's talk more about this with the president and ceo of university hospital in newark, new jersey, dr. shareef, that hospital became the first to vaccinate health care workers. doctor, it's great to see you this morning. thank you for joining us. tell us about that moment right there. that's my home state. it was a proud day for new

jersey who has suffered so much over the last nine to ten months. tell us about the moment. >> it was such an emotional moment for us. i remember back in the spring, we had over 300 patients in our hospital. every bed essentially was filled with a patient with covid-19, and heroes like maritza, were walking into rooms every day, afraid they were going to get a deadly disease. we continued to save lives by doing cpr, chest compressions, getting close to patients with this disease and what she said yesterday is she no longer has to be afraid, and that is so inspiring and marks the beginning of the last chapter of this pandemic, and also we need her to be the representative to the community when we try to make the case in just a few weeks time to get the general population vaccinated because these are the folks who are trusted in our community. >> as you said, that's maritza, an emergency room nurse on the front lines.

you could see the tears in her eyes and her looking to the heavens to thank, hopefully for the beginning of the end of this. as you say, communication in that example will be so important. there are many people in this country who are skeptical. what would you say to people considering the vaccine but not sure they want to get it so early on? >> the first thing to understand is there's a lot of understandable skepticism. this was a process that is unprecedented. we had people in labs working on the vaccine less than a year ago, now we have it available according to the prioritization over the next six months. explaining why the science was still appropriate and rigorous, and fast, but also why the vaccines are working and what we need ultimately to get to a situation where at least 70, 80% of the population is vaccinated. one thing we have to make clear is that getting the vaccine does not excuse you from wearing a mask, social distancing, avoiding indoor gatherings. all of the precautions we need

until we reach that critical threshold of the population, which, again, is why trust so important to get folks vaccinated. >> so question for you about moderna and their vaccine, which should be in use within a week or so, depending on the approval process. so how do people, states, municipalities, companies, know which one to use. how does that work? >> well, the vaccines are rolling out according to the order at which the cdc is evaluating them, and the fda is issuing emergency use authorization. and pfizer happened to be first in line because they were the first to submit the results of the clinical trial, and so every health care facility is administering vaccines as they get them. the pfizer vaccine is going in particular to places that can do ultra cold storage, the negative 70 degree celsius storage: our hospital is one of them, which

is why we were one of the first to get it. moderna is going to sites that don't have that capability, and the rest strategically across the country. there will be a point when folks can potentially nmake a choice. right now we're giving vaccines as we get them. >> are you confident you will have enough dosage of this vaccine to meet the need, and as a follow up, when do you believe that healthy people in newark and around new jersey will begin to get this shot? dr. fauci indicated a couple of days ago here on msnbc that it could be as soon as late march or early april, the beginning of that process. is that in line with what you're seeing? >> we have more than enough vaccine right now for our health care workers. we have 3,000 doses delivered to us. that will more than compensate for the first dose as we are able to administer it, and the great thing is operation warp speed is delivering shipments every week to want hoes, clinics, and health care facilities across the country. we're not actually worried about supply. we did so much planning around the logistics, the more likely

bottleneck is going to be adoption and getting people to trust the vaccine and actually take it. that time line is optimistic, but i think it's possible f. again, if the bottleneck is trust, and building trust with the community, including the health care community, every health care leader in the country should be working on that right now even with their own employees, but if that happens, then certainly that time line is possible. >> dr. shareef elnahal president and ceo of university hospital, thank you for your time and all you and your staff have been doing throughout this. let's look at the picture of the emergency room nurse, look at her eyes, and when she gets the shot, looking skyward. this is a huge moment, new york, new jersey, we were the first to be ravaged by coronavirus, and now as dr. elnahal hopefully a

lot of people viewing this as the beginning of the end. >> absolutely. there may be light. it may be six months to a year off to really get things to where we want them to be, maybe never normal again but i think of our young people who really are suffering, who for them, this has been so long, and obviously those who have lost jo jobs and their livelihoods and feel there's no end in sight to this, there is. there is. there's a lot to do before we get there. one other headline pertaining to the virus. the u.s. food and drug administration has approved the first at-home covid test that does not require a prescription. americans will soon be able to buy the test at a local store and get immediate positive or negative results. it takes about five minutes to collect the sample, which gives results within 15 minutes. the test maker says it will cost you about $30 and will be

available by january. coming up, our next guest says he's confident a deal will be reached on covid relief in the next 24 hours. politico's jake sherman joins us for this latest reporting next on "morning joe." r this latest t on "morning joe. ♪ tonight...i'll be eating cheesy cauliflower pizza with extra broccolini.

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we're talking, we're exchanging paper and ideas back and forth, making progress and hopefully we can come to an agreement soon. >> i think we're moving in the right direction. i think there's a possibility of getting it done. so we're finalizing out, see if it's possible. >> it appears reality is setting in for congress that time is quickly running out to get a coronavirus relief deal done before friday's deadline. the four congressional leaders met until about 10:00 last

night, and they seem to be optimistic that they can get a deal done. joining us now is senior writer at politico and coauthor of the play book, jake sherman. he's an msnbc political contributor. what are they fighting about? what's holding up this being done yesterday? >> well, it should have been done weeks ago, mika. >> i know. >> because the country needs it. there's a lot of expiring provisions that need to get renewed and this was always the end game. nancy pelosi, mitch mcconnell, chuck schumer, and kevin mccarthy in a room negotiating out the final pieces here. here's the challenge, we are about two days, friday, is the government funding deadline, and all of the leaders want to attach a covid relief package to that deal. and what are they fighting over? there's a big disagreement over state and local funding, liability protections for businesses and schools and universities and things like that.

those all have to get worked out, but those are not difficult things to work out, and those two clips that you played, mika, are so indicative of where the negotiations are. they are in a room and they find out and they knew this beforehand, they're not actually that far apart, so i'm very bullish in the next 24 to 36 hours, there will be a compromise. >> as you were reporting earlier, they were meeting until 10:00 last night. up early meeting today. we discussed this deadline of friday for a couple of weeks. you and i have been talking on this show, none of these men and women want to go home and face constituents and people in their states having not passed any legislation, especially with the benefits expiring a day after christmas. >> that's right. and that's what makes it, i think, so confounding that we haven't been able to see anything be done until now because it's not like many of the other scenarios that

congress deals with, where there is disagreement about whether to take a big action or not take the big action. everyone, republicans, democrats, across the country, knows the country desperately needs help, that this is a relief package. it's not some sort of stimulus or some other policy tool that there's ideological disagreement over. everyone knows they absolutely have to get this done, especially right before the christmas holidays, and i mean, jake, i think the one thing that, you know, i grapple with trying to explain to people is why they waited until now. in many ways it's impossible to explain it considering just what a difficult time our country is in right now, but how do you see, i mean, why suddenly do we have this optimistic tone heading into these last final days of negotiation when they could have done this months and months ago. what is it about the political

environment that's making it this way? >> it's a good question, and something that you and i and our spouses and children are unfortunately accustomed to which is that nothing in washington gets done without a deadline. nothing. never, ever. and here we are two days ahead of the deadline, a few observations here. i will say number one, this is why i am a little bit skeptical that it's going to be easy to reach a covid deal in the first part of next year because there are none of these deadlines. they're extending government funding through september. i don't know what the action forcing mechanism is in the first quarter of next year, but what you said is so true, casey, the universe of policies here is not very wide. that's unusual for a congressional negotiation. everybody agrees on the things that need to get done. they just disagree on the size and scope, and they're actually now finding that the size and scope disagreements are actually not that wide or not that complicated, so again, it's a shame that congress does this at

the last minute every time for the last hundred years but here we are. >> jonathan lemire, where's the white house on this? has the president taken any interest? is he exerting any pressure on this process here as we come to the end or is he just tweeting about dominion's voting machines? >> he is largely just tweeting about dominion's voting machines. certainly secretary mnuchin has been the representative in these talks. we asked press secretary kayleigh mcenany about this yesterday. she certainly singled that they supported the treasury secretary but was not committal. we pushed, why hasn't the president been more out front on this, and the answer is he has been working behind the scenes, but not providing really any details as to what that is. certainly we have seen a shift in tone from the white house in recent weeks. they're looking to get some sort of deal done here. there's a recognition, of course, how much the americans want this. there's also been a lot of second guessing. there's certainly many people in

the president's orbit who have wondered why they weren't more out front in the beginning, why a deal could have been passed, as much as the reality laid out so well, how washington works on deadlines, if there had been some push preelection, why wasn't he pushing for this to bolster the economy, perhaps, and generate some goodwill of voters before the election, which could have helped his chances. we don't know what we'll hear from the president today. he actually has. this is a surprise, an event on his public schedule. it's a cabinet meeting. as we know, those tend to go on and on and sometimes turn into almost dear leader praising events of the chief executive. for now, it's listed as closed press but the smart money would suggest, willie, that will change and we will get a look at the president at some point today and put these directly to him. >> i have a feeling you'll be in with the president at some point today. jake sherman, it's the time of the week you bring the politico consult poll and this week you looked at vaccines and the way the american people are thinking

about it. >> yeah, i want to talk about that, but i also want to talk about one other interesting nugget which ties into all of this, everything we have been talking about and i think is especially important right now. 41% of self-described conservatives say it's harder to be a republican than before. 39% say it's easier than ever. so as we exit the trump era here, we are getting, we see a republican party that is quite tortured over its label, and i think as we get into next year, and as we get into the future of the party and the future of governing under joe biden, that's something that republicans are going to have to grapple with, especially from a political and legislative context that people are not happy, many people are not happy with what the party has become under donald trump's reign, and it's incredibly important, incredibly note worthy that these are self-described conservatives, so people who have voted for the president and

have identified as being one of his people and one of his voters, they are not happy with what the party has become. >> all right. jake sherman, thank you very much. that's politico's morning consult polling. good to see you. thank you so much. mika. still ahead, the president left new york city and turns out, his neighbors in palm beach don't really want him there either. "the washington post" carol linny joins us with her new reporting in and around mar-a-lago. "morning joe" is coming right back. mar-a-lago "morning joe" is coming right back repair your enamel with pronamel repair. our most advanced formula helps you brush in vital minerals to actively repair and strengthen enamel. so you don't just brush to clean, you brush to build. pronamel intensive enamel repair.

