i'm kasie hunt.ouse is hosting an "operation warp speed" vaccine summit today at the direction of president trump, but pfizer and moderna, the two vaccine manufacturers that are waiting for government approval for distribution are not going to attend. the summit is supposed to promote confidence in the vaccine, but it's also seen as a way for the president to take credit for the success of the fast-tracked development effort. the president is expected to sign an executive order to give vaccine priority to people in the u.s. before helping other countries. the white house told reporters it rescinded its invitations to pfizer and moderna once it was determined that peter marks, the food and drug administration official in charge of the division of the agency that approves vaccines would be attending. the two companies say they declined. other notable absences include dr. anthony fauci, who has a scheduling conflict, and any members of the biden transition team. the incoming administration was not invit

>> no indication of that, kasie.tter feed is a prediction he spent time fuming and deflecting blame as he did about the incredible news of the vaccine distribution process starting in the united states today. so that shows you a little bit of where the president's head is at. he is still fixated on this issue. he continues to repeat baseless claims of election fraud when we know those are unsubstantiated and i just pressed white house press secretary mcenamy whether we will hear from the president and she did not give us any other clear picture as to the president like the incoming one, will be reflecting on this electoral college result today or whether he'll even accept it. she didn't even want to take that question on. i think that's extremely telling. this is a president who likes to counter program and counterpunch but we don't know if he has plans to speak this afternoon or evening. i think in many ways when you're going to hear from joe biden later tonight, this is a speech about signaling to the country it's

i am kasie hunt in for chuck todd. the clock, thankfully, is running out on 2020, but unfortunately, you can also say the same for the odds of $2,000 relief checks passing during this congress. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell has all but guaranteed there will not be a stand-alone vote on a measure passed by two-thirds of the house that boosts coronavirus stimulus checks from $600 to $2,000. despite backing from president trump and a majority of senators. >> our colleagues who purport to be the champions of vulnerable americans now say what struggling people really need is the congress to stop focusing on targeted relief for them specifically and to instead send thousands of dollars to people who don't need the help. borrowing from our grandkids to do socialism for rich people is a terrible way to get help to families who actually need it. >> and here's how the democratic leader, chuck schumer, responded to that. >> when corporations get a blanket tax break, that's fine by republican majority. when the average am

>> well, good morning, kasie. it's very, very, very obvious to anybody who is watching with a pulse and a brain what the deal is that will get americans relief in this holiday season. it is that something resembling that first deal which you laid out, which would include vaccine money, the paycheck protection program, extending unemployment benefits, maybe some school money, and perhaps, if donald trump -- and we're going to say this in "playbook" this morning -- if donald trump were to wake up from whatever dream he's having, some direct payments for people to get money into people's pocket in this holiday season. there is no deal. i understand state and local governments are really hurting. that is really tragic, but there does not appear to be a deal anywhere close for that. that's one of the items that legislators are hung up on. that's number one. and number two is this liability shield, this policy that would prevent people from suing businesses or schools if they got sick with covid during the course of the

i'm kasie hunt.dimir putin yesterday admitted that intelligence officers were tracking the movements of a prominent opposition figure, alexei navalny, but denied that the kremlin was involved in poisoning him. hmm. putin did not, however, comment on the cyber attack against the u.s. federal government that american officials say is linked to russian intelligence. instead, putin said that relations between the u.s. and russia had become, quote, hostage to domestic politics, and putin had this to say about joe biden -- "we expect that the new president-elect of the united states will understand what is going on. he is an experienced man, both in domestic politics and in foreign policy, and we expect that all the problems that have arisen, if not at all, then at least some will be solved by the new administration." hmm. joining us now, national security correspondent for politico and an msnbc contributor, natasha bertrand. natasha, good morning! it's great to have you here on "way too early." you broke

i'm kasie hunt in for chuck todd. pressure is building on mitch mcconnell after republican senators kelly loeffler and david perdue of georgia under scrutiny ahead their runoff elections next week came out in support of the president's demand for $2,000 stimulus checks. that comes after the house voted last night to increase the size of those direct payments to $2,000. even though a majority of house republicans voted against it. most republicans in the senate have also been opposed to that increase. and the big question heading into today was, what would mitch mcconnell do? well, moments ago, he spoke on the senate floor in pretty vague terms. he said that the president has raised a number of issues for them to tackle. and that the senate would be bringing those priorities into focus this week. that was basically it, although it did hint at his strategy. after mcconnell spoke, chuck schumer tried to pass the house's bill on stimulus checks by unanimous consent. that effort failed as expected. this all comes as mcconn

