good day, i'm andrea mitchell in washington. today as we count down the hours until we can put 2020 behind us, the somber reality is that the coronavirus will follow us into the new year and all the signs are pointing to it only getting worse. we've now lost over 343,000 americans to the virus. the cdc now forecasts as many as 424,000 people may die by january 23. and now a new, more contagious mutant strain of covid-19, first

identified in the united kingdom, has been found in two states here. and although the scientific breakthroughs that brought us two vaccines in record time should be giving us hope, the reality is a replay of a missing national strategy, the missing strategy we first saw with testing and contact tracing falling apart. actual vaccinations now falling far below administration promises of 20 million shots in arms by tonight. so far only about 2.8 million americans have received their first dose. joining me now is dr. anthony fauci, director of the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases. as of january 20, president-elect joe biden's chief medical adviser. dr. fauci, thank you very much for being with us today. >> good to be with you. >> we are, as you well know, you know we are in the midst of that dark winter that you and so many have warned about. the terrible seven-day trend line, there could be as many as

80,000 new coronavirus deaths by january 23 because a record number of people are ignoring warnings and traveling. how bad could things get in the coming weeks? >> well, they can get quite bad, andrea. the models show if you continue at the trajectory we're doing now and we have the particular issue of the holiday season, of the christmas then going into the new year's, you know, it's about a ten-day period where people travel and generally, understandably, want to congregate in social settings with dinners. and although we have been recommending very strongly that people contain or curtail their traveling, and when they do get to a place where they are or at their own home, that they restrict the kind of social gatherings we usually see over christmas and new year's where you have 10, 15, 20 people together, to restrict it as much as you possibly can to the immediate household. if people do not do that, then

we're in danger of yet again another surge that's superimposed upon a rather steep incline of cases that you just mentioned, where right now, for a variety of reasons, one not adhering to public health measures, and two, what happens when you get into the colder weather and people are doing things more indoors rather than outdoors. you have, you know, 200,000 new cases a day. we have now over 2 to 3,000 did he go to the deaths per day. we have over 125,000 hospitalizations. it's a very difficult position to be in. things could get quite bad as we go into the first couple of weeks of january which will reflect what went on previously, namely where we are right now. >> so now we have two highly effective vaccines. administering them has been anything but at warp speed. what we're seeing is, you know,

the fact that only something like 2.8 million people have actually gotten their vaccines, 14 million doses have been distributed, though. that's really a big drop-off. president trump is blaming the states. do you agree with that? >> well, you know -- well, there are a couple of things going on. first, i had the opportunity to have a nice conversation yesterday morning, early in the morning, with general gus perna about just this issue, that we were hoping that as we ended december 31, we will have had 20 million doses in the arms of individuals. and obviously, from the numbers that you showed, andrea, that's not the case. what we hope is that they will be now gaining momentum as we catch up with this. whenever you have a very large operation such as trying to vaccinate an entire country with a new vaccine, there always will be bumps in the road and hiccups about that.

we hope that that's what this is a reflection of. and as we get into the first week or so of january, we'll catch up with quickly with that 20 million dose in the arms projection that we had. and as we get into the middle of january, february, and march, we will be on the target. now, with regard to your question, one of the things that we've really got to make sure we do is we've got to make sure the states and local authorities have the resources that are necessary to implement these programs, because when you speak to them, and i've had the opportunity to do that, many of them just do not have what it takes to get this type of a program running at the efficiency that you want it to run. >> exactly. >> so we really need to rethink or think more intensively about how we're going to reach out and help the states, help the states, and help the local authorities get this job done. >> to that point, we all knew this was coming. and in fact the government spent

billions of dollars buying vaccines just for this rollout, even before they were tested and authorized under emergency use. so we knew this was coming. we knew the states have been hammered, that hospitals are overwhelmed, that the people who are doing testing are the same people that now may have to be administering these vaccines, and that training is required in particular for the pfizer. so how could they not be ready? doesn't there need to be a national approach? >> well, my feeling is, and not everyone would agree with me, is that there has to be a strong relationship between the national approach and the local approach. you know, the national -- first of all, centrally, you can't do it all alone. you have to have very active participation of the states and local authorities and local public health people to get this done. you have absolutely need that. but it's obvious, when you leave them on their own, without giving them direction, without giving them the kind of resources that they need, that

