now to ali vitali with the biden campaign hi, ali. >> reporter: hey, shep joe biden finishing tonight capping off election night eve in pittsburgh for a drive-in rally with lady gaga this comes after he spent some time in ohio an aggressive state for them despite the fact it has a history of going red pennsylvania is the place he spent the most time in the general election and it is where he is kapg things off before going back there tomorrow as well he and his running mate effectively split up the state he's out in the western part and kamala harris in the east and the all important suburbs. while they were up in the northeast, former president barack obama took on the south georgia and florida bringing this message listen >> here in south florida, you see these ads.

. >>> let's turn now to nbc's ali vitali who was on the ground for us in wilmington, delaware. ali, good to see you, always no major events for the biden transition team, but you had biden meet with nancy pelosi and chuck schumer, a lot of talk about the economy, about this pandemic, what more tell us? >> talk about the economy and the pandemic because for the biden team, those issues have always been inextricably linked. so the focus of the conversation yesterday between now the top four democrats come january is going to be how do you get covid relief, and more stimulus money out to americans who are struggling right now. that's something that biden transition advisers have been clear the president-elect wants to see that happen in the lame duck session. a both parties are far apart on the hill in these negotiations, and they have been at a stalemate for several weeks over this issue. yesterday, a sign that biden is engaging on policy. he's definitely also engaging on personnel. that's because in terms of actually getting into the nuts and bolts of this transition, he is still

let's go back to ali vitali who is in wilmington for us. ali, what more can you tell us?: chris, that's exactly right. our colleagues over at cnbc confirming now with sources familiar with this decision that joe biden will likely select janet yellen to head the treasury department. you hit it on the head right there, if appointed and confirmed to this position, she would be the first woman to serve as head of the treasury department. biden teased earlier this week that he had already made a selection for this pick, but he hadn't yet made it public. he did say it would be someone who was acceptable to all parts of the party. we know progressive democrats had been pushing for some people like senator elizabeth warren. what i thought was really interesting is just a little while ago across my email came a note from one of the progressive committees that had backed warren during the primary basically saying janet yellen would be an acceptable choice for them. so it's starting to play out that there's something in this for more moderate democrats who know her as someone who ch

nbc's ali vitali is covering that angle for us. joins us now from rehoboth beach, delaware, this morning, where the president-elect has a vacation home. ali, good morning to you. what are we expecting from the transition team today? >> reporter: good morning, kendis. i've got to tell you, i'm really happy to see that map have no more gray on it. i love seeing these states finally be filled in, and not just from the perspective that we can finally put that phase of the election behind us, but in talking to the biden sources that i've been speaking with, that's exactly what they expected to see. they expected to see him flip states like georgia and arizona. i can't tell you how many phone calls i was on where his campaign manager said she was bullish on arizona. so, finally seeing that map filled in is a really good thing, especially for those folks here in wilmington, delaware, and in rehoboth beach, where the president-elect right now is huddling with transition advisers. he did the same thing yesterday. but we've been told we shoul

nbc's ali vitali, thank you so much.ou. >>> earlier on in the show we asked why are you awake? we got this adorable photo from malcolm. my 3 week old woke me up two hours ago and i have to log into work in two hours so i have to stay up so i don't oversleep. and from kimberly, today is my son's 2nd birthday, i'm making him pancakes. another viewer, i'm up because of four days of great food, numerous christmas movies and a cold rain moving in last night, i was done. in bed before 8:00 a.m., awake before the alarm. and kathy said she was up shopping before the big two foot snowfall hits central ohio and it's my 74th birthday. happy birthday. >>> we have a look at the axios "1 big thing" and then on "morning joe," the dire warning as the u.s. tops 4 million new cases of the coronavirus in november alone. plus veronica escobar of texas will join the conversation. "morning joe," just moments away. hi? (burke) happy anniversary. (customer) for what? (burke) every year you're with us, you get fifty dollars toward your home dedu

joining us now, nbc news political reporter ali vitali.let's talk through how the biden camp is thinking about all of these picks, how people are reacting here. i mean, there's an incredible depth and breadth of government experience on display, certainly, people who have been in the establishment of government for quite some time, a very sharp contrast with what we have seen in recent years from the trump administration. >> reporter: yeah, that's definitely the thing that you and i initially took away from this, because we got to talk yesterday right as all of these picks were coming out. and i think that was the biggest takeaway, was that this biden administration is really going to be leaning in more than anything else to expertise and people who have just been in these rooms before. we already knew that they were going to have a steeper learning curve just because of the lack of time that they had to actually begin the transition. that now has been taken away as a concern, but it seems that even with all of these people who prioritize

