good morning, everybody. i am yazmin in for hallie jackson. new warning from dr. anthony fauci this morning that 2021 will see further spread of that uk variant from the coronavirus which is now in california and

colorado. >> the fact that you have a virus that spreads more efficiently is something that's important and needs to be taken seriously. consider this, by new year's day, the country could hit a staggering 20 million infections. the numbers going in the wrong direction coast to coast across this country. hospitalizations in l.a. for instance have stored 1,000% in just two months and with 800,000 people filing new unemployment claims this morning, mitch mcconnell dashing hopes for $2,000 stimulus checks but the outstanding question this morning, could that effort be revived in the new congress? that's where we're going to begin. i'm joined by steve patterson in los angeles and dr. derek haas. steve, i'll start with you on this one. the numbers surging there, hospitals struggling to keep up. we're learning that california

is now the second state confirmed to have this more infectious version, this variant of the coronavirus. what can you tell us? >> reporter: that variant was found according to san diego health officials in a 30-year-old san diego man who had no prior travel history, which may mean that it is circulating further in the community in southern california, news that nobody wants to hear, specifically in a region that is so hard-hit. here in l.a. county they have not confirmed that variant is in this county but they do say it could possibly be here and they're doing testing to try to confirm that, as the moment goes on. they also say that it is maybe more could be tagious, it is no more deadly at least at this time and combating it using the same tactics that they would combining this original strain, but man, are they having a hard time battling against this coronavirus, specifically here in l.a. county, where they've crossed over 10,000 deaths,

where the average estimate is one person dies every ten minutes from covid-19 here in l.a. county. the hospitals are overloaded. mortuaries and morgues are packed. people that are being transported to these hospitals and ers and icus that are taking inness bl nesambulances sometim be treated in the ambulance before off-loaded or treated in the waiting room. when they get into the hospital, many patients are being treated in the hospital hallways before they get into those ers and icus and now doctors and nurses are making tough decisions on who gets what treatment, who gets the intubator, who gets on an icu unit. who has the available treatment plan from nurses to be able to see two or three or four patients at the exact same time. we've been speaking to nurses here in l.a. county. one who says he feels there is a loss of control, something he hasn't felt before. listen to what he said. >> honestly it's the first time

in my nursing career i feel i don't have any control or we don't have control because it's not in our hands. at this point it's all in the public's hands on whether they conform to the rules or they don't. >> reporter: the messaging from the health department is begging people not to travel for new year's, not to go and socialize even though it is a holiday, a lot of people want to see friends and family. they are now tweeting every ten minutes about the loss of a person in l.a. county, just as an example to the community about how devastating this virus is and if we don't do something, the community itself, if they don't do something, this could get worse in the coming weeks. back to you. >> all right, steve patterson, thank you. want to turn to an er doctorate columbia university medical center. as i was listening to steve, i don't know about you, it really

caught me the grim picture that's painting especially in the state of california specifically los angeles, when you think about the icu numbers, the hospitals just being completely and totally overwhelmed, the picture that he paints for so many of us, and now in a position where doctors and nurses front line health care workers are having to choose who gets what treatment. where does that put folks like you? >> so i want to be really clear about that. the most important thing for the state of california and l.a. county toe do is make the decisions before patients get to the door and they are working on that. we're seeing l.a. county ems put out notifications who should and should not be transported to the hospital if for some reason you die and you lose vital signs outside the hospital, whether you would be transported. it's really important for patients to understand the doctors and nurses on the front line are doing the best they can with what they have, but the most important thing patients can do is find out before they go to the hospital is it an emergency? use the telehealth services and

other resources to make sure they don't crowd those ers. patients in l.a. are waiting hours in the ambulance bay on stretchers just to get in the front door and those are the sickest of the sick patients. so please, help us help you, and stay out of the ers if you can and help us stop the spread of this virus. >> so i hear you on this. i totally understand what you're saying, but i need you to clarify something, because as you can understand, a lot of folks are scared, especially in that area, and we've heard about folks dying at home alone, and we know how this virus works. you can go from zero to 60 in a day, one day you report in to your physician, telehealth and you're fine, you're at home, you're quarantining. the next day you're hospitalized, and some folks feel like ten days later, you're dead. nobody wants to be in that position, and so immediately feel uncomfortable going in the hospital. how do you judge that? >> that's why preparation is key. what we've been saying in new