i'm kasie hunt.ns rebuffed president trump's attempts to call for a special session of the state legislature to overturn joe biden's victory. president trump called governor brian kemp for the results to be overturned. and in a joint statement released yesterday, kemp and duncan stressed that that would be violating the law. the pair also argued that trump's spreading of misinformation is extraordinarily problematic. i think we're going to go now to greg lewstein of the "atlanta journal-constitution," if he is with us. greg, i apologize. we're going to have a little bit from the debate last night. i'm not sure that we have that at this moment, but i want to talk to you about what you learned. we heard from kelly loeffler. i believe jon ossoff debated an empty podium because david perdue did not show up. but you were a panelist at this debate, and you asked kelly loeffler about voter fraud claims. walk us through what you learned or didn't learn and what your takeaways frwere from the debat? then we'l

kasie?'ll say, hans, it could reflect the way that business has changed because now they're doing fewer bills in many cases but they're doing these massive packages, right? like the omnibus this week, they're throwing everything in there. i mean, in some ways it's tricky to measure it that way. >> that's a very fair point, right, but those are spending bills that need to get done either way. when you look at the street legislation to solve problems in the country that can't be rolled into one year end package that we stay up until 4:00 in the morning and they magically find the 218 votes for in the house and let's give congress more time. they could get up to 29, 30. this congress is young. we have a couple of weeks to go. so i think that's a very good point that you raised and my suggestion to you and the bad story idea, quit your show, you can have a nice, soft life, you know, being a professor somewhere. leafy campus, it's a win. >> it is totally. then, you know, people can write columns

kasie? >> vaughn hillyard.to hear a positive update in terms of a national plan to get this out to folks. so we wish everyone there all the best as they try to make this happen. vaughn, thank you very much. coming up ahead here, are we on the verge of a post-christmas covid surge? the latest numbers up next. the t i need indeed. indeed you do. the moment you sponsor a job on indeed you get a short list of quality candidates from our resume database. claim your seventy five dollar credit, when you post your first job at indeed.com/home. honey honey? new nyquil severe honey is maximum strength cold and flu medicine with soothing honey-licious taste. nyquil honey. the nighttime, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy head, fever best sleep with a cold medicine. i do motivational speakingld. in addition to the substitute teaching. i honestly feel that that's my calling-- to give back to younger people. i think most adults will start realizing that they don't recall things as quickly as they used to or they d

definitely confusion, kasie. >> definitely sounds like it.nd we have a lot of tough beaks ahead of us trying to get everyone the shots that they so desperately need. kerry sanders, thank you as always. it's great to see you. >>> coming up here, we're going to have the latest from capitol hill as the senate battles over $2,000 stimulus checks. and the republican governor who is defying mitch mcconnell and we're going to ask the democratic w.h.i.p. dick durbin about that. >>> and new revelations that the federal bureau of investigation had been warned about the nashville bombing suspect more than a year ago. bombing suspecte than a year ago. deion sanders? you sure did! now in the app, get a free footlong when you buy two. because it's footlong season™! if you experience bladder leaks, you shouldn't have to sacrifice discretion for protection. try always discreet. the unique design features protective leakguards, which help prevent leaks where they happen most and an absorbent material that turns liquid into gel, for up to 100% leak free protec

i'm kasie hunt in for craig melvin. right now we're watching capitol hill. any minute we expect house speaker nancy pelosi to speak at this critical moment for millions of americans. nearly 14 million people may lose benefits the day after christmas if congress doesn't act on a new relief bill. it comes as we just got a very difficult jobs report. employment growth has slowed down sharply. just $245,000 were added this month. the unemployment rate edged down to 6.7%. in a matter of hours president-elect joe biden will address the jobs report and the economic toll of this pandemic. biden added a familiar name to a big new job in his future administration, dr. anthony fau fauci. >> he asked you to serve as his chief medical adviser. will you do that? did you say yes? >> absolutely, i said yes right on the spot. >> fauci there my colleague savannah guthrie, this as we just broke a single day record for covid-19 deaths again. we lost more than 2800 americans to this virus on thursday. and a new cdc projection says we can see up to nearly 20,000 covid-19 deaths i

i'm kasie hunt.nd joe biden held competing events on the coronavirus. and you will not be surprised to learn that they were very different. trump spent his time congratulating himself for developing a vaccine and claiming that life is going to be back to normal soon, despite the significant challenges involved with distributing the vaccine. biden, meanwhile, used his time to emphasize that we're not going to get out of this quickly. and to lay out his 100-day plan. >> everyone for the first hundred days of my administration to wear a mask. it when start with my signing a order on day one to require a mask where i can under the law, like federal buildings, interstate travel on planes, trains and buses. secondly, this team, this team will help get at the last 100 million covid vaccines, at least 100 million covid vaccine shots in the arms of american people in the first 100 day. 100 million shots in the first 100 days. the third thing i'm going to ask in 100 days, it should be a national priority to ge

