good afternoon, i'm chris jansing continuing msnbc's coverage on what has been a surprising chaotic day. president trump pardoning a number of allies while also releasing a twitter video railing against that $900 billion covid relief bill that the white house helped negotiate and he said he supported. also in that video, clings to the fantasy that he still might be president after january 20th. on both issues, covid relief and the election, republicans have been clear, they moved on. they changed with democrats to pass that massive bill earlier this week in tandem with the legislation funding the government. although president trump doesn't seem to understand the difference between those two bills. raising questions about whether or not he'd actually blow up the covid relief bill and shut down the government at the same time, if he's serious. but based on his current schedule which has him leaving town for mar-a-lago this

afternoon, it seems more likely he's just complaining, perhaps looking for a way to keep the focus on him in the waning days of his term. in the process, though, he's also making life as difficult as possible for congress his own republican allies on capitol hill, not to mention two republicans running for senate in georgia right now, as well as the incoming administration. democrats seem content to call his bluff here. they support bigger stimulus checks so they're going to bring up the president's demand for $2,000 in direct aid tomorrow on the house floor. in the unanimous consent vote that is likely to fail due to republican elections. meanwhile, we saw president-elect biden introduce the defense secretary nominee. he did not address the president's latest actions nor did he answer shouted questions from members of the press corps. we've got so many from kelly o'donnell, leigh ann caldwell from capitol hill. chief correspondent at the "the

new york times" peter baker. and "the new york times" washington correspondent and msnbc national security contributor michael schmidt. michael, i'm going to start with you because i just saw that you and maggie haberman posted a new article about half an hour ago on "the new york times" called "a president unhappy, unleashed and unpredictable." and apparently talked to more than a dozen current and former administration officials. some of this most loyal aides, advisers, you write, are deeply concerned. so given everything we've seen loafer the last 24 hours, give us the big picture. what do the people closest to president trump right now think they're dealing with? >> well, i think they're dealing with someone who is not necessarily hearing from all of his aides about the consequences that he could pace for everything. something that came through in the reporting was that earlier in the presidency, when trump was wanting to do something that was either unethical or illegal

or potentially problematic to himself, aides would ban together to stop him. but maybe more importantly, they would tell him not, you know, what the consequences could be of these things. but trump did not like to hear this. and over the span of several years, found a way to weed those people out, to make sure that the people in front of him were -- there were fewer people who were willing to tell him the things that he didn't want to hear. the president didn't always listen to them. but with the former aides said, it planted a seed. and that tell sort of -- it gave trump an idea of what he could be facing. and was at times helpful in stopping him. obviously, a lot of things were not stopped in the first few years of the administration. but several things were. and what is described to us now, it's basically a president unbound. a president who has fewer people around by numbers. is listening to fewer people.

and those that he is listening to are ones who are telling him the things that he wants to hear. and are going along with the most outlandish species claims about the election. and about what the president could try and do to overturn or change them. the president showing in the past 24 hours a willingness to use his executive power, with pardons, in ways that few other presidents ever have. certainly, at the quantity and bulk that he did it in. >> so, let's go to the specifics of some of this, it's against that backdrop, kelly o'donnell, that donald trump seemed to blow up what congress thought was a done deal. i guess, maybe one indication he might not be serious about derailing the relief bill, he's scheduled to leave town later today for mar-a-lago. but what are you hearing and what's going on behind the scenes there at the white house? >> reporter: well, i spotted a

marine at the west biwing door which means the president is in the oval offices. perhaps we'll learn more about what he's thinking of doing. or if he heads to mar-a-lago in a couple hours there's an opportunity at least to see the president and try to get questions to him. we have observed over time how he likes to break things in order to change them. and he's done that in lots of different ways in this presidency. the difficulty right now in trying to blow up the covid relief bill at the time that he's doing it is that there are outside forces and deadlines that he can't control that are really a problem for trying to resolve this. by telling the congress that he wants something new, after they've negotiated for months the covid bill. and then separately, all of the funding for the federal government, which has taken a long time to do. and then the two bills were put together under one vote. that requires congress to come back and change things when there are almost no days left.