york since the start and learned our lesson here in the spring is if this virus is in your community and it is in every community, prepare now for the idea that it could get in your family. have a plan, have a way to contact your doctor, know the local telehealth service, get tested early, quarantine, stop the spread of the virus. have a pulse ox, the finger tip oxygen machines that show you the numbers on so you know when to go to the hospital early. have the data behind you. we want people to be empowered with information and get the patients to the hospital so we can take care of and save but realize that with stretched resources and no new physicians, nurses or respiratory therapists there will be a limit to how much care we can provide. >> i want to talk about this new variant while i have you, and one of the questions that i have is the fact that it's much more infect, 70% more. what does that mean? does that mean if you and i are in the same room together and don't have masks on the likelihood of me getting the virus from you if you're

positive is a heck of a lot higher? >> that's exactly what it means and that's the highest risk to the community is when we don't use those same public health measures of masking, distancing and staying only with the nuclear families, this virus will spread faster and although it's not more deadly, it's not causing more hospitalizations per the number of people that's infected, once you get to a higher number of infections, you're going to see those hospitalizations and deaths rise. so what we're seeing about this new strain is very simple. are public health measures working to stop this strain, too and hopefully so will our vaccine. we're still in a good place with the vaccinations so please, realize this will spread faster when we let our guards down, it's another reason not to let your guard down. >> so you said something really important that i just want to finish on, hopefully so will our vaccines. folks have been saying the vaccine covers this variant. do we have any conclusive evidence to back that claim up, because it doesn't seem like

studies have been done on this specific variant, since it's new? >> well that's the thing. this entire pandemic has been new questions asking for answers before we get a chance to have the data. this vaccine, there is no evidence this vaccine won't work and that's the best we can say and we'll move because we know what the protein variant has done. people are looking for certainty in uncertain times and i want to be clear. we need to move forward with the information we have, because this information will work if we use it. and that means get vaccinated when it's your chance, stay home if you can, and wear a mask all the time. with that, we will be okay. >> it's so true what you said psychologically. 2021 is a little more certain. happy new year to you, by the way. this morning, everybody, we got another reminder that

millions of americans are looking for work. 787,000 people filed for unemployment benefits for the first time last week, more than 5 million filed continuing claims. mitch mcconnell is blocking another stimulus check. the $600 checks signed into law after christmas are going out, some already inside people's bank accounts. i'm joined by "washington post" political reporter libby casey. welcome to you all, good to see you once again. i'm going to start with you on this one and i want to get to the mitch mcconnell note. some folks tweeting i have $600, enough for food for the next two weeks or so but what about the rent and the rest of my expenses. is there any open door in a 2021 congress? >> reporter: yazmin that depends

on what happens next tuesday in georgia. if republicans hold at least one of the two seats, they will remain in control of the senate and mitch mcconnell will remain the majority leader. he's not fond of its the $2,000 checks. there's no reason to believe he's going to be willing to grant that wish to a democrat president. trump and bide an debris the $2,000 checks should happen. democrats are much more determined to continue that fight into the new year. i spoke to several of them including ed markey, the senator from massachusetts, this is just the beginning. senator bernie sanders is going to fight this in the new year as well, according to all indications, so democrats win both those seats in georgia, they will capture control of the senate. they will have the house and the presidency, and there's good reason then to believe this issue will be alive. i think it's going to come down to whether it's divided government in which case unlikely to happen or a unified

democratic control of government in which case the $2,000 check are a live political issue. >> senator lindsey graham was talking about this on fox. i want to play a bit of what he said about the stimulus checks. >> so to my fiscal conservative friends, i understand your argument, but i think the facts on the ground throughout the country would require us to do more than $600. $600's not enough. s it $2,000 is about right in my opinion. i'm willing to vote. >> monica, it's interesting, because the other day i said someone on the show. we know lindsey graham is one of the president's closest golfing buddies. maybe if mitch mcconnell took a page out of lindsey graham's book and he got on board as well. overall, where are we on this? is this where lindsey graham has

