joe biden goes from president-elect biden to president biden. but in many ways he is already stepping into that role. today addressing a nation in crisis on multiple fronts, with more than a million covid cases in just four days, as well as a cyberattack believed to have been carried out by russia. that appears to have pen traitsed the highest levels of the u.s. government. biden offered the strongest con denial nation yet for that cyberattack, blasting trump's handling of it. and making clear that the attack will not go unanswered. >> initial indications including from secretary pompeo and attorney general william barr suggests that russia is responsible for this breach. certainly fits russia's long history of reckless cyber activities, but the trump administration needs to make an official attribution. this assault happened on donald trump's watch. when he wasn't watching.

it is still his responsible as president to defend american interests for the next four weeks. but rest assured, even if he does not take it seriously, i will. >> and when asked about trump claiming that the situation was under control, biden had this to say. >> i see no evidence that it is under control. i see none. i've heard of none. defense department won't even brief us on many things. >> and while the trurump administration appears to be putting politics over national security, nbc news is reporting on biden's plans to hold putin accountable, quote, biden has no plans to try to forge a close relationship with putin as trump attempted, instead biden is sgeksed to quickly work expecte

renewed scrutiny of reports of bounties offered to extremists to kill u.s. troops. biden is position likely to put more sanctions on russia. joe biden taking up the mantle as the current occupant of the white house has all biabdicated leadership in the face of crisis focusing on solely on reversing his loss. and the rag tag crew of conspiracy theorists. after meeting are rudy giuliani monday, trump met with a group of republicans from the house freedom caucus. including congresswoman elect marjorie taylor green. she is a public suchlter of the qanon conspiracy theory.

and a second meeting in the cabinet room among giuliani, house lawmakers, and vice president pence. aides said trump has been searching frantically for pathways to reverse his loss. sidelining officials who try to level with him about it and embracing those claiming to have a solution. the "post" also reports that trump and the fringe figures who are telling him what he wants to hear are discussing things like seizing voting machines by executive order. which his a.g. william barr shot down yesterday, imposing martial law, something his military has already rejected out of hand. we've said it before and it bears repeating, none of these tactics have any chance at succeeding. even an attempt to challenge congressional certification of the election results on january 6 which some house members are considering are will fail. and again, all of this is happening while the country waits for urgently needed action on several fronts from the

massive logistical challenge of getting the covid vaccine into the arms of all americans to the national challenge securities of responding to a cyberattack believed to be yet another act of russian aggression, a president-elect stepping into the breach while the sitting president gives up is where we begin with some of our favorite reporters and friends. matt visor is here, and also my colleague also. and matt, take us through the president-elect he's thinking on this speech today. obviously donald trump leaves every aspect of the american presidency vacant. but joe biden i thought stepped into take commander in chief role today with his rebuke of the russian cyber taesk. attack. >> yeah, they view it as sort of a end of the year press xfrns to put his stamp on sort of what is

taken place during the transition and looking forward. but really there were kind of two different things going on. one was a pretty robust message against donald trump and cybersecurity issues. and some of the most a ser pick comments that biden has had for trump since the election. and so you heard him articulate that and then you heard him sort of praise other republicans to the high heavens. he talked about dawn has broken and he praised the congressional stimulus package. so there were sort of two things happening at the same time with the overarching message of trying to move past donald trump as biden sort of talked about the type of robust defense that he would have on issues around cybersecurity. but your clip leading into this highlighted again how little biden knows. he is not being briefed, there is not huge cooperation from the

defense department. but certainly one of the big takeaways was putting russia on notice that they will have a different type of posture from the u.s. government starting in just about three weeks. >> and to underscore your point, that is not normed al. four years ago president obama was very incoming with president trump. they spoke with north korea and other security challenges. on not only is this -- there is a tendency i think to describe things that are typical for trump as typical. this is the most atypical handoff in american political history in that national security information, classified information, the nation's secrets are usually the essence of what is transferred from an outgoing team to an incoming team. is there concern among the biden national security team that they are walking in a little blind

here? >> there is concern. and you hit upon an interesting point where, you know, the trump administration right now itself is in a little bit of chaos. trump fired his defense secretary mark esper after the election. acting defense secretary halted some of the meetings with biden's team. bill barr is leaving as attorney general. so there is not a sense of stability in key parts of the government much less a smooth transition. so i think that the biden team is a little bit cognizant of the huge challenges that they face. not only figuring out what to do, but figuring out what is going on currently. so, i mean, i think that they are eager to get going. but the transition has not necessarily been a smooth one. and the other point is biden and trump have not met. they have not talked. so there is not any sort of transition from one president to another.

>> and so trump is now basically left with dependents, kids and in-laws that are financially dependent on him, pardon seeker, pardon rye sip yebts antss and y powell. but on the other side of what he is doing are statewide republicans who stood up against him. i'm gothinking of georgia's governor and other officials are warned that someone will get shot.

but talk about the wreckage from coast to coast that he has left with this fruitless election fight. >> and let's say that we haven't even gotten to assess all the wreckage because it continues. but yes, there are a lot of public servants, republicans who are following the law. and the law is the people have spoken, the electoral college has spoken, the vote counts are certified. this thing is over. but trump has created sort of a new litmus test for the party and for the party faithful which is if you don't say that this result was fraudulent, that indeed the entire system is fis fraudulent, then you are not sufficiently loyal to the party's current leader president trump. but interestingly to the earlier point that matt was making, you have an odd situation whereas trump goes off on this goose chase, this impossible quest to overturn an election and living in conspiracy land, it is almost

that there are days where you can see biden giving a statement like the one today where you wonder who is the sitting president right now, where trump's kind of tilting at wind mills and bipartisan is making traditional policy statements that we haven't seen from a president in some time. >> i always think about what it looks like from foreign capitals. and i imagine that there is some fatigue in covering the trump story i'm sure from all four of us. but there is in no end of focus on the american presidency. and if i open up the paper in paris tomorrow, you will see a rebuke about of vladimir putin and having a consequence for the hack. not from the sitting president, but from the incoming president. and i wonder if you think that

that sort of realigns things or exposes us more. you know, how does that land? >> it is definitely a treacherous moment because the person making at the same time is not in power right now. so it breeds confusion and you wonder where will the part tid come down because biden's rhetoric is traditionally often republican rhetoric. mitt romney in 2012 said that russia was a primary foe as democrats and president obama at the time derided him for saying that. so it is sort of like the 52 card pickup game right now where everything is kind of thrown up in the air. thankfully there are four weeks left of this moment. and then presumably things can resort to some version of normalcy. but i'll never make that prediction in this era. >> yeah, i think that we're all out of the prediction business. and another front where this is playing out, and this probably is the new battle field, you

have the dead enders, people who are going along with what jim's describing, a fight so ugly, so nasty, so damaging to our democracy that we can't assess the full damage of it. and that is the big lie about the election and there will be another battle in that war on january 6. but donald trump today and last night venting at the folks who will not go along with the lie, folks like mitch nem amcconnell everyone the vice president. talk about that impact and the ripple effect on capitol hill. >> even his most loyal foot soldiers in this entire four year saga now are gone. and what we've gone from is really the far right fringe advising the president on how to skirt the constitution to this kind of theater of these outlying figures all being choreographed by donald trump to