this congress itself expires. and there will be a new congress january 3rd. you can't carry it over and say, well, the new group will just pick up. it doesn't work that way. they'd have to start again. and certainly, republicans have been undercut by what the pled has said. there was plenty of time for him to urge a larger amount in direct covid relief. and for lots reasons and lots of negotiating points, republicans didn't want throo be there. democrats certainly do. even at this point, when there's one remaining state holding two senate elections in january, where control of the senate is on the line, he's messing with that as well by upending this where he could have claimed a victory and said money and help is coming and signed it, now, he's gummed up the works. chris. >> so, leeann, where does that leave the folks on capitol hill? who's feeling the pressure?

how do lawmakers see this play out? >> reporter: well, chris, americans say, great, let's do it, let's give americans a $2,000 stimulus bill. that's what republicans in congress were not willing to do. republicans, meanwhile, what i'm hearing is silence. i have not heard from hardly any of my republican sources all day, late last night, and that is extremely telling that they are in a very difficult position right now. senate republican leader mcconnell, he had to persuade and cajole his republican conference to even accept $600 in a stimulus check. in a closed-door lunch a couple weeks ago, he said that the reason that check is necessary is because down in georgia, senators david perdue, kelly loeffler were getting hammered over the fact that they were not discussing a stimulus check. so he got his numbers online and

on board. where they go next, it is completely unclear. pelosi is going to try to hold republicans to account. she's going to try to pass a $2,000 stimulus bill tomorrow. it's going to take one republican just to object. that means a republican has to fly back or drive to d.c. to object that. that is the next action that we're going to be watching very closely. are republicans going to buck the president or are they going to stand with him. chris. >> so, peter, we don't know what's going to happen. we can all have our own opinions or speculation, but we don't know. taking another line out of your colleagues' post, they write if nothing else it will make for an especially anxious 27 days in washington. what are you hearing from the white house and generally the folks you talk to there in washington about the level of concern what could happen over the next 27 days, if this is any

indication? >> reporter: yeah, look what happened over the last 27 days, right? a lot of people would have expected we'd have an election, the president is chosen, and the outgoing president basically tries to clean up a few things and that's about it. instead, you see a president who is knocking over the tables, throwing plates on the floor and desperately trying to get attention for his spurious claims, baseless claims, on the election. and that would attribute this outburst about the spending bill as a blow to mitch mcconnell because he's mad at mitch mcconnell for not backing him anymore on these election claims. mitch mcconnell, of course, said that he now accepts the president-elect biden will be the next president since the electoral college has now voted. and he's urged his colleagues not to protest it any further. that's got president trump very angry. so you're seeing him lash out against what mitch mcconnell has just accomplished in terms of the spending bill. what could happen next?

i expect more pardons to come. we saw a wrath of 20 pardons and clemency orders. that's not the end of them, for sure, is he going to pardon roger stone? paul manafort, will he pardon his family and rudy giuliani and himself? all of these things could happen. there's a lot of concern in the pentagon what could happen in the next 27, 28 days. he's put in a brand-new defense chief. people wonder what's going on there. >> michael, let me come back to you, you wrote about pardons as well. these pardons as you put it in the "times," auld davi"," audac. you can commit mass murder, and lie, and the president can erase years with a sweep of a pen and he can do it without going through the normal channels of review.

is that a fair way of putting it? is it an overstatement? what would you say? >> i would say in previous presence presidencies, most of the presidents followed what is you that go to the justice don department and the justice department would recommend it. this is to ensure that makes sure they're doled out in a fair way. no matter who will you were, your application is looked at. and exclusively out of that system, just right off the bat that's completely differently than other presidents have. so, the majority, about 92% of the pardons that he's given have either had a tie to an ally, a personal connection to the president, or have advanced his political agenda in some way. and what experts say that those figures don't exactly exist for

