constituted based on what the last constitutional law was for a board of elections. he republican party of north carolina and the republican legislative leaders have multiple times now distracted and delayed and done all they can to destabilize our state board of elections and the lebss pr -- elections process. why is it now they are saying they don't want this investigation to go through in this is obstruction. governor cooper is trying to do his best within the law so we can have a board established and it will be established under the last constitutional law to get the job done. there is ample evidence provided publicly and i'm confident there is more evidence that the republicans apparently don't want us to see. this is obstruction of an investigation. the republicans are trying to steal a congressional election in the ninth congressional district. >> one last question for you, chairman. governor cooper has indicated he will attempt to seat a board to continue this investigation until a new board can be seated at the end of january. this is a little bit in the wee

i don't think you can excuse the democrats on the state board of elections that all of a sudden drop this on our lap after no election protest was filed, after mr. mccready conceded the election after no recount was called for and after all of the local boards of election certified the race. we have never seen that happen. >> wait a second. >> sir, if i can just finish this one point. >> i will let you. >> and at the same time the state is engaged in a very difficult negotiation and fight over the control of the board of elections. >> that i know. >> and so the board of elections, it's walking out the door simply comes out and says they're not going to certify and at that time really don't say why. >> right. okay. but -- >> of course we're suspicious of that. >> let's put that to the side. >> no, well, but you're asking me about what i said and you have to put it in context. >> let me give you more context. as we look at this it seems like there were some real red flags and it seems to me like the north carolina republican party failed its own republican candidate, robert pittinger, t

on top of all of this, there is actually a question about the state board of elections. ople at home, the board is currently four democrats, four republican, one unaffiliated. that structure was voted, reverting it to three of the governor's party and two of the minority. but the nine-person board is still in operation for the next week. so dallas is saying the best of the worst options is if they continue to work. then they change and then what happened? how does this affect the ability for the board of elections to properly investigate and make a decision on this? >> i think the question is does the current board's structure go back to what it was previously before the nine member? and that is a three member of the governor's party with two members of the opposition political party, a five-member board. that would be controlled by democrats 3-2. the question is with wouould th continue the investigation. i think part of the concern is also with a fourth criteria that the board has as its power to call a new election and that is if there's sufficient enough taint on the

the democrat head of the state board of elections who has been disgraced by the three-judge panel, he put out that statement, not the other board members. he is trying to suly again mr. harris's name -- >> has he submitted these

new congress convenes in washington, as of noon today, there is no more north carolina state board of elections. and as that board goes up in smoke, the position of mark harris and the north carolina republican party appears to have solidified into outright opposition to any further investigation. even though earlier this month they were expressing concern about fraud and saying they were open to a new election, today north carolina republicans are demanding that mark harris be seated in the new congress next week, saying that he was duly elected, and that there will never be a new election. well, governor cooper announced today he will appoint an interim board of elections to continue the 9th district investigations, republicans said that they would refuse to participate. which prompted cooper to send this letter to the chair of the state republican party today saying, basically, you can't tell me what to do. quote, the governor's lawyer writes "the governor will not be impeded from exercising his duties under the constitution to take care that the laws are faithfully executed. the governor wi

this state board of elections that has the power to decide who won this election, to certify someone the winner, this board of elections was dissolved by court order at noon today. there has been a long-standing sort of political dispute in north carolina. it predates this 9th district special election about the status of the board. so it had been expected that this board was going to be dissolved, replaced by a new entity. it was also expected before today though that this board was going to get an extension of life to see through this whole process in the ninth district. a court disagreed. noon today this board was dissolved. that means that meeting, that hearing on january 11th that was potentially going to decide all of this, that's off. that's cancelled. there's no more power for the investigators of this state board of elections to issue subpoenas, to really have any teeth in their investigation. so what the heck happens right now? the board has been dissolved. the race is still sitting there uncalled. so here's what we know. mark harris, again, with that 905-vote lead, he's say