come things that a do things that are actually unconstitutional. there was a lot of fireworks in that meeting according to the "washington post" and people like sydney powell, the overstock.com former executive who is far into the swamp of fringe conspiracy theories now telling the president that he should institute martial law or try to seize voting machines, so i think a long time ago the republicans on the hill were lost as it relates to these types of individuals who had been operating on the fringe. but now that they are central, nicole, and based on the reporting the president isn't just choreographing here something for a show for all of us -- for him to raise fund, but he actually apparently seems to believe that there are still things that he can do, still hail marys here that can help him to hold on to power. and that is a potentially dangerous thing because he is

not just core yoe graphing again a show here, he is mounting a counter insurgency. so the question is how far will he try to take this as well after he leaves office, but he has lost capitol hill republicans on these unconstitutional issues a long time ago. >> heidi, why aren't they more forceful then? if he lost these republican, why aren't they more forcefully con denialing t condemning the product? you have the most stunning white house reporting coming out of our own network and "new york times" and "washington post" about the i goest biggest enabl all the debasement of the office, people like mark meadows and the vice president who has stood there as donald trump has ignored covid while more than 300,000 people have died, why

aren't the republicans who he last lost, and obvious that he lost mitch mcconnell and other purchases, why aren't they more forceful in condemning his conduct? >> i mean, raw politics. at the end of the day, they see what is happening in some of the elections where you have qanon supporters actually being elected in the house of representatives. they know that because they sat by for so long, now you have a majority of republicans actually believing that donald trump was somehow cheated out of the presidency when actually he lost by a pretty big margin. and now because their own base believes some of these things just because they won't come out against it, or just because they won't support it though doesn't mean that they are against it. so they are not speaking out, but when he is gone, i wouldn't expect a lot of them to be

courting his attention and his favor. unless it comes to election time. and we see that he has succeeded and really kind of building this counter insurgency. and i don't think that many of us can answer that question right now about how much oxygen this is going to continue to have after he doesn't have that bully pulpit in the white house. >> i want to read to you from the "washington post" about what trump is leaving for the incoming biden white house. a real mess. trump is leaving behind crises and undermining biden before he takes office. the delayed and turbulent transition process could complicate the biden administration's ability to address the challenge and shore up the nation's cyber defenses. trump is making a series of moves aimed at see himselfing his legacy and handicapping biden's legacy. this is reporting in over the weekend.

and i'm curious in your reporting -- because the trump administration is neither strategic nor go tent, but this sounds like sabotaged.tent, but sounds like sabotaged. what is the sense about how intentional this is from the biden side? >> i think that some of it does feel intention allege. and we should separate a little bit, we're hearing a lot of news today about different appointees trump is making in the lame duck session. some of that is typical. obama did the same thing. but trump is doing things that are far beyond it. and you heard biden today talk broke his failure will land on my doorstep. i think was his quote. and he is acknowledging what trump is handing off to him. and the other thing, biden used

to joke about telling obama in 2009 that everything has landed on his desk by locusts. and in this case biden also may be getting the locusts. and the transition is not smooth. so i think that there is a sense of a huge amount of things that they are inheriting, you know, come january 20. >> you know, i wonder from having covered -- you've covered this moment, these transitions. and what we're all prepared for and what we're all prepared -- in my case i lived through it, you've covered it, is abrupt changes on policy. things that are ready for day one. what is your sense of what they are walking in to? you talked about how treacherous this transition will be. this is walking in blind to said treachery. just sort of put this moment, this transition, president-elect

walks into the west wing for the first time after his inaugural ceremony, his clothes are in his dresser, socks aunderwear all unpacked, he lives there all of a sudden, the outgoing president leaves during the ceremony. what will joe biden be walking in to day one? >> well, first of all, i'm remembering rumors and never confirmed and for all i never never true about that when the bush administration came in in 2001 that ws were missing from all the key boards. and so that would be the least of their problems. i mean, start with the justice department. what chaos the justice department has been under, what pressure it will be under in terms of deciding what to can with the various cases involving the trump administration. but how do you reorder that department.

presumably -- because what biden is bringing in is a group, this is what he ran on, of people who know what they are doing. he is coming in with set policies. sometimes criticized from the left, but some called it obama 2. we'll see about that. i'm not convinced that that is what it will be. but the point is that they have a clear agenda. but whdo they do about addressi the postal service? what do they do -- you can go down the line. the defense department has all the trump appointments. you appoint new people, but how much damage has been done and how much work needs to be done to calm them down and get them focused again on policy, echl powering the scientists at the various health agencies that have been struggling against all the political interference to manage the pandemic. you would hope that would be relatively easy. dr. fauci remained in place. but a lot of settling down and

refocusing that they will have to get done. >> and an incredibly intricate transition. and i'll have no comment on the ws. but they just haven't run a government. they have run opposition campaign. so there is no telling what they will find. and when we come back, it was only in spite of an awol donald trump that congress could finally make a deal on coronavirus relief legislation after months of gridlock. but president-elect says he can do better. we'll have new details on his plan to secure more aid for the american people. plus rudy giuliani's $20,000 a day fee for his services. it may have to go toward his own hefty legal bills when trump leaves office. a new report show signs that the

southern district of new york may be ramping up its investigation into rudy. and we're learning more about the new potentially infectious coronavirus variant spreading throughout the uk and there are fears that this strain could leave our children more vulnerable. all those stories and more when deadline white house continues. s ♪ [ engines revving ] ♪ it's amazing to see them in the wild like th-- shhh. [ engine revs ] for those who were born to ride, there's progressive.

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♪ on the third day of croodsmas my neighbor gave to me ♪ ♪ three.♪. dun, dun, duns. ♪ 2 shrieking girls ♪ and a... whoa, peanut toe. ♪ in a pack of croodaceous families ♪ go to watchcroods.com. after a months long standoff, congress finally approved the long a waited $900 billion coronavirus relief package clearing the way for much needed relief for the millions of americans strug fglg from the pandemic.

but president-elect biden is saying that this is just the beginning, calling it a mere down payment and plans to introduce a new package as soon as he takes office. and just in the last hour, he addressed how he plans to get a deal done in a deeply divided washington. >> do you think that republicans who are losing their businesses, do you think that constituents out there who can't pay their mortgage, do you think that they are not letting their representatives that they got a problem? do you think that someone who just lost a family neb wmember s a republican isn't telling his or her state representative that you have to help? do you think all those people who are making judgments of whether or not my child will be able to go to school and i have to stay home and i can't go to work, therefore i have no income are all democrats? i think that there is a -- look,

you have a different team in town. you have a different team in town. i'm not going to villainize the opposition, but i'll stand and say this is what we have to do because they know it. >> and we're back with matt and heidi. what is the biden philosophy on working withs to get more? i mean, i think thats did more than they had set out to do and that they wanted to do. state officials say it is way short of what they need. and biden makes the right political point. the people that are hurting don't really lobelong to one political party or the other. is the public support part of the biden legislative strategy? >> yeah, and nicolle, you are starting to see that now. you are seeing him as the public salesman a little bit for his policies. which is a little bit of a shift for him. i mean, voerl of course he ran

campaign based on poly cities th policy, but now he is trying to convince the broader republican of what he wants to did a s ts constituents to push their members of congress. so sort of two things have to happen. one of them i think is biden taking a different approach than obama took. having a frequent dfrgs wiconve with help members. and i think that you are starting to see that a little bit from biden during the transition process. but the second one is a little bit out of biden's control and it is whether the republican party shifts with trump out of office. trump has not been a part of any of the negotiations on this latest legislation and sort of unclear what happens when he is gone and sort of whether that means that biden can have a better working relationship with the republican party or whether they dig in.

