catch me right here weekdays at 3:00 p.m. i'll see you tomorrow night on the beat. at 6:00 p.m. the "the reidout" is next. good evening. i'm in for joy reid tonight. president-elect joe biden offered a sobering pre-christmas message that was striking for content and presenting a complete 180 from what we have been forced to endure from trump for four years. empathy and honest warning opt dark and deadly winter ahead. >> our darkest days in the battle against covid are ahead of us. not behind us. so we need to prepare ourselves to steal our spines. as frustrating as it is to hear.

it will take patience. persistence and determination to beat this virus. >> we heard a president-elect who will not treat the department of justice like his own private law firm. >> the attorney general of the united states of america is not the president's lawyer. i will appoint someone who i expect to enforce the law as the law is written. not guide it by me. >> a plebt who is trained to experts and not science deniers who advise on public health decisions. and we heard the next president deliver a fiery rebuke of trumps silence over the suspect td russian hack of the u.s. government. >> this is assault happened on donald trumps watch. when he wasn't watching. he still has responsibility as president to defend american interest for the next four weeks. rest assured that even if he

doesn't take it seriously, i will. >> trump abandoned every aspect of presidential duty. waging war on science, election math and reality. in the white house with january 6 looming in his mind. the day congress meets to formally count the electoral votes and announce the winner. joe biden. trump would view vice president pence performing this constitutional duty as the betrayal. and yet each day the nation leaves trump behind. with govern newsom appointing california secretary of state to fill vice president-elect kamala harris senate seat. joining me now. editor at large for the 19th. columnist for the "new york times." and cofounder of the lincoln project and new hampshire republican chair. former. she announced she is leaving the republican party. i'm going to start with you. i think you have left the republican party you are closest

to what we're still seeing as the madness in the republican party. what are republicans still thinking now when they see the president threatening members of his party for simply acknowledging that in 30 days he's not going to have a job anymore? >> right. what we care about is not that the president is continuing to do this. but the leader of the party who have won elections who are going to be continuing in the party in the months and years ahead they are continuing to embrace this idea there was this was a rigged election. so many other republicans out there whether they left the party or -- i reached a point where the most important issue is preserving democracy. preserving constitutional leadership in the country. and every time mitch mcconnell or mike pence or rubio or tim scott or any republican in washington continues to embrace

the president's conspiracy theories continues to protect him in the damaging insanity he is inflicting. they are personally responsible for the damaging consequences of that. >> i want to follow up with this. the damaging consequences of what's happening. we have presidents we thought were asleep at the wheelt. we have something else going on with trump. he's like basically stopped doing his job. from your reporting, who is running the ship right now? if trump is spending all his time on twitter sp golfing. there's a country to run for 30 days. >> it seems like you have various bureaucracies that are chugging along with no real leadership. and so, you have a lot of professionals in the government. it's why things like the distribution of the vaccine keep

happening even though the president is completely checked out. or really only interested in this point subverting democracy and trying to over throw a lawful election. >> i'm wondering, i'll take this to you, now that we have the president of the united states he's in ranting mode. joe biden is preparing to step in. biden today said look everybody out there suffering isn't just a democrat. there are republicans out there suffering. and i think that's going to end up making a difference in getting bipartisan movement going forward. do you think it was a wishful thinking during his talk? or does joe biden know something that none of us know rite now. >> aren't you looking festive with your holiday red. i should have gotten the memo. everybody has on red tonight but me.

joe biden is somebody who ran a campaign saying that he plans to be the president for everybody. not just the americans that voted for him. and he wants to heal and unite the country. and the country is enduring this pandemic whether they are democrat, republican. independent or otherwise. what he is thinking it sound like is that public opinion is going to go a long way to influence potentially republican lawmakers. saying he expects their constituents to also be contacting them about the reality of the pandemic in their lives and their expectation. that the people that elected them will govern on their behalf as well. i think that we're continuing to see joe biden kind of touting this message that he plans to govern with everybody in mind particularly as it pertains to the pandemic.