the state board of elections is investigating allegations if they find evidence of misconduct, they can thing we know right now is it is a mess. joining me right now is dallas wood house, the executive director of the north carolina republican party. thanks for coming in. what is the latest that you are hearing on when the state is going to have a final word here from the state board of elections. >> we don't exactly know. we think there will be a public hearing in the next couple of weeks around december 20th, in that range. and that's when we will hear about the actual allegations. we bring sun light and disinfect ant to an issue that plagued north carolina for well over a decade. we had a systematic failure to address this between three different administrations of governors and many boards of elections and state and local prosecutors. that systematic failure includes us and the other party. i really think the question of who is going to be seated in the ninth district is now a secondary question of having to root out the systematic failure and cultural political corruption in the so

dozens of members of boards of elections, prosecutors, political parties that have all been part of astem attic failure, and we have to fix this for the long term. the winner of this congressional seat and who and when they are seated has really become a secondary issue. >> so you're attaching this. a longer term concern. but it is part of addressing that longer term issue because i know there's been some reporting that suggests this particular operative we've talked about has, in the past, worked with democrats, worked with republicans. okay. but in 2018 in this congressional election that's now unresolved, the state board of elections in north carolina so far is refusing to certify. we know he was working for the republican candidate. is there an argument to be made that as part of creating a new atmosphere going forward, you say, look, the basic fairness of this election, just 905 votes between them -- between these two candidates and all of these questions, that's part of moving forward you hold a new election. >> look, we're not ready to call for a special election yet because i

also under investigation by the board of elections here. ou just pointed out, more and more almost hourly now the credibility of this ninth district congressional race erodes. >> thank you very much, drew driven, who has been on the ground reporting on this. i want to go to the executive director of the republican party in north carolina. dallas, i appreciate your time. trying to understand as much of this as we can. you heard dan mccreedy taking back his con zegs. do you support a new election in this race? >> we're not quite there yet. it is our position that the board of elections has to come out and lay out everything they know. the question of certification of the race is separate of the, criminal federal and state investigations, which have to continue. we have to put people in jail who violated the law. the question of certification needs to be a numerical one. is the illegal behavior enough to call into question the outcome of the the race. if that is the case, the law requires a new election and we will not oppose it. if the state b

so the board of elections dissolved. order of a panel of state judges who deemed it unconstitutional. and this is from an ongoing legal battle from 2016. but it has huge implications for what is going on right now, within the state. not only was the board of elections running the investigation, into whether or not there was potential ballot fraud. they were also holding a hearing january 11, to go over the evidence from that investigation, and essentially decide whether or not there was going to be a new election. now, in addition to that, as you mentioned, they never certified a winner in this election. harris did try to make a last ditch effort on friday, right before the board dissolved, trying to get certified as the winner. they rebuffed him. now, he plans to take this to federal court to force them to certify him as the winner. so we will have to see what happens with that. but what this all means moving forward, well, first, take a look at congress, we know that congress is set to start, all of those new members ar

be may well be getting there, we just have to see the facts from the board of election. >> what else ally need to see here, dallas? do you feel comfortable that mr. harris is sit as a member of congress with all these questions? doesn't that delegitimize him, in your view? >> as bad as all this looks, and nobody is more horrified by this than us. we didn't have anything to do with absentee ballot operations, we didn't condone it, fund it. we are disgusted by this, but we are obligated to wait to let the state investigators point out what they know before we take the next step. >> if in fact, dallas, and you say you are horrified and disgusted, and i have no reason to doubt but that, why one are horrified and disgusted when robert pittinger came to you four months ago and raised the same problems? >> we did hear some things, i think, from his campaign staff in the days after an election. i'm not excusing this, but in the days after a primary, we often -- which we are prevented from being a part of. we often hear complains from people about how things turned out, and we listened, but it