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♪ it's a beautiful day in this neighborhood, a beautiful day for a neighbor, would you be mine ♪ ♪ could you be mine oh, my gosh.

remember him. nobody wants donald trump to be their neighbor when he leaves washington in just 35 days. 35 days. his mar-a-lago neighbors just sent a letter to the town of palm beach saying he can't live there. the "washington post" obtained the letter, which argues that an agreement, trump signed back in the '90s, doesn't allow him to live there, and run it as a golf club. so he'll have to kick everyone out. joining us now is the co-author of that report. investigative reporter for the "washington post," msnbc contributor carol leonnig, also with us, state attorney for palm beach county dave arenberg whose jurisdiction includes mar-a-lago. so, great reporting. start with dave. have you heard about this, dave? at all? >> yeah, mika. the neighbors may have a point here, because the deal to transform mar-a-lago from a private residence to a social

club is governed by a 1993 agreement between trump and the town of palm beach. and in that agreement it says that only members of mar-a-lago can stay there in the guest suites and only 21 day as year and only 7 days in a row. plus it's well known back in 1993 trump's lawyer testified before the town council saying trump would not be living on premises. there's that. there could be side amendments that could create am bbiguitambt president trump could make a statement he's been staying there more than 21 day as year and the town did nothing about it until they started to disagree with his politics. a constitutional deal he could maim. hard to fight city hall. a contracted is is the contract the town would win. and i spoke to the manager, it's

his position trump has not violated the 1993 agreement yet although they'll be talking to lawyers as a result of carol's great reporting. not an urgent matter to the town up to now, because the president has not notified the town that he plans to move back to palm beach after january 20th. of course, you know why nap wou. that would be a concession that president-elect joe biden is in fact president-elect joe biden. >> i know that his daughter and son-in-law purchased property in miami. it appears there are plans to move back to florida. so, carol, take us through your reporting, because trump would argue he's friends with everyone in palm beach, he has fund-raisers and parties for everybody and i'm sure he can't imagine why anybody wouldn't want him living there. >> well, he may not imagine it, but there are quite a few neighbors who are in, up in arms about the fact that he's

returning, and not just because of his politics, mika. i mean, also because he's had a long history of ticking off his neighbors. he tried to violate this 1993 agreement that we write about and that dave described perfectly. he's tried to violate that before, arguing that he had to build this huge flagpole, trying to subdivide his lots. trying to get permission to build a dock, which he first said the secret service wanted him to build for security reasons, and then retracted that and said that actually it was for personal reasons. there's a lot of distrust in this community about donald trump, because he has sued the town of palm beach, when it tried to block him from dividing this property to residences. i'd say it's also important that donald trump's organization and the club have not so far consistently complied with the agreement that we're talking about. for every single year donald trump is supposed to report how he's complying with that

non-residency requirement, by explaining where members live, explaining that they haven't stayed longer than seven days consecutively. for four of the 20 years he hasn't reported it. another important thing, mika. he has stayed at that club and visited it 30 times during his presidency. so he's already flouted that law pretty clearly, and there are a lot of neighbor there's who say just on its face, they can't trust donald trump to comply and they want the town of palm beach to force the president to do that. >> so, dave, i think the idea that donald trump is going to listen to an angry lerp frtter the neighborhood association is preposterous to most people. what is the recourse? take the sitting president out of his own club and not allow him to live there? is that really on the board a possibility? >> it's all about code enforcement and the town of palm beach is known for tough code

enforcement. why so many rich and famous people move in, and could start fining him, drag him before the code enforcement board, even press a nuclear option and try to revoke his occupational license which would end mar-a-lago as we know it. the restaurant, houston's tried to move into the town of palm beach and the town council said, no. we do not allow chain restaurants here. so they tweaked a few things and renamed their restaurant the palm beach grill, because the town of palm beach usually wins on stuff like this. in fact, they've already told the president he'd gos t to reme ate helicopter landing pad soon as he's out of office. not a lot of towns would ask him to do that. carol is totally correct. a history from the flagpole to the boat dock. the president wanted to install

a dock and the community put a kibosh on it. for all of our sakes i hope when the president hire as lawyer to deal with this it's someone not named rudy guiliani. >> elise jordan, you have a question for carol? >> carol, great reporting, as always. i was curious if you uncovered anything about the planning for the trump presidential library? because it's not just where donald trump is going to live, but where is he going to set up that huge operation? >> you know, that's a great question, and i wish i could say we dug into that deeply, and we just didn't. i would say your issuspicions a correct that he is working on it to be in florida. he's able to get a lot of donations. another thing to keep in mind there, which is, i don't know that the president, because he hasn't focused on being an

ex-president, has put a lot of energy into the library planning at this stage. there's a lot of helter-skelter about this white house kind of a split screen reality show where on the one side the president keeps talking abdomenian voting machines and how he won by a landslide, while most of his aides are starting to pack up their things and plan for their next stage, make calls for jobs, and the president really hasn't put his oar in the water yet on being an ex-president, even though the secret service is very much planning for him to reside at mar-a-lago and plan for his future there. >> hmm. carol leonnig, thank you very much for your reporting. we look forward to more. and, dave, a new record found gaps in florida's coronavirus death numbers before the presidential election. i know we've been looking at reporting around this issue. according to the "sun sent

sentinel" the state manipulated a backlog of unreported fatalities reporting more favorable death counts leading up to the 2020 presidential election. data released by the state's helicopter department shows with minor exceptions, florida quit including long backlogged deaths in its daily counts on october 24th, and resumed consistently including them on november 17th. this resulted in the state's daily death numbers being significantly lower than they otherwise would have been. florida department of health did not respond to the paper's multiple requests for comments. come on. if these numbers were tampered with, what kind of an offense is that? and, also, how does it reflect to the other reporting we've been talking about, in the past few weeks, about how florida and how the governor especially has been handling the covid numbers?

>> mika, if there was an intentional destruction of public records that would be a misdemean misdemeanor. if there was an intentional move to try to delete data or to change data that could also be official misconduct nap would be a felony, but you'd have to tie the governor to that. there's no way he's got his hands dirty on this. i must add that right now the allegations are that the state is spinning data, and without more, there could be no criminal charge here. rebekah jones, whistle-blower, gone further said she was told to delete and manipulate data. could be a crime for those supervisors. remembers, the only evidence we really have is her word. without more, right now this would have to be dealt with not in the court of law but in the court of public opinion. a final note. this is not unusual for florida.

the governor has politicized the pandemic since the beginning. medical examiners put out information earlier that showed a death toll higher than let on. the state of florida ordered the medical examiners to stop publishing its data under the scientific theory if you close your eyes the problem goes away. it clearly doesn't. >> uh-huh. state attorney for palm beach county dave arenberg, thank you so much. it is just past top of the hour right now. jonathan lemire is still with us and joining us we have former u.s. senator now an nbc news and msnbc political analyst, claire mccaskill. prompt at princeton university and author of the book "begin again" eddie glaude jr. and national security expert columnist at "usa today" and author of the book "the death of expertise" tom nichols. joe has the morning off this morning. so it happened, guys. claire, you saw it. the most powerful republican in

congress, majority leader mitch mcconnell yesterday finally acknowledging joe biden won the election. >> the electoral college has spoken. i want to congratulate president-elect joe biden. i also want to congratulate the vice president-elect kamala harris. we can take flied our nation has a female vice president-elect for the very knithis time. >> and president trump tweeting, we should fight. mcconnell issues a warning to republicans yesterday telling the caucus not to object when certified by congress on january 6th. according to multiple sources mcconnell told his colleagues it would be a terrible vote for republicans, it would have to go on the record voting against the

objection and thus voting against trump. we're told no one on the call pushed back on this request. however, the same cannot be said for the house leader, minority leader, where kevin mccarthy has so far refused to acknowledge biden's victory. he's also done little to stop some of his members who are planning to challenge the results which could force congress to have to vote on who they think actually won the election. we really are doing this, claire mccaskill? and if you could, talk about what mitch mcconnell did and some of his fellow senators are backing up finally at least versus the incentives that may have house members doing something differently? >> let me first, mika, take you inside the republican caucus for a minute as to what is actually going on. mitch mcconnell gave the signal early on that no one should break until after the electoral college. after the electoral college, then he freed people up to, in fact, say the obvious.