which obviously is his top priority as he prepares to take office. >> michelle, earlier today when president-elect joe biden spoke he said someone asked him are you getting a honeymoon period. supposedly people are nice to him and everything like that. he said we have a nightmare. is that reflective of what the challenges are he's facing or just joe biden saying i know that saying a honeymoon is silly when you have 320,000 people died. is he ready for the fight or is he hoping for something. >> i think he's ready for in that he's clear eyed about what he's walking into it. and he's not going to get a honeymoon period from republicans. who will only acknowledge under duress he won the election. and he's not going to get a honeymoon period to do anything except walk into the bustle of

the crisis. we'll find out soon with the results of the georgia senate election whether he'll be able to govern at all. given what we have seen in the past of the utter nihilism of congressional republicans and their willingness to sacrifice the country if it means they can derail a democratic president. tals the exact opposite of the what we hear from trump. donald trump has been lying to the country, effecting this hyper optimistic sales man persona. telling us the coronavirus is going to disappear any day now. joe biden was elected because he's the polar opposite of that. that's what he's showing. >> yeah, the hope is that joe biden sort of conciliatory attitude will make a difference. or maybe it already melted the ice in the republican party.

i want you to listen to this segment talking about what he thinks trump needs to be doing now with the result of the election. rolling in state by state. >> with all his talent and the ability to raise money and grow large crowd, the president still lives in an alternate reality. he really does. he's done a great job for the economy. at the same time he is very erratic and fired people. and fought people and insulted people. you have had your day and it's time to move on. >> jennifer, has donald trump lost pat robertson? the majority. or is this pat accepting his loss and saying i'll now associate myself with tom cotton or somebody else. >> excuse me.

i think he has a better understanding right now than the president of the united states does of the future holds for him. with all due respect even to pat robertson. what everybody should be thinking -- listening to who everybody should be listening to is joe biden. and those really wonderful remarks he made today calling for unity. expressing compassion and hearing and understanding and trying to shallow out the divide that this president caused in so many communities. with all due respect to pat robertson. it's too little too late from him or anybody else who considers themselves the moral majority when it comes to recognizing the destruction of the trump and the need for the country to move beyond that. >> speaking of majority. i want to ask about the decision that came from governor newsom in california.

he selected current secretary of state to take the position of senator from california since kamala harris will be vice president of the united states. the intersection of women in politics. there was a tremendous effort, certainly a public effort for the governor of california to pick another black woman. do you think it was sort of governor newsom thinking about his political future in california and how do you think black women politicians fighting to keep the seat in ath hands of a black woman will feel about this. >> it really puts black women between a rock and hard place. the reality is we shouldn't be talking about one senate seat for one black woman out of 100 senators for the country. kamala harris told me in august soon after she was nominated. we knew there was a potential for this very out come. the fact that her becoming vice president means there are no black women in the senate is

really the question we should be asking why that is. opposed to why black women representation in the united states senate comes down to whoever a governor could possibly be appointing to that position in any given state. especially when we know black women as i have written about for the 19th are the backbone of the democracy. and so, it certainly the democratic party. to not see them reflected in the upper chamber is really something that shouldn't be coming down to appointments. that is where we find ourselves because kamala harris is the lone black woman in the senate. and when she departs there will be none. >> she will be leaving a huge gap sort of representation in the senate. she'll be speaking to a sea change in politics.

joe biden is putting new people together and taking things into consideration. are we going to see a president who is saying i need to make sure just because i happen to have a black woman as vice president it doesn't mean that i can't be more diverse in selections. are we seeing the president push to have a minority person in the secretary of labor. or will he continue to pick friends in the new positions. >> it looks like the final candidates the people publicly discussed for ag are two white men. joe biden has assembled the most diverse cabinet in american history. unfortunately -- what's that? >> okay. we have to jump to breaking news. donald trump just issued a slew of pardons including dunken

hunter from california. chris collins congressman from new york. george papadopoulos. seems clear that the president has rolled out the pardons as parts of what he's been saying he was going to do for a while. we don't know at this point if there's going to be any sort of push back and the consequences. and we have no reason to believe these are the only pardons that president trump will roll out. our hope is that going forward we'll have an assessment. back to the team. now that we have heard about the pardons that trump just brought out. he's saying i'm going to take care of my friends. do you believe that this sort of thing actually is about loyalty or about trump just flexing power? >> i think for trump it's about both.

for the country it's a dangerous position. we know that with trump he starts strong and bigger and bigger. with everything he does that is an out rage. this is the first step of the pardons from the president. and he has a month to go. it should make the american people justifiably concerned about what is the second round going to include? who will be in the third round. how dangerous -- how bad is this going to get? we have seen this from him. throughout the process since want election. he's ignored what's happened with russia. he's given up leadership on the pandemic. these single roll out list of pardons just to be asking the people should be asking what's next.