taken a page from the president? >> we do know he was with him over the weekend, down here in south florida golfing. what is also notable, yasmin, there's no more golf on the schedule at least here for the time being. the president is going to be leaving florida in the next 45 minutes or so, and heading back to washington, d.c., so potentially he could be having more conversations with republican lawmakers on this issue, but you're right to point out that leader mcconnell has essentially said we're not going to appease the president on the issue of just voting to increase those checks to $2,000. at least any time soon. he's punting that because of how he's tried to tie that potential vote with other issues that by the way, the president of the united states is the one who had asked for them, but now all we know is that the president isn't pleased, because he does want to see this vote of $2,000 and that increase as soon as possible. again, we don't have much more

insight beyond that, because to your point, people who may have been down here on the links with the president or on phone calls in between holes are the only ones giving us readouts. the white house is not providing any of that kind of information. once the president is back in washington maybe we'll get a different picture. he hasn't taken questions from reporters in more than three weeks. getting on air force one or returning to the white house that's an an opportunity for the pool of reporters traveling with him to try to press him on some of the issues. it's possible we'll actually see him talk and take questions camera for the first time today. for the last week he hasn't addressed the coronavirus pandemic, the mounting deaths and cases, or the economic fallout, or this major issue of what's going to happen with these checks in any public fashion which is a contrast to what president-elect biden has been doing the last couple of days. >> libby, i'd like to think the

president is headed back to washington because he wants to get this $2,000 passed for every single american that is in need right now but i am thinking it's likely more about what's happening next week and the certification of the election results and specifically what josh hawley had to say and his plans going forward. listen to what he said. >> you've got 74 million americans who feel disenfranchised, who feel like their vote doesn't matter. this is my opportunity to stand up and say something, to stand up and point out that there were irregularities in this election. there needs to be an investigation. >> so before you respond, libby, i want to read pretty quickly what ben sass said. "let's be clear what is happening here, a bunch of ambitious politicians think there's a quick way to tap into the president's base without doing any long-term damage.

they're wrong and adults don't point a loaded gun at the heart of legitimate government. he's talking about hawley's ambitions of running for president in 2024, might be part of the reason why he's going to object to the certification of the results next week. what do you make of all of this? >> i heard from moderate republican senator murkowski's office and planning on certifying the results like all the democrats and many republicans will have to make the choice to do as well. her office is saying they're concerned that objecting to these real results, these electoral results will undermine the confidence that americans have and states like alaska have in the electoral college process. we're hearing from these two senators they're not just concerned about what this means for next week, they're concerned about what this means for american democracy and the systems in place. it's important to note that more than 90 judges at the state and federal level rejected challenges, over 50 attempts by president trump and his allies

to overturn results in states that have failed through the legal process, and so what we're seeing josh hawley do is likely doomed to fail or going to fail. dangerous to make predictions but the democrat-led house will certify the election results and republicans like lisa murkowski of course i'll certify the election results, siding with the democrats in the senate to make sure that the legitimate process is upheld. this is going to put republicans in a difficult position of having to either choose between legitimately respecting the process or being seen as siding with president trump, so josh hawley is creating this sort of false choice that they have to make. >> thank you guys, happy new year. coming up, the georgia senate candidates are making their final push ahead of today's election. what they're doing on the ground, the big surrogates on their way and what to expect

from the last day of early voting. plus the latest on the investigation into the national christmas bombing. the bomber believed in conspiracy theories. what investigators are learning. that's ahead. ♪

