kaitlan, you're first. i just want to get to president trump dealing with two defeats today, as he continues to try to overturn the election. what are you hearing about this meeting with the michigan state lawmakers at the white house today? >> well, don, we are told it lasted about an hour. of course, this is an incredibly unusual meeting. even though the white house described it as routine, you do not often see the president meet with state lawmakers. and so, the question, of course, is the president going to try to use his political muscle to pressure these legislators, excuse me, to get the electors to do something different than, of course, you know, overriding the vote, basically, of what the voters in michigan wanted. but if you look at the statement that came out after they left this meeting, from these legislators, it makes clear that they did not get that signal from the president. they say they have no evidence, still, that anything should change with the vote with michigan and they are going to

kaitlan, you first.to get to president trump dealing with two defeats today as he tries to overturn the election. what are you hearing about the meet with the michigan state lawmakers at the white house today? >> we're told it lasted about an hour. this is an incredibly unusual meeting, even though the white house described it as routine. you do not often see the president meet with state lawmakers. certainly not a state that he lost to joe biden by 150,000 votes a few days before they're set to certify those results. and so the question is of course, is the president going to try to use his political muscle to pressure these legislators to get the electors to do something different than, of course, overriding the vote of what the voters in michigan wanted. but if you look at this statement that came out after they left this meeting from these legislators it makes clear that they did not get that signal from the president. they say they have no evidence still that anything should change with the vote wit

i want to start with kaitlan collins at the white house. kaitlan, what happened? what can you tell us about trump's firing of secretary esper? >> reporter: we know he had about a five-minute heads-up, brooke, that that tweet was coming from president trump announcing he was terminating him, and that warning came from chief of staff mark meadows, who called mesper to let him know that was going to happen. it happened suddenly, but we knew it was a plan in the making, because esper and the president had clashed for months, starting when the president wanted to send troops out in the american streets, and i believe it was the first time mark esper held a press conference, saying he did not invoke putting american troops on the streets dealing with american citizens just because they were protesting police brutality. that was something president trump was furious over. he referred to him as yesper, indicating he is a yes man. if he wanted to jump in and intervene and hurt his election chances, he told him he should wait until the election is over, which he has done. b

kaitlan, i got to ask you. i'm going a little long here. what is it like for you and the people who work there to be living with someone who is not living in reality, walking on egg shells, today is he going to concede? can somebody please tell him the truth? what's he going to do? this is ridiculous. it's ridiculous what we're doing. >> reporter: it's not just the president. it's not one of those situations where aides are quietly behind the scenes, we don't know what to do, we're waiting on him. that's true for some of them. but you're seeing people whose salaries are paid by taxpayers come out and talk about this delusional world like president trump has won the election. and that was evident today in kayleigh mcenany, the press secretary, talking about donald trump attending his inauguration in january that we should be clear is not happening. it just isn't happening. and people know that. the president knows that. yet, publicly, that's what they're saying. it's not just the president saying these things. we saw peter navarro saying tod

>> well, kaitlan might be able to answer that better than i.'ll just tell you, from my perch, the sources i am talking to, it really depends on the minute. it depends on the hour. depends on what kind of mood, at that precise moment, the president is in. he fundamentally feels as though he needs to fight, like he is known to fight, for the 72 million people who voted for him. the question, don, which is obviously what you're getting to, is why the republicans in congress are -- are feeding into that. and the answer is the same reason they fed into so many things over the past four years. because they share constituents. and those constituents and that allegiance that they have to donald trump, that's not going anywhere. and it's been pretty clear over the past week that the whole grip that donald trump has had and tightened and tightened and tightened over the four -- past four years on the gop is even tig tighter, and tighter than it's ever been. and it's not going away, and neither is he. >> yeah. kaitlan, similar question because dana said y

kaitlan, you're a star. and, joe, you keep us following the right star when it talks to the democrats about what they're supposed to be, and that will be ever more valuable even now. so thank you both. i'm thankful for having you in my life and on my show. appreciate you. kaitlan, what i'm hearing, that trump was getting worried about his brand and that maybe it was time to do something different. what are you hearing about how we got here? >> i think that's certainly the concern with people around the president, and that's why you saw them going to the president, urging him to move forward with this ascertainment, with this formal transition, to let it happen because you were starting to see a crack in gop support here. you know, it's not big steps from republican lawmakers. it's small steps, but you started to see more and more people come forward saying that this is something that needed to happen. so of course the way the president framed it in his tweet shortly after this letter was sent to the biden ca

