big headlines. america's most famous doctor, anthony fauci, with what we'll call a picture is worth a thousand words moment, getting the vaccine along with other top health officials. i'll speak to them in a moment. congress passed a $900 billion relief covid bill. 18 million covid infections in the u.s. now, another million in less than a week. and 320,000 deaths in this country alone. three airlines are now requiring covid tests before flying into new york from the uk as the world is increasingly walling itself off from that country after the discovery of a more infectious strain of covid that dr. fauci now believes is already here in the u.s. and we have new reporting that joe biden's team is looking at invoking the defense production act when they take office to ramp up vaccine production. the president, however, remains publicly and privately focused on efforts to overturn election

results. there are, once again, no public events on his schedule today, but we know he met with allies in congress behind closed doors at the white house about last gasp efforts to challenge and overturn the results. he is accusing mitch mcconnell of disloyalty for refusing to go along with those efforts. his attorney general's last day is tomorrow after bill barr repeated that he will not be seizing voting machines nor will he bow to trump's demands to investigate a special counsel to investigate the election. "the washington post" notes that president trump has turned to a rag tag group of conspiracy theorists, media-hunger lawyers, and other misfits in an attempt to overturn the election. the president's efforts will fail, but the crises facing this country that he's leaving for the incoming administration are of course very real. for more i'm joined by geoff bennett at the white house, nbc

news correspondent heidi przybyla, who broke a story that biden may invoke the defense production act to produce more covid vaccines, and anne gearan, who covers the white house and is an msnbc contributor. geoff, amid this raging pandemic, this new mutation in the uk, where is the president? he continues to publicly focus on pushing allies to overturn election results. is there a sense around the president that he has election conspiracy blinders on? >> reporter: chris, i think that's a fair assessment. you ask where is the president. by our team's count, we have not seen president trump. he's been out of public view for the last nine straight days. we haven't heard from him in any substantive way about the covid relief deal congress passed last night. we know he wasn't instrumental in negotiating it. we have not heard from him in any substantive way about the suspected russia hack on

government and corporate organizations, other than he tried to shift blame to china. and we have not heard him address the staggering u.s. death toll from the pandemic. instead we've seen one fact-free claiming after another on his twitter freed aboeed about mass election fraud where frankly no evidence exists. late last night, we learned that the president convened a small group of house conservatives to include the former house conservative mark meadows who is now chief of staff, where they plotted a way to disrupt the proceedings on january 6 when congress ratifies the electoral college vote results. now, this plan, their plan, will not work. but look, we've got 29 days left before joe biden is sworn in as the next president. and the president seems to be -- the current outgoing president

seems to be entertaining more extreme ideas as it becomes more tangible to him that he's about to lose power, chris. >> yeah, i mean, he's even going after mitch mcconnell, his special assistant sent out that weird email with that graph on it to republicans at the request of the president, it said, suggesting that the president should get credit for mitch mcconnell's reelection. so you maybe have this small group of house republicans loyal to him, but where are the allies who have any actual power or credibility in the legal profession? >> reporter: yeah, so here's the deal. president trump doesn't have the republican support to do the thing that he wants to do and that's steal the election away from joe biden. so mitch mcconnell has made clear to his republican caucus that they should not get on board with this plan that is sort of brewing over in the house among some republicans to throw sand into the gears of this process on january 6, which

is really supposed to be a nonevent, it's where the vice president and the congress ratify the electoral college result. mitch mcconnell said he's not on board with that. so in a practical way, the president does not have the support he needs from republicans. but let's not forget it was the majority of the house republican caucus that signed on to that failed texas lawsuit that really sought to invalidate the election results in those swing states. it was the majority of house republicans to include steve scalise who is in the republican leadership. president trump has the support of the conservative media echo chamber. the republican party has been cast in the image of donald trump, and that will persist long after he leaves this white house and it presents an immediate challenge and a problem, frankly, for joe biden that he's going to have to figure out how to navigate, chris. >> yeah, no kidding. and while the president ignores the growing pandemic, heidi,