they can't do it. and this is proof positive. so hopefully, as we get into the beginning of the year, we'll see a change in that and we'll be able to get them the resources to do what they need to do. >> there's certainly no sign that congress is coming to the rescue. let me just give you some examples from "the washington post" today, reporting that in suburban milwaukee, clinicians recently discovered 500 doses, 500 doses of coronavirus vaccine after vials were left unrefrigerated. in southeastern arizona, a rural clinic has enough shots but too few employees lining up to take them. on the coast of maine, physicians have been left in the dark about when they will get vaccinated. you've made a point that the states need more resources, but as i say, you've got 50 states, 50 different strategies. in florida they're giving it to people 65 and older, elsewhere following cdc guidelines for 75 and older. in some places nursing homes still don't have them. what do we do without a national plan and 50 separate approaches?

>> again, if you go back and look at what i've been saying for a long time, one of the weaknesses that we have that under certain circumstances could be strengths. the issue of 50 separate states and a federal system and what the states can do, things they feel are important and necessary for their own individuality as a state, under certain circumstances can be very good. when you're dealing with a response to an infectious disease outbreak, that is not optimal, because you have to have some sort of a uniformity of response when you're dealing with something that impacts all of the states in fundamentally the same way, because an outbreak doesn't know the limits or boundaries between states. an outbreak is an infectious disease that involves the entire nation, which is why i've been saying it's so important that we act together and pull together in a uniform way, including in the administration of vaccines.

>> now, congress, as we say, has been refusing to go along. joe biden, whom you're going to be advising, has promised 100 million doses in the first 100 days. you hope thinks will improve, but is anything actually being done to change the system, to send in more military, more national guard, to give the states more resources? because i have seen no evidence of that. so the hope that it will improve may not be realized. >> andrea, you know, i think an important thing to do, let's see what happens in the first week in january, because in my conversation with general perna, he feels that we will be able to catch up and get the momentum that we need. i hope we can. if we don't, then obviously something needs to be changed. with regard to the projection of getting 100 million over 100 days is an important goal, but again, get back to what i said a

moment ago, if we're going to achieve that goal, we're going to have to put more resources to help the states. you get on the phone, you speak to the people in the states, like i have, they need help. >> let me ask you about the mutation, the variant viruses, giving the crises in our hospitals, they're simply overwhelmed. look at california, for example. should we do what the brits are doing and start giving single doses to people, to get more people covered right away, even though we don't have the science yet to establish how much immunity they would get and how much immunity would last if we do stretch it out. is this strategy being considered? is it under serious consideration? >> everything is always on the table for consideration, andrea. right now we're not doing that. but in discussions that we've had about what the options are, certainly that not been completely rejected. but that's not going to happen right now. you have to remember that when you're doing things like

administering vaccinations, you want to do it based on the science. yes, there is the advantage that if you do that, you can stretch out the number of doses you have. but we do not know really with any certainty, based on the trials that were done, what the durability of a single dose would be. and if you give a single dose, it really is not a guarantee that you're going to get the second dose available to somebody at exactly the same time that they need it. and we know from the clinical trials, when you have moderna, you get it 28 days later. when you have pfizer, you get it 21 days later. if you change that, because of a lack of getting it on time for the second dose, then you're getting out of the realm of what we've scientifically proven. so that's one of the reasons why you have the hesitancy to do that. hopefully, if we get things going with good momentum, we won't have to do that. but as i said, everything is always open for discussion.

>> speaking of those variants, we now know what you have said all along, viruses change, and this is a new, more contagious but thankfully not deadly virus. but wouldn't it be helpful to do what the uk and a lot of other countries are doing and test more in order to do the sequencing more? we are now 43rd in terms of doing genome sequencing of these viruses, to know what's out there. we know it's here, it's only shown up in three or four cases so far. how can we be 43rd in the world when we discovered the genome and we're the world's leader in genomic sequencing? is this another example where we're dropping the ball scientifically? >> i wouldn't say dropping the ball, andrea. yes, we need to do more