kaitlan, nia, thank you very much. >>> obviously, the president, the kaitlan was saying, doesn't want to talk about the pandemic, the 920,000 people who have been affected since he's been silent, the 7,000 people who have died. the republican governor of ohio says the country is on fire, it's like nothing we've ever seen. we're going to talk to a member of the president-elect's advisory board, next. get ready - our most popular battery is now even more powerful. the stronger, lasts-longer energizer max. meet omnipod - it delivers insulin through a tubeless pod. just one small pod replaces up to 14 injections! and today - you can get started with a free 30-day omnipod dash trial at omnipod.com. no more daily injections. it's game-changing! get started with a free 30-day omnipod dash trial today. go to omnipod.com for risk information, instructions for use and free trial terms and conditions. consult your healthcare provider before starting on omnipod. simplify diabetes. simplify life. omnipod. s. ♪ greetings mortal! your journey requires liberty mutual. they customize your car insuranc

all right, kaitlan collins, stand by. we'll get more from you on all this. let's get reaction from the chairman of the house intelligence committee, congressman adam schiff. chairman, you say the president's decision to pardon michael flynn is yet another abuse of his pardon power. why do you find this pardon so troubling? >> well, let's remember what michael flynn did. after the election in which the russians helped the trump campaign mike flynn had a conversation with the russian ambassador and contrary to u.s. policy, which was to impose sanctions on russia, tried get the russians to back off any reaction. essentially don't react, we'll take care of this. that was i think the message he was trying to communicate when he was asked about it by the fbi he lied about it. when he was speaking to the vice president he lied about it. the president said that he had to fire mike flynn because he was lying. and now after flynn twice pled guilty to lying to the fbi the president pardons him and wants to portray him as some kind of a hero. well, heroes don't lie to t

. >>> let's go straight to the white house to kaitlan collins. you're getting more information about the president's pardon of michael flynn. >> this was expected. >> reporter: if you were here in the early days of the trump administration it's surprising to see it in this way. mike flynn was only president trump's national security adviser for about 24 days before he was fired for what the president said at the time was lying to vice president mike pence, though, of course, with he did later learn he pleaded guilty to lying twice to the fbi about his contacts with the then russian ambassador to the united states during that transitional period. the president announced on twitter he was firing mike flynn and later placed him. mike flynn later tried to disavow that guilty plea if you remember correctly. he wanted them to get them to throw his case out in what the most shocking twist of all of this came the spring when the justice department tried to abandon its own case that it had brought against flynn. of course, that is something, jim, still in

kaitlan collins is outside the white house. jessica dean is in delaware. kaitlan, this meeting. obviously, the president called them to come to washington from michigan. tell us what you have learned. >> clearly, it did not go the way the president wanted it to because the white house said it wasn't an advocacy meeting, you are seeing a statement they put out tonight saying there is no new information changing their mind about who won the state of michigan. i think that's incredibly notable because while the white house was saying it wasn't political focused, it wasn't politically motivated to have this meeting, we did know that people from the campaign were supposed to be there, including rudy giuliani, who did not show up only because his son tested positive for coronavirus. and so, the question here is really what's next here, erin? because unparalleled efforts, we should note, by inviting these state legislators to the white house today. and we are told he has plans to do similar for pennsylvania. although, those invitations don't appear to have been extended yet. but initia

so kaitlan, you're on the phone right now. what can you tell news terms of the latest head check from inside there? >> well, i think the most obvious thing that people thought about tonight in the background of that speech that you heard from joe biden was the fact that the president has not yet conceded the presidency to joe biden, despite him being declared the winner. and we've now learned that jared kushner has approached president trump about conceding the election, according to two sources. and what they told cnn. but of course the question still remains is when is that going to happen. has the president agreed to do so? and that's what we still don't know. so far he has resisted it. he has not only resisted not conceding it, he tweeted today falsely that he had won the election, though we know that is not the case that has really become the big question hanging over everyone inside the white house is how the president approaches this. obviously he is going the leave the white house. he will have to leave in about ten we

kaitlan, what are you hearing about what's going on from the administration? >> reporter: well, publicly, brooke, they are still pushing forward with this move to contest the election. they are meeting with the president's advisers again today after meeting with him yesterday to discuss going forward. you see the president is responding on twitter, but publicly we only heard from the president last thursday when he came to the briefing room, tried to discredit the outcome of the election, and that was the last time he spoke publicly. and then, of course, he went to arlington national cemetary earlier today for veterans day, but that was the only time we've seen the president, and he didn't make any remarks to reporters. he was silent there, of course, during this traditional celebration and commemoration while we were there of the service, but other than that, brooke, nothing from the president. so what we've seen from him on twitter is he's attacking gop officials who are disputing his claims about widespread fraud, saying they have not seen any, including th