biden's job dealing with coronavirus gets bigger and bigger. if he doesn't deal with it, that's more on joe biden's plate. you've got new reporting, his aides are looking to invoke the defense production act to ramp up vaccine production. what more can you tell us about that? >> chris, it is the trump administration that is promising this general population vaccination by the spring/summertime line. and it is the biden folks who have to carry that out. and right now there is not the supply to do that. so biden's senior advisers tell nbc they're looking at a number of options and possibly very early, looking at invoking the defense production act, that is a korean war era production act that allows the government to compel manufacturing that is in the national defense. so they face this decision, chris, almost as soon as biden is inaugurated. why? because that is the same time frame that a number of these companies are looking at getting authorization for additional

vaccines. johnson & johnson, astrazeneca, they're negotiating, but right now we don't have the supply. so there are a number of ways they could invoke this, chris. what they cannot do is they cannot stand up new manufacturing facilities. it is too late for that. but what they can do is possibly work with current manufacturers. and once they find out in january, chris, whether those additional vaccines will come through, they can decide whether they're going to help johnson & johnson or whether they're going to help pfizer. the big concern here is they do it in an equitable way, that they're not favoring one manufacturer over another. but this is something, chris, that again, they're looking at doing almost immediately as soon as they come in, making a decision on whether to do this and what manufacturing components exist out there right now that could help us get there in the spring or summer. >> but heidi, let me go back to what you said at the top, that the trump administration is making a promise, a timeline,

that at least right now cannot be delivered on. are they suggesting somehow that it can? is there any suggestion that they're deliberately setting the bar extremely high so it will be a challenge for the biden administration? what's going on there? >> what's going on is, we just don't know yet, chris, because a lot depends on whether these additional vaccines are successful, whether johnson & johnson has the one-shot-in-the-arm vaccine that is just as effective and whether those companies can scale in time. we're still in negotiations with pfizer for that second batch, we don't have that nailed down yet. and pfizer is specifically requesting that the trump administration or the incoming biden administration invoke this defense production act. we're trying to get more details on what exactly it is that's in short supply, if anything, but they are asking for help and they won't be the only ones potentially, because we're also

looking at possible shortages in syringes and needles, the type of things that you need to actually administer the vaccine. the vaccine's not any good unless you can get it in the arm. >> so let's go back to the distraction for the president, anne, which is his obsession with fighting the election results. john thune, the number two senate republican, said this, "i think the thing they've got to remember is, it's just not going anywhere, i mean, in the senate, it would go down like a shot dog, and i don't think that it makes a lot of stones put everybody through this when you know what the ultimate outcome is going to be." and even pat robertson, a staunch trump ally, is saying enough already. let me play that. >> you know, with all his talent and the ability to raise money and grow large crowds, the president still lives in an alternate reality. he really does. there was something about him

that was good, that god placed him in that office, for that time, he's done a marvelous job for the economy, but at the same time he is very erratic and he's fired people, that's fought people, he's insulted people, it keeps going down the line. i would be willing to say, you've had your day and it's time to move on. >> so on the one hand you have pat robertson, john thune, people like that, essentially saying, no, we're done, move on. on the other hand, you have, anne, what jeff pointed out, that an awful lot of members of the republican party still realize, that donald trump has a huge following. where does that leave the republican party? >> well, chris, i think when you've lost pat robertson, you actually have also lost some leverage with powerful elements within the republican party. so i think that is an important dynamic that hasn't really fully

played out yet. but he's still -- donald trump is still president, for just short of a month, and more importantly than that, he commands a significant following and political persuasion that many republicans, although their numbers seem to be thinning some, but still, many, many republicans, are worried that the president won't allow those supporters to back these politicians in particular or their policies more generally. the fear of donald trump's power after he leaves the white house and is no longer president but still the leader of a significant faction of the republican party is something that the republican party knew was coming, but did not know how to stop, how to coral, how to get in front of. now it's really absolutely going to be a problem, it's going to

be a problem for mitch mcconnell in whatever job he's in, it's going to be a problem for candidates running in the midterm election. it could even be a problem for governors. >> let me ask you about mitch mcconnell specifically. let me ask you about mitch mcconnell, because he told "the louisville courier-journal" this about working with joe biden, "first of all, i'm going to treat him a hell of a lot better than chuck schumer treated donald trump," i guess that's a combination of an olive branch and a swipe. still, how much will mitch mcconnell have to consider donald trump's base that considers -- honestly, a part of the base considers joe biden an illegitimate, election-stealing criminal. >> right, and that same part of the base would turn on mcconnell in a second if trump told them to. >> yep. >> mcconnell has a real problem on his hands. that's the message from trump's personal assistant with the