nbc's ali vitali in wilmington, delaware for us.hank you. >>> more on breaking news president trump working on an appeal after a judge dismissed his case, being slammed by the judge as an attempt to disenfranchise almost 7 million voters. he went on to claim this claim, like frankenstein's monster, has been has harderredly stitched together from two distinct theories to control a representative. joining me now is a representative from pennsylvania's 181st district. good morning to you. thank you for being with us sunday morning. >> good morning. >> i'm sure you've seen a series of tweets, the president planning to take this to the supreme court. what is your reaction to not only this latest effort but all of trump's efforts to overturn the election? >> so many of the things are legally frivolous but they are deeply dangerous. we've never seen a president go out of his way to this degree to try to destroy the very democracy that he's swore an oath to serve and protect. i think the story of the saga with donald trump, it's not just ab

nbc's ali vitali is covering the biden campaign in wilmington, delaware. josh, let me start with you. first, what do we know about what's happening in trump world with the covid test? what do we know about the campaign strategy moving forward? >> reporter: good morning, craig. a grim situation for the president politically made grimmer overnight that the president's chief of staff, mark meadows, and a trump campaign aide have both tested positive for coronavirus. we don't know exactly when mark meadows tested positive, but he was at the white house in the east room at that celebration the president had on election night. he was seen kind of working the room while wearing a mask and he was at election headquarters in virginia as the election results were coming in. mark meadows there at campaign headquarters with the vice president as well as jared kushner. an ominous reminder that even though we may all be preoccupied with pennsylvania and georgia, the coronavirus is not taking any break for the election as the u.s. notches its third straight day with more

ali vitali there in wilmington, delaware, thank you, josh lederman there in d.c. >>> the race narrowing in arizona, but democrats still pretty confident that joe biden's going to pull it out there. we're live on the ground in arizona with the latest on the vote tally there. >>> and all eyes are on georgia where it's likely we'll see not one, but two senate runoffs. >>> we are expecting an update on a vote count in arizona in just a few hours. here are where things stand in the race right now in that state. a look at the board in arizona, you see still too close to call. the difference between the candidates roughly 30,000 votes almost. vice president biden, former vice president biden up by almost two percentage points there in arizona. actually, that's terrible math. that's not almost two percentage points. i just confused arizona with nevada, one percentage point, yes, roughly one percentage point. let me stop trying to do math live on television. i'm no steve kornacki. morgan chesky is live in phoenix in arizona where some protests broke out overnight. before we get to the protests,

ali vitali also in pennsylvania. ali is in philadelphia covering the biden campaign's big focus on the keystone state. monica, let's start with you. president trump making five stops in four states today. what should we be looking out for? >> reporter: well, craig, where the president is going physically tells you a lot about what the campaign is seeing internally. officials feeling a bit more confident about florida, where the president woke up today. north carolina, his first stop, and then pennsylvania. as you mentioned, the keystone state, they believe this is where this may all come down to the wire. that's why the president spent 12 hours there on saturday, four different stops in the commonwealth. that's why he will be heading back there today before coming to the midwest for his final stops of the 2020 cycle, where i am. he will be in michigan in two places, traverse city, then closing out the entirety of the night in grand rapids, michigan, something he is superstitious and nostalgic about. that's exactly wha

carol lee, ali vitali, thank you both. appreciate it. and happy thanksgiving to you and your families. >>> mike madrid is co-founder of the lincoln project. mike, i know it's a holiday, tough to make time during a holiday, but we appreciate you joining us on this. first let's talk about the pardon as i was just talking with carol lee about. i don't think a lot of people were surprised by the mike flynn pardon because of the way the president had been talking about mike flynn. he did, in fact, fire mike flynn himself. i remember a tweet coming out at the time and he said i had to fire mike flynn because he lied to the fbi and lied to the vice president. but then he went on to say, although it shouldn't matter because this is all a hoax. i'm paraphrasesing there. that's essentially what the tweet said. talk to me about the pardon last night, your reaction to it, and the fact the president does fail to mention that, in fact, he fired mike flynn himself. >> mike flynn also acknowledged lying to the fbi under oath. he's clearly guilty of sign

joining me from rehoboth beach, delaware, fellow member of the av club, ali vitali. president-elect biden is getting close to making an announcement regarding the secretary of defense. what do we know about that? >> reporter: good morning, fellow aliv. and happy late thanksgiving. there are expected more cabinet picks from the president-elect right now but we're expecting in the terylly part of this week the picks are related to the economy. that being said, we have been hearing for weeks now the name michelle flournoy at the top of the list of people who could take over the defense department, someone back in 2016 rumored to be the pick if hillary clinton had won that election, and now she's the person who we keep hearing about as biden continues to move forward with rounding out what his cabinet would look like. you see her list of credentials, a former top pentagon official herself. if she were put in this role and confirmed she would be the first woman to serve as head of the pentagon and our colleague reports if she were put in that post she'd bring a lot of oth

