but claire mccaskill, how do you -- how would you describe what kind of foreign policy you expect joeiden to enact? like, how would you describe it? and is there a model president to compare it to? >> well, he's inheriting a crisis, this hack that has occurred from russia that has still traded a number of federal agencies and even indications into some of our most secure systems as it relates to nuclear power. he's got a crisis on his hands, and it will be an opportunity for him to send a strong signal to russia, either on front street or behind the curtain, where they can feel the impact of a new sheriff in town when it comes to putin and russia. he will no longer coddle bad guys and he will immediately try to strengthen our alliances around the world. those democracies that believe in the same values we believe in. because that's really the national security of our country is how strong that alliance is. and it's been frayed over trump's irresponsibility over the last four years. that's what he'll get to right away, and i think that will be the cornerstone of his foreign policy. >>s

but it's the only way to get things done. >> claire mccaskill, respond to john sununu there. he said look, if he goes and targets health care and climate, it's going to be a fight and it's going to be hard. i'm sitting there going, okay, let's say joe biden's running for re-election and the convention in atlanta in 2024, what is the accomplishment he's got to have both on health care and climate, to feel good about having a successful, domestic agenda >> i think it's to be determined but let's keep in mind one thing, chuck, that is we've just had a president who used executive powers beyond all realm of one's imagination before the days of donald trump. and i don't think that joe biden will ever go as far as donald trump went with executive power. but trump has shown that you can do things as radical as taking money from the pentagon to build a domestic project without congressional approval he tried to wipe out all kinds of immigration law just with the stroke of a pen. so that is in joe biden's back pocket and i know the republicans will scream executive power abuse just li

when you think about russia, for example, what claire mccaskill was just saying i think is absolutelye different from the start is going to be the tone yes, there have been tough sanctions against russia, but i'm told in speaking to transition officials that the tone is going to be very different from the top from the start, and they think that's going to make a difference. >> okay. >> it's impossible for the tone not to be different. and that's a good thing but it's impossible. >> running for re-election i hear you on the issue of the re-election, how does joe biden avoid the constant, will he or won't he and also avoid being a lame duck >> he'll probably avoid doing a lot of shows where people will be focused on that i think he's going to really just refuse to even go there i don't think it would be very smart for him to even discuss it he's got two years of work ahead of him where he's going to get stuff done by the way, chuck, the american people this year of all years are reallyic is sick of politi. >> oh, yes, that i get i won't be asking the question for two years, that i promi

claire mccaskill. and michael steel. i was so giddy talking to her. i went over time.ell me what you expect to hear tonight and do you think it will be effective? >> i expect the president-elect to come out and give us all a collective sigh of relief and say that the country is now ready to move on. it's official. all the nations have been attained. we have gone through the process. and he will look to bind up the wound from the election. wounds that we know are still being cut at and torn at by donald trump. and some members of the party. my hope is that the vast majority of americans begin to rally around that sense of tun. and the optimism. for what joe biden plans to do. we'll get a good sense and taste of that tonight. >> the fact remains that joe biden cannot appoint donald trump supporters with reality. only trump can do that. and republicans can do that. they don't seem ready. >> officials in each state. without regard to party or political preference, have certified the winning candidate. today, member of the electoral college, representing the certified winne

claire mccaskill is going to join us. >> ah!> i'm having some of that gd coffee. >> where did you pull up with the mug. did you pull up with the mug. >> i pulled up with the mug. i pulled up with the mug, leslie. and with my gang of dishes and my dangerous wiry stairway. [ laughter ] >> hey, hey listen, here is what i have to tell you. first, my friend, nicki is the best in the business. and you figured that out. nick-a. always nick-a. but let me tell you something, lesl leslie jones, she's right about humor at a time of a crisis and the feeling to act on it, people who are smart are the only people who could be really funny. >> wow! >> and that means you. it takes great intelligence to be really funny. so you're really one smart broad. >> why do we keep you doing this. how do we keep you watching -- any of the cable -- because i can't live without it. >> it is like crowd work. and just like claire said, this is a moment, i am a comedienne and i do understand that humor is medicine and this is the best medicine for us right now.