crudely-drawn map, sort of like the horsehead in the bed, right, that's trump saying to mcconnell, whatever job you have going forward, i have a hand on your back and i can exert some control that you don't want me to. >> to be continued. geoff bennett, heidi przybyla, anne gearan, two gorgeous christmas trees, maybe geoff has one, well, there's a bunch in the house behind him. thank you all, appreciate it. ahead, as new vaccine doses are delivered across the country, new concerns about getting people to take the vaccine and how to combat the virus' new strain. i'll be speaking to the head of the national institutes of health, next.

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welcome back. there is a renewed sense of urgency to the arrival of the

vaccine as coronavirus hospitalizations in the u.s. soar, hitting a new record high today, surpassing more than 115,000. just over an hour ago health secretary alex azar, nih director francis collins, and dr. anthony fauci got their vaccinations publicly to assure americans that the vaccine is indeed safe to take. dr. collins will join me in just a moment. all as concern over mutation of the virus in the united kingdom is growing, with dozens of countries now banning travel from the uk and three airlines are requiring testing for passengers arriving from london into new york. pfizer says its confident will be effective against the mutated strain but that its partner, biontech, could produce an updated vaccine in six weeks if it was necessary. nbc's ellison barber is at a hospital in springfield, missouri, where vaccine distribution hit a brief snag.

hey, ellison, i understand that hospital is getting a second shipment of the moderna vaccine after logistical errors left them thousands of doses short. what happened to make this first day of distribution go wrong? >> reporter: yes, so 7,000 doses, that's how many they were expecting to get yesterday. >> wow. >> reporter: and they did not get any of the 7,000 doses at this springfield hospital. things did get back on track, though, this afternoon, or late this morning, about an hour ago we watched as a fedex truck arrived carrying those 7,000 doses of the moderna vaccine. the vaccine was in white boxes, packed with ice packs all around it. another group of boxes, the brown boxes, those had kits from mckesson with syringes, needles, and alcohol prep pads so they could administer those vaccines. they will start the afternoon clinic of vaccinations at this hospital within a few hours.

but what happened initially is they were expecting to get the shipment of 7,000 doses of the moderna vaccine at this hospital. we were at the loading docks yesterday, waiting for what felt like forever to try and catch a glimpse of the fedex truck arriving. at one point the hospital said they got word that for reasons unclear, the shipment had been delayed and it would not be coming. some of their sister hospitals in smaller, more rural areas, did get a little under a thousand doses so they kind of did a chess game here, chris, to take some of those doses yesterday, to borrow them from sister hospitals so they could vaccinate people who had already signed up at this hospital. this morning, though, they had to hold off on all the vaccinations scheduled for morning because they didn't have all the doses they were expecting. but they have them now. >> ellison barber, thank you. joining me now, dr. francis collins, head of the national institutes of health. dr. collins, good to see you,

thank you so much for being on the program. we saw you get your vaccination this morning live on television. how was it, how do you feel? >> i feel just fine. i'm not even sore. it was an easy administration and i'm delighted to have been able to be part of that this morning along with tony fauci and secretary azar and a bunch of health care workers at our hospital here at nih, the clinical center, for taking care of patients with covid. we just wanted to make this a special day because the moderna vaccine, which is the one that we received, was actually started at nih, right here where i am, as a design process that kicked in immediately after we learned about this virus coming out of wuhan, and which led then just 11 months later to see this vaccine going into people's arms, including right now, mine. we're thrilled to have reached this point even as we're really troubled about what's happening in our country and we need to get those vaccines out there as fast as we can. >> let's talk about getting those vaccines out quickly. for example, what we just heard