but this is -- we have actually over three different administrations, this state board of elections hasolved this problem. and so you're right, it extends into the primary allegedly this year and into the general election. >> you have two issues. you have who fixes it, and i'll ask you about that in a second. but just to keep the record clear, harris paid dallas. so it's not about your state's infrastructure on that level. this is about a decision he made with a man who is a known quantity. and now there is a chance that he gets rewarded for his efforts with a congressional seat. do you think that should happen or do you think that under no circumstances should this man be seated until this is certified? >> well, i say follow the facts wherever they lead. my understanding is mr. dallas was involved, as i said, in the 2016 election -- >> he's not new to this. >> in which there was a similar issue in effect in the gubernatorial race then. interesting interestingly enough, the same elections official that made the motion not to certify here, which might have been the right decision for the

of this congressional race until after a full, thorough, public evidentiary hearing by the state board. >> republicans are complaining about two things. one, they're saying that the board of elections is operating secretly and the person in charge of that board is a democratic party, quote, hyperpartisan. what do you say to that? >> i'd say they're trying to change the narrative. it's quite interesting that for years now, particularly the last couple years, all they could talk about is voter fraud here or alleged voter fraud there and they would never want to touch or talk about the problems with absentee ballots. now that their candidate, their nominee is in the midst of the greatest election tampering i've seen, perhaps any of us have seen in a generation or more, they are nowhere to be found. so they're trying to talk about the former chair of the state board of elections who has resigned and that was the right thing to do. the board should be allowed to do its investigation and the republican party should step out of the way and let this investigation happen. i believe there should be a new election. >> what's the timeline look like? have you ever encountered a situation like t

election. this is in the hands of the north carolina state board of elections that's launched an investigation.eek or so ago they made a really unprecedented move to -- if they decided in a 9-0 bipartisan decision to refuse to certify the results of this election. based on the fraud and the irregularities and the illegal activity that are there. so we're gearing up to be in this fight. ultimately this is a decision of the board of elections. >> welcome back to "hardball." that was democratic candidate for north carolina's 9th district, dan mccready gearing up for a reelection. just a few weeks ago it looked like it would be republican mark harris who defeated mccready by a slim margin. his victory is now tainted by explosive allegations of absentee ballot tampering. on friday harris said he was unaware of any wrongdoing -- unaware. let's watch. >> if this investigation finds proof of illegal activity on either side to such a level that it could have changed the out come of the election, then i would wholeheartedly support a new election to ensure all voters have confidence in the results. >> th

and if the allegations as presented by the board of elections rise to a level of turning the outcome tantial likelihood, there has to be a new election. >> the state board of elections just on the numbers alone, brooke, seem to have enough questionable ballots at stake here that it would potentially overturn the 900 votes between the winning republican and the losing democrat, but they have not announced any kind of hearing. they're doing it through an investigative process right now. there's two separate things going on here, the board of elections needs to decide what to do about the actual election of the congressman from the ninth district and then you have a criminal investigation looking at mccray dallas, he is a convicted felon who appears to have gotten a band of employees together to stuff the ballots down in blade i don't know con . i don't know how else to say it. >> drew with the big interview today. thank you so much. the "charlotte observer" said the solution is clear, so taylor, thank you so much for being with me. i want to get to your paper's response in a minute. but

those obviously have not been adequately resolved by the efforts to date of the state board of electionsecutorial authorities. we have to get to the bottom of it, there's no doubt about it. >> i hear you, that's the right thing to hear. the problem is in context. we understand that there are also issues during the primaries and they were voiced and there was nothing done. it becomes a little bit of a crisis of confidence that anything will be done this time. how can you guarantee there will be a fair outcome? >> well, i think that's exactly the point, chris, it's not -- i'm not in position to guarantee it, we're in the general assembly. what we have been saying over the last couple years have been a bit of a tug of war with the democratic governor making the point that the board of elections, the elections mechanism, enforcement mechanism should not be a partisan operation. it needs to be bipartisan. and unfortunately, we haven't been very successful in gain his ear on that point. but this is the -- we've got -- actually a -- over 3 different administrations, this state board of election