ali vitali was saying they're all carrying on about how it's going to be a fight to the death and we saw all caps tweets from president trump yesterday about how he won the election. it's nonsensical but there is a practicality here in that there will be a new president moving into the white house. what will this transition look like? because it's kind of important. >> you know, ali, there's certainly speculation about what donald trump is going to do. it would be very hard to imagine him not actually physically leaving the white house on january 20 when joe biden is sworn in as the president. what happens between now and then is an open question. but within trump's orbit, within the white house, there is a recognition that the math simply does not add up for him, that he has lost, and now it's just a point of getting the president into the right head spatial where he can acknowledge that reality. they're continuing these legal fights, but the reporting at "the washington post" shows these fights are really to satisfy the satisfy, who wants to see a fight, doesn't want to give up and

. >> with me now nbc news political reporter ali vitali. overing the biden transition for us. ali, what are you hearing from the biden transition team on this lack of sharing information from the trump administration, specifically on the covid front? >> look, privately there is frustration that this is the way the transition has gotten off to a start. but publicly, they're speaking about it as a nuisance, as a problem, but not speaking about it really as a five-alarm fire. and really, that's because they're pushing ahead. what you have right now basically is a split screen reality that we're going to see play out over the course of the next 60 some odd days until inauguration day. you have the current white house right now, and the way that they're talking about the biggest issue of this moment, which has been the biggest issue of this year, which is the coronavirus pandemic, the current white house talking about it in a future sense, the way that they think we're going push past it, that a vaccine is coming and imminent. we heard it from tr

let's go to nbc's ali vitali, who is following the biden campaign from wilmington. ali, we are going to hear from the president-elect for the first time that we can call him that, later on today. >> that's exactly right, ali. and i feel like as we called pennsylvania and, subsequently, called the presidential race for joe biden. you could sort of hear a collective exhale of all of these biden staffers in wilmington, delaware, who had been waiting for so many days for what they thought was the result and now, finally, they have gotten it. it seems a few other people in the wilmington area have gotten it as well because you see, we are in the parking lot we have been coming to you all week. just outside that perimeter where joe biden is going to speak tonight, we are seeing lots of people spontaneously coming out just to be part of this moment. you see supporters making friends with the people who are out here. also, just trying to be part of this moment, as much as they possibly can. and as i am out here, i want to introduce you to one of the women that i was talking

nbc's ali vitali is in wilmington. also with us, nbc news chief foreign correspondent richard engel. "the new york times" chief white house correspondent and an nbc news political analyst peter baker, former missouri senator and nbc news political analyst claire mccaskill is also with us. and we have valerie jarrett, a former senior adviser to president obama. thank you all for being here and waiting patiently with us. peter baker, let me start with you because you have studied and watched so many of these transitions. this really unlike any other. the president-elect taking over after four years of just an unbelievable roller coaster, politics like we never imagined. i don't think that it could be. what are your takeaways from what we just saw unfold and how this team is going to position america in the world, as well as the challenges that they have to face? we have significant ones. >> yeah, i think, look, this was the president-elect who has promised to restore normalcy to a capital that's been whipsawed by volatil

carol lee, ali vitali, peter ba baker, thank you, guys, appreciate it. enjoy your thanksgiving day. >>> i want to bring in congressman ted lieu, thanks for joining us on this thanksgiving holiday, always appreciate you taking the time to talk to us. let's talk about this controversial pardon overnight of mike flynn. here is what judiciary chair jerry nadler tweeted, and i quote, mike flynn lied to investigators about communicating with a foreign adversary, that's a crime. trump dangled a pardon in exchange for flynn's cooperation, that is abuse of power. is the judiciary committee prepared to do more than finger wagging at this point after this pardon? >> thank you, yasmin, happy thanksgiving to you and to everyone who is watching. i do believe that congress needs to hold michael flynn accountable. but let's first be grateful that michael flynn was in fact fired and did not serve as national security adviser for the last four years because that would have been a corrupt disaster. that's in large part due to the professionalism and hard work of the federa

thank you so much, ali vitali for that breaking news.e supreme court will hear oral arguments on whether the trump administration can send a census report to congress that excludes undocumented immigrants. the justice department argues that federal law gives the president authority to determine how the census is conducted and the stakes incredibly high. some states could lose seats in congress. hundreds of millions of federal dollars as well. nbc's justin correspondent pete williams joins us now. lay out the bigger case for us. >> well, the argument by the states is that the constitution says that the census is required, of course, to figure out how many seats each state gets and it has to count the whole number of persons. and what the states say is every census since the beginning, since 1790 has accounted everybody in a state including people who were undocumented. the government's argument is, as you say, the president can do this to set policy. and that this is consistent with his policy. you may remember that last year, he tried an