from ellison barber about the snafu, they were expecting thousands of doses, they didn't get them. we have heard state after state, people who have said, we thought we were getting this many but we got fewer. that has been acknowledged by the administration. but overall, are you concerned about the early phases of this rollout? could it have gone more smoothly or is what we are seeing to have been expected, some of the problems? >> yeah, when you consider millions of doses needing to be shipped out within 24 hours after an emergency use authorization by fda, i'm astounded we've not had more glitches than we have. and general gus perna, the person overseeing this for operation warp speed, is a very experienced materials management guy. yeah, i'm sorry springfield had to wait their extra day but they got their 7,000 doses, from what i heard. so everybody take a breath here, this is working out actually pretty well considering what the logistical challenges are on

such short notice. if we hadn't done what we did with warp speed to manufacture all these doses even before we knew the vaccine was safe and effective, then everybody would be waiting for months to get their immunization. there's a lot about this that's downright amazing, let's look at the positive side. >> the positive side too is there are millions of americans waiting and hoping to get the vaccine. but to the point of getting the vaccine, publicly, you've acknowledged you're probably not the best person to convince reluctant blacks to get the vaccine. and now reuters is reporting that key black leaders, particularly pastors, are hesitant to recommend the vaccine, including a.r. bernard, the head of the largest church in new york, he turned down a request to be part of a group to convince blacks to get the shot. here is what reuters wrote. "he worried some members of his congregation could view his participation as joining forces with the system to use african-americans as guinea pigs for vaccines that have been developed in record time."

so how is nih and other facets of the government addressing this trust gap right now? >> and it is a really serious trust gap. and we are doing everything we can to try to enlist the voices of those who are trusted by those communities, especially african-americans, because yeah, just hearing it from me is probably not going to do it. i hope people notice, in fact, one of the first people to get the vaccine was the surgeon general, who is an african-american and a wonderfully dedicated public servant. i hope they notice more and more that leaders from places like the national urban league and black churches are stepping forward to say, by stepping back we're depriving ourselves of an opportunity to deal with the pandemic that's having a bad effect on the african-american community. this is a chance for every

community to have a benefit from this, to save lives. i hope that more and more leaders will begin to say it that way but they're probably not going to take it from me. again, we need those voices out in the community, of church leaders, of doctors like the national medical association, who are willing to stand up and say, hey, people, this is for us too. >> but if they're saying no in the way that i think it was close to a dozen major black church leaders that were spoken to by reuters, if they still have these concerns, do you have an ongoing conversation, do you have an ongoing problem to engage members of those communities that frankly are skeptical and remain skeptical? >> yes, we do. and we've been certainly organizing a whole host of outreach efforts, town hall meeting last friday night on cnn, reaching out specifically to african-americans and bringing in church leaders as well as scientists and physicians. it's an ongoing effort.

i would just hope and pray that those who are skeptical would keep their minds open to the fact that there's information now that can perhaps counter what might be those concerns, those rumors, crazy conspiracies out there. the facts of the matter, if people are able to look at it and have that closely examined, are that these vaccines are going to save lives, they're safe, they're effective, they're the kind of thing that you want for your family regardless of your skin color. that's what the evidence would support. i know there's a lot of history here and i'm not trying to say that that's not a hard thing to overcome. but i think it can be overcome if we just keep talking to each other, and especially if there are trusted voices involved in that conversation. >> so let me ask you about the new mutation in the uk. there are now 120 countries that have a requirement that there has to be testing before anybody can come in from the uk. governor cuomo was very unhappy that we're not limiting travel into jfk.

he's basically said, look, didn't we learn back in march, january, february, march, that we needed to shut this down right away? and in fact he has convinced three airlines to voluntarily test before their flights come in from london. but is this something that you think should be ruled out? is there an ongoing conversation about perhaps whether that should happen? or is it a case of, you think, the toothpaste is already out of the tube, it's probably here and there isn't much we can do about it? >> a number of things. first of all, we really don't know what the story is with this new mutant version. it looks as if it's more contagious, it spreads more readily from person to person. there's no evidence, though, that it's more severe if you get infected with this. it just may be better at passing itself along. this is not the first time that's happened. the original strain that came out of wuhan has been totally replaced across the world now by a different one that happened pretty quickly back in the