good morning, kasie. so, the biggest thing, the biggest takeaway from the string of media reports that we've seen about the president considering pardoning 20 of his associates, his personal lawyer, rudy giuliani, his three eldest children, his son-in-law, jared kushner -- the biggest takeaway from that is, despite what the president says publicly, the reality of his election loss is very much sinking in for him and he's sort of eyeing, you know, what's going to happen after he leaves office on january 20th, and especially what happens after he loses the presidential immunity that he has right now from being indicted, right? we've repeatedly seen him express concern not just about the federal probes targeting him, but especially about two new york fraud investigations, because the pardon power does not apply to state-level offenses. we saw him specifically single out those probes in the sort of 46-minute rambling white house speech that he gave the other day that he posted on facebook, and he specifically

i am kasie hunt on this tuesday, december 29th. we'll start with the news. >>> it is now up to the senate, after the house passed a bill yesterday that would increase coronavirus relief checks to $2,000 for many americans. 44 republicans, along with the vast majority of democrats, approved the legislation. 275-134, narrowly reaching the two-thirds majority that the bill needed to pass. the legislation would increase the $600 direct payments to $2,000 for americans who earned less than $75,000 last year. senate minority leader chuck schumer says he will try to pass the bill by unanimous consent today, but at this point, it's unclear whether senate republicans will get on board with the measure. majority leader mitch mcconnell has declined to publicly address how he plans to handle the issue. at least one senate republican, marco rubio, has voiced support for the increased payments, tweeting last night, "i am concerned about the debt, but working families have been hurt badly by the pandemic. this is why i supported $600 direct payme

i'm kasie hunt.bipartisan group of senators announced a $908 billion covid relief plan hoping to break a month's impasse and provide unemployment benefits and other benefits this year. the proposed stimulus announced at a morning news conference faces an uphill battle without backing from house and senate leadership or support from the washington white house. the post reports after months of stalemate the bipartisan plan is not likely the most likely in plan but may be the most palpable compared to other bills makes the rounding. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell said that senior republicans received a bill from nancy pelosi and chuck schumer. they failed to provide details of the proposal. and senate republicans have submitted a new plan that is likely to get met with democratic opposition. that plan would extend base unemployment benefits and unemployed workers and government contractors for about a month. but otherwise not supplemental benefits. mcconnell told the reporter that he has spoken

kasie? >> some pictures on the screen for everyone to take a look at of those heros who clearly saved many lives. shaq, you have of course been covering the coronavirus pandemic and it's pretty tough right now in tennessee. so let me ask you to put that hat on for a second. what are the trends there and what are the concerns in the wake of the holiday weekend and heading into the new year? >> reporter: yeah, kasie, right now it's a hard time to evaluate that because when you look right before the holiday weekend, and christmas holiday, that's when the testing numbers have fluctuated. testing centers are closed and people aren't coming in and those who get tested are more symptomatic. tennessee, when you look at the rate per capita was one of the states in this country that was leading the new case or the case average when you look at into a weekly basis. you heard from the tennessee -- excuse me, tennessee governor bill lee who had some open frustration of a culture of indifference. he compl

mcguire, it's kasie hunt.ate the job that bill de blasio did in handling the black lives matter protests over the last year? what would you have done differently? >> i think what the reports showed, again things that we know already. i want to be clear. as i said before, what george floyd and covid have revealed, and this is a big reveal, are things that have taken place for 400 years. 400 years of systemic inequities in education and economics and health care and the incarceration system. we know that. we know what it has demonstrated to us, there were inequities that occurred during the protests. these things shouldn't have happened but they are persistent. what that calls for is reform. a reform. we want better policing. better policing. respect, accountability, and proportionality. the culture needs to be that. r.a.p. republican, need respect, be held accountable and response. that didn't occur in the black lives matter movement. let's be clear about that. the report was clear, in the statement of things t

kasie?ion warp speed has clearly been effective. there's not a lot of dispute about that, but we are at the point where one of the biggest issues we're going to face is convincing people that this vaccine is safe and effective and that they can take it without having to worry. it would seem to me that the goal there is if you're anyone, whether you're trump administration, president-elect, incoming biden administration, it would be hands off fda. does this not send the message potentially to some people that this process is being politicized? it seems like that's the opposite of what you want, if the goal is to make this a success. >> so i think -- again, you know, 5:55 in the morning, so you know, they wouldn't be prepared for that precise criticism, maybe not just yet. but what their urgency on this is getting it out the door. when you talk to white house officials they're less concerned about this idea they were during the campaign a little bit, but they're less concerned about the idea o