we're bringing in cnn white house correspondent kaitlan collins.e got new reporting on how sidney powell ended up on the outs with president trump. >> reporter: this has kind of been building awhile. while the president had been obsessed with a baseless conspiracy she was pushing about voting machines that were used in several states which she claimed without any evidence, something she still hasn't provided, that they were changing votes from donald trump to joe biden. that's a theory the president became personally obsessed with. but the frustration started to grow. you're seeing trump allies, people normally back up the president like tucker carlson and others saying she had not provided any evidence of claims she was making, including at the press conference at the republican national committee last week where sidney powell appeared next to rudy giuliani and jenna ellis, also a trump campaign legal adviser. what we heard is that the president had been growingly frustrated. he started asking for evidence of this, we are told he wasn't presented

kaitlan, thank you so much. i want to get deeper into this with chief analyst gloria borger and cnn's diplomatic analyst and rear admiral john kirby. welcome to both of you. gloria, again, just reminding people. you look at the calendar, 65 days. that will be here in a blink, right, until we have a new president, and this is the kind of move that this current commander in chief decides to do. why? >> because it's on his bucket list and he sees it as something that he promised he would do, and he wants to put a check mark next to it. i don't think it has much to do with national security strategy. jake tapper reported that that could be the reason why former defense secretary esper and his like-minded colleagues were pushed, because they didn't agree with this strategy, but this is something the president has decided he wants to do, so he will do it. it does complicate things for joe biden, as we all know. those of us who have known joe biden for years know he is not someone who has been for robust military inter

kaitlan collins, thank you very much. van jones, my kumbaya cousin, always good to see you, thank you for being with me tonight and have a very good weekend. >>> coronavirus. that's the pandemic that happened on this president's watch. the numbers are going crazy. and they're saying, well, the vaccine. it's not going to help us now. it's not going to help us for a long time. it will help. but not now. how many people have to die? this president clings to the "rounding the corner." i keep telling you, the only thing we're rounding is circling down into deeper circles of hell in this pandemic. what we need to know about our nursing homes. how do we avoid what happened the first wave? former cdc director, his analysis, next. no uh uh, no way come on, no no n-n-n-no-no only discover has no annual fee on any card. n-n-n-no-no hey kim! with 5% cash back on travel purchased through chase from freedom unlimited, you can now earn even more. book that hotel kim, because you are worth it. i am worth it. now earn 5% on travel purchas

kaitlan, thank you very much.l director david chalian along with our political correspondent abby phillip and the host of cnn's "smerconish," michael smerconish. david, let me start out here. we were just talking to the lieutenant governor of pennsylvania. you have 700,000 ballots in just that state. already other states where this happened. where people have requested and have not yet been returned. that's a lot of people. and some of them may vote in person and flood lines. and some of them pay put them in the overnight boxes. some of them unfortunately may not vote at all. but the most important thing for people to understand is that every one of those votes should be counted. right? every one of those votes should be counted. so for someone to imply that because it takes a long time to count them that they are somehow invalid or fraudulent is hugely disturbing to the entire democratic process. >> yeah. it's undermining. every vote should be counted if it is cast according to the rules and counted in time in th

to what end, kaitlan? it doesn't matter if he accepts or is in denial, he is going to be leaving that building. it's just a question about whether or not he wants to look like a sore loser and a petulant child or whether or not he is going to be a man. an adult. >> and his advisers are realizing that. the question is can people successfully break through to the president? because this is a president who has long run on this pattern of creating a lot of noise about something, as he did at the start of his political career when he promoted the birther conspiracy about president obama. he basically can create a lot of noise around something that makes people believe what he is saying, even though there is no evidence around it. and kind of following a similar pattern here, where the president is challenging the results. it's going to allow some of his supporters to also question the legitimacy of joe biden, and that's a dangerous thing. and the president's allies realize that. people who work in this white ho

kaitlan, let me also ask you about this while i have you. we're learning the cia director gina haskell -- i believe the phrase was iced out -- as others are fearing that he may fire her next. what do you know about that? >> reporter: there is a lot of speculation she is going to be fired. it's not clear where the president landed on that, but there have been many discussions at the white house this week about it. she has not been invited to the president briefing this afternoon. it's not something that's mandatory for the cia director to come to, but typically you would see the cia director invited to something like that. certainly when mike pompeo led the cia, he would have been someone invited to a briefing to something like this. whether or not it spells doom for her future is still another question, but people are not confident that the president is going to keep gina haskell around, because he has been complaining about her for months, so the question is does he actually bite the bullet and terminate her just as he did the secretary a f

is a former senior advisor to president obama and his campaign, and cnn white house correspondent kaitlan collins. david, i want to talk about what happened with arizona last night finally being called for biden. this could be a moment of huge national pride in terms of how well the u.s. pulled off this election during a pandemic with record voter turnout. record breaking turnout. people were so engaged, they wanted to exercise their vote and the dhs, the guy who is in charge of the unit that looks for all cybersecurity says it was the most secure election in american history. we could be doing a victory lap right now, but, of course, we're not doing that because, you know, president trump is fuming, we hear, from the reporting and staying inside and not talking and, of course, the guy -- chris grebbs who is in charge of that unit who had to look and comb for any election irregularities and fraud and didn't find any, he thinks that his head is on the chopping block and he will soon be gone. >> i don't know where he would get stuff like that. i don't know why his head would be on the chopp