every previous president. but previous presidents, those types of pardons, the politically and the personally connected made up a small sliver of the ones that other presidents gave. and that was just a small portion. and with trump, it is the rule. it is the rule. it is 92% of them that come back to ways of helping the president either for a friend or for himself politically. so completely dominated by principles that are just different than other presidents. >> yeah. i think the disconcerting thing for a lot of republicans, obviously, peter, is that for republicans, this is the guy who is going to have influence over their party, at least most of them are acting like for some time to come. and so, they're in that position now with so much on the line of trying to navigate what they may know needs to get done, versus

what they think the political future might look like. where are we? where does that leave people in congress in the republican party? >> yeah. i think we're at a very interesting moment in that way. we're going to be testing these republicans to see where they're attitudes towards trump really are, right? since the election, they have more or less kept quiet about his efforts to overturn the election. the past majority of them think the efforts are specious and outrageous. now, they're asked to put their vote on the line. twice now in one week. if the president vetoes this, what will they do? will they rewrite it or overturn the veto? the same with the defense bill he's promised to veto. they passed that with a veto majority. republicans joining democrats on that, are they going to override

a veto? or will the president back down until the face of the party caucus? i think you're right, it sets the tone, how much of this republican party going to be enthralled to a former president in the way they have followed his lead consistently for the last four years. >> lastly, kelly o'donnell, let me ask about a last tick tick for today. which is we're waiting to see if the president is going to say anything about this. when does he leave? you got the pool ready? >> yes, we have the pool ready i'll be in the front lawn at 4:00. he'll be leaving with the first lady. and our experience tells us he tends to not speak when she is with him. but we're hoping he will do so today. if the president is watching, we've got plenty of questions and like an opportunity to ask what he's got planned for his time in mar-a-lago and the remaining weeks. >> kelly o'donnell, leigh ann

caldwell, peter baker, michael schmidt, thanks to you. still ahead, top senate republican ben cardin on the mess. how it should be responded to the russia attack. and in california, where hospitalizations are quote, off the charts, how doctors and nurses are just trying to keep up. in. so you can focus on punching above your weight. no matter how high you set the bar. try centrum minis.

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welcome back. capitol hill right now is a potpourri of uncertainty and confusion after the president hinted he might derail the covid relief bill that just passed congress. not to mention, he's also continuing to unwind the work of the russia investigation, with two more pardons last night. all as the government is reeling from a massive russian hack. we've got a lot to discuss. i'm joined by senator ben cardin, a member of the senate foreign relations committee. senator, good to see you. let's start covid relief for starters.

how serious do you take the president's apparent threats to derail this bill? >> well, chris, it's good to be with you. look, we know president trump does not act the way we expect a president to act so certainly, we're concerned about this. it's unthinkable that he would not sign this bill into law. it's not only the covid relief package that is desperately needed by the distribution of the vaccines to end the covid-19 crisis, but also the appropriations for the entire government and so many critically important bills are part of this package so it's unthinkable that he would actually veto it. the point that he's raising about additional checks, that was an issue with republicans. obviously wanted the package to be larger than it was. but that was a compromise reached during the system. why the president didn't raise that during negotiations is beyond me. >> well, what do you tell verlander or anybody in america wants to know why more money

isn't going out in the direct payments right now? they might say if the president supports more aid, which is what the democrats want it, why not do it? >> that's a great question. the point is the democrat has a much larger package in the house of representatives and had the support of democrats in the senate. mitch mcconnell never brought that up for a vote and the republicans opposed it. we have a senate controlled by republicans. republicans did not want direct payments. they compromised $600. we wanted more. it was signed off, we thought, with the administration, we wanted it to be more. we'll be happy if the president can increase republicans to increase that number. but let's be frank about it, why wasn't the president engaged in that over the last several weeks? why didn't he want his points known then? it's very difficult to figure out how the president conducts his business, particularly as it relations to the passage of this

covid package. >> there's been so much uncertainty for so many months for so many people. the unemployment rate in your state is just a smidge above the national average. quantify this, how critical is this for your state, how urgent? how do you see this big picture? >> i just got off the phone with some of our local officials. it's critically important. we're disappointed there's no direct relief to state and local governments. but unemployment benefits will provide more to marylanders unemployed by a couple weeks and extending the eligibility under the c.a.r.e.s. act. that's very important to those marylanders who are unemployed. the direct payment checks are important. the small business relief that will save jobs and save small businesses in our state is critically important. these were all negotiated in good bipartisan faith. and effort to get it done. and we're pleased that we have