and that i think is the gamble a little bit. and you saw biden gloat a little bit this afternoon too sort of talking about how congress reacting to the way that he thought that they would reacts. and i think that he views position as having a greater ich understanding of congress. and that is what will get a good test you know here in a couple weeks. >> heidi, there is something that i think biden understands that the republicans may not. they don't have the power. they don't stand for anything. so any argument they launch, and you saw this play out in a superficial way about an unsuin lobbed at them, they would defend a president who talked about countries and grabbing women and -- they have don't have any principled stands with which to defy and block and

obstruct biden. so if biden can turn the sentiment in the direction that he wants to govern, i don't think the republicans have a strong hand to play on principle. and you have reporting on the defense protection act. there doesn't seem to be a national principled policy objection to that or have you turned up something that could be a road block at least politically if biden moves in that direction? >> i don't think that congress can stop him from using the defense production act which is a wartime era act that allows the government to command manufacturers to manufacture items in the national interests, in this case a vaccine. but i think his bigger -- that is the vaccine. his bigger challenge is that while what you say is true about the republicans, they look at this past election and they say the man still got 70 million

votes. and that is going to be a determinant in the future as well when it comes to the agenda. i bring you back to when donald trump took office. nicole, they even didn't go along with what he wanted. remember, infrastructure week became a joke line in washington. some of the main things that joe biden wants to get done are just philosophically at odds with where mitch mcconnell is. anything that will be a big ticket item, the type of real government spending that we saw for instance during after world war ii that got us back on our feet, they feel like we are already tapped out. we put so much money during this administration into corporate tax cuts. we have a huge deficit and expect it hear them talking more and more about that. so the question is, where is the middle ground if republicans still hold the senate that they are going to demarcate and say,

okay, this is where we'll work with you on. we're not going to it that big infrastructure project that you want. but maybe we'll give you some tax credits. maybe i'm wrong. but this is just having been an observe he were observer of this congress and this leader. i wouldn't expect a dramatic shift in his philosophy just because donald trump is no longer there. >> matt, what is the biden approach to legislating around more relief? is to be targeted to try to do the things that weren't in this package or is he going to use that first address to the nation in january, not called a state of the union, but the first one usually just an address to the nation, i mean is it going to be comprehensive or will it be targeted to the things left out of this bill? >> i think that it will be targeted, more spending, and you

nknow you may finally get infrastructure week under a president joe biden. because i think that those are the kinds of things that he may pursue and try to move mcconnell and try to move republicans on big, you know, infrastructure spending that would accomplish, you know, things in districts around the country, republican held districts around the country. and biden also has a clean energy -- climate change is a huge priority. and he views the ability to accomplish some of the clean energy goals while at the same time spending money on infrastructure in republican held districts. so i think that you will see some of that legislation come into play. but i expect that there will be a lot of executive orders, a lot of executive action to start off the bat and sort of unrolling a little bit of what trump has done will be sort of the first stamp that i think that we see from biden as he moves towards

legislation to deal with what he is calling a todown payment. and next he will try to move to more spending, more stimulus spending as the next round. >> matt, hiddy, we'll turn to both of you in your reporting on all of it. thank you for spending some time with us today. after the break, a pardon from trump just might become rudy giuliani's best bets as a new report shows an investigation that remains very active and could soon be ramping up. that is next. save up to 25% with allstate. bundling just feels good this time of year. saving is easy when you're in good hands. call a local agent, or 1-800-allstate for a quote today. if you have postmenopausal and a high risk for fracture, or 1-800-allstate now might not be the best time to ask yourself, 'are my bones strong?' life is full of make or break moments.

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. federal prosecutors appear to be ramping up their investigation into donald trump's personal attorney and wing man rudy giuliani. prosecutors for the southern district of new york have discussed making legal requests for giuliani electronic communications according to two sources familiar with the probe talking to nbc news. the sources say that the investigation into giuliani is ongoing with one saying that it is, quote, very active. however, the scope of the probe remains unclear. the "wall street journal" back in october 2019 reported that prosecutors were reviewing the former new york mayor's bank records as part of an investigation into his dealings with ukraine. the justice department and the southern district of new york declined to comment on the investigation and giuliani's

attorney rob breert costello sae has no reason to believe that there is any truth to the allegations. let's bring into our conversation former acting solicitor general, and also senior columnist at bloomberg opinion. neal, what is this reporting about the giuliani investigation which we haven't heard much about say to you? >> it says a lot. first of all, it says that rudy giuliani at this point has done it all. he's gone from america's mayor to america's crazy uncle and now america's most wanted i guess. you know, this is amazing. the lawyer to the president of united states is under active criminal investigation by a department of justice run by the president of the united states. and it is even more amazing that this investigation is being carried out by rudy giuliani's

former office, the southern district of new york, the storied office that giuliani once ran 30 years ago. and even more amazing still that rudy giuliani is out there defending the president on this lot on the election at the same time as he is under investigation. he is essentially angling for a pardon. and so you have all of these things kind of swirling at once. this investigation has been going on a long time. there were two other associates of mr. giuliani, lev parnas and thurman oig wwho have both been indicted already. and they had a company called fraud guarantee, i kid you not, that is the actual name of the company, and fraud guarantee paid rudy giuliani a half million dollars. and fraud guarantee has been around since 2013 and according to florida records never had a single client, never had return

for its investors. but somehow managed to pay rudy giuliani a half million dollars. >> and there has been reporting in the "new york times" at the beginning of the month that donald trump is committed to doling out preemptive pardons and a whole bunch of them. what would that protect rudy from if this investigation results in some criminal poe sure for rudy but trump pre-pardons him? >> well, first of all, there is a whole debate about whether it is even permissible. but let's assume that it is. even still, all that would do is prevent federal investigation including this current one in the southern district of new york. it nt wouwouldn't preclude any charges. and here in new york, they moved to close a so-called loophole that existed in past years in

which if you got a presidential pardon, it would have arguably created double jeopardy problems. new york's legislature changed that now. and so even if rudy gets help from his client the president of the united states in the form of a preemptive pardon, i'm not sure that that will get him where he needs to go. >> so tim, when we talk about these story, i always in my brain hear the music from jaws. and another story that fits into this sense that the door is closing and investigators are getting closer, news today about his private banker at deutsche bank resigning. just, i don't knoout of the blu. deutsche bank in august opened an internal review into a 2013 real he is transaction. the company was owned in part by jared kushner.