>> mental angui >> a wilot of the people the usl suspects. the fact of the matter is it's a reflection of the differences we saw with joe biden. he's like i'm not going to use the justice department. you think after trump pardoned these people, will that increase joe biden's desire to stay awa from the justice department. or encourage the a.g. to say we need to investigate past bad behavior in trump administration. >> he said he won't encourage his a.g. to do that. if he find evidence of criminal behavior he won't stop them. it's important for whoever is appointed that they see some of the pardons really as admissions

of guilt. one of the things i think we'll find out soon whether or not donald trump is going to issue a blanket pardon of rudy giuliani. and there's right now we know a new york investigation in to rudy giuliani. it's very important that whoever comes into that position not let donald trump flinging around of the get out of the jail free card be the final word on the corruption that we have endured over the last four years. >> wouldn't surprise me of a slow drip drip drip of pardons. which works for rudy giuliani. thank you. up next on the "the reidout." donald trump washing his hands of the covid calamity. as it rages across the country. trump world there are massive parties at mar-a-lago. complete with money cannons.

and 2,000 people were not dying every day. georgia. final frontier. in the 2020 election cycle. many of the big names from the star trek universe are helping warnock and jon ossoff in the political enterprise. actor and activist joins me. back with more after this. or what's trending. get real-time insights in your customized view of the market. it's smarter trading technology for smarter trading decisions. fidelity. (kids laughing)

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since his election loss president trump spent more time nurturing his delusion gnat election fantasies than spent fighting the pandemic. in the real world covid-19 is raging. 18 million have tested positive and more than 322,000 americans are dead. hospitals across california are heading towards catastrophe. intensive units have seen a five fold increase from two months ago. before the holiday season. one doctor said quote we're going to be new york.

with bidens piling up. wont be surprised if l.a. rings in the new year as covid capitol of the world. the associated press is reporting that 2020 will be the deadliest year in american history. because of the virus. france and several other european countries closed borders to britain monday over fears of a new highly contagious coronavirus strain. it could already be in the united states. it's been up to biden to act as shadow president. >> experts say things will get worse before they get better. we have the vaccine. as you all know, we're averaging a death rate of close to 3,000 people a day. that means we'll lose tens of thousands more lives in the months to come. the vaccine won't be able to stop that. so we'll still have to remain vigilant.

>> president-elect biden is consulting with scientists and perktss on whether he should invoke -- dr. fauci received his vaccine earlier today. trump quit doing his job weeks ago. "new york times" editorial board member. thank you both of you for joining me. i want to start with you, doctor, a new strain of the coronavirus. that's all people are talking about. tell us what we know about the new strain so far. how concerned should we be. and the current vaccine slowly rolling out do anything about the virus? >> good to be with you. here's what we know, it's a variant of the mutation. >> i can't hear. >> can you hear me? . it's a variant under

investigation in the uk. which is more transmissible. and easier to receive the virus. making it highly contagious. it hasn't been linked to more severe covid disease. which is critical. as for doing something about it in the united states. it's high hi likely given global travel that this strain might be present in the u.s. but the good news is that number one it is not associated with severe disease. we know that while it's easy if you still practice the measures we talk about that you are not likely to get it. and number two, because we have vaccines, current will the the pfizer and moderna vaccine as well as several in clinical trials. which actually contain a mechanism for developing antibodies to multiple sites of

the spike protein. we should have have coverage with current vaccines against that strain in the uk. pfizer is already said they will try to test their vaccine against this strain. the good news is the vaccine technology takes into account that mutations occur all the time. we have to be vigilant. we have to keep continuing to double down on the mitigation measures. we shouldn't be alarmed about this strain. it's something to watch. not scared of. >> we may know some of the technical things behind it. we have been blanketed with misinformation throughout the entire pandemic. because of the current president. and many members of the republican party. what do you think is the most responsible thing for press and politicians to be doing about the strain? should they be referring us to doctors. what's the public response from leader and politicians to hearing about this new strain. >> great question.