claire mccaskill, former senator, senator jack reed, of course, ranking on the senate armed servicesmittee, expressed concern over providing the waiver to mattis in 2017, saying it would sent a dangerous new precedent for pentagon leadership and that waiving the law should happen only once in a generation, and went on to say he would not support such a waiver for future nominees. others have said they would not support a waiver, including elizabeth warren, bernie sanders. what do you think about this and the current situation? >> well, first let's just boil this down to what this decision is going to be for the senators and for the house members, andrea, because they have to pass this waiver also. are we going to stand on the difference between four and seven years versus a highly respected, history-making african-american appointment to run the department of defense? i think that's a tough call for my former colleagues. i think if you were actually going to draw a line in the sand and say, well, seven years is enough, but four years isn't enough to lead the pentagon, in light of wha

senator, now an msnbc news and msnbc news political analyst, claire mccaskill is here. she knows truman more than anybody. columnist and associate editor for "the washington post," david ignatius and historian and rogers chair at vanderbilt university, jon meacham who unofficially advises president-elect joe biden. >> jon, you were the first while i was developing, while i was writing the book and sort of developing my thoughts. you were the first to draw parallels between harry truman and joe biden. and saying at the time if joe biden ended up being elected there would be some parallels between the two that were too hard to miss. >> yeah, it's, you know, a coming to power at a moment where the infrastructure of the world is either under stress and strain or is fully broken. it's a moment of global consciousness, not simply intellectually but in a very tactile sense. the most tactile sense because the pandemic is a global phenomena. fdr was very articulate in the way that bill clinton and barack obama were articulate and george w. bush, too, on globalization as an idea

rich lowry, claire mccaskill, always a pleasure to have the two of you sharing your perspective with us. thank you, both. >>> in washington, a somber reminder of the toll of this pandemic. so yesterday the national cathedral rang that bell 300 times over the course of 30 minutes, each ring represented 1,000 americans who have died from covid-19. just suck that in here a minute. >>> up ahead, as the crisis deepens across the country, california's governor is take something grim steps as the death toll is expected to rise. plus, we could be days away from a second approved vaccine. we'll tell you what you need to know about this one. we'll tell you what you need to know about this one. at dell technologies, we started by making the cloud easier to manage. but we didn't stop there. we made a cloud flexible enough to adapt to any size business. no matter what it does, or how it changes. and we kept going. so you only pay for what you use. because at dell technologies, we stop...at nothing. ♪ to help you build a flexible wealth plan. you'll have access to tax-smart investing strategies, a

and joining me now is former senator claire mccaskill of missouri and michael steele, former chairman of the rnc. and, michael, i want to start on that last point because, you know, donald trump is just openly using the white house as the backdrop for his infomercial. >> yeah. >> but he's always doing the same thing, right? you know, i interviewed people when i wrote the recent book i wrote about trump, and they said to a person they didn't think he was going to win. they thought it would be great marketing for his hotels to run for president. he's been using his presidency to suck money out of foreign diplomats. people with him are in on the scheme. everyone howled michael flynn calling for martial law to overthrow the election. it says contribute now! right? you have sidney powell, her organization is doing these loopy, nutsy cuckoo lawsuits. her organization directs donors to write checks payable to her law firm. it is all a scam, michael. >> i'm not going to argue with one bit of that. the great little dirty party of this is donald trump right now, joy, is raising money at a faste

we really are doing this, claire mccaskill?talk about what mitch mcconnell did and some of his fellow senators are backing up finally at least versus the incentives that may have house members doing something differently? >> let me first, mika, take you inside the republican caucus for a minute as to what is actually going on. mitch mcconnell gave the signal early on that no one should break until after the electoral college. after the electoral college, then he freed people up to, in fact, say the obvious. that joe biden won. even though they're not admitting it was a landslide and fair and square. what's really going on now is a battle between the ambition of those people in the republican caucus that want to be president and mitch mcconnell, who's trying to protect other members of the senate that are up in two years. so tom cotton, ted cruz and josh holly are having a real gut-check moment, because they know if they don't try to fight for trump to overturn these five swing states, this silly exercise in futility, if they do