and talk about the deutsche bank story, the reporting on it from you, from bloomberg, and its intersection with the criminal exposure for donald trump and his family. >> well, the easiest way to think about deutsche huabank is pandora's box for donald trump. no major huang in tbank in the d do business with donald trump. he didn't tell banks the truth about his finances, he didn't make good on his debts. they ended up taking masses losses and then they all walked away from him. but for deutsche bank. and that has been one of the $10 million questions sitting around donald trump, why did this one bank continue to do business with him. even after in the mid 2000s when one of his chicago projects ask a under stress, trump sued

deutsche bank to avoid paying them back for a massive loan on that plot aroperty and yet they doing business with him. and they transferred everything into the private bank and run by rosemary blalec. and deutsche bank has had a lot of problems themselves with regulatory issues. it has always been a target in the last several years from regulators. and law enforcement officials. the bank has worked hard to get past those problem, but all of those occurred when donald trump was their client. and everything that happened inside that bank creates a money trail that can be followed to connect donald trump to some of the questions i think that the people have wondered about throughout his whole administration, why does he seem to be so beholden to vladimir

putin, why do he and his minions like rudy giuliani march around eastern europe with immunity. where does the money move. and i think that that is why toi deutsche huang ba deutsche bank is a soft spot because it is a money trail that could get them in deep trouble if prosecutors follow it. >> and just to take the money trail explanation for all the unanswered questions, is it one that becomes illuminated when all the protections and power that go with a sitting president in this country disappear immediately? i mean, do you think that we'll learn the answers and what deutsche bank has been hiding for trump and his family in. >> that is certainly one of the things that is looming front of mind for donald trump. i think that he is very well aware, i think that that is one of the reasons that he has been acting, you know, lashing out at people and doing everything he can to stop from leaving office.

because the financial money trail is an issue that sicy van is looking at in manhattan. trump has no control over that office. he loses all of the financial protections that he gets in the oval office when he leaves. and i think that that is very front of mind for him and i think that lot of the pardons that you will end up seeing him engineer will be about filling the holes around his own vulnerability and the legal perils he is facing. >> did you expect to see some of the names in the news stories on the list of pardon, do you think that donald trump will deploy the same tactics that he used with roger stoechb ne on his ba? >> the m.o., if you are his friend, if you help him out, you get a pardon. but here i think that trump has to worry about something. if he pardons these people, they then can be forced to testify

against him or against others and even if he pardons position for something and even if that somehow is declared okay, which i'm not sure it can, but even with all of that, the truth is more easy to uncover by investigators if there are pardons because all these people now can't claim 5th amendment self-incrimination rights. so there is a way that the pardons that trump is thinking of going out may insulate the president from liability but not state. and so they would be well within their powers to figure out what happened with deutsche bank, with giuliani, with ukraine, with par that is, with aparnas, different characters. and so i expect the investigations to continue. >> the follow the money edict

really does feel like the criminal story about trump and the people around him that will endure, that we'll be talking about for months to come. neal, tim, thank you both to making sense of it for us. when we can back, an infectious new coronavirus mutation has led dozens of continues to ban travel from the uk. but today, america's top scientists are saying it is probably here already. that story next.

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today the cdc is warning that the new covid 19 strain spreading in the u.k. may be emerging, quote, because it is a better fit to spread in humans and it could already be circulating here in the united states. gone undetected because a small fraction of cases here are studied. experts estimate the mutation that has put much of the country on a strict lockdown could be up to 70% more transmissible and may not spare children as much as previous strains. all of this as the second coronavirus vaccine, moderna vaccine candidate, begins making its way to americans including to both dr. fauci and hhs secretary alex azar today. joining us today -- for all of the parents out there this is a

terrifying prospect that there is a strain that is more transmissible in children. tell me about this strain and i have to say, i have covered the pandemic just about every day since it first became a thing here. i don't understand how it could be more transmissible. it seems that the defining characteristic of covid is the contagious nature. what does 70% more transmissible mean. >> it is hard to imagine this virus already was extraordinarily contagious. and it could be even more contagious. well it appears that this virus in england, which has now spread in places in europe, could be even more transmissible, even more contagious. now it is not more serious if you do get the virus, it makes people ill to about the same proportion as the strain that we're familiar with. but, remember, contagiousness

could be aborted. it could be turned down. you know what i'm going to do. here is the mask. social distancing, avoid groups. if anything, is emphasizes again the importance of these simple things which are very important. this virus could be here. it could be spreading now. but we know that there is a virus all around us. we need to do these simple things all of the time. >> and this news about children not being spared. what does that mean? >> well, children, if you look at influenza, have the distribution franchise for this virus. children put out a lot more influenza virus for a longer period of time and and they circulate it in our communities and bring it home. now, children haven't done that so very much with covid. it is been more adult to adult

transmission. if this virus does, indeed, get into children and if the children do, as it turns out, spread more of this virus, that will make it even more contagious because then it will spread in schools, and children will bring it home to their parents. >> are the vaccines being developed going to protect us from this mutation or any other? >> so far so good. it looks as though in the early studies, more studies are underway, so these are preliminary data, it looks as though our vaccines will work against this new more contagious strains. some scientists have wonder w wld -- whether it will work quite as well. those studies are underway. but so far so good. we think this is on target. let's all be prepared to get the vaccine so provide as much

protection not only for ourselves, but for everyone else around us. when our times come, be ready to roll up your sleeve. >> and when will our children be online for those vaccines? especially if they're now spreading it at higher rates? >> well, it is just now that our studies in children are starting. some are ongoing, some are starting. and some we anticipate that sometime toward the end of the spring, maybe into the summer, we'll get results in children and start vaccining them. the cdc said after you have finished vaccinating health care providers we could vaccine the adults having to do with schools. therapy the forefront of the essential workers and that will give a sigh of relief to parents. >> doctor william schaffner, you are a human sigh of relief to me

and our viewers. thank you for spending time with us today as the news gets more troubling and perplexing around the coronavirus vaccine. thank you so much. with we come back, back food a corner and lashing out. donald trump taking aim at some of his most loyal allies now that he's officially out of options in his fight to steal the election. the next hour of "deadline: white house" starts after a quick break. don't go anywhere. we're just getting started.

the state of the vote for president of the united states as delivered to the president of the senate is as follows, george w. bush of the state of texas,

has received for president of the united states 271 votes. al gore of the state of tennessee has received 266 votes. >> barack obama of the state of illinois has received for president of the united states 365 votes. [ applause ] >> john mccain of the state of arizona has received 173 votes. >> donald trump of new york has received for president of the united states 304 votes. hillary clinton from the state of new york has received 227 votes. this announcement of the state of the vote by the president of the senate shall be deemed sufficient declaration of the persons elected president and vice president of the united states. >> hi, again, everyone. it is 5:00 in the east. it is a tradition we've seen throughout the years. the certification of the electoral votes in congress. the final procedural formality in the transfer of power before inauguration day. sadly, it is not one we could

expect to go as smoothly this year. as donald trump's fight to overturn the election results now breaches into congress. with an attempt to rally his loyalists to challenge this tradition. donald trump will leave office in 29 days. but the smallest least distinguished and frankly shadiest inner circle in american political history. with a coronavirus pandemic raging, the economy flagging, abrazen cyber attack from russia unanswered, trump is chilling with qanon and trashing his vice president, the chief of staff, the and senate majority leader and anyone else who pierces his dangerous delusions of clinging to power. from the a.p., he hosted several house republican lawmakers at the white house on monday. to discuss a futile effort from affirming joe biden's victory in the november election. and in a sign of how disgraceful trump's conduct behind the scenes real is, the people who have enabled his debasement of