sequencing, of course. what people don't appreciate is there is a lot of sequencing that goes on that isn't centrally coordinated. we have independent organizations, academic institutions, companies, doing a lot more sequencing. what we don't have is bringing it all together so that you could say this is the core of what we're sequencing. so it's a little misleading to say we're way, way down on the list because there are other areas in our own country that are not essentially coordinated into one particular database, which is what we probably have to do first, is to get all the information we have into a single database. >> you would think that would be at the cdc so that you would know -- >> right. >> -- where are the variations and be able to test more. looking back, this has been a tough year, that's an understatement. the pandemic is just beginning to define a whole generation. in "the new yorker," lawrence wright reports on three major

moments contribute to go this disastrous plague year. he cites the u.s. team being denied entry into china early on, the failure of the unfortunate government to have a testing plan and the flawed tests being sent out by the cdc and the failure to promote mask use. in your opinion, did the politicization of science, in addition to all this, especially on masks, really make this pandemic far worse than it needed to be? we lost lives because of this. >> well, the pandemic emerged from the standpoint of a societal issue at the worst possible time. anybody who views what's going on throughout the world, but particularly in our own country, there's a great deal of divisiveness in the country. if there's any situation in which one needs to pull together because we are all in it together, it's when you have an infectious disease outbreak of pandemic proportions.

and the divisiveness that has permeated this year, it's been striking and made it very, very difficult. you know what has gone on. if you have the wearing of masks or not turn into a political issue, is not helpful when you're trying to implement a public health program. i think that's obvious to anybody, that that does not help when you have some people feel that an outbreak that is killing people at a record proportion in which you have a couple of hundred thousand new infections a day and 2 to 3,000 deaths per day and there are still people in this country saying it's a hoax, or that it doesn't exist or that it's fake news. that's unimaginable to me, that with all of the death and suffering that's going on right now, that people are blowing it off, saying that it doesn't exist. and yet you go to certain regions of the country, even in areas where the hospitals are being stressed and strained to

take care of the people, there still is skepticism as to whether this is real. you're not going to get a good public health response that's unified and consistent when you have that kind of attitude in certain parts of the country. and indeed, we do have that kind of attitude in certain parts of the country. >> we're less than 12 hours away from 2021. sounds great, doesn't it, 2021, finally. you have served six presidents and now you're going on a whole new journey in the coming year with a new president, your seventh. what is your hope for the new year? >> well, my hope is, i believe, consistent with the hope of so many americans, is that we get this terrible scourge behind us. and we can do it. i mean, there is some good news here, that we have the tools to do it. if we were in a situation in which we were helpless to do anything about it, that would be much different than what's going

on right now. we have proven public health measures that we know work. the wearing of masks, the physical distancing, the avoiding congregate settings in crowds, the washing of hands, they seem simple given the enormity of the problem but they work. but we have something else. we have the fruits of science. we have highly efficacious vaccines that have proven to be as efficacious as you can get. i mean, almost as good as the gold standard which is measles, which is about 98% effective. these are 94 to 95% efficacious. if we can implement these programs efficiently, quickly, and effectively, as well as bridging it with a rather strict adherence to the public health measures which doesn't necessarily mean you have to shut the country down or shut the economy down. we can do both, we can keep the

country open and we can abide by the public health measures. that together with a vaccine i believe in 2021 we will see this behind us. it's going to take several months, andrea. it's not going to happen in the first few months. if we do it correctly, hopefully, as we get into the end of the summer, the beginning of the fall of 2021, we can start to approach some degree of normality. so i look forward to 2021, even though there are going to be some serious challenges, because we still have a lot of disease out there, a lot of infection. it is also an opportunity to put this behind us. >> and going into your 53rd year in public service, you talked a bit to my colleague lawrence o'donnell about this. what still gives you joy in taking this on? >> i mean, the excitement of being able to do something that has an important impact on the health of not only our own country but the entire world.

there are extraordinary opportunities that we have to do that. i mean, the health of the nation and the health of the world is a very important problem, and, you know, it's very energizing, even though the work is very hard, it's very energizing to know that you're doing something for the public good. particularly when something like this is very serious. it's a matter of life and death. it's not a matter of comfort or discomfort. it's a matter of life and death. so those kinds of issues give you a lot of energy and a lot of purpose. >> well, a belated happy birthday, and thank you for the time you've given to this program, to help us inform the public. we really appreciate it. and happy new year. >> thank you very much, andrea, you too, and thank you for having me. >> you bet. still ahead, the senate is back in session at this hour as republican leader mitch mcconnell says there is no realistic path forward for those $2,000 covid relief checks.