that joe biden won. even though they're not admitting it was a landslide and fair and square. what's really going on now is a battle between the ambition of those people in the republican caucus that want to be president and mitch mcconnell, who's trying to protect other members of the senate that are up in two years. so tom cotton, ted cruz and josh holly are having a real gut-check moment, because they know if they don't try to fight for trump to overturn these five swing states, this silly exercise in futility, if they don't do that, they will likely not earn the respect or support of 25% of the country which is majority of the republican party that's still with donald trump. so those presidential candidates have a big decision to make. are they going to break with mcconnell and break with the members of their caucus that could be vulnerable if they have to cast this vote, all in favor

of their own personal ambition to be president of the united states? i don't know how that will turn out. and i wouldn't want to bet. >> claire, wow. just going to ask you. but is there a chance that marco rubio or tom cotton would not vote to recognize that joe biden is the president-elect? what would be the implications of that as he does take office on january 20th to have prominent united states senators not recognizing the president? >> if you're cynical, a cynical person who just wants to be president of the united states and hold on to power like mitch mcconnell is trying to protect his members so he can hold on to power, then you realize that, that gives you an incredible leg up. especially if you're the only one. it gives you an incredible leg-up in the republican party in four years if donald trump doesn't run. they've got to figure out, a., is donald trump going to run, b., if he doesn't, can i be the only one and, therefore, distinguish myself, put that in quotes, as a potential

republican for president that supported trump to the bitter end. and that's going to ring true with a whole bunch of people in my state that still think donald trump is better than sliced bread and actually believe there was some kind of fraud of the election. >> and what claire's talking about, tom, in the house, senate is different. please base and voters and those who stand with donald trump. we're talking about this in terms of power politics. talking about in terms of personal interest, political interest and aspiration downed ro down the road. we're not talking about democracy, what's good for the country and implications of this ongoing now six-week assault on the presidential election process, and president trump's continued tweeting of a conspiracy theory about voting machines, and many of these republicans standing by it to the bitter end. >> this isn't a four-week assault on democracy. this has been a four-year assault on democracy and this is

just the tragic final act. one way to think about this is that these senators are making the same mistake, acting the same way that republicans did during the primary, which is, when donald trump is gone, i will be his inheriter. i will gather up his voters and his donors, and that may be as claire mccaskill just said, you know, the cynical short-term strategy, the ploy to go for. and it will -- but it will put your name in the history books forever with a mark as one of the people who did this unconscionable thing and it may get some short-term advantage in the republican primary, but it could be a long-term problem. in the end, what it says is that there's nobody in the republican party thinking about the country. it's every man and woman for themselves, and that the maintenance of power over the next ten minutes is more

important than the constitution, our electoral traditions, or norms, and anything else, and that's really something tragic that's going to outlive this moment, no matter what happens now. >> so then there's bill barr. more details on the resignation of attorney general william barr. a source familiar with the ag's decision to leave his position offers the following details about monday's resignation. barr was angered about the president's tweets over the weekend attacking him for keeping the hunter biden investigation quiet. this was on the heels of other attacks by the president for barr's remarks to the associated press about not seeing evidence of voter fraud that could have changed the results of the election. barr, unlike former attorney general jeff sessions, was not willing to turn the other cheek to trump's attacks. he drew a line and left.

the white house has said the meeting between trump and barr was pleasant and amicable. nbc's source emphasized the departure was all barr's doing, and that he was not pressured to resign. i mean, think sounds like barr is trying to shape the narrative a bit, but, jonathan lemire, i mean -- did he really think trump was going to stand by him in anyway and not lash out at him when he didn't do exactly what trump wanted him to do? i mean, it's -- i -- remember when he first became attorney general. there were people who had hopeful comments about his abilities, but the question is rather basic. is he this stupid? does he really think trump was going to stand by him and, you know, hold him up to high regard if he actually stuck to the constitution? >> that would have been an unlikely bet i suppose. mika, certainly, though, bill barr has told other people around him that he felt that he had earned more in terms of

loyalty from the president. let's remember. when first in office, it was to frame the mueller report. those findings. before the public saw it. sort of put the bet positive citizen on it for the president allowing trump to grab that and claim total exoneration which of course was not the case but it helped shape that narrative. barr felt that he did the right thing here. that he did not see -- widespread voter fraud. that he wasn't going to bring a public probe into hunter biden during an election year. he was following doj guidelines there. this, of course, dovetails, mika, with my reporting today, our reporting in the associated press how barr's resignation is not stopping the president. he is still angry that these things didn't happen and he's really trying to push for the next step, which is to your point. some sort of special prosecutor, special counsel to investigate both the baseless election fraud claims but also hunter biden to enshrine that probe so it

couldn't just go away. particularly difficult for joe biden to make it go away once he takes office, believing this is something that could really jam up the biden administration as it comes in the door. which, of course, now, is, we have known for weeks, is going to happen. sort of a last gasp of this president to make things more difficult, and, claire, i actually wanted to go to you on this. this, of course, comes as we saw finally, the electoral vote on monday. joe biden wins that. we have the certification looming in january. my question to you is, why did mitch mcconnell after more than a month, why do you think he finally changed his tune? is it simply because the electoral college met and joe biden won and, tli have to acknowledge president-elect joe biden won? or another reading, mitch mcconnell cares more about holding on to his role in the

senate? is it possible he saw something in georgia making him shift his tone seeing the attacks are baseless claims about election fraud, this whole nonsensical dance was hurting chances of the republican candidates there and, therefore, hurting his chances of keeping his post? >> i think it's two things. i think that is one of them. there's no question that mitch mcconnell has probably seen polling and seen the problem that this denial -- especially if you realize that it's the voters in georgia that are getting disrespected. it's the governor of georgia and the secretary of state of georgia that is getting disrespected by the president. i think it's probably polling. so that he were try to win those two seats in georgia, but the second thing is caucus control. he is getting a lot of pushback internally in his caucus from people who have a brain and say, this is really looking bad. i mean, this guy's out there every day dissing our democracy, dissing our process. you know, being incredibly wrong

and false about local elected officials, and remember all of are these senators know these local elected officials. they know these county clerks. they know these secretaries of state. they know that they're not elements of fraud and not some kind of deep state opera tifb for hugo chavez or anybody else, and so they have been putting pressure on mcconnell to allow them all to begin to state the obvious, and i think it, part of it was, he couldn't hold them back anymore, and he had gotten them all to kind of stay together, but once that electoral college happened, i think he was going -- you were going to begin to see people coming out and he wanted to be ahead of that pack rather than behind it. >> well, we want to get to here on georgia, president-elect joe biden was back on the campaign trail in georgia asking voters to select democratic candidates jon ossoff and reverend raphael warnock and the state's senate

runoffs are next month. in a speech, biden went after republican senate candidates kelly loeffler and david perdue for supporting the texas attorney general's lawsuit to overturn the results of the presidential election. mplgtsz if y . >> if you want to do the bidding of texas you should be running in texas, not in georgia. you know what? you got a couple of folks running for united states senate in this state who aren't confused at all. jon ossoff, raphael warnock, they're running to represent "georgia," "georgia." they'll actually fight for you, represent you, stand up for you. protect you first, they don't put donald trump first, they won't put themselves first either. they'll put you first. the people of georgia. >> and then there's this dynamic playing out, eddie, with less

than three weeks to go in the two crucial senate races, president trump continues to drive a wedge between republican leaders and the state. yesterday the president retweet add post from attorney lin wood who spearheaded lawsuits over trump's loss in georgia based on unverified fraud claims featuring a picture of republican governor brian kemp and republican secretary of state brad raffensberger, the two republicans pushing back against the president's claims of fraud. face covering bearing the chinese flag and reads, president trump is a genuinely good man and does not really like to fire people. i bet he dislikes putting people in jail. especially republicans. he gave kemp and raffensberger every chance to get it right. they refused. mr. wood wrote, they will soon be going to jail. and the president of the united states retweeted that. eddie, not really sure what to ask you about that. have at it. >> well, look.

i think it's important for us to see two dynamics happening at once, willie. one, of course, civil war happening within the georgia republican party. we saw that during the primary. we see donald trump exacerbating in some ways amplifying those divisions, and that trend over against, alongside of the excitement of the democratic base. we know that the energy that led to georgia flipping is still there. we know that combined with the fact that donald trump will not be on the ballot, that there will be a question about republican turnout, with regards to democratic turnout, that excitement, from what i'm hearing on the ground is still there, it's still swelling. so, you know, from my vantage point this is all good for the democratic party, that donald trump is continuing in some ways to pour salt on the wounds of the republican party in georgia, but we will see what will happen come january 5th. >> tom nichols, overall, the

president's approach so far to not accepting this election and what he's doing in georgia, what's the view from the outside in terms of our national security? >> well, this is -- this is actually damaging to our national security in a couple of ways. one is that authoritarian governments like russia and china love this, because their argument has always been that america is not exceptional. america is a scandal-maked mildly authoritarian repressive place no better than russia. no better than china. the elections are overrated. nobody really has free elections. this really hurts us with the authoritarian liberal machines of the world to make that democracy is a good thing, people are free, voters aren't to be respected.