the office of the presidency for the last four years are on the outs now. jonathan swan of axios reports that president trump in his final day is turning on virtually every person around him, gripping about anyone who refused to -- several top officials tell axios. targets of his outrage include vice president pence, chief of staff mark meadows, white house council pat cipollony and mike pompeo and mitch mcconnell. trump thinks everyone around him is weak, stupid or disloyal and seeks comfort only in people who egg him on to over turn the election results. we cannot stress enough how unnerved trump officials are by the conversations unfolding inside of the white house. so as the wheels come off, keep the following in mind. to gauge just how much danger

trump represents in the final days. rudy giuliani is the reasonable one in the room right now. giuliani distancing himself from the former member of trump's legal team sidney powell who has visited the white house three of the last four days. trump with nothing to lose and no one to stop him is where we start this hour with some of our favorite reporters and friends. msnbc political analysis claire mccaskill is here and elizabeth neumann is here from the department of homeland security and an adviser to defending democracy together. and sam stein is here, politics editor for the daily beast and msnbc contributor. claire, i start with you. i read the reporting and i have no words other than to bring the best of it to this broadcast, to share it and say what the bleep did people think was going to happen when donald trump was enabled by all of these people? >> he has been indulged for so

long in his narcissistic fantasy that everyone is in office because he put them there. that no one would hold office if it wasn't for his benevolent nature and bestowing upon them his blessing. and here is the thing that is really weird about this, nicolle. is who is not in the room. you notice where jared is. jared is getting out of the country. mike pompeo is trying to get out of the country. pence is trying to hide under his desk. all of the people who have allowed this president to do thisker ossive damage to our democracy are now hiding from him. and he's beginning to fir out that the only people who are willing to be w him are crazy town. he's surrounded by crazy town and that is it. now the republican party deserves to pay a very steep price for this. >> do you think they will, claire? >> you know, i think it remains

to be seen. it is interesting to me, i'm looking forward to visiting with chris christie in a few minutes because he seems like he's willing to actually say he's willing to run against donald trump. that is a break through. but all of the senators have been quiet, and keep in mind he can't do what he wants to do without at least one senator stepping forward. he can't even get a vote on the electoral college announcement without one senator joining a representative. and so far mitch mcconnell has kept everybody in line. whether donald trump likes it or not. >> and it has made him a target of some mean tweets which has always the trigger, sam stein. words i never thought i would say on this show, let me show you some rudy giuliani on news max last night. let me show you rudy and we'll talk about it on the other side.

>> sidney powell is not part of our legal team. she hasn't been for five years. she is not a special council for the president. she does not speak for the president nor does she speak for the administration. >> i think that was sean spicer. sean spicer an anchor on news max. we'll talk about that a second. let me add this element. jonathan swan tweeted this, giuliani could say all of this but i've spent the past four days and the president is listening sid to sidney powell more than just about anyone on his payroll and certainly more than his own white house council. sam stein, we'll deal with sean spicer who i haven't seen since dancing in a second, but talk about how this runaway train that even the crazy people can't catch with sidney powell ascendent. >> we're in both a bizarre and precarious moment, i think in

the trump presidency. and closely tied and well sourced trump watchers are more and more aghast. we have the president feeling like he has to grasp at whatever straws he can to hold on to power and turning to people who frankly are peddling outright conspiracies and lies about what happened with the election. so much so that they are distrusted by even the most devoted trump boosters. we have reporting today that does confirm that sidney powell does have trump's ear. but also that rudy giuliani and others have been pushing back on her. and forcefully so. they made the case that trump should not bestow upon her some sort of formal title of special council which would be a white house lawyer in this case. and trump has agreed to not do so.

but everything is at the president's whims right now. he could change his mind depending on, i'm told, whoever is last to talk to him. and he's hearing out all of the conspiracy theories in part because he feels like he has few other options that would allow him to retain power. so we're going day by day with very little understanding of what is to come. and everyone sort of looking toward january 6th. wondering what will happen on that day. now i think it is fairly clear the house will vote to affirm joe biden as president and the senate will follow suit but there is a high level of drama that could come with it and the key player is mike pence. will he, as your montage showed at the top, will he play that role of overseeing senate vote or will he not? pence as we've reported is trying to back away from this. but he also is smart and he knows that the future of the republican party and his own political future is tied to his fealty to trump.

he's in the toughest spot of all. >> i was returning to mike pence, who only when trump falls this far does he look like anyone who could do anything brave or noble. let me show you an ad that has gotten under donald trump's skin about his vice president from our friends at the lincoln project. elizabeth, we'll talk about it on the other side. >> the end is coming, donald. even mike pence knows. he's backing away from your train wreck, from your desperate lies and clown lawyers. when mike pence is running away from you, you know it's over. trying to save his reputation, protect his future. oh, there is one last thing, donald. on january 6th, mike pence will put the nail in your political coffin when he presides over the senate vote to prove joe biden won. it's over. and mike pence knows it. >> so elizabeth, let me read you some reporting that bears out

how that ad landed inside of the west wing. axios is reporting that a source who spoke to trump said the president was complaining about pence and brought up the lincoln project ad that pence is backing away from him. it is got inside of his head. the role on january 6th has begun to loom large in trump's mind according to people who have discussed the matter with him. trump would view pence performing his constitutional duty and validating the election result as the ultimate betrayal. elizabeth, the stories bring me such a mixed feeling of disgust and almost relief that this ended exactly how all of trump's detractors in the republican party said it would end. how did mike pence think this would end, with donald trump saying yeah, hold up the constitution andu usher in a peaceful transfer of power. of course not.

this is going to end with trump asking mike pence to betray his country and that is clearly his expectation on january 6th. >> you're absolutely right, nicolle. and i share with you this sense of dread as well as just laughter that apparently your colleagues in the media are getting phone calls from people on the inside panicked. and he's been this way. this is who he is. so i don't understand why all of a sudden their panicked now. >> right. >> i have one theory. one of my theories is that maybe those of us at the department of homeland security saw the full scale of trump crazy because stephen miller channeled it and empowered it and maybe on other topics there were other advisers that were reining him in, so maybe if you worked at department of education or if you worked at hud, maybe you didn't see the crazy in the full

scale that we saw it at dhs. but he has a pattern and a practice of looking for the most outrageous, unconstitutional and illegal activities and he pressures people to carry those things out regardless of legal advice he's been given and when you say no, because it is illegal, his answer is you're unloyal. you're not loyal to me. and therefore he discards you. but this is what he does. he chews you up, he demands absolu absolute fealty with no regard to the constitution and i'm pretty sure he hasn't read it or understand it and when you don't follow through he discards you. so welcome to the club, everybody. this is what of us have been dealing with. >> it is such a good point because the through line of the trump presidency and jim comey wrote an op-ed about this during

impeachment, donald trump chews up and i think the punch line was eats your soul. there are no examples of anyone bucking that trend, elizabeth. every single person who made the bet, made the bet they could somehow make it better by being there, has been proven wrong. and i think when you see this reporting from jonathan swan, who has been remarkable over the last 72 days, sam, as has your reporting on this as has "the new york times" and "the washington post", there is a body of reporting about alarm from the chief enablers of the trump presidency over the last four years and elizabeth, i guess my question to you is there is no break glass panel in the west wing. there is just a president, a nuclear codes and whoever is left standing around him. what are your concerns about the next 29 days? >> well there is a 25th amendment break glass. but i just don't know that pence has the integrity to use it.