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vote to overright president trump's veto of the defense spending bill. it would be the first override of a presidential veto for the president, this president. the override debate is happening with a vote expected tomorrow or saturday. time runs out. it comes as majority leader mitch mcconnell is blocking an attempt by democrats to pass that standalone bill to boost stimulus checks from $600 to $2,000. joining me now is nbc's monica alba, covering president trump, who has just left west palm beach to come back to washington along with susan page, washington bureau chief for "usa today." monica, i gather the president had nothing to say on his way back from florida. this was an unexpected return from florida, usually he stays for new year's eve and a big gala celebration. >> yes, it was quite unusual, andrea. it surprised many people even around the president and some guests at mar-a-lago that were expecting to see him and the first lady tonight at this big gala event that you reference that really the president is

known for hosting. he's done it every year in the last four years of his administration. and we were fully expecting him to stay here through the new year's eve and first day of january holiday, returning at some point maybe over the weekend before heading to georgia on monday. so the white house announcing that overnight, marking a very unusual shift, because we also don't have an explanation for why he's leaving florida and returning to washington early. you're right, he didn't speak to reporters at all there as he departed. in fact he hasn't taken questions from the press corps in more than three weeks and he didn't do any kind of on-camera public events while he was here in south florida. instead he spent a good amount of his time on the golf course, sending a lot of tweets. so that was really the only insight we had into what he was thinking and what he was trying to do which for the most part is continue to obsess over his election defeat and this last ditch effort to somehow overturn

the election even though of course he maintains there's voter fraud and there's no evidence of any kind of widespread fraud that we've seen so far, which has come from all of these court cases he continues to lose, and what we've even heard from his former attorney general, of course, andrea. >> and susan, instead of voting on the standalone house bill to boost those stimulus checks, mitch mcconnell is insisting -- first he introduced his own bill which had poison bills in it, issues that the president demanded about a fraud commission which certainly will not pass the house. i anticipate they'll vote on the defense bill at some point before tomorrow night when time runs out. >> i think both these things underscore how power is ebbing away from president trump. this happens with presidents who are on their way out the door. it's happening with him, the first veto override of his president about to come. his proposal for $2,000 relief checks, even though it's backed

by bernie sanders, when was the last time donald trump and bernie sanders were aligned on anything, it has zero chance of coming into law, not because of democrats, but because of senate republicans and the republican leader mitch mcconnell. so we see the president in that unhappy state, clearly not in a party mood, as he watches the end of this presidency. >> susan page, thanks so much to you and a happy new year. and of course monica, come on home, monica, the president has left palm beach. >> on my way. >> and joining -- good. joining me now, democratic senator jeanne shaheen from new hampshire who serves on the foreign relations and armed services committees. first of all, what is going on on the senate floor? it sounds as though they're going round and round with mitch mcconnell talking about the defense bill which has widespread support, probably enough to override the veto, and then of course chuck schumer getting up and saying that the stimulus checks should be voted

on first. >> on the defense bill, we saw in the first vote that we had yesterday, 80 people voted to proceed to override the president's veto of the defense bill. so i'm hopeful that that number stands and that we will, with a strong bipartisan vote, override his veto, the first veto we've seen of the defense bill by any president. in terms of the $2,000 checks, it's really unfortunate that president trump didn't get involved in the negotiations sooner, when his white house and secretary mnuchin, who were negotiating, said that all they could come up with was the $600. clearly people need help. it's really unfortunate that mitch mcconnell has continued to block that help. you know, the way we got the covid relief bill done, the way we got the c.a.r.e.s. act done earlier in the year, virtually every proposal that has been passed to help people who are

struggling in these difficult times has been through bipartisan support. we should be able to get together, the people of this country expect no less than to have us work together to address their struggles. and that's what we should be doing now, rather than mitch mcconnell going to his partisan corner, saying there's no way i'm going to support these $2,000 checks, even though democrats and the president think we should. >> president-elect biden has strongly criticized the administration for the pentagon and omb, he says, slow walking, stalli stalling, not holding transition meetings critical to national security. is he right, and how concerned are you about this? >> he's very right. and as we look at some of the things that are happening right now in the world, iran talking about their concerns about our b-52 bombers that are flying over the middle east and suggesting that they may take some action on the anniversary