an immediate problem, this opens the way for enemy regimes to believe we are in complete disarray, that one administration will not cooperate with another leaving the door open for things like, oh, i don't know. gigantic cyber attacks that foreign countries can contact against us, thinking that the ball will somehow be dropped between december and february, and that nothing, you know, come january, one administration isn't going to share these details with another. this really defeats the notion that america has seamless transitions of power. that we are one country united, that our enemies did not take advantage of us, and i was not surprised to see the russians coming after us, other countries will as well, because as far as they're concerned, the candy store is still open until january 20th and they're going to shoot for what they can get. >> tom nichols, thank you very much. and still ahead on "morning

joe," we're going to talk to the former fda commissioner who's been tasked with keeping joe biden's presidential inauguration safe amid the pandemic. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. trelegy for copd. ♪ birds flyin' high, you know how i feel. ♪ ♪ breeze drifting on by you know how i feel. ♪ ♪ it's a new dawn... if you've been taking copd sitting down, it's time to make a stand. start a new day with trelegy. no once-daily copd medicine has the power to treat copd in as many ways as trelegy. with three medicines in one inhaler, trelegy helps people breathe easier and improves lung function. it also helps prevent future flare-ups. trelegy won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. do not take trelegy more than prescribed. trelegy may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia,

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now to president-elect joe biden's inauguration plans that are taking shape as his transition team imagines a celebration with appropriate covid safety measures. and a couple of other issues. biden and vice president-elect harris will be sworn in on the capitol steps but limit attendance. several officials featured on the platform as well. a parade scheduled but serve in a more virtual capacity, similar

to that of the democratic national convention. it remains unclear whether the traditional luncheon with congress or tea with the current president at the white house will still happen. joining us now, former commissioner of the food and drug administration, dr. david kessler. he has counseled the biden campaign on its health and safety protocol since the pandemic started and serve at the inaugural committee's chief medical adviser. also with us, adrian axelrod, director of talent and external affairs for the presidential inaugural committee and has been organizing this whole thing. adrian, did you expect ever to be working hand in hand with a doctor to figure out inauguration? >> you know, i had a feeling that might happen, mika, of course, we did this during the convention. i worked with a very talented team during the convention. stephanie cutter, ricky

kirschner, done the super bowl halftime show for a number of years. a really talented team. just how we reimagined and re-invented what the convention would look like we're going to do the same for the inauguration for the swearing-in. still going to keep the same standard traditions that are part of a typical inauguration, but we're going to do a lot of this in a virtual manner. just like you mentioned, more and more people are going to be able to be a part of this. we're going to make -- for the convention, where americans from all walks of life, no matter where in this country can find a way to be a part of this, and everybody said the convention was one of the best if not "the" best they've ever seen. we will see the same thing with this inauguration. >> dr. kessler, the challenges? especially with a swearing-in ceremony and information you're getting from the trump transition team who's going to be there and who is not going to

be there and where exactly where will trump be? >> from the very beginning of the pandemic, president trump h -- president-elect joe biden has cared about everybody and their welfare and all will be consistent with that. >> adrian, what about the actual transition? the nuclear football? that tea that's supposed to happen, information like that? what information do you have to work with about how that's going to go? >> you know, mika, right now we're real focused on what this looks like. just like dr. kessler said, safety. making safety paramount during this pandemic has been president-elect joe biden's priorities during the entire campaign, frankly. so you will see those same safety protocols and procedures

put in place for this as you saw during the convention, as you saw for all the events we did during the campaign trails. certainly you saw the contrast, mika. we held very small events that were safe compared to the way that president trump had big rallies and, you know, people were not wearing masks. we want to minimize the footprint, but, again, just like we did during the convention, you will see so many events. so many ways americans can participate and also we want to honor those everyday heroes. the ones working on the front lines. the ones serving in our military and everyday unsung heroes not always making the headlines that are really making this country work. this is a unifying event, a way for every american to be a part of this, and it's wonderful to work with dr. kessler and his extremely talented team to pull this off. >> adrian, such an iconic moment and has been from as far back as the mind can remember that moment where the president is sworn in on the west front of

the capitol. we know the inaugural platform is going up as we speak. what is that moment going to look like? are there going to be people there? a crowd in front? a distanced crowd of some kind? obviously much different than its ever been, but what it's going to look like? a. small crowd, willie. minimize the footprint because safety is our top priority. we are in the middle of a pandemic that certainly several years ago could not have imagined being in. so we want to make it as safe as possible, but people will be able to watch this on television. if they want to wear their pajamas, in a very warm house, they did do that. we want to make sure every single american, no matter where they are can feel like they are there in their own way. they are a part of this moment. we're going to have a ton of virtual content around this. to your point, he will be sworn in at the capitol nap is tradition. we want to hold on to as many of these traditions we can that is a standard part of an

inauguration. >> dr. kessler, thinking big g picture of this pandemic we're in the middle ofwhat's your view of the race to a vaccine, extraordinary race, with first shots going into the arms of frontline health care workers just this week? how do you view the rollout from here? how soon do you think healthy men and women across this country might begin to get the vaccine? >> it's great news. it is a scientific triumph but it's going to take time. it's going to take six months or more to get everyone who wants to be vaccinated vaccinated. the fact is, the next number of weeks through january we're likely to see some of the worst numbers in cases hospitalizations and tragically deaths. that's why we are asking americans to participate in the inaugural events from home, to protect themselves, their

families, friends and communities, but the vaccine is very, very good news. >> yes it is. dr. david kessler thank you so much and adrian axelrod as well. a good piece featuring advice how to harness personal connections. thank you, adrian. always great to see you and while at the site knowyourvalue.com, you can also nominate a woman over 50 who has found success later in life, and is also paying it forward. it's part of no your value's partnership with forbes. 50 over 50 list. it comes out next year. again, go to knowyourvalue.com for more. coming up, we'll speak with two former u.s. attorneys general about the pandemic's impact on america's justice system. former u.s. attorneys general alberto gonzalez and loretta lynch will be our guests on that and their takes on how the

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all right. the senate homeland security committee is holding a hearing entitled "examining the 20 the 20 election" with three people involved in pro-trump election lawsuits with ken starr as its witnesses. nbc news learned committee chairman ron johnson from wisconsin has drawn criticism from both parties with senate minority leader chuck schumer calling on him to cancel the hearing. republican committee member mitt romney of utah didn't see the purpose of it except to "stir up controversy." committee democrats plan to call christopher krebs, former homeland security official fired by trump after securing the election as a witness.

"the milwaukee journal sentinel" trying to talk about what controls are in place what can we do to prevent fraud in the future. when asked johnson said he believed the election was legitimate, and has no plans currently to object next month when congress meets to tabulate the electoral college votes. adding something would have to surface that would call into question the legitimacy of the election. claire mccaskill, your thoughts on ron johnson and what he's doing right now? >> we don't have enough time for my thoughts and frankly they're not suitable for morning television. i think we would get in real trouble if i really let loose on ron johnson. having serves add ranking member of that committee for a number of years my frustration would boil over in ways that would be inappropriate in this holiday season. let me say a couple of things about this hearing. real consternation whether or

not to attend this hearing by both republican members and democratic members of the committee. there a thought that it would be smart just to ignore it and nobody show up and let him, you know, feast on a festival of lies that we know will be forthcoming from the witnesses that ron johnson calls. they're lie. they will lie. under only they will lie, and ron johnson will smile and let them lie. so i think now that members are going to come, because krebs is going to testify. i think members want to bring out from krebs that he was in the position to know. he's the one that was coordinating the work with local elected officials to protect their election processes. and he will be able to talk with authority about the fact that there was no fraud in this election. the other thing i think that will come up, mika, and there's not been really a significant amount of coverage on this, this massive hacking that wept on. since when does russia

successfully hack agency after agency including the treasury agency and homeland security agency and it is not an all-hands on deck moment with the president calling out members of the senate having hearings? this is a major breach of our security and i think you'll see democrats wanting to cover that topic especially, especially with krebs. >> also -- you know, every time we get into this, what exactly some of these republicans are doing, pretending that this election that joe biden won, he won it. that's just the way it goes. we have to remind ourselves we're in the backdrop of 305,000 people dead from a raging pandemic. and that this president is so focused on getting people to do his bidding here or there or everywhere. what are you hearing, by the way, about covid relief? about relief getting to families across america who are really suffering, because of this raging pandemic?