and covering the biden campaign, ali vitali.'t know how your eyes are not crossed at this point. i saw you at 4:00 a.m. and you're still there at 2:00 p.m. the biden team, tell me what they're thinking right now? >> i think for the biden campaign what i frankly said to you this morning at 4:30 holds true. they have been bullish on their takes in this race for over the course of the last few days and what we heard on a call earlier stood that they believe that victory is imminent. and imminent in this case a funny word because you can read the data, do the math, and make predictions, but the counting will take how long it takes. we all knew that counting would take longer, but living in that reality now i can tell you that in talking to sources there is a little bit of a sense that if they believe that victory is imminent they would like to get there already. on the first track they're preparing on the legal front. we know they're starting to plant the seeds in legal challenges. bob bauer saying they're silly and merit less and t

ali vitali in wilmington this morning. ali, thank you. >>> this morning police in wisconsin are desperately searching for the gunman who opened fire inside a mall on friday, shooting several people before running away. shaquille brewster is on the scene in wisconsin with more on that. shaq, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning. a much calmer scene here in wauwatosa as investigators worked late into the night clearing and securing this complex, but their work is not yet complete as they now try to track down the shooter. this morning, the search continues for a shooter who opened fire in a suburban milwaukee mall. >> headed to the mall for shots fired. >> reporter: just there 3:00 p.m. friday shopping at the mayfair mall suddenly interrupted by several rounds of gunfire. >> i knew right away it was a gunshot. then they just started coming one after the other. >> it was more than ten shots. it was more than ten shots for sure. >> reporter: in all the chaos, anyone who could ran for the exits. >> everybody started sc

nbc's ali vitali at the beginning of a very long day for us. ali, thank you. >>> we have the final battleground state polls, just in time for election day. first in pennsylvania, the latest monmouth university poll shows biden leading by seven, 51%-44%. the nbc news marist college poll has biden up by five, 51%-46%. in florida, the latest quinnipiac poll shows biden with a five-point lead, 47%-42%. the reuters/ipsos poll has the former vice president up by four, within the margin of error, 50%-46%. in ohio, the latest quinnipiac poll shows biden ahead by four, 47%-43%. in arizona, the latest reuters/ipsos poll has biden with a two-point advantage, within the margin of error, 49%-47%. in the nbc news/marist college poll, the two are tied at 48%. and in north carolina, the latest reuters/ipsos poll shows the former vice president up by one, within the margin of error, 49%-48%. it is a close race in these swing states, folks. >>> meanwhile, the latest national polls show biden maintaining a substantial lead over president trump heading into electio

ali vitali. my friend, what is the situation with the biden transition team? >> reporter: ali, i love the way you laid this out as the dual split screen. that is the way i have been looking at it, too. we have not seen or heard from president trump. we know that is out of character. yesterday was the first time in several days since the election was called for joe biden. it is not just wanting and needing to hear from donald trump, but cases of the coronavirus are getting worse. what we saw this week on the other side of the split screen was joe biden speaking to the virus showing that he is talking to scientists and experts. that is by design. the transition has been clear that they want to prioritize getting the pandemic under control. that is how biden campaigned. it is why he rolled out on the first day of the transition a covid task force and why we heard him talk about health care and the pan democrdemipandemic. the entirety of the interview on msnbc talked about the prioritizing coronavirus and claims experience. dealing with the ebola virus. this is som

>> all right, ali vitali with us in critical pennsylvania. ank you so much, ali. >>> still ahead for us, breaking news in texas. a federal judge's ruling on whether 100,000 ballots will be counted or tossed out. also in texas today, a clear act of political intimidation. what happened along a highway that has the president over the moon at his rallies? we're just getting started on a very busy night of "american voices" live from telemundo headquarters in miami. " live fr headquarters in miami. darrell's family uses gain flings now so their laundry smells more amazing than ever. isn't that the dog's towel? hey, me towel su towel. more gain scent plus oxi boost and febreze in every gain fling. (burk(customer) deep-something like that... (burke) well, here's something else: with your farmer's policy perk, new car replacement, you can get a new one. (customer) that is something else. (burke) get a whole lot of something with farmers policy perks. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ are you managing ...using fingersticks? with the new