senator now an msnbc news and msnbc political analyst, claire mccaskill. have you both with us this hour. >> claire, of course, we think that people in both parties should be vetted. they should be -- their record should be examined if they've done things that republicans disagree with or democrats -- fine. talk about it and go through it. that's what we do here. a lot of people thought i was way too tough on george w. bush and then they thought i was way too tough on barack obama and then they thought i was way too tough on donald trump. but you're in the public spotlight you're going to criticize people. but i must say, it was pretty hard listening to some of your former colleagues attack a biden appointee on -- wait for it, wait for it -- mean tweets. >> yeah. you know, honestly, it's a little weird that somebody's twitter account would be used as the touch stone for confirmation. you know, i think most of those senators have pretty tough bark on the tree. i mean, if you are a united states senator you take a lot of incoming. there's a lot of haters out

. >>> with me is former democratic senator claire mccaskill. always good to see you.ue of general austin. how do you view the waiver law when it comes to is it designed to truly -- i mean, when should this waiver be enacted, in your view? when it is somebody so exceptional, nobody else can do the job in that moment? or is the waiver the way it works out now which is, well, if this is what the president wants, see if congress agrees and then fine? where is your head on this? >> well, keep in mind this waiver has been a moving target. it started out at ten years, then brought down to seven and that seven number is an arbitrary number. you know? general austin has been out as a civilian for four years. so really what senators and congress folks are going to have to do is say, you know, is four years enough for him to temper his military service with a view of civilians running the pentagon. i actually think that because of the historic nature of this nomination -- keep in mind, chuck, over 40% of the active military are people of color. that is a big number for us never

and from missouri, democratic senator claire mccaskill, an nbc and msnbc contributor. thanks so much to all of you. gene, let's talk about janet yellen and other members of the team and why janet yellen is the right person to run treasury, the first woman and obviously someone with superb qualifications. >> i mean, janet yellen, it's hard to think of someone who has not just her resume but her heart, her academic brilliance, and someone who absolutely commands respect on both sides of the aisle, and globally. and at a time of crisis like this, go to someone where there's such competence in her head and her heart and her experience, makes that very, very strong pick. but i think what's really distinctive about this team is that, to use words i like and i think joe biden does, this is an economic dignity team. this is a team of not, you know, ivory tower folks. this is a team of people who actually in their areas, heather buescher, jared bernstein in fighting for full employment policies, cecilia rouse for being someone who has fought against hiring discrimination and th

mike barnicle, claire mccaskill and eddie glaude are back with us as well.y and learn from lbj's legacy? >> you know, there is no question that lbj was a man of the congress has biden has been and learning how to deal with the individual congressmen and senators, i think there is no better person than lbj. just think, after that inaugural oath that he took. he went to a joint session of congress and made very clear his absolute first priority was the passage of the civil rights bill that kennedy had introduced that summer and was totally stuck. nobody thought it would get out of the house and senate. so he knew he had to work that congress. but he made a pledge that this will be my first priority. they said you're crazy, it's going to fail, you will be a failed president, you shouldn't use the currency of your presidency on this. then he celebratedly said, then what the hell is the presidency for? then he set to work. he had individual congressmen -- i love claire to think about this, in groups of 30. they come with their spouses. the spouses go on a tour af

an adviser to a republican political reliance is back and also joining us our friend senator claire mccaskillhan lemire. claire, i have to start with you. no one is throwing a parade for bill barr. but it is an indication of how bad this is for trump. how bogus his claims of fraud really are. that bill barr, who is pretty good at finding a kern el of something trump likes and blowing it up to where he's repelled prosecutors and he can't find anything, can't find any evidence of fraud and has to idea what trump and rudy giuliani are talking about. >> let's take a step back. on sunday night, donald trump's choice to head up election security went on 60 minutes and said as plainly as it could be said that there what those fraud, that 95% of the ballots were backed up with paper ballots that were auditable and the hand counts match the machine counts and once again there was no fraud. that was the first blow. then the second blow came today when barr, who appears to have been willing to do almost anything for donald trump, finally drew the line and said, nope, not doing that. i'm not going to pre