so as you said yesterday, the board of elections dissolved. nel of state judges who deemed it unconstitutional. it's not related to this investigation of 2018. this is part of an ongoing legal battle back from 2016. but the implications are huge as to what's going on in the state right now. that board of elections was not only investigating the ballot fraud, they also had a hearing set up for january 11th where they were going to present all of their findings and determine ultimately if there needed to be another election. lastly, as you said, the board never certified harris as the winner even after a last ditch attempt by harris on friday to try to get certified before they dissolved. so the big question is what's next. there's two paths here. one is what's next when it comes to congress and one is what's next when it comes to the investigation. congress is set to be sworn in on january 3rd and harris doesn't really have a legal leg to stand on. unless he gets a court order without certification. there's no legal authority to give him the sea

are starting to get more of a narrative of what potentially could happen and what the state board of electionsng is working towards in terms of an investigation. >> what is the authority there to order a new election? >> the state board of elections has discretionary authority through the general statutes if four conditions are met and the last one is probably the most important. it says if there are improprieties that taint the overall election and call into question the validity of the vote, then the state board of elections can order a new election. it doesn't matter if there are questionable ballots that could potentially even switch the election or keep it as is. it is up to the general tainting of the election. >> thank you very much for joining us. tonight's last word is next. ♪ ♪ applebee's bigger bolder grill combos are back. now that's eatin good in the neighborhood. ♪ the kenya tea development agency is an organization that is owned by tea farmers. every week we sell this tea, we get paid in multiple accounts. we were looking for a bank to provide a safe and efficient technology pla

of course the state board of elections has the authority to order a new election. hat's really interesting is, if the state board of elections orders a new election we go back to the same three candidates, mark harris, dan mccreedy and the libertarian who was running. if the u.s. house refuses to seat mark harris and a new election is called from u.s. house that's a special election. that means we have a primary and we do this all over again. >> that is very interesting. so the board calls new elections it's a rerun of the same candidates. if a new incoming democratic house refuses to seat harris, they view him has illegitimate, they can do that. thank you for making some time tonight. >>> still to come, wisconsin republicans voted today to strip incoming democrats of their power. one of those democrats who has just had his power stripped, joins me to talk about whether the fight's still over, ahead. >>> plus, rudy giuliani versus the dark web. that's tonight's thing one, thing two next. if your moderate to severe ulcerative colitis or crohn's symptoms are holding y

are starting to get more of a narrative of what potentially could happen and what the state board of electionsy hearing is working towards in terms of an investigation. >> what is the authority there to order a new election? >> the state board of elections has discretionary authority through the general statutes if four conditions are met and the last one is probably the most important. it says if there are improprieties that taint the overall election and call into question the validity of the vote, then the state board of elections can order a new election. it doesn't matter if there are questionable ballots that could potentially even switch the election or keep it as is. it is up to the general tainting of the election. >> thank you very much for joining us. tonight's last word is next. aaaaaahhhhhhhh! ballooned your car. call meeeee! (burke) a fly-by ballooning. seen it, covered it. we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ the new capital one savor card. earn 4% cash back on dining and 4% on entertainment. now when you go ou

the board of elections should toss out the 9th district results. board of elections is empowered to order a new election. >> yeah. and thank goodness, lawrence. because this has to do with another issue we've been talking about lately in michigan and wisconsin. in north carolina since 2016 republican legislators have been trying to weaken and basically absolutely destroy the state board of elections' ability to step in when you have cases like this. fortunately, because of democratic governor cooper he's won several court cases so now the board of elections can get involved. i think this race can be thrown out. in fact, i think that pettinger, who was the republican who lost in the primary to mark harris, he might have a case here that maybe he was robbed as well. it's amazing that not only do we have a republican party that claims they're concerned about voter fraud and voter integrity who is knee deep in this situation financially but it's being done by a candidate who is also a pastor, supposedly a man of god and integrity, might possibly be res