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welcome back. just hours left for early voting in the state of georgia and the senate runoffs with more than 2.8 million ballots cast, well over the 2.1 million vote record for a runoffcandidates make a pt out the vote, vice president-elect kamala harris and president-elect joe biden and donald trump escalates his attack on republican governor brian kemp demanding he resign over his refusal to overturn the election results. priscilla thompson is in smyrna, georgia and also joining us is greg bluesteen, political report for the atlanta journal

constitution. good to see you on this new year's eve. priscilla, how is it looking out there especially the final day for early voting as i was just mentioning, and how are both parties interpreting the latest early voting numbers we have? >> reporter: folks aren't letting the holiday stop them from getting out on this final day of early voting. the poll watcher here tells me the first voter in line was here at 4:00 a.m. this morning. folks are waiting up to two hours to cast ballots. one of the voter just came out, melanie, talk to me about what it looked like when you got here and were you surprised by what you saw? >> the line was very long, wrapped all around the building and the link here and i wasn't surprised at all. i drove by yesterday and saw that it was very long so definitely was not surprised. i was prepared to wait. >> reporter: you chose to come out on the final day of early voting. talk to me about why it was

important for you to come out and why you didn't vote sooner? >> well it was definitely important for me to go ahead and make my voice heard by voting early. i didn't come sooner because i really looked at the day and i had this planned out for an activity for me to do first thing this morning actually thought not that many people would be in line so that was my whole strategy. >> reporter: thank you very much. >> thank you so much. >> reporter: and yazmin, i should point out that some of the voters that we're seeing here are actually waiting in line and having to leave because they have to go to work or some other sort of event and didn't realize they would be waiting quite so long. melanie was telling me online the wait times showed 30 minutes and she ended up waiting two hours here. >> here we go, thank you, priscilla. sorry that, got to me, greg. i wanted to jump to you real quick because here we go again. we're seeing the long voting lines that we've seen time and time again in the state of georgia, and once again, you have folks waiting online for hours and the weather not great,

people wanting to get their early vote in. you've been covering georgia. ticks for a long time to say the least. we know what the fund-raising numbers look like across the state. we know the recent numbers 3 million folks that voted early in this election. what are your predictions on this? where are we on this? where is this thing going? >> priscilla's report is so important. she's at cobb county, used to be republican strong onhold, now one of the most important democratic leaning counties in the state and what she just reported reflects the dynamic of early voting. democrats appear to have built a sizeable lead according to the campaigns and analysts and the analysis of numbers which means republicans have to rely on a huge tuesday runoff day turnout in order to defeat democrats jon ossoff and raphael warnock.

the visits from president-elect joe biden and president donald trump are key. this is a climadramatic finish. >> a celebrity pastor working for a well-known preaching at a well-known former martin luther king church, in the atlanta metro area. a lot of black folks living in atlanta and in the state of georgia know raphael warnock very well. does he have the ability to drive out mcloughlin in the election considering how well-known he is, also in the christian community? >> yes, you're right. even though this is the first time he's run for public office, he's been on the civic stage now for decades in atlanta and in

georgia. look, this is why it's so important. this is why democrats when they recruited him thought this was so important. they always knew this race would go down to runoff. no one knew it would determine the control of the u.s. senate. in georgia, democrats struggled in statewide runoffs precisely because the base of a party, which is overwhelmingly african-american has not turned back out in the same sort of any sort of same numbers as they had turned out in the november general. so they feel like with reverend warnock on the ballot they can reenergize african-american voters in a major way. the early numbers are bearing that out, african-american voters are voting in a disproportionately high rate when you compare it to previous elections in georgia. >> so i see though that you h e avoided my first question. a prediction on what's going to happen here. do you not want to make a prediction? >> i've talked to candidates, the campaigns, analysts.

everyone sees this as a coin toss. it's so close and as i mentioned at the beginning, it's so important for republicans who are depending on good weather on tuesday, and a huge runoff day turnout and that's why trump's visit is so pivotal because if he continues to air his false claims of a rigged election and to further this internal republican fight over his own election grievances, then it gets continued to some conflicting messages to republicans who the senators need to turn out on tuesday. >> seems like when it comes to the weather, the forecast for tuesday is sunny and 60 degrees, so that shouldn't necessarily be a problem. greg bluestein, not on the record of his predictions what will happen in the special elections. thanks for joining us happy new year and thanks to priscilla thompson as well. come up, why the u.s. is falling so short of its goal to vaccinate 20 million americans by the end of the year. we're going to go live to

florida to look at some of the issues. plus i'll talk to senator chris van hollen about the vaccine challenges and the fight for more stimulus relief. we'll be right back. dry, distressed skin that struggles? new aveeno® restorative skin therapy. with our highest concentration of prebiotic oat intensely moisturizes over time to improve skin's resilience. aveeno® healthy. it's our nature™.