>> well, i think you're going to have a deal. i don't think mcconnell would have shown up. he boycotted any negotiations on covid aid almost from the beginning. he first stepped back and let it all be the white house. so he wouldn't have to be the one twisting arms in his caucus that it would be the president and the white house twisting arms. the fact that he finally showed up to a meeting of the four corners, leaders of house and senate in essence bipartisan now means that he wants a deal and now said they won't go home until they get a deal. that is a christmas trick. that is a christmas holiday trick that always happens, almost, that there is some major piece of legislation that has to be dealt with before anybody can go home to be with their families even though this year their family gatherings hopefully will be much smaller than normal. i think you'll see a deal. i think you're going to see both of them could pitch late apitul

state deals. >> take as deadline to get big things done in washington and in congress, as claire said. you can't help but think about the months and the months and the months that passed, jobs lost and businesses closed and all of the other costs of waiting this long to get something done. it will get done, as claire has just said and many senators say online, but only because then have to get home. think how long ago this could have been done and how many lives could have been helped and perhaps saved? >> thinking about that exact point as we talked about in the last segment, the biden inauguration. i hearken to abraham lincoln, how important that speech was to the nation. limpingen spoke to the death, the carnage of the war, what it

unleashed and what he bore on his shoulders. here we are come january close to 400,000 americans, that may very well be dead. 305,000 dead now. we have a congress that actually is -- is -- is not responding at the level of scale to what americans are facing. the fact that the richest country in the history of the world. we have thousands of people starving. the fact we have veterans, willie, veterans, who are, who are struggling. families who are struggling to put groceries and food on the table. so i think this is really, really a kind of example of, of the moral bankruptcy of capitol hill insway ways. i know i deal will come cut b coming to late in my view. up next, talking to two attorneys general.

alberto gonzales and loretta link. "morning joe" is back in just a minute. this holiday at t-mobile,

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joining us now, former u.s. attorneys general alberto gonzales and loretta lynch, co-chairs of the national commission on coronavirus and criminal justice created to evaluate the pandemic's impact on all sectors of the justice system. the commission is just out with a new report on the need to reshape the criminal justice system regarding coronavirus and recommendations on arrest practices. treatment with people with mental health or substance abuse disorders or safety measures for the incarcerated. thank you very much for being here. a lot of questions and a lot of issues. start with this. it's so important, loretta lynch, i'll let you begin. what are some of the biggest changes in policy or changes in general that you are proposing here? >> thanks so much, mika, for

having us and for showcasing this work and this report. some of the biggest changes we're proposing are actually not new. they are to look at how we utilize our criminal justice system and as covid ravaged the system and really highlighted inequities we've always known are there, how we manage them in conjunction with a public health crisis. how do we limit density in our correctional institutions, in our system overall? we go back to things we have focused on for quite some time. let's look at individuals who don't need to go through the criminal justice system. let's look at those individuals who are struggling with mental health issues, who are struggling with addiction issues, and start there. let's also look at individuals who have been in the system for quite some time, who have aged out, so to speak, of the typical time when individuals do commit majority of their crimes and have serious illnesses and find an off ramp for them. density is the issue.

we've seen it in the correctional institutions we see it in our society. we're all as vided to social distance. that's literally almost impossible it in our criminal justice system. as we he think the public health crisis let's also think about ways to maybe or system nmore efficient and more fair. >> alberto gonzales to you now. i take it the pandemic especially hearing ms. lynch discussing what's happening here, the pandemic has really jump-started a lot of reforms that perhaps needed to happen anyway, but on a practical level, what about delivering the vaccine to those who are incarcerated? are there any plans to figure out how that works? >> well, we don't have specific plans, but we have a recommendation in the report about, that this should be a priority. because these are individuals that cannot control their environment. they're in close quarters because of the physical

facilities they find themselves in. their limitations and what they can do to protect themselves and obviously have contact. continuous contact with people who work within the criminal justice system who go out into the community. they also have a contact with families and visitors. they with families and visitors. so they are a source of spread. it's for that reason that we make a recommendation that there is a priority. what we learned here is that we weren't prepared. within our criminal justice system and in society at large to deal with this kind of threat. part of the reason for that is because we didn't have adequate data. that is a source, part of the reason for that is we don't have adequate technology, quite frankly, across society. and we also did not -- there also was not guidance, best practices. people didn't know what to do in response to this threat. so one of the things that we recommend is working on this at the federal level. and to have that guidance supported by federal funding as a carrot to encourage best

practices. so i encourage people to look at the recommendation from the commission as general lynch said. many of these are not new. they make sense. it's common sense. but people fail to follow common sense sometimes, particularly in a time of crisis, and we would urge people to look at the recommendation, which, by the way, were formulated by 14 commissioners, experts in the courts, experts in corrections, experts in law enforcement, and experts in community-based organizations. >> eddie glaude has the next question. eddie. >> thank you so much. a.g. lynch, i want to ask about the density issue as you brought up. when we think about mental health and a range of other issues, did the commission take up the issue of broader decriminalization, right? the density is a reflection of the code. so how might we think about the relationship between some of the recommendations and some of the

claims or arguments around decriminalization of the code, if that makes sense. >> certainly. you are absolutely right, professor. the density really is a result of policy choices that we have made over the years and how we protect our society, how we define who is a criminal and who is not. how we deal with people at the beginning of the system. do we put everyone in the criminal justice system, or do we have diversion programs, treatment programs, do we have ways to put people back on their feet that don't necessarily criminalize them. and then also, when they come out, do we have ways to help them return to society. we did look at these issues. when they think about how to police, for example, during a pandemic, when you have to avoid contact as much as possible, as well as limit density, we definitely think that there is definitely room to look at certain types of offenses, low-level offenses that often get picked up and criminalized that could be dealt with by citations, by desk appearance

tickets. we saw this during a lot of the protests over the summer. and it did not make a material difference in terms of public safety and dealing with those individuals. they came back to court. their cases were resolved. so looking at ways in which we can limit the contact of law enforcement and citizens also means we can limit the number of people who get pushed into the criminal justice system. these are choices that we have made over the years how to deal with people. we have known for a hong time that we do these vast sweeps and we sort of dump general one in the system. we have known for a long time that this has generate over-incarceration at all levels for minor offenses on up. but we have had the slip and play in the system to deal with it, or so we thought. this pandemic has forced us to see that we don't. we don't have that room. we don't have that space. we have to be clear and we have to be thoughtful about how we

use the system of criminal justice in this country. so, yes, that's one of the important recommendations we make, is that we limit law enforcement interaction with people and divert a number of types of offenses into more of an administrative system, which has been happening in cities across the country. some cities have done it with marijuana. many cities have done it with the quality of life offenses, and they found great success in that. we need to look at that and scale it up into our system so that we can, in fact, reduce density from the very beginning of the system. >> attorney general gonzalez, i want to ask you about some of the news of the day. attorney general barr resigned from his position in his resignation letter he continued to defend president trump and to display his loyalty to president trump. as joe biden contemplates his choice for attorney general, how important do you think it is to sort of reestablish the independence of the attorney

general and of the justice department from the white house? >> well, i think people need to understand and remember, you know, the attorney general wears two hats, unlike other cabinet officials, in that the attorney general is a member of the president's team, a member of the president's cabinet, and one of the responsibilities of the attorney general is to champion the law enforcement policies and pro priorities of the white house, of president. obviously, the attorney general will have his or her own policies or priorities that he or she will want to see implemented throughout the department of justice throughout the country. the other hat the attorney general wears is one of chief investigator and prosecutor in the united states for federal offenses. and it is in this role that the attorney general has to be independent. people need to have confidence, the american people need to have confidence, both people within the system and outside the criminal justice system, that people are going to be dealt with fairly without any

political bias or personal animosity. i think that's very, very important. the other thing that's important, i think, the attorney general, is to ensure high morale within the department and what i worry about is that the criticism and the attacks, warranted or not, against the leadership within the department for the past few years, i think it's hurt morale. i think one of the main responsibilities going forward at the outset is for the new attorney general to reinforce, reestablish the high morale within the department of justice. >> but attorney general loretta lynch, how we get to that new attorney general, does that process need to change? does there need to be a bipartisan commission or something? what can be done to protect the actual job that we heard alberto gonzalez just explain as the country's chief investigator and prosecutor for the united states

of america? what can be done to shore up that independence that seemed to be lacking in so many ways in this past presidency, especially in light of how bill barr behaved during the mueller investigation and with the release of the mueller report? >> well, it starts at the top, mika. it starts with the tone set by the president or all of his cabinet members, but particularly for the attorney general. as judge gonzalez noted, the attorney general is a member of the cabinet and certainly you need to be aligned with what you think is he ceffective and safe efficient there law enforcement policy. the attorney general must be given the discretion and independence to carry out those policies in a way that is totally free from political influence. that has to come -- >> but what if he isn't? attorney general loretta lynch, we have seen a president who didn't do that. how do we prevent that in the future? >> well, i think essentially the american people in making their choice pick people who are going

to implement those policies. i think people probably -- well, i can't say they knew what they were getting into when they elect any president, if you i think the signs were there in terms of how the current administration wanted to deploy any number of officials within its administration certainly early on, the signs were there. with president-elect biden we have seen, frankly, a very clear and strong statement of the importance of the independence of the department of justice. he has been clear from the beginning that he will not putting his finger on the scale for or against anyone. he has been clear from the beginning he is going to select someone with that independence and personal integrity who can, in fact, not just carry the department forward, but begin to repair the damage and trust that has been effectuated the past four years. this will be a long process. trust is easily broken. it is very hard to rebuild. you do it step by step. you do it case by case.

and there will always be people who have questions about the ind peps of the department because they have seen it be shattered so recently. but what has to happen now with the white house and the next attorney general, and i believe that president-elect biden will make a strong choice in the person to lead the department, is that person must be given the independence to move forward. they will then step out and delineate their priorities. and i believe that whoever he picks will have the interest of the american people at heart because, after all, this is the department of justice. yes, they are the chief prosecutor, yes, they are the chief law enforcement officer for the country, but your primary job is to dispense justice. it is the only cabinet the agency named for an ideal, and that has to mean something. and what we saw this summer with people marching and calling for justice was their belief that it could be attained. people don't protest if they think there is not going to be anything coming from that. so i think people are hungry for a change at the department of justice.