stanning stanni standing by for us is nbc's ali vitali.ns are pulling out all the stops tomorrow. what are they hoping to see out of pennsylvania? >> reporter: well, they hope to see a win and quite frankly the way they have been talking about is they have been priming voters here for weeks and not to be co complacent and cautioning them this race will be closer. they're trying to make sure that no voters without going to the polls on tuesday or before then. you heard biden making that same pitch here. his remarks really closely into the economic crisis that has hit this state and so many others across the country arguing that you can't fix the economic crisis until you fix the pandemic crisis. that leaves biden into the core messaging that donald trump has mishandled the pandemic. both focusing on pennsylvania. they need it on the electoral college map but also for president trump, this is a state that he flipped in 2016. he takes this state seriously and you see him going back to all these reminding voters what is they did for him and he

joining me from washington weekend today, anchor and nbc news from delaware, ali vitali. what is the latest? >> we're hearing that there is a lot that is a field general in charge of this trying to pursue these crisis. there is no evidence of fraught throughout the country. they're pursuing it. they have been making a public stand and we're hearing there has been some conclusion. dave bossy that is one of the deputy campaign advisors, advisor to the president in the time sense then has now tameen out that responsibility. i have not yet heard back, but it reflections the last 72 th r hours, the inconsistency of the messaging. one person described it to me. when we two on television are we saying stop the count? stop the fraud? what are we saying? so after facing a lot of criticism, many republicans including chris christie has has made comments called inflammatory. the former president said that the president's comments were dangerous. it reads like something that was being cast for a personal fight for this election. they are talking about it being full transparency. they

ali vitali is at her post in wilmington, delaware. ali, what else have we learned about what we expect to hear from the president-elect in a few hours? >> reporter: well, this is going to be a set of remarks, as you said, that are focused on the sacrifices that so many americans are making right now as we head into this holiday season, potentially scaling back, not seeing families and staying home. if they're abiding by those social distancing measures, wearing a mask, doing all the things we've been doing for so many months now, biden has acknowledged the va teague that so many americans are feeling, but he's emphasized how important it is for americans to continue to abide by this, so we can work together in getting this pandemic under control. we know one of the key concerns of this transition consistently has been how they can hit the ground running on tackling the coronavirus. over the course of the first few weeks they weren't able to coordinate and get the most up-to-date information because they hadn't been sent the letter of a

we're covering all the angles in both campaigns ali vitali following the biden camp but let's begin with jeff bennett, hi, jeff. >> the trump campaign counting on an election day surge tomorrow to help fuel his path to re-election the trump campaign is drawing some confidence in these large crowds the president has been pulling as he campaigns across the country despite the polls showing him behind people spent seven or eight hours in the cold. he's wrapping up his speech here behind me. you can look at how a campaign views its own standing based on the ways in which they view their final hours. president trump largely on defense trying to defend turf from joe biden in pennsylvania, north carolina, he has two stops here in michigan back in 2016. president trump won michigan by fewer than 11,000 votes. so what the campaign is banking on is that come tomorrow they have some projections, they say, that they show a two to one margin that trump supporters showing up on election day, they hope, will eat into whatever advantage democrats may have with that early vote shep >> geoff bennett cover

joining us now, nbc news political reporter ali vitali. ali, good morning to you. it is great to see you. i know you are running on just as little sleep as the rest of us here. let's talk about how the biden campaign is feeling this morning about where this stands, how the day is going to play out. the former vice president has obviously been very careful in the tone that he has been using, and it has been very different from president trump's. >> reporter: purposefully very careful about the tone that he's been using, because in the beginning, even before votes were cast on election day, this campaign was prepared for the fact that donald trump could come out, as hely did on election night, saying he won the election. again, as you pointed out, that's not how any of this works. but they have tried to be very careful about the way that joe biden has been a consistent voice throughout these last two days of election results, saying that he's optimistic about where things are heading, yesterday going further to say that he thinks that he is going to win. again, that

joining us now, nbc news political reporter ali vitali. ali, good morning to you. what is your sense from talking to your sources about where things stand on the security briefing question specifically? i mean, clearly, there's bigger issues at hand -- funding, other challenges that the transition is going to have to overcome if the president continues to hold this posture. but it does seem like the dam's breaking a little bit on classified security briefings. what's their expectation about whether that might start sooner rather than later? >> reporter: i mean, obviously, the hope is that it's sooner rather than later. and if you look at the way that it's breaking out on the hill, you're now seeing republicans become more comfortable with the idea that any of the challenges that the trump administration says that they are mounting really have very little evidence behind them, if any at all. and so, it does make that position more untenable for republicans to say that joe biden is not the president-elect of the united states. certainly, that's the position of the tr