of soleimani's death. it's concerning that the president is talking about declassifying documents with respect to china. it will be interesting to see what's in those documents but clearly it suggests there is something happening in china we should be concerned about. we know what russia's efforts have been, the knowledge of their attacks on our cybersecurity networks in the federal government and in the private sector, and there's been no action taken against russia based on that. so there are a number of threats to this country that are going on right now. and the president is doing nothing to address that. worse, he's blocking the ability of the new administration to address those concerns. >> nbc has confirmed a report originally in "the new york times" that secretary pompeo is considering a plan to designate cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism, which would greatly complicate any plans by the

incoming biden administration to relax increased pressure and sanctions on them. >> well, again, it's more efforts by this administration to try and change things as they're going out the door to make it harder for the new administration to address the crises that we face, very real, both domestically and abroad. you know, it's just unprecedented in our history that we see a president and his administration, his secretary of state, taking these actions that will influence what happens in the new administration. that should be done by the incoming administration, to make those evaluations. >> i want to ask you about your colleague josh hawley who has said, and maybe others will now join him, that he's going to challenge the biden vote count in the electoral college and that may lead to not only delays but lengthy debate, automatically it goes into

debate. what is your response to what senator hawley is doing? >> i think it's outrageous. more than that, it borders on sedition or treason. you know, i've been in a number of countries during elections and developing countries which are striving to try and bring democracy to their countries. i was in georgia with the current chairman of the senate foreign relations committee, jim risch, back in 2012. i remember senator risch and i going to see presidethe presidee who had lost his election, going to his home and working to persuade him he needed to leave office peacefully, because that's the foundation of democracy, the peaceful transfer of power from one administration to the next. and the fact that we've got somebody who took an oath to protect and defend the

constitution of the united states which calls for peaceful transition of power, that's one of the basic tenets to our democracy, former attorney general, who should know better, that he is standing up and doing that, is just an effort to undermine our democracy that is unacceptable. >> finally, i want to ask you about covid in new hampshire and the vaccine rollout there. i know tragically the speaker of the new hampshire house died of covid just three weeks ago, richard hinch. how is the vaccination going and the attempts to control this terrible virus? >> well, it's moving forward. new hampshire like so many states are trying to ensure our health care workers are vaccinated first, followed by first responders, and then people in our long term care facilities where they have been hit very hard. we did not get the number of doses that we had originally

hoped to get in the first round. but we're moving forward, and i think we want to encourage everybody to continue to do all of those other safety measures that we're being told to do while we're waiting for the vaccination, to continue to wear a mask, to social distance. that's been an issue in new hampshire. there were some disagreements among members of our house of representatives. so it put former speaker hinch in a difficult position. and hopefully that will end, people will wear their masks, they'll do the basic suggestions and really guidance from the cdc so that we can -- until people can get vaccinated, we can keep people safe. >> thank you very much, and a very happy new year to you and your family, senator jeanne shaheen, we appreciate you coming on. >> thank you, same to you. and next, record breaking

turnout in georgia. on the last day of early voting with only five days to go before the runoff elections that will determine the balance of power in the senate. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. some things are good to know. like where to find the cheapest gas in town and which supermarket gives you the most bang for your buck. something else that's good to know? if you have medicare and medicaid you may be able to get more healthcare benefits through a humana medicare advantage plan. call the number on your screen

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that's why we've become the nation's fastest growing retailer. because our customers love it. see for yourself, at carvana.com. early voting in georgia's senate runoff elections ends today. there are signs of higher than average turnout of young voters, rivaling early turn out at this point before the november election. joining me now, nbc's priscilla thompson, outside a polling center in smyrna, georgia, and jeremy peters, political reporter for "the new york times." priscilla, what about the complaints from the head of the georgia naacp about voter

suppression still being a big issue? >> andrea, we saw the president of the naacp here resign from the secretary of state's election task force yesterday, calling it a, quote, farce. but in terms of what we're seeing in the field and hearing from voters, it really depends on where you're at. i'll tell you, we're here in cobb county today, there are certainly very long lines. you can see the start of this line behind me. we'll swing around here and show you that this line goes all the way down the street and actually wraps around the corner at that stop sign. folks here are waiting two hours, 2 1/2 hours in order to cast their votes. some of them have brought snacks, books, even chairs at some points, anything to make them comfortable as they're waiting to vote in this election. cobb county had 11 early voting sites in the general election and they reduced that number to five for this election.