so, you're hoping that what you've seen from mcconnell and from certain institutional republicans that that coalition will hold together, you know, all joking aside, the fact that meadows and cipollone and barr and pompeo, for self preservation and i'm assuming they hope to have careers beyond that, they seem to be making their somewhat right decisions and distancing themselves from trump and so those that are able to survive the next 29 days, maybe they're the very damaged guardrails that get us through. i think the last guardrail is the military just not going along with a coup, right. so if you go down this path of insurrection act or taking over -- forcing redos of the elections and in swing states,

the military is not going along with this. so it is just a flawed plan to begin with but that doesn't mean that damage isn't going to occur and there is not a lot of work on the other side of trump to repair our country. >> claire, i think elizabeth is right. trump has pushed at military and they've pushed back, the army secretary issuing a statement over the weekend. he's pushed at homeland security and they pushed back and said they don't have the authority to claim, seize the voting machines. but am bracing for the things he could do without any authority or assistance like blanket pardons he could tweet away when he's sitting there rage watching oan or whatever he watches these days. what do you think the prescription is for sort of getting through the next 29 days. >> well, if you're a republican senator, you continue to avoid the press in the hallways and hide your head and make sure you

don't ever talk about it. it is interesting to me what bill barr has done. you know, here is a guy who is a co-conspirator of trashing the rule of law in this country and doing serious damage to the department of justice by allowing the department of justice to be used politically. intervening in a case where somebody has pled guilty to try to say that, well, never mind. even though he pled guilty to several felonies, we want that to -- to wipe that off the chalkboard. now he's on his way out saying there should be no special council to look into hunter biden. there should be no seizing of the election machines. there is no basis of that. there is no massive fraud. if there was ever a moment where donald trump would go, well, wait a minute, this is the guy who did all of my stuff for me, all of the stuff that nobody else would do, bill barr did.

so it is fascinating to me that bill barr is doing that. and i believe if trump tries to go any further than he's gone, you're going to see other cabinet members like was just mentioned who want to have some kind of career beginning in 2021 other than a foot note in a book about the closing days of the trump administration and how nutty it was, how totally bonkers and damaging to our democracy it truly was. and that is a sad part, nicolle. is he's doing real damage here. millions of people believe this guy. he's doing real damage. >> yeah. agree with you. republicans finding religion a bit of a theme today. elizabeth newman, sam stein thank you for starting us off this hour. claire is sticking around. when we return, former new jersey governor chris christie will join us. we'll ask him why donald trump is trying to overturn an election he lost and why so many of his followers still refuse to wear masks. plus, that massive russian

cyber attack, we're learning new details about how deep inside of the treasury department the hackers were able to get. so many big questions remain. we'll ask one of the reporters on that story. an later, heading into what is expected to be a long, dark winter, americans say their mental health is suffering like never before. we'll talk to a psychologist about one of the hidden tolls of the coronavirus pandemic. "deadline: white house" continues after a quick break. don't go anywhere. nywhere. (kids laughing) ♪ upbeat tempo ♪ sanctuary music it's the final days of the wish list sales event sign and drive off in a new lincoln with zero down, zero due at signing, and a complimentary first month's payment.

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several headlines just from this week clear examples that

m many republicans still refuse to take the coronavirus pandemic seriously as fell ore americans die at record rates. republican student group turning point usa hosted two massive events, one at mar-a-lago where hundreds mingled with the likes of rand paul, congressman matt gaetz, and kayleigh mcenany. and another event where the washington post said donald trump jr. spoke to thousands of students indoors. today vice president pence spoke at a summit hosted by that same group in a humid room with no eric circulating to thousands of screaming maskless students. the white stone republican club of new york city is facing criticism from the governor as a maskless goes viral. the congo line was led by the member of the city council. after chris christie released an ad with pleading those who

refuse to wear a mask how wrong he was not to do so at the white house. it is something former obama white house press secretary robert gibbs applauded on the show and urged everyone to do last week. >> bravo to maes and that messenger. and i think wee need far more of it. quite frankly anyone with a following, anybody that is an influencers of some sort, needs to preach the message that governor chris christie is preaching about being vigilant. >> joining our conversation, long-term trump ally and former new jersey governor chris christie. and claire is still here as well. governor, i think it is important to show viewers of this program who i think disagree with you up and down and all over the place on the policy on the trump question and the debate prep role you had in

the election cycle but are relieved of seeing republicans being so reckless and maybe spreading covid to people that work at those events. but how do you -- how do you enter roo noaa rooms when people are skeptical of your political affiliation and you now want to be part of the solution on covid? >> well, i've always want to be part of the solution for covid. for seven months i wore a mask. washed my hands, frequently every day. stayed socially distanced and didn't go into big crowds. and for seven months, stayed healthy. an four days inside of the white house where i thought i was in a safe place, i took my mask off and what i learned the hard way is there is no safe place. even if you're in a place where people are getting tested every day. there is no safe place. and the reason for my message is to say to folks i got this and i discovered i have toe wear a mask, i was wearing it all along

and i only missed out for four days but it only takes that short of period of time to let your guard down sand having had it, you don't want to get. it it is random. it hits you like a train. and depending upon who you are, you might get lucky but you might not. and so what i say to everybody is, you can't let your guard down for one day. because if you do, that could be the day you get the virus and you simply don't want to do that. >> well, i think a lot of people would warned you if you're going to let your guard down doing it at trump's petri dish was not the smart place to do. it i want to president you forward, will help spread trust for a vaccine to the parts of the country that do not trust science because of all of the damage donald trump has done in that arena? >> listen, i would aid the president-elect and anybody else who ask the me to do it. i probably won't be anywhere near the front of the line for getting the vaccine since i've already had the virus.

there are a lot of people that need it much more quickly than i do. but when my time comes to get the vaccine according to the rules set my by state you could bet that i'll do so publicly and let everybody know that i'm doing it and i hope that the members of hi family get a chance to get it as well at some point. so i absolutely would do that. and again, nicolle, i know you follow the columns that i wrote for "the washington post" in the very early part of the pandemic. urging people, wear masks, socially distance, wash your hands. i was the one urging that all of the major sports leagues be closed in the beginning of march before they were. so i understand how to do this. and to me there was some very obvious answers that i said publicly were being missed by the administration. 'they have quite caught up. >> well, i think people like dr. fauci tried but they were undermined by donald trump every step of the way. and speaking of donald trump.