>> good morning, kasie.ourse, there could always be a universe we don't know, and this always triggered, as you said, when hunter biden, himself, got in front of this earlier this week, where he said he had been subpoenaed, he understood that his taxes were under investigation. now, sources say that part of that, at least, is his business dealings in china. as you know, he had business dealings around the world. and what we know of his business dealings in china is that he sat on the board of an investment fund company, bhr, an equity fund investment management company. and he started that in 2013 when his father was vice president. he stepped down in october of 2019 after his father had announced his bid to run for the presidency. now, this probe, though, started in 2018. so it predates bill barr, and i think that's something this justice department is going to want to reiterate as they continue to try to show that this was not something bill barr started, perhaps at the behest of the president when he got

kasie? public health principles and thinking to trying to actually solve the problem. nick, you guys are also reporting on the covid deal and some concerns that progressives have about how democrats have handled these negotiations. what have you learned? >> yeah, it's a big growing concern on the progressive side of the democratic wing that this deal will not be big enough and it will be their only chance. a lot of democrats are saying we should take the deal coming up now. this is $980 billion just to get this done in the lame duck and we'll approach it in the new year. that joe biden trying to name a bigger package and progressives are worried that might not even happen. the party should go for as much as possible, certainly more than $1 trillion, even multitrillion dollars because they won't get another chance in the new year. they are concerned about the republicans about the related spending and the senate is very much uncertain. the two races in january can hinge a lot if the democrats

i'm kasie hunt. election win in wisconsin by over 27,000 votes, president trump filed a federal lawsuit against the state's governor and elections commission. the trump campaign issued a statement yesterday, alleging that, quote, the rules of the election were changed at the last minute and guardrails against fraud were simultaneously lowered. in response, attorneys for wisconsin's democratic governor, tony evers, say that the trump campaign's lawsuit should be dismissed, calling it an outrageous assault on democracy. earlier this week, attorney general bill barr also disputed the president, saying that the justice department found no evidence of widespread voter fraud that would have changed the outcome of the election. and on that note, will the attorney general be the latest victim of firing by tweet? >> does he have faith in attorney general bill barr? does he still have confidence in bill barr? >> the president, if he has necessary personnel announcements, you will be the first to know it. >> ca

>> yeah, i think you hit it on the head, kasie. in terms of the goal. they need to continue to raise money, the president's litigation effort has stalled and gone nowhere, in fact, it's somewhat embarrassing in terms of the number of defeats he's had. and that was hetheir initial avenue for trying to raise money and gin up support for the president. and we're increasingly seeing this, the president saying one thing, aides saying others. the email for the campaign sanctioning a run again in 2024 are telling a different story. i think what you're seeing from kayleigh mcenany, she's one of the president's staunchest supporters in terms of the idea he lost and that it was fraudulent. she's performing, as we've seen many times, for an audience of one there. there have been people around the president for weeks who have been acknowledging the reality that the president faces here's. that's why you're seeing this disconnect and i think that's only going to continue. >> note for sure. gene, how does that democratic playout in georgia? we see some democrats relu

i'm kasie hunt in for hallie jackson this morning. we are closely watching the massive winter weather system threatening 70 million people from georgia all the way to maine and the crucial deliveries of life-saving coronavirus vaccine. some states bryce braising for up to two feet of snow from the nor'easter. and as another round of vaccinations for front line workers kicks off today, there could be a second option within days. the fda's outside advisory panel meets tomorrow to formally review moderna's vaccine candidate. just ahead, we'll talk to a doctor on that committee. >>> and from washington, we just got new reporting on the intensifying co-vid relief talks on capitol hill. there is new optimism about a $900 billion bill that could include direct stimulus payments. president-elect biden set to formally announce new cabinet picks today after hitting the campaign trail yesterday for the georgia candidates who are going to determine control of the senate and, therefore, his agenda. >>> coming up this hour, we'll talk to one of the