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now to the emergency issues of vaccine rollout. broward health booked through february within hours of opening appointments to those eligible this amid questions about distribution delays and possible ripple effects in the nation's longer-term vaccination goals. joining me from ft. lauderdale, florida, is nbc news correspondent kerry sanders. good to see you this morning. thanks for joining us on this. there's a lot of confusion about what's going on here. operation warp speed admitting yesterday essentially they're not living up to the goals they had initially set. the president saying the vaccines have been rolled out. now it's on the state's shoulders and the state saying we don't have the resources. there is no federal plan in place. talk us through what you're hearing on the ground there. >> reporter: well take a look at florida, which has 67 counties and so you have each of a health departments in the counties trying to organize this. they might have been able to organize this if they weren't also responsible for taking care of all of the testing that was

going on, plus the daily responsibilities they have when you look across the country, florida's no different. health departments do not get the top billing when it comes to giving the budget. so they're already pressed thin by doing the testing and now they have to handle the decisions on how folks are going to get this. that's why you're seeing in florida, for instance, in collier county and lee county on florida's west coast, people lining up aged 65 and older, literally sitting out for hours upon hours from the late night into the early morning to try to get vaccinated, whereas you just pointed out in broward county, which is where i am, ft. lauderdale, they decided okay, the health department with the hospital, passed over to the hospital, broward health, we're going to let people make appointments and they announced that and so many phone calls came in, it crushed their phone system. they were able to count 100,000 phone calls but so many of those calls never made it through and i've spoken to people who made

calls who made more than 200 phone calls to try to get in, most of the time busy, when they finally got through sometimes it dropped out. so they had all the problems and add on the 30,000 emails that came in and you begin to understand there san overwhelming desire in the state like florida with a the lo of retirees, folks 65 or plus who want to get this vaccine, and then you look at the other part of this, which is broward health was able to get a certain number of people registered for appointments. in one day, it's now filled to the end of february. this is not just in florida. this is going to be a problem around the country. as we know, health care workers themselves are still trying to get their vaccinations, and for instance in new jersey, they're trying to work this all out, and as things get delayed even for those first vaccinations for health care workers, it then impacts everybody else. take a listen to what one of the experts there had to say.

>> if we're not able to get through the first phase as fast as possible it pushes the whole chain down. every day means lives, thousands of lives. when it comes to logistics of distributing vaccines, states are left hanging and hospital and health care systems and therefore front line and health care workers have been left hanging as well. >> reporter: so yazmin, disorganized at the local level, at the state level, and really at this point no major help from the federal level. back to you. >> disorganized it seems, is putting it mildly. kerry sanders, thank you. happy new year. joining me now is democratic senator chris van hollen of maryland who serves on the appropriations committee, among others. senator, thanks for joining us on this. i know that you're listening to my colleague, kerry, report on the situation that's happening in florida, and it is a grim picture to say the least. there's been so much reporting on this cliff, leading up to this. i remember reading a piece in the "new york times" listening

to the daily talking about the cliff we'd hit and the operation warp speed in the trump administration was building up towards this vaccine rollout they had been anticipating it, talking about it. trump thought it would be the savior he'd get reelected basically because of this rack seen and they were going to hit this cliff when it came to distribution because they had no plan in place and that is exactly where we are. let's talk about your state, for instance. not quite 209,000 distributed so far, only 35,000 people have been vaccinated. the warp speed officials are saying the issue is not on the federal side. what is your understanding of this issue? >> yazmin, it's good to be with you and you're absolutely right. this rollout has been way too slow at the current base in order to vaccinate 80% of the population. we'd be talking ten years, which is obviously unacceptable, given the fact we're trying to hit that target by june, and