i want to ask you about his conduct, not just over the last four years but over the last 40 days. why aren't there nor republicans screaming at the top of their lungs that he's doing damage to our democracy. >> i think all of the folks make their own decisions and i can't read minds. i could just tell you that i felt and i know you heard this and others on election night, when he gave his speech at 2:30 in the morning, what he was saying was wrong. and that if you're going to accuse the election of being fraudulent, at the moment you do that, as president of the united states, you have an obligation to present the evidence that backs up your statement. and we're now sitting here on the 22nd of december, and we still haven't seen that evidence. and so that is wrong. i've been saying it since night and could say it publicly. and as for other republicans, they're all going to be held to account for what they do or don't do or say or don't say during this period of time over the long haul. and as you mentioned at the top, i've been a supporter of the

president. but that doesn't mean that you give away your brain, you gave away your mind and your character. in the end, when i thought all four years when i saw things that i thought were wrong i would say it. smiexs the president would be happy with me and not happy with me but in the end i did what i thought and i am doing what i think is right right now. and one last thing, ronald reagan said personnel is policy. and he was so right. so when you allow people like pli michael flynn and sidney powell into the oval office you could be sure they're going to advocate for some of the craziest stuff you've ever heard in your life. so when the president making that decision to let them in, the president is at fault for doing that. there is no other person to blame, no one else let them in the building and into that room

and other than the president. and i've been saying since 2016 that michael flynn was unfit to be advising any president. >> governor chris christie, as a former prosecutor to prosecutor, let me ask you a leading question. you agree that joe biden won? you agree that there was no evidence of massive fraud. you agree that martial law would be the ultimate infringement on american's liberty and said you're considering running for president in 2024. ho -- so here is my question. why are you not afraid of the trump supporters? what is it about you that allows you to say openly that not only would you run in 2024, but you wouldn't be afraid to run against donald trump. what is up with that? why are you not afraid of him? >> well first of all, senator, good to see you again. >> good to see you. >> maybe it is being from jersey, senator.

i don't know. but i was raised to stand up for what you believer in. i was raised to not be afraid. to never act afraid. to act out of your convictions and what you believe in. and i have done that for last four years. and nicolle and i have had many of these conversations on and off the air. sometimes we've agreed and a lot of times where we've disagreed but in the end i think those who act out of fear and you see this also in politics, plenty of politicians conduct themselves for the future based upon the election of the past. and times always change. and so the only thing that could be a constant is what you believe inside. and what you're willing to stand up and say. so for me, you know, i'm not afraid of any of that because in the end they can't change who i am. nobody can. and i think that there is a lot of people who know and understand that across this country. we're in the aftermath of a very

competitive and hostile election where people are very emotional but as the emotions subside, i think you'll see a lot of people in the republican party changing the way they view this. but for me, it is the way i view it now and i tell it like i believe it to be. >> will trump go quietly on the 20th of january? will he attend the inauguration? and in any way perform like we expect our presidents to perform as they leave office? >> i don't know about attending the inauguration, claire. i think that is a coin flip. i think it is a 50/50 shot. he will leave the white house unassisted, i'm confident of that. and will he go quietly, i've known donald trump for 20 years and i've never seen him do anything quietly. but i think he will receive unassisted if that is the import of your question. whether he'll go to the inauguration, i don't know. it is very rare as you know that presidents don't go to the successor inaugural.

it happens, tom adams didn't go to thomas jefferson and quincy didn't go to jackson and truman didn't go to eisenhowers but when you think about inauguration, that is the overwhelming exception. and i would encourage him as his friend to go. because it would help him to restore some of the norms of the presidency which need to be restored for historical purposes but more importantly for our future. >> governor, let me press back a little bit on you not being scared. it is my sense and i know you said in an interview with hugh hewitt, you haven't ruled out a run in 2024. i don't remember you coming out and forcefully pushing back against donald trump's comments on the access hollywood tape. i didn't hear after you he called nations bleep hole nations and i didn't hear you distance until the target for

his ire and lawlessness was the democracy you haven't ruled out leading in four years. are you simply making a political calculation that you could clean the trump stink off you faster man marco rubio or some of the other competitors. >> no. not at all nicolle. at the end i made a decision back in 2016 that the choice between donald trump and hillary clinton was one where i was with donald trump. and i have to regret. i still don't regret it today. i won't vote for hillary clinton today if that choice were to be made. and so that is not what i'm say. but what i am saying is that i value ate these things one at a time and you picked out places where i didn't speak out and there have been place where's i have spoken out in opposition to things that the president has done or more particularly said. i was a very vocal critic of what he had to say about jeff sessions, even though i think jeff sessions was a horribly flawed attorney general. but i don't think you treat

somebody like that. i've been open and critical of the president and the way he's spoken about chris wray and his leadership of the fbi which has been so much better than what jim comey did and exemplary and chris wray has shown the integrity if leading the fbi. so there were plenty of times where i've spoken out because i've gotten the angry phone calls from people in the white house telling me they didn't like what i said on a sunday morning on the show where i appear. and so you could pick out ones where you believe i didn't speak out and you're right i didn't say things about that. but other things were motivating me at that time. but when i felt like something in his conduct as president was something that i was opposed to and that i thought was very important for our country, i spoke out. >> i want to just get a last word back on the substance of our psa about masks. do you think donald trump is responsible for people getting sick and dying because of his conduct and refusal to wear a mask and insistence on holding

indoor rallies in places where the covid rates undeniably went up afterward and so far he hasn't had a public vaccine the way president-elect biden has? >> well sure. and vice president pence who has done it publicly. and a lot of other members of the cabinet and members of the biden team. listen, i think that there is undoubtedly and i said to the president back to mid-march, he should be wearing a mask. he argued that he was in the safest place in the world and he didn't need to wear a mask. i stole him to would set an example for all of the people that believe in him and the people that don't believe in him in the country. so i think he absolutely should have been wearing a mask throughout the same way i was and the lots of other people were for almost the entire time of the pandemic, if not the entire time of the pandemic. and do you think he should take the vaccine. you could see people arguing there might be some who would criticize him for taking the vaccine and i've seen criticism

of people of the official saying you're getting ahead of front line workers. i'm sure there are people that so hate the president that will say you've been sick in a recent period of time and we know you have antibodies to fight off the virus and don't need the vaccine. but as a public policy matter on balance, his example of taking the vaccine would be more helpful than any harm he would cause by taking one dose of the vaccine away from someone else who could have it. so i would -- if i were advising him at this point inside of the white house i would say, call the camera spray in and let the white house physician poke you in the arm and get the vaccine. >> yeah. and on that we agree. so we'll leave it there. former new jersey governor chris christie, former senator claire mccaskill, thank you both store spending time with us. when we return, new details -- merry christmas to both of you.

when we return, new details about the extent of that massive russian cyber attack and how deep into the treasury department the hackers were able to get. "deadline: white house" continues after a quick break. i guess i look pretty... ridiculous. [ chuckles ] no one looks ridiculous, bob. progressive is always here for you with round-the-clock service. just so you know, next time, you can submit a claim with our mobile app. good. thanks again for -- for rushing over. are you kidding? this is what 24/7 protection looks like. okay. -you smell like fish. -sorry. i was talking to jamie.