ali vitali is joining us from rehoboth beach in delaware. ali, what are you hearing about this? >> reporter: well, those concerns exist but they're happening against the backdrop of this transition team that is just barreling forward, trying to make their policy priorities known while also naming some new personnel choices. we're hearing now about new jockeying behind the scenes as all of these different allies and groups try to put forward their picks and preferences for these key cabinet positions in an administration that's going to need to prioritize the pandemic response. few roles are as big as health and human services. the congressional hispanic caucus urging them to use the new mexico governor for that key role. i want to read a little bit of what he said. they praised the recent nomination of department of homeland security alejandro mayorkas saying the first latino and first immigrant to be nominated for the position as secretary of homeland security reflects your commitment to these efforts. the letter goes on to say this is a good start in ensuring that latinos, the

ali vitali and monica alba. ali, fill us in on what we've learned about who the president-elect is about to nominate to his cabinet. >> chris, we're in for some pre-thanksgiving news here in wilmington, delaware. biden is expected to announce tomorrow some of the public-facing figures that will flesh out his foreign policy team. tony blinken, a longtime aide to vice president biden is going to be filling out the role atop the state department. as well as jake sullivan, a longtime state department employee is going to be heading up the role of national security adviser. and u.n. ambassador, linda thomas-greenfield, a lifelong diplomat will be filling that. geoff bennett and i are told that role of u.s. ambassador to the u.n. is expected to be cabinet level in this administration. you'll remember that under the trump administration, initially that's a role that was at the cabinet level. then, after nikki haley left it was demoted out nacht we see that change with every president. one of those roles they can delinea

joining me now nbc political reporter monica alba, msnbc political reporter ali vitali in delaware and cal perry in chicago where a new stay-at-home vifry radvisory in place. it's an advisory, not a lockdown. let's talk about the frustration of the biden team they have to wait until mid december with the electoral college to actually get a transition started. >> andrea, in this situation, time is the one resource that you really can't get back. of course they want to hit the ground running. they need to see, in order to do that, a letter from general services, a letter of ascertainment, talking about people in the staff who are already in these agencies. they can already start planning a mask dissemination for a vaccine as we see these two companies now, pfizer and moderna getting ever closer to a vaccine put out in the early part of next clear. consider this, despite the fact joe biden said his first phone call would be to anthony fauci. they can't talk to dr. fauci because they are in limbo. newly chief of staff ron klain spoke about it on "meet the press." >> we now have the possibi

nbc news political reporter ali vitali is standing by in wilmington, delaware. ali, thank you so much for joining me. so one of the things we are hearing -- >> reporter: absolutely. >> one of the things we are hearing is very much who is on his coronavirus task force. we're also talking about -- coming in and talking about national security. are those the two issues that are top of mind for the president-elect right now? the coronavirus and how to safeguard our country from foreign adversaries. >> reporter: certainly. and frankly, the coronavirus is a national security issue and they're treating it as such. so when you saw on the first official day of this transition that they were naming that coronavirus task force it really put all of the focus on this issue, which makes sense if you followed any part of the general election campaign because this was the only issue that joe biden and kamala harris both were laser focused on in their campaign for the white house. so now making good on that promise and showing that at least in terms of policy and personnel being

. >> nbc news political reporter ali vitali is standing by in wilmington, delaware. good evening, ali. is the biden campaign losing patience with this nonsense from the president? how much longer can they keep entertaining trump's refusal to concede? >> reporter: hey, jason. you know, it's motte so much the lack of concession as it is the lack of the letter of ascertainment from the general services administration. the concession is just words. it doesn't have to come. there are no legal implications to it. certainly it's american tradition and it upholds the tenets of democracy, but this is not a transition team that's holding their breath waiting for donald trump to concede. instead, the thing they're really looking to get this week is the letter that officializes their transition and would effectively put them out of the bureaucratic limbo they're currently in because right now they're a transition that cannot actually speak with any of the agencies, staff, or people who are currently in government because they have not been officially recognized by this otherwise

nbc's ali vitali, thank you. >> want to pick up on what ali was putting down chuck rosenberg is an msnbcnd former u.s. attorney and senior fbi official he was also part of the 2016 transition and helped the trump team familiarize themselves with doj operations so, chuck, you know what you're talking about, especially when it comes to transitions right now. so, when it comes to the justice department, joe biden's team, as we mentioned, is tapping recently departed doj officials, trying to circumvent this standoff based on your experience, is that enough? >> it's not enough look, i think it's valuable, kendis i don't think it's enough. i think it would be more valuable for the transition teams to have access to the folks who are currently there and whatever data and information they hold, by the way, and that includes access to intelligence briefings it's just beyond me that the biden team wouldn't be getting that now, even if you don't think he's the next president -- and by the way, he is -- but even if you don't think he will be, there's a non zero chance he will be. and if there's a no