i think the number one thing is listen to public health experts. too many were sidelined for too long. this year in the united states. and the pandemic. and that cost a will the of lives. the other thing, this is a practical bit of advice from someone who had a tough and close brush with the disease myself, a healthy person. sch to assume the worst. i'm an optimist. i'm not really a kipd of person to talk about doomsday situations. do not assume you know how your body will respond to this virus. do not assume that you know that you won't give it to somebody whether it be a neighbor, your family member, your kid. your parent. and they'll just be fine. you don't know how your body will respond to the virus. even if you have no preexisting conditions. now we know there's a highly

transmissible strain. we should assume is in the united states. and especially a big city like new york. you should assume that. you should take precautions as seriously as you did in april. the vaccine is knot going to address symptoms that you might have that are concerning. >> i want to stay with you. we have the reports and images of huge parties being throw by conservative college groups and mar-a-lago. maskless parties. you have people like shooting out money. dollar bills. which are also dangerous and unsan tir during a pandemic. when you see stuff like that, somebody who suffered through the impacts of covid. does it fill you with rage? maybe we're not sending enough messages to people. or we'll always have a certain segment of society that doesn't care. >> it makes me very angry.

i think we have a real crisis of empathy in the country. until it happens to you or someone you love or know, you don't care. or it isn't real. or it's something that happens to someone else. in this case, unfortunately the narrative is this only happens to meme people in cities or blad brown people. it doesn't help when you have such a disproportionate impact on vulnerable communities. especially minority and poverty. compare the experience this year and the pandemic. not just with the disease but of course with other impacts like joblessness. compare that to chris christy. rudy giuliani. donald trump himself. who gets sick, go to the hospital. get treatment the rest of us don't have. and come out fine. despite the age and health. that does make me angry.

it's just i think more fuel to just keep talking to one another and hopefully make the connections and understand that we are all connected. whether you like it or not. this is a virus that can come for anybody. for you, those you love. really it should be enough to say protect your neighbor. if it's not enough, protect yourself. >> yeah. that is a christmas wish we would like to pay attention to this. thank you. more on the breaking news white house issued a slew of pardons. stay with us. new nyquil severe honey is maximum strength cold and flu medicine with soothing honey-licious taste. nyquil honey. the nighttime, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy head, fever best sleep with a cold medicine. the only thing a disaster can't destroy is hope.

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"that makes sense." i just didn't have to work so hard to remember things. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. we're continuing to follow breaking news from the white house on a slew of new pardons from trump. just in time for christmas. including a former congressman from california who sentenced to len months for stealing campaign funds. and a former congressman from

new york sentenced to 26 mornts for insider trading. former congressmen early supporters of the trump. during the 2016 campaign. also george papadopoulos. former foreign policy adviser for his campaign. bho pleaded guilty in the mueller investigation. joining me now. former federal prosecutor. thaur thank you, glen. i would like to say this is unprecedent ld. but we felt like it was going to be coming from trump. i want to does you politically before legally. what does trump think he's doing here? is this engrashuating him with republicans or paying off old debt? what's the strategy? >> it feels like he's exercising power just because he can. it also feels more like the thumb in the eye for the law enforcement community. for the victims of the financial crimes committed. and it's particularly galling,

prosecutors are generally not fond of pardons. we will spend years putting cases together. investigation in the grand jury. going it trial. we do that all on behalf of the american people. generally. and the victims in the cases specifically. these kind of thoughtless and needless pardons, this is not righting wrongs or providing mercy. what this is is excusing people who steal campaign finance money that is donated in good faith by constituents. this is people who engage in financial crimes and with a papadopoul papadopoulos of the world. he impedes a federal law enforcement investigation by the fbi. this really seems to be just

across the board assault on the rule of law by donald trump simply because he has the power and authority to do it. >> i want to does you this quick, i always think it's important for context. somebody like papadopoulos. if you or i got caught lying to the fbi in a an investigation. how much time would we likely serve? >> lying to the fbi one time is a five year offense. and often people who lie to the fbi are repeat offenders. they lie in an investigation over and over and over. to either try to keep themselves out of trouble or to protect their criminal associates. if it were you and i we would be sitting our butts in a jail cell for a good long stretch of time. >> yes. unfortunately we would. no trump santa claus to protect us. thank you so much.