claire mccaskill, thank you for spending the first half of this hour with us. >>> up next, delicates cast their votes for joe biden, but it wasn't without cause for concern. members of the electoral college needed a police escort today. we have a live report from lansing just ahead. don't go anywhere. we made usaa insurance for members like martin. an air force veteran made of doing what's right, not what's easy. so when a hailstorm hit, usaa reached out before he could even inspect the damage. that's how you do it right. usaa insurance is made just the way martin's family needs it with hassle-free claims, he got paid before his neighbor even got started. because doing right by our members, that's what's right. usaa. what you're made of, we're made for. ♪ usaa ♪ i got it all from you ♪ i'm always pushing through ♪ i know we'll make it to the finish line ♪ ♪ i know you're waiting on the other side ♪ ♪ i'm like you on-demand glucose monitoring. because they're always on. another life-changing technology from abbott. so you don't wait for life. you live it. >>> a

really the credit for creating the system not only goes to people like mike mccall in texas, claire mccaskill, but also the obama administration who tried to get this thing. suzanne spalding and her team really started it. but the notion of we don't have enough tech people in government, and obviously we need to get more tech-savvy in terms of getting to the cloud, right? so we look at the mission of protecting the .gov, we need to get away from the networks and servers and get to the cloud. congress gave us some hiring authority to bring in technology workers at a lower level to pay the mortgage. right now someone from cal tech is coming in because she has experience, and the regime that will be in place next year will be able to pay her more and get her into government quickly. but the other thing i want to say, too, we need a tech infusion at the state and local level. when you look at the problems at ransomware, we really need more modernization for our cities and states. when you look at some of the operating systems, they're still running windows 7, and the capitalization for tech is no

the credit for creating cisa not only goes to people like mike mccall from texas, claire mccaskill, and also the obama administration who tried to get this started, susan spaulding and her people prior to cisa started it. the notion we don't have enough tech people in government and obviously we need to get more tech savvy in terms of getting to the cloud and protecting the dot-gov. we've got to get away from 101 having their own servers and get to the cloud. to bring in technology experts, workers, and a lower level to pay them more. because right now the best coder out of cal techs she's going come in as a gs-9 because she doesn't have experience. and the new regime next year, will be able to pay her more and get her into government quickly the, but the other thing i would say, too, we need a tech infusion at the fate and local level. when we look at ransomware, when i was at the conference for governors and mayors, we need more modernization for our cities and states. when you look at some of their operating system, they're running windows 7. capitalization for tech is not there. i'm

msnbc political analysis claire mccaskill is here and elizabeth neumann is here from the department ofiser to defending democracy together. and sam stein is here, politics editor for the daily beast and msnbc contributor. claire, i start with you. i read the reporting and i have no words other than to bring the best of it to this broadcast, to share it and say what the bleep did people think was going to happen when donald trump was enabled by all of these people? >> he has been indulged for so long in his narcissistic fantasy that everyone is in office because he put them there. that no one would hold office if it wasn't for his benevolent nature and bestowing upon them his blessing. and here is the thing that is really weird about this, nicolle. is who is not in the room. you notice where jared is. jared is getting out of the country. mike pompeo is trying to get out of the country. pence is trying to hide under his desk. all of the people who have allowed this president to do thisker ossive damage to our democracy are now hiding from him. and he's beginning to fir out that the only

former missouri senator claire mccaskill is back, and peter baker, "new york times" chief white house correspondent. and sam stein, politics editor at the "daily beast." lucky for us, all msnbc contributors. claire, i want to start with you. when i read peter's reporting and the other great reporting in all the papers this weekend, especially "the washington post" count, putting numbers and names to all of the republicans, green lighting and enabling donald trump's war against this result, donald trump's war against republican and local election officials, secretaries of state and governors, it is clear they have made a choice not to protect the integrity of the vote and therefore not to protect our democracy. what are the lasting effects of that? it strikes me that at this point trump is as peter writes about to fade into oblivion. the republicans that enable this still today, 4:00 on monday, they should have to somehow come to terms with what they're doing now, no? >> well, here's the bottom line. here's the dirty little secret. their default language has been the president has a ri