maryland is way behind. this is a combination of issues but clearly the trump administration did not have a good plan in place. it's really important that they now distribute the $4.5 billion we just passed in the coronavirus relief measure to the states immediately, so that they can have additional resources to deploy this vaccine. >> is there organizing happening on the local level especially when it comes to the money so these vaccines are distributed appropriately? how is this actually going to be done to make sure it happens versus just getting a check and going with it and hoping everything turns out well? >> no, that's a very good point and that's why there should have been more of a federal plan and more federal overnight here. it's important in the state of maryland that this, the state officials that health officials put together that plan. we've been asking them for what

measures they are taking, and we're trying to make sure they get these resources to do that. but clearly a lot of big bumps along the road that i think could have been avoided with better planning at both the federal level and at the state level. >> i want to talk about you getting the vaccine. turns out you haven't. a lot of your colleagues have. give me the reasoning here, senator, and talk me through when exactly you think you're going to get it. >> sure. look, this is a personal decision for every member. i've decided that to wait until the priority at-risk populations are vaccinated, or front line health care workers who are putting their lives on the line, folks in nursing homes, senior citizens who are most vulnerable. i'm looking forward to getting the vaccine. i encourage everybody to get it.

in their priority order. that is my decision. everybody has to make a decision based on what they think is best. >> very personal one. i want to talk about the $2,000 stimulus payment. a lot of americans on the edge of their seats, some folks already having the $600 in their bank account but hoping for $1,400 more, a family of four a lot more. it could help in the time of need. is there any movement to get this passed? despite it being dead in the water as essentially said by senator mcconnell? >> we're continuing to call on a vote on the bill that passed the house that has the $2,000 relief. i'm confident, we had a vote in the senate it would pass and the president can sign it into law today but mitch mcconnell has made no secret he opposes these $2,000 individual payments and

is blocking the vote and run out the clock the next session of congress begins january 3rd, and he's made clear that he has no interest in doing anything about this. you were talking earlier about the georgia senate races republican senators perdue and loeffler it's important to return to the senate and influence the process. this shows they have no influence over their own republican caucus and senator mitch mcconnell, just shows how ineffective they are at this moment of need. >> just while i have you, your reaction to josh hawley essentially saying he is going to object to the certification of the results on january 6th? >> this is grossly irresponsible. it clearly is not going to work. joe biden will be sworn in as president on january 20th but what it do is the poisonous

false narrative that donald trump put out there, somehow joe biden won because of fraud, which is absolutely untrue, every court said not true. election officials in georgia as we know republican election officials have said not true but what josh hawley is doing is feeding this narrative and it's gross and undermines our democracy. senator hawley often talks about how important it is that we promote democracy overseas and i agree with him on that issue but here he is undermining it at home. >> senator, thank you. happy new year to you and your family. why officials are looking into whether the nashville bomber believed in lizard people. yes, you heard that right, lizard people.

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welcome back, everybody. a bizarre, new twist in the nashville christmas day explosion. investigators are now exploring several conspiracy theories as potential motives, including evidence the bomber believed in lizard people, and a so-called reptilian conspiracy. want to go to morgan chesky who is in nashville for us. morgan, good morning. good to see you on this. this new reporting is really bizarre, just to be honest, considering these conspiracy theories are now involved in this whole thing. so talk us through what you know so far on this. >> reporter: yes, yazmin, good morning. federal officials looking into several unfounded conspiracy theorys as potential meives for anthony quinn warner, the reptilian theory which basically says there are individuals on planet earth that are lizards

sent here to do harm, that is just one of the theories they're looking into, though. others include the 5g internet theory, and also issues regarding at&t, and that is an important note to remember here, because the at&t data facility was one of the closest buildings in proximity to this rv when it exploded, and suffered extensive damage in the blast that right now authorities are saying warner was the sole perpetrator of, just a few blocks from that scene right now. they're trying to make it clear even though they released his name and some of his history, this is very much still an active investigation and while they're looking at the theorys as potential motives there's a long way to go, diving into his digital devices looking at essentially a trove of online messages, pictures, writings that could give them a better idea as to what led this man, who grew up in this area, to start building the components of this bomb inside his rv that

initially nashville police were at least told about in august 2019, but that nothing happened regarding that, until that blast went off early christmas morning. yazmin? >> all right, morgan chesky, thank you. happy new year to you, my friend. want to go half way around the world, several countries ushered in 2021 with toned down celebrations because of course the pandemic. this was the scene in sydney, australia, showing off an awesome display of fireworks from the iconic harborside as you see there, but the area was eerily quiet with bans on crowds in the downtown area because of covid restrictions, and we usually see this type of thing with thousands if not millions of folks watching the celebration. here is the fireworks celebration in auckland, new zealand. crowds were allowed to gather there in fact, as the nation continues to record a low number of new coronavirus cases. we are just 20 days away from joe biden's inauguration

and there are still key jobs open in his cabinet. who is likely to be our next attorney general? that's next.