listen to it. >> my girl, ali vitali, warming my heart talking math, math, math. peter, ali, thank you so much. i want to look at all the key states and take you now to north miami, florida, where ellison barber is ot a polling station. we've already seen early voting in florida nearly match the total vote from 2016. are the numbers expected to be huge today? >> hey, stephanie. election officials in miami-dade county warned us a couple of days that they did not expect huge lines on election day because so many people have voted. take a look at this. some people getting ready to go inside. we're at a polling location in north miami. no lines in sight. we have been by this polling precinct a number of times, the last couple of weeks during early voting. and this place was packed all during early voting. obviously, you can see today, not a huge line. people showing up coming in and out. a lot of that probably has to do with the fact that in miami-dade county, 64% of registered voters have already voted. either early in person or absentee. stephanie? >> now let's head

joining me now, nbc's ali vitali in delaware. garrett haake is on capitol hill. senior business correspondent and anchor stephanie ruhle is with us, as well. ali, we all heard it on the trail. president-elect biden spent a lot of time talking about what he called his build back better plan. now that he's president-elect, what do you think we're going to hear today? will it be anything new or different? >> well, look, the biggest, new thing about this, chris, is the fact he's now saying these words as president-elect. certainly, when you're a candidate, policy matters, but now, americans both who voted for biden and who didn't, are going to be hearing this new build back better plan in a new light, because he is doing it from his biggest bull horn ever. you and i know from watching and listening on the campaign trail a little of what he might talk about, which is that we know where the plan is going to go. it involves another massive undertaking of a stimulus. specifically giving money directly to americans, as well as focusing more on unemployment assistance. we k

ali vitali is in wilmington, well car delaware, with more on this. h the big names and potential issues that may be emerging with them. >> reporter: morning, ali. shie issues but also some upside. you made this point just now, people like janet yellen would be history making if they are confirmed. this is an administration in waiting that promised a cabinet and administration more broadly that looks like america. so representative and reflective governance is something that's really important here. you're seeing it in these picks, as well. you mentioned january eet yelle treasury secretary. we're also learning that tanden will be heading up the office of budget and management. she's had a little outcry from republicans in response to her nomination because of the way she's talked ed about republic. she's been in politics a long time, working in the orbits of barack obama and hillary clinton, no stranger to the politics of washington. now she's had the time to talk about republican senators on things like cable news and twitter, some comments may be co

our own political reporter, ali vitali in wilmington, delaware. also with us, gabe bunadeti, carolyn eveman and chuck rocha is a former senior adviser to the bernie sanders presidential campaign. also the author of "tio bernie." so ali, what more are you hearing on biden's potential cabinet picks? >> reporter: well, alicia, what's becoming clear is that this is a transition that is now functioning on two paths. on the one path, you have them stymie by the lack of ascertainment from the gsa. those are things they cannot control. on the other path, the things they can control, which is pushing forward on personnel and policy. weap we saw them lay out a policy agenda with chuck schumer and nancy pelosi. we also see them continue on the hiring front, hiring some key west wing positions and now we're told on tuesday that joe biden will make announcements on his first round of cabinet picks. we've already seen him teasing the fact that he's selected people for, for example, the treasury debate. we don't know exactly what agencies we'll hear him announce

msnbc political reporter ali vitali is there. >> reporter: good morning, kendis and lindsey.id see vice president-elect kamla harris touring a market in washington, d.c. there was politics and a little shopping. there's reminders for the struggles of the small business community this season. on the political front, she talked about the transition that's seen, yes, coordination, between people who are currently in government at the staffing level but not between the four principal players here at the vice presidential and presidential level. harris was asked how the transition could go forward efficiently without contact between her and mike pence, as well as between president-elect joe biden and president trump. i asked transition advisers if they needed to see that outreach between biden and trump. they told me it was not mission-critical or necessary to them going forward with the transition. they did allow if trump wanted to speak to president-elect biden, they would be happy to set that up. here's what harris said when asked about it. >> listen, we're clear about the job

all right, nbc's ali vitali, monica alba. thank you so much for being up early with us.e really appreciate it. >>> still ahead here, we're going to talk to an emergency room physician about the growing number of coronavirus cases across the country as we head into the holiday season. >>> and later, four astronauts are on their way to the international space station after a historic launch at kennedy space center. those stories and a check on the weather coming up. nter those stories and a check on the weather coming up. ♪ here? nah. ♪ introducing the all new chevy trailblazer. here? nope. ♪ here. ♪ when the middle of nowhere, is somewhere. the all new chevy trailblazer. making life's journey, just better. ♪ 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, it's time to make a stand. start a new day with trelegy. no once-daily copd medicine has the power to treat copd in as many ways as trelegy. with three medicines in one inhaler, trelegy helps people breathe easier and i