at least this to carry us over to the biden administration. but make no mistake about it, we wanted a larger package, but we wanted to make sure something got done. >> well, let's also talk about the russian hack. we've learned some things about it but there's still a lot we don't know. what, senator, is your latest understanding of the severity of what you do know and what we don't? >> well, chris, this was the worst cyber attack probably in american history. it was going on for a long time. so many agencies and private companies were compromised. it was conducted by a country that really wants to compromise our international security. it's been the secretary of state has identified russia as the actor. and everything we know, that's accurate. th it is an attack against our country, it may not have been by use of military, but it was an attack against our country. it requires us to respond.

otherwise as we've seen under the trump administration when they take no action against russia, putin will continue to compromise our national security if we don't stand up to these types of activities. >> what's at the top of your list, senator, what should the response start with? >> that's a great question. it's got to be relative to the damage done too you're country. it's got to be measured. and it should not be announced. >> all right. let me ask you, finally before we go, because obviously everything that we talk about it seems is related in one way or another to the terrible pandemic. the numbers that keep rising. have you been vaccinated, senator? >> yes, i was vaccinated last saturday as a member of congress. i'm trying to make sure that we get as much of the vaccine distributed as possible to as many people as possible. we want to see this vaccine distribution system work fairly for all americans, and we're going to do everything we can. that's why the covid relief package contains substantial

help to state and local governments for distribution of vaccines. and we need to have a game plan to deal with covid-19. and we're looking forward to the leadership on the biden administration. >> senator ben cardin, happy holidays four and your family. looks like you're no worse for the wear having gotten the vaccine. thanks, we appreciate it. >> no reaction at all. i want everyone to get the vaccine unless they have specific instructions from their doctor not to. it's important for your health, it's important for the community so stay stave and have a wonderful holiday. >> you, too. thank you, senator. still ahead, the desire covid situation in america's hospitals as the holidays approach. we'll take you to one of the hardet hit states. till you find the perfect slice... even ist hit states.eryone as. another burger truck? don't listen to them! that means cooking day and night until you get... [ ding ] you got paid! that means adding people to the payroll. hi mom.

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i think we all need to acknowledge that on january 21st, things are going to be bad. it's going to be dark. right now, we're already in some dark times. i do think that we're going to have more deaths, more surge, after the christmas and new year's holidays. and all of those are going to manifest on, you know, around the end of january. >> welcome back. that is incoming cdc director dr. rochelle walensky with a warning that doesn't seem to be impacting millions of people traveling these days. but the darkest days of the pandemic are not here yet. nearly 85 million americans are expected to travel between december 23rd and january 3rd. despite the constant warnings from public health officials.

more than 117,000 americans are currently hospitalized with the coronavirus. another record high. in los angeles, county officials are expecting a post holiday surge of up to 1400 new patients each day, even as the l.a. times notes, the hospitalizations there are already off the charts. nbc's megan fitzgerald joining us from los angeles. just how dire is the situation you're saying? and how hard is it for these poor health care workers to just try to keep up? >> reporter: chris, simply put, doctors are describing the scenes in their hospitals as a disaster, likening it to scenes from movies. those hospitals in southern california where they're so overrun that dozens of patients are waiting, gasping for air, trying to wait for care. doctors and firsts trying everything to get to them but their just so overrubbln.