they are looking very, very intently to see who will take the helm. certainly, i don't know who that will be, but i think of all the choices i have heard, all would be excellent at leading the department and restoring the morale that judge gonzalez spoke about as well. >> former u.s. attorneys general alberto gonzalez and loretta lynch, thank you alex ovechkin for being on the show this morning. still ahead, new reporting on what the president is really doing with the campaign donations meant to help republicans in the georgia senate runoffs. "morning joe" is back in one minute. minute virtually 100%. helping to prevent gum disease and bad breath. never settle for 25%. always go for 100. bring out the bold™ no uh uh, no way come on, no no n-n-n-no-no

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ensure a smooth transition or a continuation of power. >> well, he lost the popular vote. he lost the recounts. he lost the electoral college. and now he has lost mitch mcconnell. good morning and welcome to "morning joe." it is wednesday, december 16th. joe has the morning off. but along with willie and me we have white house reporter for "the associated press" jonathan lemire, co-founder and ceo of axios, jim vandehei, former aide to the george w. bush white house elise is with us this morning and nbc news krill correspondent and host of "way too early" kasie hunt. so vladimir putin may have beat him to it, but we will dive in with the most powerful republican in congress finally acknowledging who won the election. >> the electoral college has spoken. i want to congratulate president-elect biden. i also want to congratulate the

vice president-elect our colleague from california senator harris. we have a female vice president-elect for the first time. >> here we go. the president reacted to mcconnell's comments tweeting that it's too soon to give up. wow. and that the republican party must finally learn to fight. but any sort of fight isn't likely to come from the senate. mcconnell issued a warning to republicans on a conference call yesterday, warning the caucus not to object to the election results when they are certified by congress on january 6th. according to multiple sources, mcconnell told his colleagues that it would be a terrible vote for republicans who would have to go on the record voting against the objection and, thus, voting against trump. we are told no one on the call pushed back on this request. however, the same cannot be said for the house where minority

leader kevin mccarthy has so far refused to acknowledge biden's victory. he has done little to stop some of his members who are planning to challenge the results which could force congress to have to vote on who they think actually won the election. willie, how many times? >> yeah, it's wild. so the idea there in the house is that they don't want to include or they want to contest the battleground states, electoral college votes, and not include them in the count. that's the idea in the house. go figure that one out. kasie, obviously, mitch mcconnell said yesterday he does not want to go along with that. he dispatched senator thune around and said to his republican caucuses guys don't think about going along with this. it's bad for us. it could be bad for us in georgia. so what exactly -- walk us through, if you can, what exactly mitch mcconnell was thinking in terms of timing. he congratulated joe biden on december 15th after the race had

been called november the 7th. was he always waiting for this date, and how does the georgia race fit into all of this? >> so they had always telegraphed this was a very important date on the calendar. this was true, in conversations that i had before the election even happened. obviously, watching the process play out, it's impossible to avoid it now. and mcconnell is obviously extraordinarily careful how he approaches donald trump. we have catalogued that at great length the course of the last four years. obviously, they were in an increasingly difficult fpositio. they had to pick a line in the sand because now they are going to have to work again, we talked about the power dynamics yesterday on this show, we wants to help run the government. he wants to -- he is the one that's going to have the power after donald trump leaves. so i think those were some of the ways in which he was thinking about it. but this electoral college thing is pretty interesting because,

again, this is an arcane process. we should point out, it has happened before. people have gone to the house floor and tried to raise concerns. joe biden, when trump was elected as vice president, had to push back against some of that. but it's never been a real threat, and it takes the house and the senate to actually cause a problem or cause action to be taken. so that's why mcconnell's message to americans is so important. if any one of the senators wants to go along, all of a sudden things are much more difficult from a political perspective for mcconnell. and the fact that they felt the need to not just say this on the conference call, but then this was a very clear example of them wanting to let everybody know that they had said this on the conference call, we are here talking about it, it was written about widely. that only happens if they want us to know those things. it says that they are concerned

that somebody might do this, some senator might do this, and it would cause a huge headache for republicans. >> what in the house is the end game here? so many of them have committed to the idea to this fantasy that the election was full of fraud and that it was stolen from president trump. they signed on, more than 100 of them, 126 of them, i think the number was, signed on to that texas lawsuit. so where do they go with this? are they just never going to recognize that joe biden is president of the united states? >> well, they are going to have to decide if they want to get anything done that requires help from the other side of the aisle, they will have so grapple with that. from a political perspective, this has become, i think, a rallying cry that is going to define these members going forward for however long donald trump is a force in the gop base. i mean, the republicans in the base are still extraordinarily loyal to him and these members, especially some of the newer

ones, you have this georgia person who has talked about qanon conspiracy theories in the past, you know, that's not something that's going to change in a fundamental way in the house. the incentives simply are not there. for somebody like kevin mccarthy, if he wants to be speaker, he has to make sure he gets those people on his side. so long as trump is a force and this narrative is, oh, the election was stolen from donald trump, i think you are going to continue to see them pushing that narrative. the incentives are completely different for them than they are over on the senate side, willie. >> well, let's stay in the senate for a second and mitch mcconnell. jim vandehei, axios has been looking at how mitch mcconnell kind of beat trump at his own game, really, still in the game and outlasted him. >> yeah, he has muscled trump out in terms of like who is the dominant force on capitol hill. i think kasie put it perfectly.

there are different incentives right now. a lot of senators are up for re-election in two years. he needs to govern. in the house, don't forget a lot of these members, most of the old-timers left. they were defeated or they just left town. so you have a republican conference in particular dominated by people who haven't been here that long. haven't grown up in the era of combativeness. both are trumpian, right? a lot were blessed by trump and got the seat because of trump. mccarthy desperately wants to be speak speaker of the house. they could win back the house in 2022. so he is going to be this way for a long time, which is whatever donald trump wants he is going to do. mcconnell will be the dominant figure on capitol hill. as you guys have talked about, rightly so, you are going to have trump on the outside every

day doing the things he is doing today. he will have a lot of power. you see that. it is very unprecedented. yes, people have played mischievous games in the past, but this many mischievous games to basically say that a president-elect, somebody who won in the electoral college and the popular vote, is not actually the president-elect, this is unprecedented and it just shows the mesmerizing hold that trump continues to have and probably will continue to have at least over house republicans. >> well, he might have power when he leaves office, but, but, but i think everybody who has covered presidencies knows, jim vandehei, that, wow, when you walk out of that white house, the lights go out on a lot of levels. a lot of people who you thought were right there, they are already gone or they are running as far away from you as possible. things change dramatically for, you know, previous administrations. i mean, it's shocking at times and it will be shocking to trump. he might be trying to develop a

power base, but the question is who will ultimately be with him and what exactly will they get out of it. those are the choices some of those people are going to have to make. jonathan lemire, i am going to get to the new reporting that you have with your colleague michael, that president trump is considering pushing the justice department to a point, a special counsel to advance a federal tax investigation of president-elect joe biden's son hunter. you report that the president actually consulted on the matter with white house chief of staff mark meadows and white house counsel pat cipollone, according to several administration officials who spoke on condition of anonymity. president trump was apparently angry that out going attorney general bill barr didn't announce the two-year ongoing investigation into hunter biden's taxes before the election. the fact that he didn't should tell you something. now he may be willing to force a

showdown with incoming acting attorney general jeffrey rosen to hamper the biden administration with an investigation of hunter. according to jonathan lemire's reporting, trump is also interested in having a second special counsel look into his own baseless claims of election fraud. now, rosen isn't expected to agree with either request. reading from your report, trump is still weighing his options, considering whether to pressure rosen to make the special counsel appointment or, if needed, to replace the acting attorney general with someone more likely to carry out his wishes. he has even asked his team of lawyers, including personal attorney rudy giuliani, oh boy, to look into whether the president has the power to appoint a special counsel himself. jonathan lemire, this is desperation, and the question will be, who will stoop so low as to actually follow this

advice? or request. >> so the backdrop, mika, of course, is the president's frustration with now outgoing attorney general bill barr over the last few weeks where barr stood up in an interview with mike, my colleague, saying they have not found widespread voter fraud, that the president's baseless accusations were, indeed, baseless. and that did obviously not sit well with the president. he learned last week there has been this investigation since 2018, a tax investigation into hunter biden, the president-elect's son, which includes business deelgs that he may have had in china and ukraine, income perhaps he didn't report. there is a lot about that investigation that we don't know. and barr followed the doj guidelines, and because it was an election year and because it was a candidate's family member, he didn't publicize it, didn't try to fast track it. he followed what policy thhad bn established there. now we have learned about the

probe after election day. it's infuriated the president who has been flailing for weeks and was dealt another blow yesterday when mitch mcconnell finally recognized biden as president-elect. according to our reporting, he seemed about this for a few days. barr is, of course, out. he resigned. certainly, the president pushed him to do so. he wasn't unhappy to see him go. now there is a new acting attorney general. the president has been consulting his top allies inside and outside the white house to see if he could, indeed, if there could be a special prosecutor, a special counsel appointed here who could enshrine this probe. therefore, president-elect biden wouldn't be able to cast it aside when he takes office. this is complicating biden's pick for attorney general. that is a cabinet post he has not selected yet. that person will face questions about whether or not that person, or she, would be the boss of the prosecutors who would be potentially investigating joe biden's son. there is not a clear sense that

attorney general rosen who is a sort of career person close to barr, people close to him suggested he would not likely be willing to appoint a special prosecutor. if that's the case, trump is at least considering ousting him and replacing him with someone who would, which, of course, would be yet another -- in the 11th hour of his administration, another destabilizing move from this white house. >> still as y ahead, jonathan lemire was inside the briefing room yesterday and weighs in next on "morning joe." n "mornin was inside the briefing room yesterday and weighs in next on "morning joe." room yesterday and weighs in next on "morning joe." d'shea: i live in south jamaica, queens, born and raised. i'm a doordasher, i'm a momma with a special needs child, she is the love of my life. doordash provides so much flexibility. if something happens with her, where i need to be home, i can just log out and just say "okay, my family needs me."