we are also learning north carolina state board of elections has named leslie m mccrae dowless. hdrew after his concession -- withdrew his concession after election irregularities were uncovered in a second county. with me drew griffin, who has been spending the last couple of days in north carolina. drew, tell me more about this named person of interest and what you're hearing there. >> that named person of interest, leslie mcrcrae dowles. a new twist, the sheriff of the county. and the republican candidate who supposedly won the election has now emerged to say something he released his statement on twitter we want to show what you he has to say. >> my campaign and i are cooperating fully with the state board of elections investigation, and we will continue to do so. i trust the process that's under way, just as i've always trusted the decisions of the voters. i trust that this investigation will be full and complete, examining any alleged irregularities that could have benefited either party, in this election or past election cycles. the integrity of our electoral process is th

he continued the campaign is now aware that the state board of elections is conducting an investigationmedia reports have identified mr. dallas as part of that investigation. we're awaiting the outcome of that investigation like everybody else. we should note by the way dallas denied any wrongdoing. let me bring in the chairman of the north carolina democratic party wayne goodwin. alexei and nancy are back as well. thank you for being on the show this morning. >> thank you, my pleasure. >> let me start here. do you believe the republican campaign broke the law? >> yes, it does appear so. we definitely need to have this public evidentiary hearing to find out what we know and don't know. ate pears from t it appears that laws were broken. >> do you think laws were broken knowingly by the harris campaign? >> we don't know yet. i mean there are mounting pieces of evidence of connections between this gentleman mr. dallas and the harris campaign and a history of this gentleman working for republican candidates and we need to find out all we can from this hearing that the state board has ordere

state law, and has to be prosecuted for federal civil rights violations. >> north carolina's board of elections is a person of interest in the investigation. and the board has subpoenaed records from the mark harris campaign, his political consultants and in yet another twist, announced it is seeking records from the committee to elect bladen county sheriff james mcvicker. >> and in an indication of just how serious this has become, the wake county district attorney is confirming to cnn that the fbi has joined her investigation. ana? >> drew griffin, thank you. >>> comedian kevin hart, bowing out of an offer to host the oscars. how a series of offensive tweets he posted years ago have come back to haunt him. >>> but first, for many, this time of the year, it is about giving back. but the 12th annual cnn heroes all-star tribute salutes ten people who put others first all year long. this is a star-studded gala. it airs tomorrow, live, right here on cnn. at 8:00 p.m. eastern. take a look. >>> we are humans helping humans and they need our help. we are truly giving the gift of mobility. >> they are

state, local prosecutors, the board of elections have not been able to do anything about this for yearsm has grown. it's only the significant media sunlight that has finally blown this thing open and it's only with years of media coverage holding everybody accountable, that includes the republican party, the democrat, the elected officials, everybody, the prosecutors can we end this scourge of our democracy. >> if you were to take on a non-partisan proemp to this, what is the solution. one of the board members has left, resigned. >> the democrat board member resigned. >> that's right. also a political operative who collected ballots from voters, now part of looking into what has happened. it seems like there are still a lot of potential pieces of mud to be thrown both ways. >> i think we all have a responsibility for this. we have wracked our brains to see what we could have done different. i'm horrified. the entire north carolina republican party is horrified if any of these political mercenaries. that's what they are. they don't care who wins or loses. they care about getting paid. de

the state's board of election voted unanimously last week not to certify the results amid claims that ballots were tampered with in favor of the republican candidate. our next guest helped expose this story. joining me now is joe bruno. thank you for being with us. thank you for your work. i want to start sort of at the end here. you know, you have been the ground covering the ins and outs of this story. how confident are you that election fraud did take place? >> well, we have people admitting to it. we have people admitting that they went around and picked up absentee ballots in north carolina. that's illegal. not only did they pick up the absentee ballots. they say they did not put them directly in the mail. they delivered them to the man who appears to be at the center of all this. not only did they deliver them, they say they don't know what he did with them. they don't know whether the votes actually went into the mail from his office. >> and, again, you have spoken to people. we'll get to the journalism aspect of this, the work you have done on this in a second. but you report