you see tents being put up in parking lots. in los angeles county, they've transformed a gift shop into a place where they're providing care. as we know, southern california has been out of icu beds for a while now. doctors and nursi nurses doing everything they can. by new year's eve, hospitalizations are expected to be ten times the amount they were in october. ten times. we're talking 1400 people a day going to the hospital. 1400. doctors say this is just not sustainable. take a listen. >> there's an overall feeling of anxiety, fear and uncertainty, as we head into christmas and the new year's. i think many of us are very concerned, that as we head into the holidays, our resources will simply be outscripted by the incredible demand. >> reporter: and this is why we

see these health care workers on the front line literally begging with the public not to gather, not to travel this holiday season, because if we see what we're already seeing from the thanksgiving surge, doctors just don't know how they're going to keep up. chris. >> so, you can give us a sense of what they're doing? some of the specific actions they're taking right now to manage what they know is going to be as it was put by a doctor the last hour, the surge on top of the surge on top of the surge? >> reporter: well, doctors say that they are not able to give the same level of care to the patients prepandemic, of course. so, the level of care is already subsiding. because they're just seeing this onslaught of patients that continue to come to the hospital. of course, doctors and nurses doing everything they can to care for them but they're just so inundated. you're seeing nurses continues

to rise, one nurse to two patients, that's continuing to rise. they're getting creative. as i mentioned earlier, you're seeing tents in the parking lots. in parking lots. where a gift shop gets transformed into areas where they can care for patients that tells the story how stretched these health care workers are. as they do everything they can to try and provide care for patients that continue keep coming. and there's seemingly no end in sight. chris. >> megan, thank you so much. also with us dr. ashish jha. good to see you. talking about the numbers nationwide are awful. are we going to see it go from bad to worse after the holidays? >> hi, chris, thanks for having me on. i am worried in lots of places

we will. after holidays going back to memorial day, july 4th, thanksgiving, we've seen a surge. i'm really worried we're going to see another surge after the christmas/new year's holiday. there's no room. there's no room at the inn. so what is happening not just that covid patients are having a hard time getting hospital care. everybody is having a hard time getting hospital care because there are not enough beds. there's not enough staff, doctors and nurses. you can't convert -- you can convert a gift shop into a room but you can't magically create doctors and nurses out of thin air. >> yeah. one of the things that is concerning, we've seen california reinstate some of their previous restrictions but they have not been able to seem to bend the curve back, at least not so far. is that what we're going to be seeing in other places, too? >> yeah, there are two parts of it. i do think california has acted aggressively. and they got pushback from

public health people saying they were being too aggressive. but now we can look back and see that they weren't being too aggressive. but ultimately, people have to believe in these measures and actually have to act on them. and what people are struggling with right now there's so much misinformation and pandemic fatigue, a lot of people feel, well, it's not a big deal, i'll get through the holidays. the vaccine is around the corner. well, the vaccine is not going to bail us out for the next six to eight weeks. and people really do have to take responsibility. and public officials, public health officials, too, have to hammer in the message of how bad things are. >> let's talk about one aspect of this travel. millions of americans planning to fly. they've already been flying. we saw over 1 million a day over last weekend, right? then we saw the situation where a flight had to make an emergency landing because a medical emergency on board. we later found out it was somebody who had the coronavirus and actually died when they got to the hospital. and the airline said, well,

listen, we ask people, do you have any symptoms, are you feeling okay. this person apparently may not have been feeling okay but wanted to get to where they were going. talk about the risk, as you see it, even with all of the things, and i certainly was traveling a lot before the election. i saw the change. i saw how airlines were trying to do more to keep things safer. what's your message to folks? >> yeah. my message to folks is we are very, very close to widespread vaccine availability. if there's any way to avoid travel, please do it. right now, people should only be traveling for truly essential things. it's just not worth it. it's not worth getting infected and getting sick right now -- it's never worth it, but particularly now, when we're so close to a vaccine. i think the airlines are trying their best. i think the airlines are doing a good job. and the issue right now, with so many people traveling there's no way to ensure that the person

sitting next to you is not going to be infected. it's nearly impossible to assure that. i don't think it's worth taking the risk if you can possibly avoid it. >> we've been talking a lot over the last couple of days, doctor, about this new uk virus strain that seems to be transmissible. first it was 60%, now 40% and 50%. experts are acknowledging the chances are it's already here in the united states. if that sin deis indeed the cast should be our level of concern? what should we do about it? >> yeah. first of all, i think this is a real issue, i don't want to dismiss it as not important. this variant really does seem to be more contagious. we don't know how much more. but it does seem to be more contagious. thankfully, it looks like if you get infected with it that it's more deadly. we don't know for sure. but the vaccine seems that it