i am kasie hunt on this monday, december 28th. we'll start with the news. >>> after nearly a week of uncertainty, the president ended a crisis that he started all by himself. last night, donald trump signed the massive covid relief bill that not only provides money to those who need it but also avoids a government shutdown that was set to happen tonight. remember, congress passed this bill late monday night on a bipartisan basis. it was pretty overwhelming. and sent it to the president to sign. but instead, he complained. he wanted to raise the stimulus checks to $2,000 a person. this is, of course, something that he could have advocated for months ago. trump has been at his mar-a-lago golf course. the bill actually had to be flown down to him. and eventually, after no actual changes were made, trump finally signed it last night. he claimed congress would make changes to meet his demands, despite the bill already being signed into law. spoiler -- it doesn't work that way. the president's decision to delay the legislation allowed u

but you're right, kasie.ng after morning, who has largely checked out, who has abandoned his day job and responsibilities, particularly when it comes to battling this pandemic that is surging throughout the country and has claimed more than 100,000 lives just since election day. one thing that was supposed to be a signature achievement was the development and rollout and distribution of this vaccine. you saw the clips there. the promises were bold. they were strong. at least to this point, they haven't been met. and we are going to get into this much more in a moment. there has been extraordinarily strong pushback from the white house trying to be defensive about this from the president himself, from the press secretary, from the administration officials trying to suggest that this vaccine rollout is happening as planned even though we know that not as many americans are receiving this as nearly as they hope. of course, the other drama that we are following right now, kasie, and i know you are watching so ver

and i have to point out, kasie, the states run the elections.hen something would rise to the level of fraud the justice department could get involved, this attorney general went further to pave the way to get the justice department more involved in investigating voter fraud before the election. so far he's saying he hasn't seen any evidence that would rise to that level to change the outcome of the election. so it's a big blow to the president. and this argument that there was some sort of widespread serious against him being elected. >> all right. julia, thank you very much for your reporting as always. we really appreciate it. >>> on capitol hill treasury secretary steve mnuchin and jerome powell testifying today. we enter a new round of coronavirus relief proepose ms and negotiations. the details of a new plan is under wraps. it's likely smaller than the last $2.2 trillion plan. as nbc news reports, mcconnell is circulating a draft proposal for a roughly $500 billion package. it's worth noting that proposal doesn't include state or local fund

i'm kasie hunt. formally receive the electoral college votes next week, president trump and his allies continue to make last-minute appeals to the courts and their supporters to keep the election fight going. but those personal appeals may be faltering. "the washington post" reports that trump has been working to incite his supporters to disrupt the congressional electoral count by portraying it as a final showdown. the effort began two days ago with a quote saying see you in washington, d.c. on january 6th. don't miss it. but stanley grott told the post, it's out of our hands now. adding we must always respect the office of presidency. grott and another elector had no plans to come to d.c. but members of the white supremacist group proud boys are still expected to make that final stand for trump. their favorite d.c. gathering places are closed january 1 through 6 citing safety concerns. meanwhile, "the wall street journal" is out with an op-ed criticizing the president trump's final days in office.

"way too early with kasie hunt" is up next. >> i am telling donald trump, don't just talk about it, act. these senate republicans have followed you through thick and thin. get them now to act and support the $2,000 checks. >> house lawmakers pass a bill to beef up coronavirus stimulus checks to $2,000, and now the fate of the measure rests with the gop-controlled senate. the question is, will republicans get on board with the increased payments? >>> plus, the house rejects a bid by president trump to veto a must-pass defense spending bill.

"way too early with kasie hunt" is up next. >> i am telling donald trump, don't just talk about it, act. these senate republicans have followed you through thick and thin. get them now to act and support the $2,000 checks. >> house lawmakers pass a bill to beef up coronavirus stimulus checks to $2,000, and now the fate of the measure rests with the gop-controlled senate. the question is, will republicans get on board with the increased payments? >>> plus, the house rejects a bid by president trump to veto a must-pass defense spending bill. the question is, will congress hand trump the first and only veto override of his presidency?

. >> hey, good morning, kasie. a little snow in the northeast. i don't think you'll get it in the d.c. area, we will see possibly snowflakes in areas like new york city. so everywhere in blue shows where we'll have light snow. if you're driving heading out early especially from beautiful, rochester, syracuse, the finger lakes, heading towards albany, that's where we have slick parts on the roads. here's the snowfall projection. it's not a blockbuster event. just light snow. notice we're not noting any accumulations around new york city or hudson valley until albany. but the finger lakes area, from cortland, that's who could get snow out of this. the rest of the country, what a forecast this is. i mean, this doesn't even look like a forecast you'd see in december. 70s for as far north as oklahoma