spring, and probably we didn't know as much then as we do now. so now we're seeing another example of that sort. i don't think this is a reason for people to panic at all. i would say it's probably a good idea for anybody getting on an airplane to get tested before they go somewhere. so let's try to say that's an important thing to begin to pay attention to. whether or not there's some new strain around. i would be very surprised if this uk strain is not somewhere in the u.s. at this point because they've seen it as far back as september. and we have a lot of people going back and forth. but again, we expect this. rna viruses change their particular rna sequence all the time. it's sort of how they operate. so we should study it carefully, we are, but i would not think at this point there's any reason to do anything drastic. >> dr. collins, thank you so much. we appreciate your time today. happy holidays to you and yours. >> and to you too, chris, thanks, bye. >> thank you. ahead, how does america need

to respond to the massive russian hack attack? i'll ask ranking senate intel committee member mark warner who will join us live, next. [ thunder rumbles ] [ engine rumbling ] ♪ [ beeping ] [ engine revs ] ♪ uh, you know there's a 30-minute limit, right? tell that to the rain. [ beeping ] for those who were born to ride, there's progressive.

welcome back. today we're learning the severity of the russian hack is even worse than we thought, after being briefed bring the treasury department on the solarwinds hack, senator ron wyden said dozens of the treasury department's email accounts were hacked. he adds, treasury still does not know all of the actions taken by hackers or precisely what information was stolen. late last night, "the wall street journal" reported that the hackers gained access to at least one hospital and a university. i'm joined by the vice chairman of the senate intelligence committee, democratic senator mark warner of virginia who is also, by the way, vice chair of the senate democratic caucus, one of the senators responsible for breaking the logjam on covid relief talks. so senator, we've got a lot to talk about, appreciate you being here. but let's start with the russia hack. you've called it extraordinarily serious. you said it may be ongoing and that we have not discovered how we'll ferret them fully out.

so what's keeping you up at night now about this hack, senator? >> first, we have to acknowledge that when you've got a sophisticated state actor bringing their top cyber espionage tools, there is virtually no individual company or even individual government agency that can be fully safe. the good news is this attack has not penetrated, at least at this date, any of our classified networks. but the ability for this attacker to get into our networks literally for months on end, undetected, is enormously serious and candidly, if the cyber secure firm fire eye who was also attacked and penetrated, hadn't come forward and in a sense notified the government, we might still be in the dark. it will take us weeks to find out who all has been been

affected. it will take us months to remediate. this will demand certain policy actions. let me give you two or three. one, there is no obligation right now even for public government agencies to report to cisa, the cybersecurity agency, on a timely basis if they've been hacked into. it's only voluntary. that makes -- that's totally crazy. at the same time there's no obligation for a public company to report as well other than on a quarterly basis these kind of attacks. so we need to have this information in real time if we're going to be able to ferret out and get rid of the bad guys. two, we're going to need to, in this category of attack where you're seeing a super sophisticated espionage activity, it's not a full-on denial of service the way russia attacked ukraine a couple of years ago, but we're going to need, not only in america but with our allies around the world, some kind of common

standards so if we see this level of indiscriminate, broad based attack, we will notify our adversaries that we will respond with sufficient force to push back. because simply better cyber hygiene alone will not protect us against this level of sophisticated effort. >> so you've got this espionage challenge, and in the midst of it, congress managed covid relief. you were part of the group of lawmakers that broke the logjam that made this deal possible. you're also vice chairman of the senate democratic caucus. is the caucus happy with how your leadership performed in these negotiations? let's start there. >> oh, i think the vast majority, i think every democrat voted for this legislation last night. $900 billion, this is the second largest relief package in our country's history. this is bigger than the relief package that we provided our country after the 2008 fiscal crisis. it's second only to the c.a.r.e.s. package in march.

there were some folks who complained we needed more and candidly, i think there were areas where we could have done more. but this was targeted with four months of relief. it hit every, i think, key category. and i'm proud of the fact that there were a group of bipartisan senators that got sick to death of the partisan finger pointing and the fact that mitch mcconnell would bring no bill at all to the floor. and we said, we're not going to leave for christmas, we're not going to allow congress to be the grinch, we're going to get a package done, we're going to target it towards people most in need. while it took way too long and americans, rightfully, said why in heck do you guys always have to wait until the 11th hour deadline all the time? that is a valid criticism. the good news is these checks will start going out, assistance to businesses, folks needing help from food banks, folks being kicked out of their