will be work against that so that's the good news. the reason the uk figured it out is because they have a very aggressive testing program, a test for the geonomic changes. we've got to get the data down and we've been caught flat-footed without the data that we need to make the decisions. >> there we go again. let me ask you, quickly, your plans for the holidays, doctor? >> my wife and i will our kids are hanging out. we've spent a lot of time together in the last few months. >> how's that going? >> we've got tten to know each other really, really well. >> so far, so good. you're smiling and laughing, dr. jha. happy holidays to you. >> thank you. meantime, dr. deborah birx who has been signaling that

she'd like to stay on in a biden administration now says she plans it to retire soon. she does plan as white house coronavirus task coordinator to help with the transition before stepping down but in an interview, birx suggested her family had been dragged into the controversy to travel over the thanksgiving weekend while urging not to do that. she insists she was traveling to a vacation home in delaware in order to prepare it for sale. birx has been one of the leading infectious disease expert in decades but has been a controversial figure since coming to the white house in february. ahead, front line health care workers are choosing not to get vaccinated. i'll speak to a leading american nurse who foresaw the problem and is doing everything he can to address it. ♪ [ beeping ] [ engine revs ]

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more million doses of the pfizer vaccine. doubling the number of pfizer vaccines available but not until the middle of next year. now fighting the battle, scientists are fighting a tough battle to convince americans to take it. misinformation about vaccines has spread across the pop late as a whole. and distrust, based on years of medical maltreatment, including discrimination against black americans have led some of the communities to say they're simply not interested. joining me now is earnest grant, president of the association. we so appreciate you being with us. even before we had a vaccine, you enrolled in a vaccine trial to encourage confidence. what did you hope was the impact of your participation, and what are you seeing? >> well, thank you for having me, chris. the main reason i decided to enroll in the vaccine trial was that i realized there was a need for more black and brown people to participate in those clinical

trials. and with the hope that if it was successful that i could use my experience to encourage more people in the black and brown community to participate pipe also wanted to do the same for my fellow nurse colleagues who are on the front line, also letting them know that one of their leaders was also willing to, you know, step out and participate in the clinical trial that once the vaccines were approved, that would also leave any concerns that they may have. >> i can only tell you anecdotally in traveling and talking to folks who are in the medical profession, people of color, there's a lot of hesitance to decide. at least certainly not in the first round. they want to see what happens. there was a study, the chief medical officer at a hospital at edinburgh, texas, told the texas tribune their survey showed 50

to 60% of people at the hospital said they would take the vaccine. i'm so curious now that we're into it at least what are you hearing from your nursing colleagues? and how do you combat any mistrust or misinformation? >> first of all, the american nurses association actually did a survey back in october, this is before the efficacy rates for both the pfizer and moderna vaccines were released. and we found that about a third of the nurses said they would take -- you know, be willing to take the vaccine. a third were sort of on the fence. and a third were saying that, you know, they would not take the vaccine. i think after the -- you know, the efficacy rates have been released, we have seen those numbers change. and we're in the process, actually, of doing a second, you know -- excuse me, a second survey of that as well. i think the most important thing, this is not only for our nurse -- for my nurse colleagues, but also for the public as well is for people to

educate themselves about how this particular vaccine works. as compared to when you hear the word "vaccine" you think that it contains either a live version of the virus or an attenuated versus of the virus. so people automatically think that they're going to get covid. and there's no way that anyone can get covid from this -- from these mrna vaccines. so if nurses educate themselves about that and become more, you know, and see that their colleagues are taking it, then there's less resistance on their part. and we know with nurses being the most trusted profession, they can also, you know, take the knowledge that they have and encourage the public, also, to go ahead and take the vaccine. >> it's interesting you put it that way, because i wonder if that really is the key, close colleagues and by extension friends. because a lot of the way that

the feds can be looking at this, we need to get high-profile people, particularly blacks to do this publicly. get the vaccine publicly. we saw it with the surgeon general, barack obama was one of the early people, saying, listen, i'm happy to get this vaccine. i want people to know i trust this vaccine. do you think that really works? does that help? could they be seen as part of the system that created the distrust? is the key really close colleagues? what's your take? >> actually, it's a combination of both. i've also been advocating that there's a need for either a prominent pastor within a community. or if there say black person who may be on the city council or the mayor, you know, those are some other examples of how, you know, getting the mess amount out to the black and brown community that they can trust this vaccine is extremely important. the main thing is, of course, just being able to answer the questions and concerns that people may have.