we are learning more and more about the massive cyber attack on the u.s. government believed to be carried out by russian intelligence. yesterday steve mnuchin confirmed that the treasury department had a been hacked

making it the third agency targeted. the intelligence committee said that the treasury still do not know all of the actions taken by hackers or precisely what information was stolen leaving big questions about the impact the hack will have on treasury and the risk facing other government agencies. joining our conversation, eric geller, cybersecurity reporter for politico. eric, you were here as this was breaking and your description has haunted me ever since that we're a federal government in crisis and the extent of this attack is still unknown. is that still the status or how mas that changed? what do we know now? >> we know for example the treasury department believe the hackers have addressed the emails of some officials and what we don't know as senator widen said, we don't know what was taken and that is why we're still kind inform a crisis atmosphere right now. because it is almost a wait and

see game. the agencies have to figure out what has been taken. that takes a lot of time. a lot of nitty-gritty digital for epsic work. it is not as easy as investigating a crime scene in the physical world. so this is going to take time, especially given the incredible reach that the hackers had. >> what would they be looking for at the treasury department? i instantly went to sanctions or donald trump's taxes or testimony -- financial ins st s institutions. >> treasury has an office of intelligence to gather information to support sanctions decisions. the treasury department need to know what people aren gauging in if you're hacking into the emails of top department officials you wants to know what they're saying about the information they're getting. we should say that treasury has not said they have any evidence of anything classified taken but

even on the unclassified email accounts every scrap of information helps the russian government understand how does the u.s. think about what they figured out about us and what re -- what are seeing us do and are they go toss sanction us. the treasury department has issued sanctions for a lot of things that russian government has done, including cyber operations. so it is about figuring out what is the next shoe to drop in that space. >> president-elect biden responded today. let me see if i could play some of that for you. we'll talk about it on the other side. we're looking for. but he responded for forcefully than obviously than donald trump. but even more forcefully than pompeo who was the first trump cabinet official to accuse russia, attorney general bill

barr didn't accuse russia but said he agrees with pompeo. let's watch and talk about it on the other side. >> the truth is this, the trump administration failed to prioritize cybersecurity. this assault happened on donald trump's watch. when he wasn't watching. he still has responsibility as president to defend american interests for the next four weeks but rest asmured even if he does not take it seriously, i will. >> this area of cyber defenses and offenses is new for a lot of policymakers in congress and in this administration. what is biden walking into in terms of russia's posture in the wake of this attack? >> well one of the things that we could say this attack has shown is that it's almost impossible to deter this kind of

thing because this is in a sense tradition traditional espionage. this is not trying to blow up a power plant or cripple a hospital, this is by all accounts currently traditional espionage, stealing documents. we do this too. it is very difficult to prevent this kind of thing. but, look, the president-elect is coming into a government where a lot of the technology has os fied over the years. very hard to replace the antiquated systems and there are all of the weak links across the government no matter how much or little they care can't do very much about because the government is like an aircraft carrier, especially when it comes to technology. it does take a long time to rip out the bad stuff. >> yeah. eric geller, we appreciate your reporting on this front and continue to turn to you. thank you for spending time with us today. when we return, after a year of enormous loss, loneliness and isolation for millions, we'll talk to a psychologist about the

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make no mistake. united states right now is in the 40% of american adults now report struggling with issues of mental health or substance abuse. on top of that there was a three-fold increase with adults reporting anxiety and four times the reports of feelings of depression compared to the same time the year before and it's not just adults. children are bearing the blunt to. since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, there has been a 24% increase in emergency department visits by grade school children and a 31% increase for teens urgently in need of mental health care. joining us is clinical

psychologist anded ed professor. talk to me why it's taken so long to have this conversation. i regret not doing it sooner. talk to me how people are doing and what they need to get through this final and perhaps darkest phase of the pandemic. >> sure, nicole. great to be on with you. here is what is going on. with any medical emergency, the first thing we do is stop the bleeding. we look at what the physical toll is and then we get the patient to stabilize. and that's what we've done with covid-19. but what we have not yet done and starting to do now, we're seeing it with the stimulus package giving 2.5 billion towards mental health and substance use disorders. we're looking at tsunami of mental illness that comes from covid-19. we haven't been paying attention

the way we had to but we're paying attention now because we see the toll not just on adults but as you mentioned earlier, on children, young children and teenagers with the unprecedented numbers of visits to emergency rooms because of anxiety attacks, because of anxiety, because of depression. >> what are the warning signs? sometimes these are hard conversations to have but what should we look out for in our kids first? >> here is the thing, right? we always think about kids as being resilient and whenever we ask is there something going on? everything is fine. they have done that through covid. what we've seen is being separated from school, not having graduations, not being able to go to homecomings has taken a devastating toll on their psyche. now we find them isolating. we find that they're crying more often as i talked about, they're having a lot of anxiety attacks. if they had a preexisting

history of depression, we're seeing they're isolating themselves much, much more and here is the thing, nicole. they're not really talking about it. they're manifesting it more psycho ssig. >> what are practical things people can do? >> there is a lot we can do and know they are proven. we have to eat better. we have to sleep better. we have to maintain social connections even if it's just online. we have to get a discipline and schedule for ourselves. stay busy. spend time as much as possible with social distancing in the sun with people with aeffective disorder. for younger kids, we have to stop ignoring them because we don't understand them. we think they're doing it on their own and they're not.

more family time. staying more connected through listening and talking, tasks, games, hobbies. doing more things around the house with them. celebrating with them more. and in the academic setting, we as professors and teachers, we have to now talk to these young people as to what it is they're experiencing emotionally because of covid and not just teaching them about reading, writing and ar arre ar arrhythmia tick. >> sounds like a total shift and i would love to have you back to dig deeper. with economic insecurity, with more daunting headlines about the virus mutating with kids maybe being transmitters and more contagious than once known, it going to get more challenging before less. i hope you'll come back and have

this conversation with us again. thank you so much for spending some time with us today. jeff gardere, we'll see you again soon, my friend. finally, as we do every day. we will remember lives well lived. y day. we will remember lives well lived. read any tribute to his life and it's pretty clear, benny napoleon was a very special person. he got his start with the detroit police department in 1975. he worked his way up, all the way up to serve as chief of police. some years later, in 2009 he was appointed wayne county sheriff and in 2013, he came up just short in a bid to become detroit's mayor described as iconic, respected, genuine, caring and loyal. benny napoleon was a mix of progressive and old school. he died last week after a month-long fight against covid-19. but it's not about just how he died, it's about how he lived.

his daughter told the detroit free press that we should remember his generosity, his integrity and faithfulness as a public servant for more than 45 years. remember how kind he was to everyone he came in contact with. how much he was loved by his family. benny napoleon was only 65 years old. we will be right back. ears old. we will be right back. [ 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.

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audiences give "the croods: a new age" an a. dun, dun, dun. and now the croods are coming home. that's my girl. -boom! it's 100% joy from start to finish. heads up! [ screaming ] [ gasps ] go go watchcroods.com. rc thank you so much for letting us into your home during these extraordinary times.

"the beat" starts right now. >> hello there, everyone. i'm in for ari melber. reports of trump turning on more of his cabinet members during his final days in office as he tries to make desperate attempts to keep power in this country. a kmr axios reports trump is lashing out and everyone is in the path. trump is reportedly fed up with him and on the brink of removing him and replacing him with a fringe loyalest and also in trump's line of fire, vice president mike pence. trump reportedly views pence as not fighting hard enough for him. axios reporting trump brought up a lincoln project ad that's getting in his head, watch. >> the end is coming, donald. even mike pence knows. he's backing away from your train wreck, from your desperate lies and