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there's movement level energy in georgia. if you had told anybody in georgia ten years ago this is where we would be today they wouldn't have believed you. the most competitive state in the country. two senate run offs for the control of the senate. i'm urging everybody to get out and vote early. we have the momentum and energy. it will take record shattering turn out. vote today. >> democratic senate candidate jon ossoff became one of the 1.6 million people who already voted voted early in georgia. the races will determine control of the senate and how much of a

joe biden agenda actually becomes reality. both parties have been racing to register new voters. 67,000 voters with no general election vote history have been added to the list of potential voters since novr 4. the numbers point to a small advantage for the democrats. who make up 44% of the new voters. republicans make up 41%. 15% are not affiliated with any party. young voters a strong democratic voting block are likely to play a key role in the run off. 39% of the new voters are below age 30. however, those new voters would have to turn out to have an impact on the race. senate races have drawn nationwide attention with celebrities donating platforms and time to supporting the candidates. earlier this month star trek cast members joined for a

fundraiser were warnock and jon ossoff. named star trek the next election. joining me now actor and activist. thank you so much for joining us. how are you? >> just great. happy holidays to you. and i greet you with the what we call the greeting. live long and prosper. i find it useful during the quarantine. stand back. stand back. >> i have lived my whole life to be able to do this on camera with a member of the original crew. thank you. >> your ears are too round. >> i have to ask this. this is right in line with your lifelong activism and politics. a will the of actors and entertainers follow the prime directive. no interference.

you have always been involved. why did you decide to put your hand take out your fencing foil and get involved in the georgia election? what drew you to the contest and this run off. >> staying in the star trek context. a key value of star trek, idic. which stand for infinite diversity and infinite combination. this is what's at stake in georgia. because yes, the seat is to represent the people of the georgia. but all across america, americans are pulling for jon ossoff and warnock to be elected. they are not only will be representing the people of georgia, which the current sitting senators do not. they are all working for themselves and personal

enrichment. what they will do will be to support our new president. joe biden. coming in. because they are going to play a critical part in the senate as we all know. without those two senators, it will effect the well being of all americans. in terms of what the historic joblessness creation of jobs. to deal with the much hope for vaccine. to efficiently and confidently get it distributed. there are so many things that are hanging on these two is that rights. candidates. jon ossoff and warnock. to benefit all americans. so this is a critically important race. infinite diversity and combinations. >> speaking of infinite, you

wrote a letter in encouraging, urging the biden administration to increase diversity. what was your motivation in writing this? do you think joe biden will fulfill the promises and going to have 7% asian americans in this administration. do you think he's man you can trust to make this administration as diverse as your original crew was and ground breaking? >> he's already demonstrated that with the people he's announced as his selection. even getting those people approved by the senate hinges on the two senators to be. from georgia. yes, in this race particularly, asian americans are the most rapidly growing demographic group in georgia. particularly around atlanta. so we are urging asian americans

to be actively engaged because it affects all of us. the infinite diversity idea is we have to work together within our diversity to benefit the well being of all of us. asian americans will be in there participating. this is a democracy. and we are actively participating. >> i have to ask you, which is better at protecting america. the universe. federation or donald trump space force? >> that is a comedy. when i was a kid we had sigh fie program called space patrol. we had aliens named captain

gore. cory. and a gang of space cadets. and that's what the trump space force is. it's going to be. it's a joke. >> in other words. we're trusting the federation. thank you so much. much more of the "the reidout" next. stay with us.