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so many ways to get footlongs contact-free! (vo) this new year, get the phones everyone wants on the 5g america's been waiting for. verizon 5g is next level. now get one of our best 5g phones on us when you buy one and get $500 when you switch. plus, select unlimited plans include disney+, hulu, and espn+. 100% obsessed with "the mandalorian." (man) i watch a lot of sports. (woman) it has all my favorite shows. and right now, the gaming the whole family will love is also on us. it's like a gift on top of another gift. gifts keep coming at you. everywhere. this is 5g from america's most reliable network. welcome back, everybody. this morning we're just three weeks away from plekt joe biden's inauguration. there are still a number of key cabinet posts yet to be filled, positions that could change the shape of this administration and u.s. policy over the next

several years. what is the holdup? nbc's mike memoli is with the president-elect in rehoboth beach, delaware, this morning. what is the holdup, my friend, especially when it comes to attorney general? it's one position that everybody has their eyes on. what do we know? >> reporter: that's right, yasmin. we've changed scenery from our familiar perch in wilmington as the president-elect enjoys a little downtime heading into the new year before we know what is a busy week next week. he's heading down to georgia to campaign for the two democrats in the senate runoff. tuesday is the runoff. wednesday, the tallying of the electoral college votes in congress. the biden transition team is also telling us we should expect more cabinet announcements next week including potentially that of the attorney general. if you look back at the timeline of when past president-elects have announced their attorneys

general, that's often been in the month of december. you can look at george h.w. bush announced his choice as early as november. so we actually asked biden last week about the holdup here. i asked him, for instance, if it had to do with those georgia runoff elections, if he wanted to wait and see if he was going to have a democratic or republican senate. he said that's not the issue. he said he's focused on trying to pick somebody to restore the confidence especially the career professionals at the justice department. he wants to make sure they're truly and independent body, not taking influence from the white house. as he put it at the time, there's not an obvious choice. part of what biden will do this weekend is focus in on the choice. if you want to look at tea leaf reading, one of the favorites in contention is senator doug jones. he's in something of a quarantine because his wife has contracted covid. if you're wondering -- you know the president-elect has been trying to do these announcements in person with his choices as

much as possible. so perhaps an indication that maybe jones is the favorite but they just can't get together just yet. >> we'll be watching. mike memoli, thank you. happy new year to you. >> happy new year. as we turn the page on 2020, we asked some of the familiar faces here at msnbc to reflect on the year that was and what they're most looking forward to in 2021. here is what our own hallie jackson had to say. >> professionally for me, 2020 was a wild year, covering an impeachment, covering a covid crisis at the white house, covering a presidential election for weeks on end. but personally, i'm so grateful in 2020 to have welcomed my daughter, my healthy baby girl, monroe jackson thorpe. i got to introduce her here on msnbc. for that, i will be very thankful for this past year. >> as are we. that does it for me everybody this hour. happy new year to you. i'm going to see you in 2021.

it cannot come fast enough. you can catch me here on the weekend from 3:00 to 5:00 eastern. coming up, dr. anthony fauci will join andrea mitchell to talk about the vaccine rollout. but first, craig melvin picks up our coverage after a short break. (ringing) - hey kaleb, what's up? how you doing? - hey, i'm good, guess what, i just had my 13th surgery. - really? i just had my 17th surgery. - well, you beat me. - well, i am a little bit older than you. - yeah it's true. how are you doing? - i'm doing good. i'm encouraged by seeing how people are coming together to help each other during times like these. - kind of like how shriners hospitals for children

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