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the election. i will refer you to the campaign. >> jonathan, the president trying to gum up the works with a month left on his way out the door. we heard a minute ago kayleigh mcenany continuing the fallacy and fantasy that there is some sort of a possibility that this administration could continue into a second term. the island is getting pretty small. mitch mcconnell walked away from him. president trump has turned on the three supreme court justices that he nominated. what is his end game here? is it just to continue to raise money? is it to keep his profile up? is it to show his base that he is fighting? what exactly is he doing, because now he is going after mitch mcconnell. he is still talking about voting machines and other conspiracy theories. what is the point of all this? >> i was in that press briefing yesterday with the press secretary and it was striking. she and her boss refuse to acknowledge the outcome of the

election even as now the most powerful republican on capitol hill is willing to do so. the president's end game, he has still told people he believes there could be a last-ditch effort here, that indeed that certification in january perhaps, a senator could break ranks with mitch mcconnell and back the protest movement that is ikely going to come from the house, whether that's allies to the president, rand paul from kentucky or tom tuberville, the incoming senator from alabama willing to do that. so if that can't happen, the people and people around him start eying to what's next. no doubt raising money is part of this. they raised a ton since election day. they continue to fund the president's possible political future. we don't know whether or not he will officially announce a candidacy for 2024 between now and january 20th. there is mixed signals from his inner circle about that. at the very least there is a wild exception he will tease the

idea, keep his relevancy, keep his name in the headlines, which matters to him so much, and try to freeze the republican field keep his options open for a while. that way he can make a decision at some point whether he follows through with that race in 2024. this is clear. as a final point, he is going to try to make it as difficult as possible for joe biden in the interim, perhaps with a special prosecutor probe, but also he planted doubt about the legitimacy of biden's election, doing damage to that, to the minds of tens of millions of americans who listened to these baseless conspiracies now for weeks and making joe biden's job that much harder on the way in. >> coming up, speaking of raising money, lots of donations are being drummed up in georgia courtesy of the white house, but the funds aren't going to the candidates there. how the president is cashing in on his own party. "morning joe" is back in a moment. moment

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republicans there. that's what he is telling his supporters in his latest fundraising messages. according to "politico" and others that money is not going to senators david pertdue or kelly loeffler. most of it is going to a super pac for president trump. 75% of donations, up to $5,000, go to save america, the president's new pac. 25% then goes to the rnc. "politico" reports donors who give more money can have their cash directed that a trump legal fund or other accounts benefiting the rnc, but regardless of the amount given, none, none of the money, goes directly to the georgia senate candidates. top republicans, as you can imagine, not happy about this. they are worried small donor donations are being redirected from the runoffs as well. t a committee has reached out to the white house and the rnc to express concern and to question the decision. that's according to two people familiar with the discussions.

so, elise, the hustle continues. this time the victim is president trump's own supporters. they are sending out emails saying we desperately need this money to re-elect these two senators in a runoff and maintain control of the senate and, as they put it, save america. turns out they are just trying to save president trump. >> it's really sad that republican leaders are still being bullied by donald trump even as he has lost his power. he is completely emasculated and he is on the way out the door. yes, donald trump is going to remain a cult-like figure with around 25% of the country. but his power is dramatically diminished. the fact that they are still letting the grift continue and they still can't stop it, it shows just such weakness in this whole episode. i can't believe that we are having to discuss who won the election, that it's even a thing

that the senate majority leader says, oh hey, well, looks like, you know, joe biden won it. it shows such disrespect for republican voters that their leaders think that they are so stupid. >> we got that point. we understood everything. thanks, elise. president-elect joe biden announced his pick for another cabinet post yesterday selecting former mayor of south bend, indiana, and former rival in the 2020 democratic primary pete buttigieg as nominee for secretary of transportation. and multiple sources tell nbc news that biden is set to nominate former michigan governor jennifer granholm to lead the department of energy. she has yet to publicly confirm the news. sources also say that biden is expected to nominate gina mccarthy as his domestic climate

coordinator. she was the former chief of the environmental protection agency under president obama. and an aide to new york governor andrew cuomo is expected to be biden's pick for deputy white house climate coordinator. a republican mayor in western kansas has resigned after receiving threats over her support of a mask mandate. this is bad. dodge city mayor joyce war shaw announced her resignation in a letter to city officials in which she voiced her concerns over her safety after receiving threats via phone and email. the threats came after war shaw was quoted in a "usa today" article friday showing support for a mask mandate saying, quote, we just felt like we had to do something so everybody was aware of how important it was for everybody to be responsible for each other's health and well being.

it is worth noting that the city commission imposed a mask mandate exactly one month ago. we'll follow that. and this story out of the state department. amid the raging pandemic, secretary of state mike pompeo and his wife continue to do white house parties and their own parties. inviting more than 900 guests to an indoor holiday party at the state department. yesterday, though, only a fraction of those guests actually attended the reception after public health officials warned that it could turn into a superspreader event. according to officials who spoke to "the washington post," about 70 people reportedly rsvp'd, but even fewer than 70 showed up. pompeo was scheduled to speak at the event, but he reportedly canceled at the last minute tapping another speaker. the state department did not respond to questions about why

pompeo's speech was canceled. other questions might pertain to why he would hold superspreader events amidst a raging pandemic when top health officials are begging american citizens to not gather for christmas, to not gather for thanksgiving, to stay home and try to mitigate this virus until a vaccine is in full effect across the country. this man just can't help himself whether it's some sort of desperate need to run for president someday or if he just doesn't care about the health of other americans. he keeps holding parties or going to parties at the white house like it's important to him to be seen in some social setting. it's some desperate need to keep going as if nothing was going on with this pandemic despite well over 300,000 people being dead. still ahead, our next guest says stop scapegoating

progressives. ibram-x-kendi says democrats need elected officials to do what trump never did. accept responsibility. absorb criticism and come back and campaign better. that conversation is next on "morning joe." how about no

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on dealing with police reform in that, because they've already labeled us as being defund the police. anything we put forward in terms of the organizational structure to can change policing, which i promise you will occur, promise you, that's how they beat the living hell out of us across the country saying that we're talking about defunding the police. we're not. we're talking about holding them accountable. >> if you believe, as i do, that we should be able to reform the

criminal justice system so that it's not biased and treats everybody fairly, i guess you can use a snappy slogan like defund the police, but you know you have lost a big audience the minute you say it, which makes it less likely you will get the changes you want done. the key is deciding do you actually want to get something done or do you want to feel good among the people you already agree with? >> so, did the term defund the police hurt down ballot democrats in the 2020 election? if you ask party leaders like barack obama and joe biden the answer is yes. a new piece in "the atlantic" argues that analysis is far too simplistic. the piece entitled stop scapegoating progressives says democrats need elected officials to do what trump never did. accept responsibility. its author ibram x. kendi joins us now. he is founding director of american university's anti-racist research and policy

center and author of the best-selling book "how to be an anti-racist." also joining us for this information, editor at large for the non-profit newsroom the 19th and an msnbc contributor errin haines. princeton's eddie glaude and former senator claire mccaskill are back with us as well. so, ibram, i guess i'd like you to further take us through your contention that responsibility needs to be taken. what do you mean by that? >> well, first, i mean, after the election we had republicans claiming that donald trump lost, but down ballot republicans won because of widespread voter fraud. we simultaneously had democrats arguing that biden won, but down ballot democrats lost because of progressive policies like defunding the police.

we, obviously, know that there is no evidence that substantiates widespread voter fraud, but what hasn't been shown, we haven't -- democrats haven't substantiated that progressive policies alienated more voters than they mobilized, nor have they demonstrated via evidence that, indeed, people in swing states who were going to vote republican, who may have voted republican anyway. in other words, you had many people who were probably going to vote republican anyway. and we don't know that, indeed, dough coun defunding the police was the reason. all i'm asking for is evidence to substantiate this. elected officials saying their constituents told them that is not evidence. and in a time in which the republican party is built on misinformation, lying to the american people, it's critically important for democrats to speak from the evidence.