after backlash and cries of voter suppression from advocacy groups, they opened a few more for a total of seven voting sites. at the time, cobb county said they have enough sites to meet the demand. but when you see lines like this, you have to wonder if that's really the case, with many people calling lines like this just unacceptable, andrea. >> it definitely is a problem, we've seen this elsewhere in other elections, jeremy. vice president elect kamala harris will be in georgia over the weekend, president-elect joe biden will campaign there, monday night president trump comes in for an election eve rally. with the president attacking the republican state leaders, the governor, the secretary of state, how does this play with his big rally and how is it affecting the possible outcome? >> i think voters are confused, frankly, andrea. the republicans that i've spoken to are a little bit more optimistic than they were at the

beginning of the month. now, that's not saying all that much, because when i started interviewing people about whether or not the republicans could hold on to these seats in early december, the republicans were just absolutely shocked at how depressed their base was. speaking to people going door to door in the southern part of georgia, which is really trump country, they were saying things like, you know, why bother, the election is rigged anyway, the democrats are just going to steal it from us again, because that's what president trump is telegraphing to them, that's -- he's directly saying it, actually. so you're in a situation where he's kind of half-heartedly going down there, he's not on the ballot, so he doesn't really care. and his voters, frankly, are not as enthusiastic about these two senate candidates as they are about voting for donald trump. and it's going to be a real test

to see whether or not republicans can hold on to this energy. a real test what have the republican party will look like in 2021 and 2022 with president trump no longer at the top of the ballot. >> once again, you have runoffs generally favoring republicans. this is a big stretch. and democrats have to win both of these seats in order to regain control of the senate. >> yeah, that's exactly right. and even if they do that, this is not 2009, when for a brief period of time you had the democrats controlling 60 votes and they had a filibuster-proof majority. 50 seats, with kamala harris casting the tie-breaking vote, is as thin as it gets. it gives, of course, democrats extraordinary power over the advice and consent role.

that means they'll be able to get biden as nominees through fairly easily, you would imagine. but as far as big ticket legislative items, i don't think this senate, if it's controlled by the democrats, is going to be the stuff of scary republican attack ads where democrats are passing the green new deal or defunding the police or packing the supreme court, because you're going to have democrats like joe manchin, on the more conservative end of the spectrum, really empowered. and they don't want to go as far as the democratic party's progressive left does on a lot of these issues. >> absolutely not. and that's not at all where joe biden is, or his cabinet nominees. thanks to you, priscilla thompson and jeremy peters. as we've been reporting, republican senator josh hawley is now the first senator saying he will object to congress certifying joe biden's electoral college victory next week. that move won't change the outcome. it will certainly delay it, though. it will put republican senators on the spot, forcing them to publicly accept or reject

biden's victory to say nothing of the awkward position of vice president mike pence. joining me now, stephanie cutter, somebody who succeeded in an extraordinary virtual dnc at what we thought is the height of the pandemic, now here we are again. stephanie, thanks very much for being with us. let's talk first about senator hawley, because this effort is sure to fail. how dangerous is it? senator shaheen just said it borders on sedition and treason to be sending this signal around the world. >> well, you have to wonder why he's actually doing it. i mean, 160 million people have voted, the electoral college voted, all 50 states, the courts have spoken. so what it is point of this? is it because he has political ambitions of his own? is it because he's receiving a lot of pressure from president trump? but this is a serious moment. it does send a signal that our

democratic institutions can be jeopardized like this. i think that most of the world is looking at how the integrity of our democratic process was upheld through this election. there was no systematic fraud, nothing that would change the outcome of this election. and a record number of people voted in the middle of a pandemic. so you really have to ask, what is he up to, what's the point of this? it's certainly not going to be successful. joe biden is going to be our next president. we are just under three weeks away from that happening. and it's time to move on. it's time to turn the page, as the president-elect said the other day, our democratic institutions held strong through this very difficult process, and now, like in the course of history when the white house changes hands, it's time to turn the page from the election and look towards the future. there's certainly a lot to be done. you know, we are in the middle of this pandemic. we have to get our economy