we also know he has been interviewed by board of elections state investigators to see where he has beenthis throughout the past couple of weeks. >> i'm so sorry to interrupt you. we've got breaking news coming out of the white house. stick around. >>> let me switch gears. to the white house we're going to go where nick ayers, the chief of staff of vice president mike pence whose name was in the running for possible chief of staff at the white house to replace outgoing john kelly is no longer in the running. we are told after it was widely believed he would be someone to replace john kelly. jeff bennett is at the white house with more of the details. >> reporter: we understand that the president and nick ayers couldn't come to an agreement in terms of a time frame. nick ayers had long planned to leave the administration at the end of the year and return home to georgia. he and his wife have a young family. that was their plan. president trump wanted someone in that chief of staff role for a longer period of time, perhaps two years, in fact, to fill out the remainder of his first term. th

prosecuted under state law and has to be prosecuted for civil rights violations. >> north carolina's board of electionsnces a person of interest in the investigation and the board subpoenaed records from the mark harris campaign, his political consultants and in yet another twist announce it is seeking records from the committee to elect bladen county sheriff, james mcvicker. an indication of how serious this has become, the district attorney confirms to cnn the fbi is now helping her with the investigation. fredricka? >> thanks so much, drew. still to come, democratic and republican lawmakers weigh one question. can a sitting president be indicted? we will discuss, coming up. >> we are humans helping humans. they are needing help. >> we are giving the gift of mobility. >> we are building something that matters a lot more than we do. >> they are heroes today and every day. ♪ >> this is nice. what did you use for this? >> it teaches girls how to program. it's all about solving programs. >> anybody who ever raise their hand to defend our constitution. >> my vision was to have a home where women could fin

it first emerged there was something wrong with the result of that congressional race, when we first heard that the bipartisan election board locally was refusing to certify the results of that race and they were saying that something was wrong with it, from the very first moment as far as i'm concerned, the single craziest thing about this race and what happened in this race is that the scheme here, this criminal scheme here is apparently not a new thing. in that district, specifically in a couple counties in that district, this has been going on for a while in basically plain sight. and i will prove it. here's the story for you. >>> as far as i'm concerned, the greatest radio show in the modern history of american radio shows is called "this american life." it is hosted by ira glass. if you do not listen to it as a podcast or via your computer, you have probably heard it on your local public radio station. and two years ago at christmastime, december 23rd in 2016, this american life did a little story about north carolina shain which they appea to stumble upon this election rigging scheme in this specific district in this

last night we told you how the state board of elections has now twice refused to certify the election results in which the republican appeared to win by 905 votes. row call reporter joe bruno yesterday found a woman who said she was paid to collect absentee ballots in the race which is, we should note, against north carolina law. and the man who paid her to do that illegal thing, she said, was lesley mccra doughles, a convicted felon, working for mark harris. the same local reporter has found a second woman who says mccra doughles paid her to get ballots. >> i feel bad now that i know it wasn't legal. but at the time i didn't know. >> didn't mail the ballots, she gave them to dallas. >> i don't know what happened to them after that. i know there were stacks of them on his desk. >> stacks of ballots on his desk. now the same state board that's refused to certify the election has started releasing records as a congressional seat hangs in the balance. here's a professor who's been blogging about this election, and amy gardener, a political reporter for the "washington post." amy, start w