>> ibram, it's willie. good to see you this morning. in fact, there was a record number of votes cast for the democratic nominee for president. 81 million votes to joe biden. i guess the argument is he was moderate. bernie sanders, elizabeth warren, other candidates who fell out of the race saying, look, the objective is to get donald trump out of office. once we do that, then we can talk about our progressive goals here. so what do you think it looks like now to be a progressive with joe biden, a man who is moderate, who doesn't check all the boxes that a lot of progressives would like him to check, what is the progressive movement look like now with joe biden as president? >> i think the progressive movement is continuing to, of course, support higher minimum wages for people, human health care as a human right, and existential recognizing climate change is an existential threat

and responding accordingly. even recognizing bigotry as an existential tlut to human life. pushing for a media equality and pushing policies that can eliminate police violence, that can eliminate voter suppression, even eliminate poverty and the raging wealth gap. i think it's really asserting the same types of policies, no matter who was president. i think progressives were going to push for the same types of policies. >> so, errin haines, you live in the state of georgia. so you understand sort of the balance of moderate democrats and progressive democrats and all of the changes that are happening in that state. what is your sense of how progressivism either helped or hurt in the 2020 election? >> well, i think, you know, progressivism and appealing to folks who support a lot of the progressive ideas, you know, if not necessarily somebody who is

cast as, you know, radical or liberal, of course those things are not necessarily true. but that framing, the ideas are what has resonated with the lek rit, that so many organizers were able to expand in places like georgia for the democratic party last cycle. tho these are people who felt left out of our democracy, who have not felt seen or heard and who do support some of the very things that ibram was just talking about, like, you know, health care as a right, like the idea of affordable college, like the idea of a living wage. even the idea of black lives matter in this country has evolved in the past six years. that was something that was taboo when that movement first began, and now people are really -- new that people understand the meaning of that movement and what it is they are trying to accomplish there, you

know, far more open to it. so i think that progressive ideals only helped to expand the electorate this cycle, and that is true in places like georgia, but really it was true with kind of the rising majority of this country across the country. >> so, i totally agree with you, by the way, about the evolution really of the black lives matter movement into the mainstream into really being believed and having an impact on the issues for once. but, claire mccaskill, what are some of the challenges here for progressives, especially from the top down when you have joe biden and barack obama making it clear that there are certain issues that we have to be really clear about? >> yeah, listen, i don't honestly believe that anybody is trying to scapegoat the progressive policies that most of our party embraced.

maybe some more than others. maybe, you know, 90% of the issue on climate we agree on, and certainly on criminal justice reform. i think this is an issue of communication. it's not an issue as to whether or not the democratic party supports criminal justice reform. and accountability ain police departments and reforming the way they respond in the community and making it a community-based exercise with the community, we can build trust back in a community that has ever right to not be trustful of the criminal justice system. and, ibram, i want to ask you, do you see that how we communicate these issues, whether we like it or not, is important in a political context? >> oh, without question. i mean, i think that how -- particularly for someone like me as a scholar who is ensuring that my scholarship is

accessible to everyday people, that it holds the complexities, about you it still sort of is true to the evidence in the scholarship. i think it's critically important. and i think the reason why i wrote this piece is because you had some house democrats, certainly not all, claiming that the reason why they lost or just barely won was because of these progressive policies when the evidence just did not substantiate that. all i was basically saying was let's speak from the evidence. we don't necessarily know why you may have lost. and i think it's important for us to figure that out so that democrats, if they want to be successful, obviously, in the next election cycle, they would again, you know, respond accordingly. >> eddie glaude is here with a question for you, ibram. >> so, ibram, it's great to see you. let me ask you this question. what might these labels suggest?

the right, the left, progressive, do they -- might they suggest that we're caught within an old frame and that perhaps what we might need to do is to step outside of traditional categorizations of political positions? because what i'm hearing in barack obama and joe biden is a kind of old political centrist or third way democratic language that seems to suggest a particular kind of frame. how would you respond to this idea that we may need to be post these political labels all together? >> well, i am happy to answer that, professor glaude. in many ways, the american people, they just don't necessarily fit in these political labels. indeed, i can remember a study that was conducted even on the term moderate that -- and even the term centrist, that people who identified as moderate, some of them were, indeed, to the

left or even to the right in a general sense, for lack of a, you know, explanation. so you have people who support what is now called liberal policies when it comes to health care, but then they support more right-wing when it comes to criminal justice. so then how can we essentially frame them either as liberal or conservative? i think we should focus specifically on the policies that people support or don't support. but, obviously, as a journalist, and even as communicators, when we only have a few minutes to describe people or a few words to describe people, these terms become useful or helpful in communicating. obviously, people are much more complex. and that's what i show with my work, that people hold racist and anti-racist ideas. so to call them racist or anti-racist is false. >> ibram, before you go, where do you see this movement going? i mean, beyond -- well into the

biden presidency, do you see protests and abctions turning into policy? >> well, what we know, and let me just say, i think one of the points that i thought was most difficult to hear among some house democrats was this idea that progressive policies are not popular. defund the police, the majority of democrats, according to a recent poll, a slim majority, support defunding the police, but only one in ten republicans or one in three americans in general. so you can make the case about defunding the police, but every other policy proposal that we have been talking about today is, indeed, popular. and so i think the movement thereby has to transform that popularity among those progressive policies, obviously, into new policies. actually instituting those policies to bring the people the relief.

>> ibm ibram x. kendi thank you so much. the piece for "the atlantic" is stop skating progressives and his best selling back is "how to be an anti-racist." and we will be right back with much more "morning joe." my nunormal: fewer asthma attacks. less oral steroids. taking my treatment at home. nucala is a once-monthly add-on injection for severe eosinophilic asthma. not for sudden breathing problems. allergic reactions can occur. get help right away for swelling of face, mouth, tongue, or trouble breathing. infections that can cause shingles have occurred. don't stop steroids unless told by your doctor. tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. may cause headache, injection site reactions, back pain, and fatigue. ask your doctor about nucala at home. find your nunormal with nucala.

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approach would be given any legitimacy. because let's be clear about it. she worked hard. she raised her kids. she went to school. went to night school. she got degrees. she earned everything she has. that's the american way. that's the american spirit. so when there's anyone who tries to diminish the significance of people who work hard, i think it's just not the american way, frankly. >> that was vice president-elect kamala harris on dr. jill biden, taking backlash. latest piece for "know your yur value." proving we need more diverse

voices in our op-ed pages. i had to read it a few times. i'm like, where's the punch -- this is like a joke. right? so bad on so many levels. i could not believe it made it into the "wall street journal." so what are your thoughts moving forward in dealing with editorial choices like this? >> right. well, horrendous ed coral choices and in some ways loathed to even dignify this piece with any more discussion. you rightly said all week long, it was appalling and thousands of women agree with you. the worst part, the editor of the "wall street journal" continued to defend it saying the controversy was a left-wing democratic ploy, which is ridiculous. thousands of women ph.d.s across america deeply offended. i wanted to make a bigger point. the progress we need to make in diversity in major media and we

have a historic group of women now leading the white house press operation. women and women of color. we have a woman entering the vice presidency for the first time in history, and i believe it's critical that the op-ed pages are major papers, just as the major television media outlets worked very hard to improve and increase diversity need to do the same they. they are notoriously opaque what they select. you ask the question, how many women and people of color submitted work that was disregarded by the "wall street journal" in order to make space for this horrendous hit job? i think it's time that the major papers begin to publish the number of submissions that they get and the diversity of those submissions and then the data on how many women and people of color have their op-eds published. it's hugely important in terms of the shaping of the american narrative, and it's high time that we have greater

transparency and accountability for diversity in op-eds. >> and we're certainly able to do it with the technology we have at hand. erin haynes, your thoughts? >> mika, another reason why a newsroom like ours, the 19th exists. because we know these types of narratives unfortunately are all too common because of who the gatekeepers are in our industry. despite the fact that women are the majority of the population. women are the majority of the electorate and women continue to, knoyou know, dismiss the my of electability. to lauren's point. it's not as if these ideas, this very antiquated and outdated mentality doesn't exist. the real question is how are those ideas able to make it on to the pages of an esteemed institution like the "wall street journal"?

you have to wonder how many women are involved in hitting the button on that editorial. so it does speak to a larger question of representation, especially in our industry and, know, i think that while we continue to do this from the outside there has to be a reckoning turnerly reckon i ing internally ho to appreciate these misogynist pieces from going forward. >> absolutely. read lauren's piece at knowyourvalue.com. news from jake sherman and politico. jake on anticipating a covid relief deal a couple hours ago on this show and it appears it is on its way. congressional negotiators reports jake on the brink of a coronavirus rescue package totals, claire mccaskill about $900 billion. direct checks going out to people, less than the previous

$1,200 checks and extension of unemployment benefits. what do you make of the early sort of parameters of this deal? >> well, thursday is jet fume day. thursday is the day that everyone thinks they're going to go home and especially around the holidays. so it makes sense that the deal would finish up today so they have time to get it written up. people have a chance to review it, but i believe that everyone will be ho, ho, ho-ing all the way home with a cobe id deal, omnibus budget budget deal by tomorrow that does it for us. stephanie ruhle picks up coverage right now. >> hi, there. i'm stephanie ruhle live from msnbc headquarters in new york city. it is wednesday, december 16th. let's get smarter. today the last handful of hospitals get their first shipments of pfizer's long-awaited pfizer vaccine and now a second vaccine appears to be right around the corner. the fda announcing yesterday

moderna's covid vaccine is "highly effective" clearing the way for emergency authorization as early as friday. if that happens, nearly 6 million moderna vaccines will start shipping on monday. twice the number of doses of pfizer has already been sent out. more pfizer vaccines will also ship next week. thousands of health care workers already got their shots. this is just the beginning. the cdc says between moderna and pfizer we could see 40 million doses out there by year's end. enough to vaccinate 20 million americans. as the number of vaccines rises, that's a good thing, so does the number of people getting sick. a very bad thing. this morning, more than 112,000 americans are waking up in a hospital bed. nearly 3,000 new deaths were reported just yesterday. the state of california has ordered 5,000 body bags and dozens of refrigerated units in preparation for more