moving again. we don't have time to waste. we've seen what wasting time does. president trump didn't intervene at all in the legislative process for an additional stimulus check for people who waited until the 11th hour and then weighed in and he failed. that's a good indication of wasting time, what it means for the american people. it puts them in jeopardy. so let's turn the page, let's inaugurate the next president, let's get to work on the multitude of challenges facing this country. >> the committee just announced it's going to host a nationwide commemoration, memorial honoring those who died from the coronavirus the night before the president-elect is inaugurated into office. tell us about this. >> it struck us there has never been a national sign of unity and empathy to the impact the virus is having on families

across the country, particularly those who have lost someone. and, you know, we're 300,000 plus, moving towards 400,000 people losing their lives. we thought it was a moment to remember those people. there will be 400 lights at the reflecting pool symbolizing those lost. there will be illuminations across the country, buildings, town squares, church bells, to send a signal to families and those we've lost that we're thinking them. this is an important moment before we move on to the celebration of the next president, that we need to really think about where the nation is right now and our sign of empathy for what's happening across the country. >> now, there's been a lot of focus on what is not happening. no parade, it will be virtual,

with participation i guess from communities and towns around the country. there's the swearing-in. but i assume there's not going to be the coffee, the traditional coffee and the meeting of the new president, the president-elect, on the north portico by the outgoing president. >> uh, not that we're aware of yet. but we are continuing in our planning, and andrea, i wouldn't say there's no parade. there is a reimagined parade, one that, you know, can have us honor these traditions that have been with us since the beginning of our country in a way that is safe. so, stay tuned. we have, you know, a different way of doing things. but it will be equally as historic as past inaugurations. in terms of the president trump's involvement, you know,

we haven't heard yet, but we're looking forward to having a critical day for us to show the nation coming together at this critical time. >> thank you, stephanie stepha cutter. happy new year to you. we'll be seeing a lot more of you as we approach the inauguration. we appreciate your coming today. thankfully we are just hours away from a new year, finally coming up, our look back at some of the most pivotal moments of 2020. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. home insuran, here's one that'll really take you back. wow! what'd you get, ryan? it's customized home insurance from liberty mutual! what does it do bud? it customizes our home insurance so we only pay for what we need! and what did you get, mike? i got a bike. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

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finally, it's time to say good-bye and good riddance to a year best forgotten. a year of trials and tribulations. the state of the union torn along the political divide. whistleblowers and witnesses pilloried and purged, now all but forgotten in the wake of the scourge of the pandemic. we were told the coronavirus would just be a case or two, maybe 15, soon down to zero. instead we've witnessed an explosion of death and misery, grief and remorse from new york city to california. from el paso to north dakota. along the way, quack cures, superspreaders in tulsa, even at the white house, and an economy buckling under the weight of the shutdowns as the death toll mounted we saw an outpouring of compassion for the victims and

appreciation for the frontline heroes along with pleas for people to just do the simple things, wear a mask. but with no national plan for testing or contact tracing by the end of the year, more than 19 million cases, a near match for the 20 million unemployed, and the thousands dying each day equaling the worst terror attack in american history. and all the casualties from decades of war. as america grieved for the many lost to the virus, the nation erupted over another national crisis, outrage over the slow death of yet another black man at the hands of police all on camera. leading to a national reckoning that grew into a movement. multiracial and across generation. and there were other losses as well. we lost a basketball legend, a civil rights icon who created good trouble, a barrier-breaking

supreme court justice, a public broadcasting pioneer and the cultural icons, sean connery, alex trebek, chadwick boseman. still, for all the sadness and all the fears of the virus, more people stood in line to exercise their fundamental right to vote than at any time in american history. by year's end, despite all the protests and more than 90 failed legal challenges and false conspiracy theories, the voters had decided the country was indeed moving on. with the new year, a new beginning and gratitude for the resilience and character that has always been part of the american experiment. fundamental to that is a belief in science, a belief in truth. and in our connections with each other. my thanks to the unparalleled producers and editors and the entire technical team who adapted to this crisis and worked safely from home all

across the country, in fact, throughout this year to make this show get on the air. and most of all, my thanks to you, our loyal viewers. that's it for today. that's it for this year. thank you for your trust in me and in our staff to bring you the news. kasie hunt is up next right here on msnbc with "mtp daily." real . i guess those cows must actually be big dogs. sit! i said sit!

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