. >> leslie, i have a surprise guest, because i love you, two of my favorite humans, claire mccaskillgd coffee! [ laughter ] >> claire, did you pull up with the mug? did you pull up with the mug? >> i pulled up with the mug, leslie, and with my dishes and my dangerous wiry stairway! >> ha ha! >> hey, hey, listen, here's what i've got to tell you. first, my friend, nick k. is the best in the business. nick k.! always, nick k. >> oh, claire, claire, you are definitely my favorite cupcake, baby. >> there you go. there you go. >> you've got the best back splash in the business, boo. >> nicolle wallace is going to be nick k. forever to all of us. we love that, leslie. >>> meanwhile, the sitcom "it's always sunny in philadelphia" is making history. the gang is going to be back for four more seasons, and it's going to make it the longest running live-action sitcom by season count, shattering the previous record. the show's going to run through season 18, far surpassing the previous record holder, "the adventures of ozzie and harriet," which ran for 14 seasons on abc starting in the 1950s. wh

great state of missouri because imagine you're trading in this phenomenal senator you have in claire mccaskillnd you get tucker carlson's insecure younger brother. good job, missouri. >> the function that the vice president has here, he's the president of the senate. and so he basically is the minister of these kinds of things in the senate. as you said, it's the same function that the vice president has but usually delegates to any senator who takes his place when he's not there, basically. on a vote in the senate, when they vote on a bill in the senate, they count the votes down there at the clerk's desk and then they hand a piece of paper up to the president of the senate. and the president of the senate reads those numbers. the vote was 52 yeas, 48 nays. the president of the senate is not allowed to change those numbers he's handed. this is exactly the same thing, isn't it? >> exactly. i wrote this in what i wrote for "the new york times" yesterday. it's true the vice president presides over the count but that is to ensure decorum and order. what these republicans are saying basically is i

claire mccaskill, michael steele, thank you very much. "all in with chris hayes" is up right now. chris. >> thank you so much, joy, appreciate it. nice to see you in person. good evening from new york, i'm chris hayes. it has been a really remarkable day of news. we just heard president-elect joe biden delivering a speech in wilmington, delaware, on a truly significant day as we're right now looking to turn the page on the two biggest stories of this brutal, brutal year. so today members of the electoral college met across the country to formally cast their ballots. now, this happens every four years. this is usually a pro forma thing that's not really covered. it happens in the background because the loser of the election by this point has already conceded and everyone has accepted the peaceful transfer of power. but because the president and his party have posed an unprecedented nearly challenge to the peaceful transfer of power, we have been following and covering in minutia the guts of the electoral college system. this was the moment that the california delegation voted, putt

regular guests quite in the same way after watching leslio mean on eddie glad's bookshelf and claire mccaskill'sest moments not just in american political history but in our country's history, the snl alum knows how to do two things. one, make us laugh. and two, say out loud for everybody to hear, reveal the ridiculous parts of anchoring cable news in the time of covid. with no further ado, host of abc's supermarket sweep and lately >> what's up, nikki? [ laughter ] >> all right. i have to tell you, take me behind what's behind you. >> okay. all right. yeah, that's right. you know i was going to do it right, nikki. i was going to make it look good so i put my hero, you can't talk about mine unless you going to go there, nikki, unless you going to go there. [ laughter ] >> how are you doing, beautiful? >> you know -- >> how are you? >> i started -- you know, this is a rough one. this is a rough day. the number of people dying from the pandemic, the lunacy of the guy in the oval office. i mean, i have always been a fan of yours, but i became like a hooked addict friday after the election. i was wa