and, of course, by doing that, you're going to alleviate any of the concerns and fears that they may have. it's also important, as you mentioned at the introduction, to embrace the -- you know, or to acknowledge that, yes, experiments were done on people of color, you know, in the past. but as a result of those experiments, we now today have in place a system of checks and balances. we have the -- you know, the institution review boards. the informed consents. you know, the way that the food and drug administration has to, you know, evaluate drugs and things like that, before they are released on the market. so, everything is done to ensure the safety and transparency of any drug that out there. not just, you know, this particular vaccine, but any drug that is prescribed. you know, they go through the same process. and i frequently will tell, you know, my african-american friends who may be hesitant, i ask them, do you take a

prescribed medication? and they may say yes. if they say yes, i tell them, it went through the exact same process as these vaccines did also. that system of checks and balances work. >> earnest grant, thank you. and thanks to all of your colleagues in the nursing profession who have been on the front lines not just medically but with compassion. we thank you very much. and still ahead, thousands of migrant families separated at the u.s./mexico border are still apart. nbc's jackcob soboroff joins us. first, an emotional video call. the governor of california te telling padilla he's selected as senator. here's how he found out. >> your mom and dad, they

literally came both from mexico. >> yeah, it's a story i'm proud of. they actually came separately. they met in los angeles. yeah, they fell in love and applied for green cards. >> you can imagine what mom would be thinking now if i ask you if you the next u.s. senator of the united states for the great state of california? >> are you serious? >> this is the official, this is the ask, brother. >> i'm honoring, man. and i'm humbled. because of them. humbled. because of them. introducing fidelity income planning.

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and the day off my floor. try wet jet with a moneyback guarantee the biden team says that will not immediately undo the immigration regulations jay cobb soberoff who is author of "separated," it is a tragedy, as you know, that is continuing. i miss thospoke earlier, not sh, but hundreds of chirp taken from their families, what are we hearing from the biden transition right now about their assistance on border policies? what do we know about the kids still out there? >> the hundreds of kids still

throughout seperated from their parents and unable to be rea reached. they handed over faulty data. and they came from a larger pool of thousands that were separated at the height of the zero tolerance policy. we talk about them not unwinding these policies on day one as in some cases like with family separation which made tens of thousands of asylum seekers wait. it's not that they're not going to do that and i spoep with several officials yesterday about this. they now say they have to do it over a defined period of time. they worry about an influx of people coming to the southern border. if it there is messaging, about relaxed restrictions.

the same lawyers tell me they're worried about that. they hear a message of a fair and just and humane immigration system, one that isn't going to be separating parents the idea that we don't have definitive answers on when and where all of the remaining families will be reunited. what happens to the tens of thousands of people made to wait in mexico? why will the pieden administration not immediately unwind under the guise of covid. the trump administration's immediate expulsion of people. i think there is an appetite maybe self conscious is an accurate description of the consequences of feeling the like a reporter. with trump's restrictive language we see it even back

then. >> >> such a complicated situation that has to be unwound. it has to be fixed, thank you so much. thank you for your reporting on this. appreciate you being with us this hour. we'll have more after this short wreck. break. break trelegy for copd. ♪ birds flyin' high, you know how i feel. ♪ ♪ breeze drifting on by you know how i feel. ♪ ♪ it's a new dawn... if you've been taking copd sitting down,

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good morning, christmas is two days away and for millions of americans struggling financially, the help they thought would be on the way from the federal government is now up in the air. >> send me a suitable bill or else the next administration will have to deliver a covid relief package. >> congress is weighing their options now that president trump up ended the