>> well, good morning, kasie. it was a weekend full of a lot of uncertainty. i mean, quite frankly, there wasn't a plan "b" if you really want to be honest. no one had anticipated that the president was going to threaten to veto the bill. there were a lot of scared people. i mean, i talked to people all over the country who were

they got to understand that, kasie, right?out a reality tv host than they are being that dramatically wrong about american democracy and history? >> i feel like i have been asking that, a version of that question to so many of these members of the republican party, both privately and publicly, in public interviews and privately, and they find bay to push back against it. privately, yeah, they realize that history is going to judge this period likely in a very harsh way. but that doesn't seem to change their public actions. and there is a handful of exceptions, as we know. but every time, right, every single time seems to be a little worse than the time before. in the beginning, it was nasty personal insults, things that were offensive and outside of the norm, but not necessarily full of, you know, policy heft or significant consequences that you are laying out now. eventually, it was the bible across lafayette square. and then, and i said this to you as we were heading into the election, that all of my reporting indicated that

garrett haake in west palm beach where the president is vacationing, geoff bennett in wilmington and kasie hunt. up way too early. the president lost this battle and so did millions of americans who expected the $600 checks or who had their unemployment benefits momentarily lapse. >> look, there is nothing in this bill signed by the president on sunday night that was not in the bill when he could have signed it on christmas eve. this was essentially several days long, anxiety-inducing, episode that took money out of the pockets of unemployed people by reducing the payments they will get and for nothing, a pointless exercise. it is clear the president was in touch with lawmakers likely to extract the promises congress will take various actions that he wants to see but none of those will affect the ultimate substance of this bill, if they happen at all. we had a president who spent the last several days at his golf course, we knew he was golfing with lindsey graham christmas day, at dinner at the trump international golf course. when he is here he is largely cut off from the rest of his staf

i'm kasie hunt. we begin today with yet another new and dire warning from the nation's top infectious disease expert. >> you'd expect that the effect of the thanksgiving surge would be probably another week from now. the problem is that's going to come right up to the beginning of the christmas hanukkah potential surge. so you have a surge upon a surge, so if those two things happen and we don't mitigate well, we don't listen to the public health measures that we need to follow, then we could start to see things really get bad in the middle of january without substantial mitigation, the middle of january can be a really dark time for us. >> that warning, the that january could be a dark time is more ominous when you consider where we stand. more than 16,000 americans have died since i last hosted this show one week ago. 16,000 people. the 7-day average of new cases nationwide is approaching 200,000. and it's been at a record high for four days in a row. and more than 100,000 americans are now hospita

i'm jonathan lamire in for kasie hunt on this tuesday, december 22nd. and we'll start with the news. >>> at a news conference to announce new charges related to the 1988 bombing of pan am flight 103 over scotland, attorney general bill barr knocked down a series of president trump's false claims and conspiracy theories. when questioned by reporters, barr broke with the president on everything from seizing voting machines to assigning blame for the hack of federal agencies. he began with this comment on the hunter biden investigation. >> i think to the extent that there's an investigation, i think that it's being handled responsibly and professionally, currently, within the department. and to this point, i have not seen a reason to appoint a special counsel, and i have no plan to do so before i leave. i see no basis now for seizing machines by the federal government. >> do you believe there's enough evidence to warrant a special counsel to investigate that perhaps sidney powell or someone else? >> if i thought a special counsel at this stage was the righ

>> yeah, i mean, kasie, everything has to be on the table.gatining my responsibility if we didn't have every option on the table. where we've seen transmission, we've surgically attacked it. we saw restaurants late at night morphing into clubs. we saw a lot of bar seating lead to transmission. we've cut out bar seating. those are the sort of steps i believe we'll continue to take. we don't have a wholesale evidence that just because you're indoors in a given environment, indoor entertainment, gym, restaurant that that's necessarily -- your risk has gone up, but we knew that all along, but it's beyond that manageable risk. we don't see that yet, but all options i have to say remain on the table. >> all right, new jersey governor phil murphy, thank you very much. >>> still ahead, we're just moments away from the latest jobs report. we'll have the numbers when they cross. "morning joe" is back in a moment. moment that life of the party look walk it off look one more mile look reply all look own your look... ...with fewer lines. there's only one