kaitlan, thank you very. let's go to the president-elect right now and his efforts to move ahead with the transition. our political correspondent is joining us from wilmington, delaware. any reaction from team biden to the new troop withdrawals ordered by president donald trump? >> well, wolf, right now from president-elect biden there is not expected to be any immediate comment regarding this troop draw down in both iraq and afghanistan. that's expected to happen just days before he takes office, but biden is keenly aware of the situation that he will be inheriting from president donald trump and today he held a briefing on national security by a team of experts that included former government officials and military leaders in lu of the federal government providing classified intelligence briefing that they still would not provide to him, as the president has not accepted the results of the election. president-elect biden put national security front and center today as the trump administration blocks his acc

go on, kaitlan. >> yeah.en see rudy giuliani be this safe space, where republicans can criticize rudy giuliani and what he is doing without criticizing the president. so that's kind of been a territory they have fallen into over the last several weeks. when really, what rudy giuliani is saying is, yes, he may be feeding the president's tendencies here but it's the president's decision to amplify these conspiracy theories. they distanced themselves from sydney powell, after she was heavily criticized for presenting theories about evidence. but they're both still pushing conspiracy theories about the election, without any evidence. and so, now, there are reports that he is souring on rudy giuliani. i do think we could get to a point where the president is blaming his legal team for the losses that he's suffered. even though, you know, we've heard from election experts and attorneys saying that it didn't matter which legal team was representing the president. he still did not have a case here. it wouldn't have c

thank you, kaitlan. but i'll tell you the viewer, here's the thing. that when they said oh, joe biden has been in d.c. for 47 years and -- that will help him at this point. because he knows how to do things. right? been to the white house. been in d.c. 47 years. knows all the players. so again, all these actions that you're seeing from the president and the administration, it's awful that they're trying to block all these things. but i have no doubt that someone as levelheaded as the president-elect and the people he has around him, i think they're going to be just fine. but we're going to have to deal with these antics for a moment. so it's looking a lot like there is a coordinated effort to deny or plan to deny the lowill of t people in this election. we're going to call it out continually. next. an official message from medicare. did you try it yet? comparing plans? oh yeah. they sure can change year to year. i found lower premiums - and lower prescription costs. and those new insulin savings! hundreds of plans, $35 a month. that'll save you money.

joining us to discuss kaitlan collins and rick hassan. kaitlan to you at the white house. election two weeks and one day ago. the election was called on saturday, ten days ago. the trump has had nos in pennsylvania, georgia, in court and the recount in georgia not going its way. why wisconsin now. >> now they aren't doing statewide recount, only two counties. talking about milwaukee, certain areas that are democratic strongholds. the campaign pushing forward anyway. i was told no recount. that would cost $8 million, money based on what we've been told internally by people is something obviously incredibly expensive and not something they can really afford right now as they have been on this fundraising blitz. they picked these two counties. it's part of the attempt by the campaign to stop the certification of votes in states. that's really the point, delay it as long as possible. you talk to people involved in this. they understand they aren't going to be successful overturning the outcome of the vote. what they can do by continuing to ask for recounts and continuing to go

david axelrod, kaitlan collins. so, kaitlan, we laid out some of the state of play there. we understand what's going on. we saw "the new york times" reporting. this idea that the president has plans of what he wants to do in these 65 days that are almost scarier than what he wants to do to contest the election, what are you hearing? >> well, the president has obviously been looking to make a lot of changes that started with last monday when he started purging the leadership at the pentagon. but of course the question is now what are they going to do in the next two months? that has a range of topics where it's the president continuing to fight the results of this election, urging his team to keep this fight going even though we say as it's playing out in each of the different courts and different states, their chances of success are dwindling, not that they were ever that strong to begin with. we're already seeing the struggles they're facing there. you've got to look at the question what does the president do in the next two months? the question of the transition is more

let's get to kaitlan collins.'s a reason we didn't take it live, it is easier to explain after what was right and not than to do it on live television. >> reporter: that's right. it has been since october 1st since the press secretary briefed reporters in the briefing room. one of the things predictably she was asked about was the meeting that's going to happen at the white house this afternoon, incredibly unusual meeting where the president invited state lawmakers from michigan, republicans, of course, to the white house, and that comes amid questions about whether or not the president's team is going to pursue this incredibly dubious and seems long shot of an option to try to convince legislators in these states to appoint protrump electors and basically override what the vote in the states is. in michigan, they voted for joe biden by 150,000 votes more than they voted for donald trump. when she was asked about the meeting, what the intent of the meeting is, given it was not listed on the president's schedule, k