carol lee is covering the white house and nbc's ali vitali is covering the biden campaign in rehoboth beach, delaware. carol, what else did we hear from the president? >> reporter: good morning, ellison. what we heard from the president, the first time he's taken questions in 23 days, the longest stretch of his presidency, was a defiance. he was digging in on the notion that he somehow won this election and he may wind up, while he might leave the white house if the electoral college votes that joe biden is the next president on december 14th, he'll never concede. he tweeted moments ago saying the burden would have to be on joe biden, that biden can only enter the white house as president if he can prove he got these 80 million votes. that is not something that the president gets to decide. that's just a tweet, but that shows you a little bit of where the president's head is at. yesterday he said it would be a mistake if the electoral college were to solidify this election for joe biden and he hinted this may not be his last thanksgiving in the white house. take a listen. >> if the el

let's go to ali vitali in delaware. the biden team not getting briefings from the trump administration. how are they reacting to these latest coronavirus numbers? >> reporter: well, these latest coronavirus numbers are exactly why they need that information for the transition to be flowing in a way that it is not exactly doing right now. the general services administration still hasn't ascertained or certified that joe biden is the next president-elect of the united states. and that is not a semantics issue, it is really an issue of how the transition can do its work would unfettered access to the kind of information both at the staff and agency level as well as at the presidential and vice presidential level to get this transformation going. we know that biden is not getting the classified presidential daily briefings and the same goes for kamala harris. biden said that is not a bad thing right now. he's been in the rooms before. officials have cautioned us, he knows his way around things like the situation room and fo

. >> nbc political reporter ali vitali is joining us from wilmington, delaware, to start us off. do we have any indication of the kinds of people we would be looking for on tuesday or are they keeping a tight lid on this? >> reporter: they're trying but when you say to reporters you're going to have a pick on tuesday on a sunday, you've got to imagine that the text message chains and phone numbers have been made, and we're all working our sources to get the most updated information on this as well. what i can tell you is the list of names we've been hearing as we've been talking to our sources over the last few weeks. i want to walk you through. despite the fact that we don't know exactly which agencies we'll see announced on tuesday, we do know kind of a sense of what this orbit could look like. if you just start with the names we're hearing about, likely picks or potential picks at the state department, you're seeing people like anthony blanken, a long-time biden adviser, as well as senator chris coons, and susan rice, you look at former treasury undersecretary lael brainard, j

good to see you, ali vitali. we'll speak a lot. >>> i want to bring in valerie jarrett, chair of obama transition team, author of "find my voice:when the perfect plan crumbles, it begins." you have auld feels. i' -- all the feels. there's so much you're tweeting about. you've been tweeting things biden said, tweeting things about kamala harris. then you have this news that by executive order, which is the way donald trump did it, joe biden will immediately undo so much of the damage. he will form a coronavirus task force with real experts. he will repeal the muslim ban. he will find a way for the dreamers to stay in america. he will get back into the world health organization, back into the climate accord. before he takes the presidency some of these things are under way. we may not have to wait the 73 days. >> good morning, ali. i have to tell you, i had my first good night's sleep in four years last night, so i am feeling terrific. yes, you're right. elections do have consequences and i am confident that presid

joining me is ali vitaly. okay, emmy, what are we expecting to hear from the president-elect and the vice president-elect this evening? >> reporter: this is an event in this parking lot we have, frankly, be staked out in for days now, an event we thought was happening yesterday and then there was no call of gd getting to 270, so the event was pulled back. we heard from him anyway, but this is the event they've been planning on. you can probably hear a bit of music in the background. we're seeing cars start pulling in. this is all in preparation for tonight when the sun goes down. there's going to be lights. i'm told there's potential for fireworks. really celebrating the victory that the biden team for days now has been telling us they felt was imminent. it's finally here. as far as joe biden, we've heard these themes from him before, the idea of healing the nation. even in a statement that he put out today, he was saying this was the time for america to heal. and so clearly that is going to be so key in his r

nbc's ali vitali is live in wilmington, delaware. ali, good morning. and talk to us about staffing. have we heard anything from the president-elect on that front? >> reporter: sort of. he was asked yesterday on a bike ride in rehoboth beach if he was coming any closer to staffing decisions on his cabinet. he said "yes" while biking by. a pretty short exchange, but obviously, those conversations are happening. we know that biden has been down and out of public view for the most part this weekend. today in wilmington, delaware. but he is still talking with transition advisers, huddling with them, as he starts to plot out what this administration could look like from a policy perspective and a personnel perspective. that that end, we are hearing there's a new person emerging as the potential head of the department of defense, michele flournoy, who was a top official in 2016. if hillary clinton had won that election, flournoy was rumored to be the person that could have taken over the pentagon there, but now under a potential biden administration, she's still very much at the top of tha