involved in now a criminal investigation in bladen county, the state of north carolina, the board of elections here investigating whether or not hundreds of absentee ballots were illegally stuffed in favor of the republican candidate and potentially up to a thousand absentee ballots potentially in favor of the democrat were were thrown out, sosa prosecute pr s votes of the democrats. it looks more and more like this is headed to a runoff election. >>> david raladao officially conceded to t.j. cox. initially, the race was called for the incumbent. right now, 235 seats for the democrats, 199 seats for the republicans and, of course, that north carolina race remains to be called. >>> a new consensus candidate to replace jeff sessions as attorney general is emerging this morning. 68-year-old bill bar was attorney general once before in the early 90s during the george h.w. bush administration. lawmakers from both parties have spoken highly of bar. they say it would be easier to confirm in the current highly polarized political environment. bar would be robert mueller's boss. he's gone on record exp

of the november election. let's listen to him. >> we need to have a public airing of the facts very soon by the board of elections if they can determine that there was wrongdoing and that those people should be criminally prosecuted under state and federal law, which we fully support, but that -- but numerically it could not have changed the outcome of the race then mr. harris needs to be certified. >> earlier today "the washington post" reported that both his party, that's the republicans, and a regional political director for the national republican congressional committee were warned of voting irregularities in the county during the primaries. as john mentioned. the nrcc denies those reports. raised concerns about his re-election campaign two years ago. let me get back to leeann. it seems to me the question is, if there is taint here, if her was cheating, criminality, should the election count, even if the numbers don't add up to the difference between the winner and the loser in the first count? >> yeah, it's interesting what dallas woodhouse said. he said that he would support a new election if there is enou

>> well, the evidence will be up for the state board of elections to examine. and i am -- i think the folks on the state board of elections who held a 9-0 decision, a bipartisan unprecedented decision not to certify the race and to hold the investigation, i think that showed a lot of courage. i think it showed a lot of courage by the republicans on that board to join the democrats and independents to do that. and i believe that they will hold a full and a thorough investigation to look at all the evidence and all the affidavits and make a decision about whether this election was tainted. >> it sounds like you think the evidence might be there. >> it doesn't look good. it doesn't look good for my opponent mark harris, who has paid, hired this convicted felon to handle his absentee ballot work and liked his services so much that he actually recommended him to other politicians. i call on my opponent -- >> go on. sorry. >> i call on my opponent, mark harris, to end his silence. he has been completely silent during this entire episode. and i think he owes the americ

this is against everything that our activists stand for. >> reporter: now, the state board of elections hasoertify t obably hold a hearing i ns ara-new ff?ction may have to be ld. >>> two women came forward today to say they were employed at a golf resort owned by the trump organization, even though they were living in this country illegally. adriana diaz spoke with them. >> reporter: victorina morales, an undocumented immigrant from guatemala has worked at the trump national golf club in new jersey for five years, even cleaning the president's residence. so you would make the beds, you would clean the bathrooms you would dust, you would vacuum the residence? she claims her bosses knew she wasn't authorized to live in the u.s. but hired her anyway. so he said it doesn't matter. we need someone whether or not they have documents. she says jorge villafuerte, identified as a club manager in this photo with president trump social ve her money to get a rid. we tried to call villafuerte but were unable to reach him. sandra diaz says she also worked at the club while she was undocumented. thei

if the allegations presented by the board of elections rise to the level of turning the outcome of this having a substantial likelihood, there has to be a new election. >> finding out about it or getting caught? i want to go to nbc's katie beck. all right, where do we go from here? >> stephanie, as the day's gone on and more evidence is presented, the talk of a new election is becoming more and more real. people want to know who knew what. this is not the first time dallas has had questionable activity. this is not the first time he's had questionable activity in this county. folks here have a lot of questions. the state board who has now voted twice not to certify this election are taking every p precaution. it is a deep dive investigation. involved about 4,000 ballots. they're putting a lot of what they're finding online for the public. saying here's the evidence. you're take it in as we're gathering it and make your own decisions. they plan to have a public hearing within two years to air this publicly. do they think a new election is warranted? do they think there's still integrity