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well congress finally passed a much needed covid relief bill, donald trump suggested that he may not sign it unless there's changes to the package. it's been eight months since the last relief was passed and it does provide some help, but it does not go near enough by those hit hardest by the virus. it has a direct payment of $600 to americans but it's half of what was the last round and for families waiting for help, $600

doesn't go far for rent, bills and gas. keeping food on the table has been a challenge for millions american-s and that strain has been feltat local food banks across the country. scenes like this in fort worth, texas has been normal. we have the ce. of feeding america. clare, thank you so much, this is what gets me about this. this new relief bill if it gets passed and it's implemented, i know a lot of americans out there who are struggling and saying, okay, well, how does this billhelp me? outside of the $600 payment which quite frankly barely covers postage, what in the bill are going to help those that are starving and needy right now and are very, very food insecure? >> well, first thank-s for having me and you are highlighting the fact that there's real people who are

really struggling right now and have been for quite a long time. what -- is in the bill that is on the president's desk is some long awaited relief in the form of commodities that would help us to get food as a food banking network to get to people in need. your audience may not be aware of the 50% of the commodities that we had last year are about to expire at the end of the year. when we are seeing a 60%s increases in demand. so we need to do make certain that we fill in the gap and there's a provision in legislation that is designed to do that. >> so, one of the things we have seen when it comes to food insecurity is a lot of the resources that clare eluded to, the resources are drying up. restaurants in new york and atlanta and houston, restaurants that were providing food to people in need are closing down. where is the food going to come from? it's one thing to have money but

how does this bill provide the food or does it provide the food or access to the food for people suffering this holiday season and beyond? >> hm-mm, you know, when it comes to the stimulus, i think one of the things that we have to talk about, is even though you want to talk about the distribution of food -- >> nakita, i'm sorry -- a slew of new pardons, joining me now is political correspondent, josh letterman, good to see you for the breaking news. i have to ask you quickly, i'm looking through the list, some of these are pardons for people who's sentences trump commuted. i'm i caning -- i'm picking up a theme that they are getting pardons for financial crimes. are we getting a hint of what he

is worried about? >> sure, a lot of the big names here are people that frankly have been part of all of the stories about the swamp that trump said he was going to get rid of but that was a dominant theme in the trump administrati administration. some of the people are folks who lied on behalf of at the trump. who sought to advance his political interests or were accused of taking steps that were against the law. when the ultimate goal was loyalty to and furtherance of president trump and his political goals. also, very notable. there's, you know, several republican members of congress that the president is also granting clemency to this evening. we are not sure it's the end of the road or if there's more in the works. certainly there's additional people who have faced legal jeopardy as a result of the work

for trump that could be on the list. you contrast it with, for example, the final few weeks of the obama administration, when there was in fact a slew of clemency grants by president obama, but they were all people, upwards of a thousand, if i recall, people convicted by and large of low level drug offenses. of minor things that had nothing to do with president obama but where the president was able to use his really amazing clemency powers to start new lives. in contrast from what we see from president trump, it seems that he is choosing to pay back thes that a were loyal to him for several years. >> right, trump is not a part of the swamp, he is taking his muddy shoes and kicking america's couch with it. my question is what happens with rudy giuliani. because he has had his fingers

in so many corrupt and questionable actions. do we think it's a precursor to trump pardoning rudy giuliani or will that wait million t-- that? >> i think that will wait, because giuliani is actively involved in the president's defense. the questions for how that is done over the next couple of weeks. we don't know what rudy giuliani is under investigation for. some of what he has been doing now has raised legal questions and the president at the point in time that he were to grant a pardon for rudy giuliani if he did that, could pardon any crimes committed up to that point, but as we know, he cannot pardon rudy giuliani for anything he may do in the next few weeks or the future. >> goodness, gracious, thank you, josh letterman, that is the

reid the out for tonight, all in with chris hayes starts now. >> tonight on all in, trump offering pardons for 20 people, including four black water guards that killed iraqi civilians and three congressman who were convicted and two people convicted in the mueller inquiry. the latest and then -- >> remember, what you are seeing and reading is not what's happening. >> price of loyalty. donald trump turns on mcconnell and mike pence's new concerns arise in the pentagon, and the maga congress plots a stunt. >> the dark estimaest days are f