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and nbc news capitol hill correspondent and host of "way too early," kasie hunt joins us. >> so kasieonnell says let's move forward with covid relief. let's just take those two parts off, the state and local support and anything talking about liability limits? >> that's essentially what he said earlier this week, joe and democrats said no way. we don't want to do that. and this is the same brinksmanship we have been seeing the entire time. both democrats are saying, we can't do this. they know that they need the leverage that they have right now to get state and local money through is what they need to get it passed. mcconnell feels the same way about liability protections and hence we are still at this stalemate. but remember this is all at the expense of everyday americans who are facing -- i mean, these programs expire the day after christmas. these unemployment benefits that are set to expire for people. i mean, people are trying to buy gifts for their children right now. they're trying to plan for the holidays, hanukkah started yesterday. i mean, it's an incredibly difficult time

amen to that, kasie. we'll come back to this safe harbor day, a day we shouldn't have to know but we do. it's when we start certifying this election but let's take a turn to the latest developments with the biden transition. the president-elect will nominate retired army general lloyd austin to be the next secretary of defense. the 67-year-old retired four-star general is the former head of the u.s. central command. let's bring in nbc news correspondent mike memoli with the transition in wilmington, delaware. good morning. we heard about some other names during the process. how did the president-elect come to the general here? >> well, when this transition began and we talked about all of the nominations and appointments that a president-elect biden was gogz to have to make the one that everyone seems surest about was for defense secretary and he'd make a choice of michele flournoy as the first woman to lead the pentagon. in the end, he made a different historic choice in choosing lloyd austin, the first

i don't think it's far off, kasie.terday, i believe, that mitch mcconnell was softening. he was coming around to the idea of direct payments in the bill. nancy pelosi is for them. chuck schumer is for them. the matrix i see is state and local and liability ride together and everything else is in the mix separately, right? so there's -- i don't see in my estimation any sort of compromise that would sub out direct payments and unemployment but direct payments are now firmly in the mix because the white house put it in. and that's important. democrats, there's a theory out there, and you've heard this undoubtedly, among republicans on capitol hill that nancy pelosi and chuck schumer didn't want a check with donald trump's name on this. at this point who cares? if you're a democrat, just get these checks out the door. but i agree with you, they can't sub out some of these unemployment insurance programs for direct checks. i don't think -- i just think that would be a trade off that is a little bit hard for them to swallow.

joining us now nbc news capitol hill correspondent and host of "way too early," kasie hunt. us "new york times" reporter jeremy peters. >> kasie hunt, so it looks like a lot of these members are at least hinting at -- >> they're there. >> they're there. what they have been saying to you and me and other people privately for some time. it seems like the dam really broke yesterday. >> three cheers for democracy, right? this was too obvious i think for any of them to decide that they were going to continue to keep this up and, you know, thune i think had my favorite quote which was a message directed straight at president trump. he said, in the end, at some point, you have to face the music. and that is something that all of us in our day to day lives have had to deal with, figure out how to, you know, live with those kinds of disappointments. we have clearly seen the president is not very good at it, but republicans are finally at the point where they're saying, nope, we have to move on with. this i mean, lindsey graham of course he's talked to joe biden. of course he's trying

nbc news capitol hill correspondent and host of "way too early," kasie hunt. good to have you with us this morning. >> let's go through a couple of these top stories. biden wins again. he keeps winning. >> he's won. >> yeah. yeah. i mean, he's won, but he keeps getting declared the winner. court cases dismissed as bizarre. republican judges, democratic judges, trump appointed judges dismissing these cases as bizarre. and "the washington post" survey that only 27 republicans are now admitting that joe biden won the presidential race, that everybody knows joe biden won in washington, d.c. mitch mcconnell had said from the start, kasie hunt, if we count all the votes and then the president has his court challenges and those are resolved then we can move on. that's happened. over 270 electoral votes have been certified and yesterday only 27 republicans are acknowledging that joe biden's the winner. this is a republican party that at least in washington, d.c., has moved on to a post democracy phase where they -- we can look at state legislators in pennsylvania, rep

i'm jacob soboroff in for the one and only kasie hunt.the big stories we're following this morning, the pardons and commutations of 20 people last night by president donald trump. among those pardoned include four contractors for blackwater who were convicted for their role in the massacre of more than one dozen innocent iraqis, also four former republican congressmen and two men who lied to the fbi after being swept up in robert mueller's probe. let's bring politico insider shannon west. good morning. >> good morning. >> we know the president was planning on doing this, to issue more pardons but when you look at whom ultimately received these pardons, you know, it's just, speaking for me here, hard to digest. >> yeah. look. it's worth noting that the president has the constitutional power to pardon whomever he wants as long as it's for a federal crime, not a state crime. he can pardon people who haven't even been charged with crimes yet. but it is certainly remarkable how much president trump has departed from the norm in terms of going

i'm kasie hunt in for hallie jackson this morning.ng the massive winter weather system threatening 70 million people from georgia all the way to maine and the crucial deliveries of life-saving coronavirus vaccine. some states bryce braising for up to two feet of snow from the