but i fully trust the state board of elections. ipartisan board with republicans, democrats and an independent all to vote together 9-0 in an unprecedent decision to refuse to certify this election. that took a lot of courage from the republicans on that board. i trust the process. i believe if this election is tainted, then the board will call a new election. >> you support the idea of a new election, yes? >> if this election is tainted there absolutely needs to be a new election. >> dan mccready, thank you very much. this appears to be a story that will not go away any time soon. >>> here is what to watch this morning. >> who are you? no ordinary man. >> i wasn't always a maid. my family fell on hard times. >> i must take control of my circumstance. >> you're jealous. she is a viper. >> you do not need me as an enemy. >> not quite following. >> i apologize. >> the favourite. >>> john kelly expected to resign soon. robert mueller in the meantime expected to reveal perhaps some new details today. "cnn newsroom" has it all covered fo

a panel of state judges deemed the board of elections, state board of elections unconstitutional, orderedthem to dissolve which they did at noon yesterday. this is not related to the investigation into voter fraud, this is an on-going legal battle back from 2016. but it has huge implications of what's going on now in the state because this voter board, this election board was doing the investigation into the voter fraud. they were also holding a hearing on january 11th to go over the evidence on voter fraud and determine whether or not there was going to be a new election. lastly, they never certified a winner. despite that harris was leading his opponent by 905 votes, they didn't certify the election. harris did file his last minute petition to try to get them to certify him as winner before they dissolved and they refused to do so. listen to what the democratic party chairman has to say about that move. >> republicans are actively obstructing an investigation into electoral fraud, all to steal the election themselves. this is alarming and unconscionable, a message to every north carolin

in raleigh, the state board of elections has a decision to make. republican in congress or have a do over election, which is possible. there's a new wrinkle overnight. steny hoyer, the incoming majority leader of the democrats in the house says if there's any problems or questions about the validity of the vote down here they are not going to seat republican mark harris in the new congress. >> drew, we are so glad you are staying on all of these wrinkles for us. it's an important case. >> the special counsel's sentencing for michael flynn, the memo offers new clues. what does it tell us about when robert mueller will wrap up the investigation? >> but first, cnn heroes, and join us for that. we will be there. >> we are humans helping humans. they need our help. >> we are truly giving the gift of mobility. >> through the best the world has to offer. >> we are doing something that matters a lot more than we do. >> they are heroes today and every day. >> this is nice. >> we are teaching these girls how to solve problems. >> we serve anybody who has rais

. >> clearly if what you reported is verified by the state board of elections, there has to be a new egations as presented by the board of elections rise to a level of turning the outcome of this race or having substantial likelihood, there has to be a new election. >> big, big interview there withdrew. chris cillizza is with me. when you listen to him, how would you characterize his reaction? refreshing perhaps? >> sure. dallas woodhouse is quite of a character. so if you know anything about him, his reaction is in keeping with who he really is. i think this is very difficult to go through because if you are looking at what's been overturned by drew griffin and others, it certainly suggests that not just in the general lebs in the north caroli-- elece primary ballots, something's going on here. dallas woodhouse said there definitely should be a new election if it's found that the margin of error, that this could have changed the margin of victory. i'll note that is not a requirement by law in order to order a new election. if election fraud is found and proven, it doesn't need to be

nbc news has obtained documents from the state board of elections, perhaps just the first traunch heret two people, mcray dallas and jessica dallas have collected 775 absentee ballot applications in addition to our own reporting where we've found a handful of people have collected and turned in dozens and dozens of absentee applications. >> who are those people? are they private individuals? do they work for the state? >> yeah, they're private individuals. mcray dowless has been at the center of this investigation, reportedly hired by the mark harris campaign to help harris win bladen county and harris has reportedly hired dozens of people to help him go around and collect these absentee ballots and turn them in. sometimes he hasn't turned them in and sometimes they are looking into if they've been tampered with. we spoke with one woman who says that her absentee ballot was illegally collected. here is what she had to say. >> a young lady came to the door. she knocked on the door, asked if she could have the absentee ballot. i broke the seal in front of her to show it was never opened.