cnn white house correspondent kaitlan collins is with us now. kaitlan, set the scene what we are about to see. >> reporter: well, this is the traditional thanksgiving pardon the president did does. normally does it every year before he and the first lady go down to palm beach. briann brianna, we are not seeing that. the president scrapped the trip aides say he has a lot to get done given his time in office is coming to a close. two months left for the president to occupy the west wing. the appearance comes after what we saw yesterday, the stonewalling of gsa for the biden administration coming to an end so the transition can begin and we're seeing that start to take place with officials lie the hhs secretary saying they are getting ready to meet with these officials, providing them with briefing materials. the question, that is close a concession as we'll see president trump get. even though he basically said on twitter he blessed the move to let it happen and the gsa saying he moved independently but the president vowed to move forward with leg

kaitlan, thank you very much. and there are, you know, plenty inside the trump administration right now doing everything they can to try to do the right thing in this moment of crisis. one of them is the assistant secretary for health in the department of health and human services, admiral brett giroir, also the coronavirus testing czar for the trump administration. admiral, i don't know when you mic'd in and could hear here, but i played you a moment ago when you said this country is in an absolutely dangerous situation. you referred to hospitalizations and deaths up 25% over the past week. this is bad. can it get even worse? >> so, thank you so much for having me on. i want to start with one positive note, and that is, the end of the pandemic is in sight with the vaccines. we have two, apparently, highly effective vaccines that are safe and work in elderly. this is going to be our end game, and we're so excited. that being said, this will get worse. we have had 1 million cases documented over the past week. our

kaitlan collins joins us from the white house, with the latest. more are we learning about this pardon and what the white house is saying about it? >> well, john, this is a pardon that was expected. the president had been telegraphing that he would do it since earlier this year when he was saying that he felt really badly for what happened to general flynn. as you saw people in the president's orbit really try to rewrite what happened with him. and of course, he was fired in 2017, right off the bat, for lying to the vice president, the president said, about his contacts with the person who was then the russian ambassador during that presidential transition period. though, of course, he later pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi, twice, about those same contacts during that investigation into russian interference in the election. but then, he disavowed his guilty plea, and tried to get his case thrown out. and, of course, that was that shocking moment, earlier this year, when the justice department trying to drop their own case into this. and had rea

speaking of unhingedness, kaitlan, the president lashed out at one of our colleagues yesterday.l us what happened. >> reporter: this was jeff mason of reuters asked the president if he would concede once it is certified, once joe biden's win is certified, trying to get a sense of the president, when will it be if he gives this up. as sarah was noting, even some of the president's allies are tiring on his tactics. it is a question the president would not answer. he wouldn't say if it comes down to this, i will finally recognize joe biden's victory. i think if you talk to sources around the president, they think that could be something that never happens, never materializes, and that instead the president continues to sound like last night, insisting it is a fraudulent election, even though he has presented no evidence of widespread fraud. his own attorneys aren't arguing this in court. and you can see the disconnect between what the president thinks is happening in the legal situation and what's actually happened. last night he was talking, for example, about a situation he said

our white house correspondent is kaitlan collins. kaitlan, good evening to you. good to see you. so, wow, rainy night there in d.c. in front of the white house. it is pouring. >> but i'm here for you, don. >> you are here. i see that. so -- and i appreciate it -- so, president trump is getting the message that there is no fraud and, in 70 days, that he needs to leave the white house. is he getting it, finally? >> he is getting it. and from what we have heard from sources who are meeting with the president constantly and on the phone with him. he understands that he's lost this election, and that joe biden is going to be the next president. but he is not saying that publicly. and instead, he is having his supporters, his aides who work for him, come out and push this idea about fraud, without any allegation -- or without any evidence, i should say, behind those allegations that they have been pushing. and so, the question really is how long is the president going to keep this charade up? and when you talk to people who talked to the president, they basically say they don't know, d

why is that, kaitlan?al activity and official government business and we are seeing it happen right now. the campaign is defending what they have set up inside the building next to the white house where the vice president's office is and eisenhower executive building. a war room that they have set up. basically, it's got campaign staff and computers there to monitor what is happening in these states, these crucial states that are crucial to president's re-election tonight but the staffers providing information to their bosses who are then providing it to president trump. they have set it up here on white house grounds, the campaign is defending it saying it needed to be in close pr proximity to the president. they say it's not anything at the americans taxpayer expense. we are saying this is a white house often blurred those lines as they did today where the white house press secretary has been acting as a trump adviser the president he wanted more people defending him on tv not just the white house offici