. >>> up next, kasie hunt is in for chuck todd with mtd daily. d. voltaren. the joy of movement.ltaren is powerful arthritis pain relief in a gel. you can do better, steve! get a freshly made footlong, from subway®! you can even order on the subway® app! did i just get picked off by deion sanders? you sure did! now in the app, get a free footlong when you buy two. because it's footlong season™! ♪ >>> welcome to a very busy wednesday. it's meet the press daily. i'm kasie hunt in for chuck todd who begins this hour with breaking news agency the white house is under fire for falling well short of its target for covid vaccinations. and as that new more contagious coronavirus variant from the uk now found here in the u.s. the goal was 20 million vaccinations by year-end. the actual number, according to the cdc, right now is just 1/10 of that. while the approval of multiple vaccines should rightly be credited as a medical marvel, the distributions of getting them into people's arms have been criticized as excruciatingly slow, including president-elect

i'm kasie hunt in for craig melvin. right now we're watching capitol hill. to speak at this critical moment for millions of americans. nearly 14 million people may lose benefits the day after christmas if congress doesn't act on a new relief bill. it comes as we just got a very difficult jobs report. employment growth has slowed down sharply. just $245,000 were added this month. the unemployment rate edged down to 6.7%. in a matter of hours president-elect joe biden will address the jobs report and the economic toll of this pandemic. biden added a familiar name to a big new job in his future administration, dr.

kasie. >> senator durbin, good morning. it's good to see you.do this now, 908 billion, why weren't you willing to do this before the election? democrats held out to spend closer to $2.2 trillion. this relief was just as badly needed before the election. what's changed? >> kasie you know that you go back six months, six months ago nancy pelosi passed a major relief bill in the house. then she reduced the number and passed a second bill. she has been bargaining in good faith and was unable to reach an agreement between the white house and of course the democrats, but also remember senator mcconnell never once attended any negotiations, not one. he wouldn't sit down at the table. well, we decided we couldn't wait any longer. yes, i want a lot more money than $908 billion, and we're going to need it for basic things of the administering the vaccines, but take what we can get at this moment, $908 billion is a bare minimum. but let's do it together on a bipartisan basis and actually help the people of this country. >> senator durbin, ws willie geist t

i think kasie put it perfectly, there's different incentives right now. mcconnell needs to run a senate that has a lot of senators up for reelection in two years. he wants to govern, needs to govern. in the house, don't forget, a lot of these members, most of the old-timers left, they were either defeated or left town. you have a republican reference that's dominated by people that haven't been this town that long, and weren't here during the era where there was compromise. they have grown up in the era of combativeness, and most of them are trumpian, a lot of them got the seat because of trump. mccarthy wants to be speaker of the house, and believes what happens in the midterm election of a new president's term that they could win back the house in 2022. he's going to be the way he's been for a long time. whatever donald trump wants, he's probably going to do, and yes mcconnell will be the dominant figure on capitol hill. as you guys have talked a lot about, and rightly so, you're going to have trump on the outside every day doing the things he's doing t

nbc's capitol hill correspondent kasie hunt on the story.ie, good morning. >> reporter: savannah, good morning to you it has been eight months since congress sent any help to americans struggling to stay afloat even as coronavirus deaths and hospitalizations have skyrocketed, and so many businesses have struggled to keep their doors open and their workers employed but this morning, congressional leaders acknowledging they're out of time, and they have no choice but to get this done. lawmakers overnight racing to cut a deal to send coronavirus relief to struggling americans many set to lose their unemployment benefits the day after christmas. out of work americans and struggling small businesses have been waiting for help for months, while congress fought and the virus raged. >> we're going to run out of time so you can't go home who would ever go home when some people don't have a home to go to >> reporter: democratic senator joe manchin worked with republican mitt romney to try to find some common ground, but a final agreement up to mitch m

the club has advised its new visitors coming for a rapid virus test arrived closed and not happy to kasi. it's being called the paradigm shift for the entertainment industry warner brothers studios says that next year it will simple tennessee debut all of its movies and cinemas and on its new streaming service h.b.o. racks traditionally movies private 1st 3 months exclusively in cinemas studio executives say the strategy will be in place for a year and will only apply to the u.s. market but she has already struggling cinema operates just how nosedives. so let's get more on this from scott rocks for from the dove new culture welcome scott so one presumes that this is a reaction to the pandemic how big a deal is the actual move itself it's credible i don't think anyone and dissipated this it's such a radical radical shift basically what water is doing for their customers in the u.s. is saying for $15.00 a month you can see big big movies essential for free so from for wonder woman doomed to make tricks for basically going to be giving them away for free with these subscriptions and this hu