apartments. it's a good piece of work and i'm proud to have been a part of it. >> i guess the question is, you're on the inside so you have a much better sense of this than any of the rest of us. do you have a sense that this bodes well for at least some return to bipartisanship under the new administration? or, to be realistic, is this just another case, senator, of, christmas was coming, constituents were frankly fed up, and with that deadline looming and wanting to get home, something happened? >> i think it's a little bit of both. clearly there was no way we could have left town with this kind of economic and health care overhang. but at the end of the day, this bill got 92 votes. it's tough to get 92 senators to agree that the sun rises in the east. one of the things i found when we started this group, with eight of us, four democrats, four republicans, the number of senators, and not just the regular suspects, who came up

and said, mark, the next time you do this, count me in, i want to be part of this group, i don't want to be in this place where we only vote on trump judges and now we'll switch to biden judges, we want to deal with the country's problems. i think this does bode well. my hope, frankly, is that we don't have a leader mitch mcconnell, but if we do have a leader mitch mcconnell, that people of goodwill in both parties will continue to say we've got to get the people's business done. i'm actually more optimistic than i've been in literally a couple of years, that this is not just a one-off but a sign of things to come. >> happy to end on an optimistic note. senator mark warner, thank you. and looking at the little tree in your office, merry christmas to you and yours. still ahead, with the vaccines beginning to roll out, there is light at the end of this long, dark pandemic tunnel. but some people are risking everything, and i mean everything, before we get there.

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against all medical recommendations, millions of americans will travel this week for christmas. last weekend's air travel surpassed a million dlaily passengers, even as expert after expert says gatherings outside your immediate household can all too easily turn into a super spreader event. in texas, a wedding photographer said, i've been in hotel ballrooms inside, it's packed like sardines and everybody is having a great time, no one's wearing masks. i'm there as the photographer documenting the reception and there's sweat flying and it's hot and music is blaring and the fan's on and i'm just like, well, the odds are that one of every ten people have covid and don't realize it. sarah jones is a staff writer at "new york magazine," she explored why couples are holding weddings to die for, she joins

me along with dr. lipi roy, a physician and nbc news medical contributor. good to see you both. we've learned from this pandemic that americans want to continue to go on with their lives even if they know that's risky bla r behavior. how will we get through the next couple of months when vaccinations are widespread? >> chris, it's good to see you again. it's the same message we've actually been saying right from the very beginning. people really need to stick with these mitigation measures that we know work. the masks. every time i'm on your show i always bring a mask with me, right? the masks, the physical distancing. at this point, chris, it's been so many months and there are so many people not heeding this advice, we need to depend on our local and state leaders to mandate masks. we mandate seatbelts, we had 20

or 30 times the number of deaths from covid every single day than we do from accidents resulting from not wearing seatbelts. >> sarah, your article asked what is for me the key question, why have so many couples prioritized a party over human life. and you can strextrapolate that any gathering. even as the moral logic, you write, of a choice rarely advertises itself so clearly. we know gatherings, weddings are dangerous, big christmas parties are dangerous. so why do people keep ignoring the consequences? what did you conclude? >> well, there are several reasons, right? and one of them is pandemic fatigue, which i am very sympathetic to. i had to postpone my wedding. that was a difficult decision. i would love nothing more than to see my family. but i think we have to dig a little deeper than that and ask

why are people doing this, what's the motivation. i think generally there are incentives for people to be selfish. we have people in power who are encouraging people to be selfish, who are promoting reckless reopening policies. and i think historically we do live in a culture that has encouraged people to sort of push the costs of their actions onto other people. >> yeah, and you point out, i'm going to read part of your article, "call the weddings stupid or selfish if you want, i can't argue with either characterization. but they aren't aberrant. there's nothing more american than a gaudy, expensive party that kills people. the very stories america tells about itself encourages all of us to be selfish, to shift the cost of our actions onto others." is this in many ways, do you think, sarah, just sort of a commentary on america in general