kaitlan just mentioned him. let me quote what he said. he says, if they are not occurred by friday, i will step in and say, this needs to occur so that regardless of the outcome of the election, whichever way it goes, people can be ready for that actual task. and he earlier in the task said eight peers joe biden has won. he's saying he's going to intervene. he's going to get involved if biden isn't receiving this by the end of the week. is that a big step as you see it? >> well, i think it's a recognition that joe biden is the president-elect. we've got other republicans, very few say that. the problem is we shouldn't have to wait until friday. those briefings should be happening right now because any seam, any gap in intelligence for the next administration could be problematic. and it's -- it makes -- it not only makes no sense. it's contrary to our national security interests. so, look, republicans in the senate have to make a choice here. they've got to choose to deflect to donald trump or to take steps that would ensure that we have

cnn's kaitlan collins joins us now from the white house. kaitlan, the president's meeting with these michigan lawmakers, the idea of which is wildly inappropriate. do we know what came out of it? >> well, clearly, not what the president wanted judging by this statement because they are sending a clear signal. they're not going to change anything. they're not going to break from the norm. but, john, they are going far enough to basically say they're not doing what the president and sydney powell, his attorney, as you played that sound, had hoped that they would do. so it was clearly a political move to invite them here. he doesn't often meet with state lawmakers, despite what the press secretary said earlier. this meeting was not on his official schedule, we should note. we only found out about it because of reporting we did in michigan. the question is what next step does the president take here? does he actually go so far to invite those lawmakers from pennsylvania to the white house as well, in a similar fashion to this? because the presi

so kaitlan, what is behind this refusal, right? the gsa is not an acronym that we all talk about all the time. but the gsa here is merely a reflection of the president of the united states, who is sitting behind you refusing to accept reality. >> reporter: that's right, erin. and you can see how this puts emily murphy, the gsa administrator, in an incredibly tenuous position because she's the one who has to make this call and fwhoun wants to make this call until the president himself has made it. that's you why see the effect it's had on vice president mike pence who has not phoned senator kamala harris to congratulate her on becoming the president-elect because his boss has not done that either. now, emily murphy is in the headlines as the administrator of gsa because she's the one who has to i.d. the biden campaign as the winners of the election so they can move forward. and jeff is right. it's about all of this money. but it's not only just that. it's also office space, contact with office agency heads. it's e-mail addresses. it

>> jessica, kaitlan, thank you both. i appreciate it. >>> more coronavirus deaths reported today than in any day since early may. millions unemployed. food lines getting longer and longer. and the president-elect is promising action. >> think of all the people, all the people who are laying at night, awake at night, staring at the ceiling. thinking god forbid what happens. we have to act. we have to act. some hot cocoa? mom, look! are you okay? head home this holiday with the one you love. visit your local mercedes-benz dealer today for exceptional lease and financing offers at the mercedes-benz winter event. to save you up to 60%. these are all great. and when you get a big deal... ♪ ...you feel like a big deal. ♪ priceline. every trip is a big deal. ♪ ah honey honey ♪ ♪ you are my candy girl ♪ and you've got me wanting you ♪ applebee's 2 for $20. it's date night in the neighborhood. you power through chronic migraine-15 or more headache days a month each lasting 4 hours or more. botox® prevents headaches in adults with

kaitlan collins is at the white house for us.tlan, potentially making an issue with iran, withdrawing 6,000 troops. what is the plan here, if there is one? >> reporter: the president has been in office almost four years now, but he's making it with two months left to go, and what we heard from the acting defense secretary when it comes to these levels of troops and where they want to be at, this happens just days before president-elect biden becomes president. we heard it from the former defense secretary, who we should note was only fired a week ago. the person who announced these weeks today was only on the job for about a week, and that's because mark esper, the former defense secretary, sent an e-mail to the white house saying the state of those countries are not ready for troop withdrawal. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell speaking almost at the same time this was being announced, saying he does not want any significant, earth-shattering foreign policy changes happening in the last two months of this election, this lame

let's get to the white house, kaitlan collins is up live. kaitlan. does the president still see some path forward here, or is reality sinking in? >> reality has set in with the president. the question right now for his advisers is how long does he keep this up, this claim of a fraudulent election on these baseless allegations. sources believe it could be days, some said it could be weeks until they start certifying results for the recount in georgia that's not happening. it's not expected for the president to overcome the margin there. those are the big questions facing the white house. the president does know he's lost the race. see how it's affecting people on capitol hill as manu raju pointed out you're about to see them break with what the president said and how this administration operated. that's really the question behind the scenes. what we do know from sources is what they expect when the president does finally acknowledge reality and what has happened here, they expect him to tease a run in 2024, even if it's not a final decision yet, they

that tweet in 2017 that kaitlan referred to, why trump forced flynn out of office.ral flynn because he lied to the vice president and the fbi. he has pled guilty to those lies. there was nothing to hide." with us norman eisen and jim sciutto, national security correspondent reported on michael flynn for years. ambassador eisen, you know the michael flynn's case well. you tweeted the president's action could reek obstruction. what's your reaction through your lenses of your former government jobs? >> thanks for having me back on the program and my reaction is that trump presidency has been a non-stop assault on the rule of law and this shameful pardon of one of the president's cronies twice admitted in federal court that he had lie. a fitting coda, there will be more to a president who himself engaged in obstruction of justice, one of the ten episodes that we studied the impeachment in the mueller report and it was focused on obstruction and none other than michael flynn. the saga of criminal behavior and lying continues and i am afraid we'll see more before this pre

>> jessica, kaitlan, thank you both. i appreciate it. >>> more coronavirus deaths reported today than in any day since early may. millions unemployed. food lines getting longer and longer. and the president-elect is promising action. >> think of all the people, all the people who are laying at night, awake at night, staring at the ceiling. thinking god forbid what happens. we have to act. we have to act. you're strong. you power through chronic migraine-15 or more headache days a month each lasting 4 hours or more. botox® prevents headaches in adults with chronic migraine. so, if you haven't tried botox® for your chronic migraine check with your doctor if botox® is right for you and, if samples are available. effects of botox® may spread hours to weeks after injection causing serious symptoms. alert your doctor right away, as difficulty swallowing speaking, breathing, eye problems, or muscle weakness can be signs of a life-threatening condition. side effects may include allergic reactions neck and injection site pain fat

i want to bring in the cnn white house correspondent kaitlan collins. what do we know here? >> reporter: we don't have an exact number. what we are told is the officers don't even know the exact number of colleagues that are quarantining or self isolating because they contracted covid-19. we know that this follows a week of travel, weeks of travel for the president, where he held almost 50 rallies in leadup to the election. last few days doing sometimes 3 or 4 or 5 per day. and every time the president goes somewhere, it requires a ton of officers and agents to go with the president, and often they have to go ahead of the president to be there, scope out where he is going, and also remain on the ground long after the president has left. now it has lead to several dozens of officers to be quarantining or self isolating and the secret service did not comment but an official familiar with this did tell us they are taking necessary precautions, testing agents and officers, and said they still, this is not effecting staffing, that they have enough officers. still, what you're see

i want to get to kaitlan collins. tell us what happened in michigan today. >> reporter: well, dana, as we are seeing the president's legal challenges start to fall apart in court, they're getting crazier and seems more desperate by the moment. what you're seeing with this is that the campaign is dropping its lawsuit, saying the board has not certified the election results in wayne county, even though they have certified the election results in wayne county. the reason they're saying that is you saw the drama that played out earlier this week, there were two republican election officials in michigan who refused to certify results of the race, and that led to the president praising them for having great courage, but for people that voted in detroit and other areas in that county, there was a lot of backlash. eventually they reversed the moves, ended up certifying election results. now they're trying to rescind their votes, and they filed an affidavit saying as much, even though legally they can't rescind their votes to

kaitlan, let's see, i'll start with you.mp pardoning his former national security adviser, michael flynn. this is someone who pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi. i'm wondering if this is another sign that trump knows he's on his way out. >> i think it absolutely is because you heard the president today insisting that he's won this election, that democrats lost. of course that's not true. you can see how the president is actually viewing things because he does know he's on the way out the door. that's why he's pardoning michael flynn who has had such a lasting impact on the trump administration. you might forget he was only the national security adviser for 24 days. but of course, the president at the time said he was firing him because he lied to vice president mike pence for lying about his contacts with then-russian ambassador sergey kislyak, but he later pleaded guilty twice to lying to the fbi during the presidential transition period, the same one we're in right now with joe biden and his team. to see this saga end in t

i want to go to cnn's kaitlan collins at the white house. can you give us the latest? >> reporter: bhe terminated mar esper, putting acting defense secretary in his place, and this is a role that esper would only have two more months, but it was clear the president was wanting to fire esper for some time. brianna, he came close over the summer to doing it, had to have interventions from esper allies to convince him not to fire the defense secretary campaigning to be reelected. they assured him to wait until after the election then he would have the chance. now the president has taken it. it is notable that it took this long for the president to do so. he has been a little preoccupied the last few days trying to contest the outcome of the election, but the president and his defense secretary had a relationship that completely deteriorated since about may. they had been on terrible footing to where the president was furious with esper on so many occasions. at one point in a press conference referred to him as yesper, that he was a yes man saying yes to everything. it was