and not necessarily just this pandemic? >> yeah, i mean, we need to put our responses to the pandemic a into the appropriate context. they didn't come out of void, they're not mysterious. it's important to comprehend what's causing them so that the next time there is a major natural disaster, whether that's a pandemic or something else, we can respond better. >> so dr. roy, i want to put you on the hot seat, if that's okay, which is that there are people, and i applaud sarah for making what was a difficult choice, but the responsible choice, to postpone her own wedding, but there are people who, for financial reasons, logistical reasons, are trying to figure out now when can i actually have my wedding, when can i throw that 50th birthday party, whatever it is that requires, frankly, you not to make a

last-minute decision. and i see people making plans right now for june, july, august, in my own family, in my circle the friends. what would you say to people about planning for the future right now? >> a great question, and i want to commend sarah, one of the lines in sarah's article that really resonated with me as a physician, was, you know, we're inconvenienced, disappointed, even a little depressed, but we can reschedule a wedding. we can't resurrect anyone who dies because we decided to throw a plague party. what i like about sarah's article is her honesty. and it's okay, our emotions are valid, right? being depressed, being frustrated, being angry. trust me, as a doctor, me and my colleagues are feeling all of these same emotions. so it's important to address that, validate that, but also balance it with the reality, the stark reality which is that 18 million people are currently

infected, and by the way, that's a gross underestimate, that's a reflection of our current testing capacity, it's more than that, and over 300,000 men, women, and children have lost their lives from a disease that preventable. as for your question, chris, it's -- the short answer is it's difficult to plan in advance, right? the short answer is we just don't know if you can really plan that big gathering in june. you can plan it but don't make any nonprefundable financial obligations. and let's just play it day by day. this is a new normal which will extend into 2021. as sarah pointed out, it's better to be safe and alive than throw a party in the short term, be happy in the short term and not make it to see your next birthday. >> sarah is a great writer and this was a particularly smart and timely article. nymag.com. dr. roy, always great to have you on the program and happy

holidays to you both. up next, the worst cheating scandal in west point in nearly half a century. ry try optum perks. it's a new way to save up to 80%. and everyone can do it. it's from optum, a health care company that's trusted by millions of people. you don't have to sign up for anything. just go to optumperks.com. and get a coupon to use at your pharmacy. that's it. i opted in. i opted in. you can, too. opt in and save big today. to save time and stay ahead of the messn dishes as you cook, but scrubbing still takes time. now there's dawn powerwash dish spray. the faster, easier way to clean as you go. it cleans grease five times faster on easy messes, just spray, wipe, and rinse. on tough messes, the spray-activated suds cut through grease on contact, without water. just wipe, and rinse. get dishes done faster

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nbc's courtney kube covers the pentagon for us and is following the investigation closely. what happened there, courtney? >> that's right, chris. these are -- about 73 cadets who were initially identified last may. they all took this calculus exam. they did it virtually because of coronavirus. they were all learning virtually at the time. west point administrators realized that all 73 made a similar, if not the same mistake on one portion of the math examine and that was when they came to realize there may have been a cheating incident here. as you mentioned, more than 50 of them have already admitted guilt. they will now go into a series of counseling sessions. they will have mentors assigned to them. they'll have to write about what happened and they will all be on probation for the rest of their time at west point. they are all freshmen who have admitted guilt. so they'll spend the rest of their time at west point on

probation. if they have one more honors code violation, they will likely be kicked out. there are several others who are involved. four have left the academy willingly. they just withdrew from west point. several others are still waiting to go before an honor board because they claim they are not guilty and they're trying to clear their names. but as you mentioned, chris, this may not be the largest cheating scandal in west point history. there were two others. one in the '50s, one in the '70s similar to this. but this slis likely the larges honor code violation. the historic, storied military academy has seen in decades, chris. >> the honor code literally written in stone. a cadet will not lie, cheat, steal or tolerate those who do. nbc's courtney kube, thank you. thank you for being with us this hour. msnbc's coverage continues with morgan radford right after the break. at how much you've saved, how much you'll need, and build a straightforward plan to generate income, even when you're not working.

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good afternoon. thanks for joining us. i'm morgan radford. right now we're covering a jarring split screen in american politics. while many of the country's leaders are focused on battling a raging pandemic, that focus is partially being drowned out by the president's renewed calls are election rigging. this morning, dr. anthony fauci, hhs secretary alex azar and nih director francis collins call received their covid vaccines in public. after congress passed a $900