let's go to kaitlan collins in washington, kaitlan, what are you hearing from the white house?president trump is also watching television but a different reaction than what joe biden is having. he's complaining, he's frustrating, saying there is not enough people supporting him on television. he wants to make sure legal ballots are counted and illegal ballots are not counted. the conspiracies from the room that he says exist, but his campaign has not been able to offer any proof ifment. his deputy campaign manager in 2016 was in charge of leading these efforts as they go into these states, demanding recounts and filing lawsuits. we've seen them do that but it's kind of in this scatter approach, so now they're trying to put one person, singular, in charge of that, so we'll see how that goes. but they make it clear that is the route they're going. further evidence of that is the vice president and other rallies a rallies. president trump keeps filing this lawsuits, and we know the trump campaign does not have the money. judging that joe biden is going to be speaking on camera tod

kaitlan collins has more. >> reporter: yeah, boris and laura, the president has not taken a question in over three weeks since the day of the election, and he broke that streak on thanksgiving, finally taking questions from reporters after he held a call with members of the military. as he spoke to us, he reemtpeat accusation of widespread fraud. also saying if the electoral college certifies joe biden's win in a matter of weeks as they are scheduled to do, one thing he did say is they would leave the white house, of course i would, should january come and push come to shove. there have been these theories about whether or not he would actually leave the white house. >> if the electoral college does elect president-elect joe biden, are you going to not leave the building? >> certainly i will. certainly i will. and you know that. but i think that there will be a lot of things happening between now and the 20th of january, a lot of things. it's going to be a very hard thing to concede because we know there was massive fraud. >> he criticized that biden is moving ahead with transitionin

thank you so much, kaitlan.ppreciate it. >>> president-elect joe biden announced his economic team today with at least four women in key roles. if confirmed, janet yellen would be the first to serve as treasury secretary. he named tanden to lead office of management and budget, cecilia rouse the council on economic advisers, heather. the economic team comes one day after he named an all female senior white house communications staff. a reporter for "the washington post" is here with me. good to see you. the transition team does seem to be fulfilling the promise that the kaubt would reflect diversity. >> certainly. not just gender diversity with the treasury or economic team picks, communication picks, but certainly in terms of race. we have the first latino to lead the agency that deals primarily with immigration. that's a landmark nomination for joe biden. we expect to see diversity of race gender experience in a lot of these upcoming nominations. neera tanden is indian american, she brings that diversity as we

kaitlan collins at the white house, grateful for the reporting. jeff zeleny in wilmington as well. up next, alarming new coronavirus numbers including texas. texas now the first state to surpass 1 million cases. when dehydration gets real... ♪ hey! that's mine. i'll buy you a pony. advanced hydration isn't just for kids. pedialyte helps you hydrate during recovery. hey, our worker's comp insurance is expiring. should i just renew it? yeah, sure. hey there, small business owner. pie insurance here with some sweet advice to stop you from overpaying on worker's comp. try pie instead and save up to 30%. thirty percent? really? sure! get a quote in 3 minutes at easyaspie.com. that is easy. so, need another reminder? no, i'm good. reminder for what? oh. ho ho, yeah! need worker's comp insurance? get a quote in 3 minutes at easyaspie.com. >>> the coronavirus numbers are simply depressing. more and more states reporting record high case numbers and hospitalizations, the death count also starting to head up. let's look at the trends and they are not good. 45 states, 45 of

with me now are white house correspondent kaitlan collins and, kaitlan, what is on the president's schedule> reporter: not much, brooke. we actually haven't seen the president hold that many public appearances since he lost that election. and he's only held probably a handful in the last few weeks and today the only thing on his schedule was a lunch with the vice president which he does weekly, but other than that, he was not slated to appear in front of cameras. we only saw him this weekend when he went golfing and on his return from camp david where he was with his family. of course, we continue to hear from the president in that interview, which was this rea y realreall realreally amounted to this airing of grievances you've heard from the president as he's continuing to lash out over the results of this election. what you're seeing today play out, something that's started to play out over the last few days is the president is taking his anger out on people who were once considered to be his allies. people like the governor of georgia, brian kemp, who the president went after yesterday s

kaitlan, thank you very much for the perspective as we continue on.ow to team biden, both the president-elect and the vice president-elect are set to meet with senator schumer and speaker pelosi this hour in wilmington. let's go to jessica dean who is there covering that angle for us. jessica, how has the president-elect responded to what trump is doing and not doing now? >> reporter: yeah, well, we did hear from him yesterday, brooke, and we heard really his strongest words yet about president trump's behavior, about what it means for the reputation of american democracy, frankly, all across the globe. and he said that it was very, very damaging, and we heard him, he really kind of paused and really selected his words carefully. of course, he and his team have been trying to move forward as best they can around the fact that this formal transition process has been stalled by president trump and his allies and then the gsa has still refused to sign off on that formal transition process. so to that end, they've been doing things all this week, brooke,