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nbc's mike memoli is following president-elect joe biden in delaware. also with us is reuters white house correspondent jeff mason. happy new year, everyone, thanks for joining us today. steve, i want to start with you. we've been hearing from front line health care workers on how dire this situation is here in l.a., that one person is dying every ten minutes in l.a. county. what's the latest? >> "dire" is really the only way to put it. it's certainly how these front line health care workers are characterize it. l.a. county has set its three-day death total record three days in a row. it's so bad that mortuaries and private funeral homes are turning families away because there are too many bodies. meanwhile, hospitals. nearly everyone in the region is diverting patients away in some form or fashion. ambulances have to wait seven or eight hours to offload patients, who are now being treated in chapels, in gift shops, in hallways, and the ambulances themselves, simply because there is no space available in several hospitals. resources are limited like ppe

and i think i have mike memoli here, who has tracked him for 12 years. d professionally was "what it takes," which is probably the best biography you can find of joe biden until, mike, you write one. this is going to be the joe biden we see as president. he will wear his emotions on his sleeve. it will be a throwback i think w. and bill clinton were sort of outwardly more emotional than barack obama was. and of course you never saw emotions out of trump. that's going to be a lot of what we're going to see. >> the governor john carney who introduced biden said that this is joe biden's moment, this moment was made for joe biden. and i think sort of the empathy as biden's super power was what we just saw on display here. and it is really worth highlighting he would have left if the plans did not change from the joseph r. biden rail station here. but look at that lectern and what's on there, the beau biden national guard headquarters here. what biden just said there, which is he has one regret that it was not beau who they were introducing as the next preside

mike memoli. we just heard from both senate leaders chuck schumer and mitch mcconnell about the priorities of the next congress including some subtle signals from mcconnell about impeachment which we were just talking about. the two men are expected to meet later this afternoon to hash out the new balance of power, as by tomorrow democrats will hold the white house, the senate, and the house for the first time since 2009. that being said, it is the slimmest of majorities, which means passing legislation will be slightly more complicated. with me now is democratic senator sheldon white house of rhode island. senator, thank you very much for being here. so it's a very slim majority. there's going to be a power, sharing might not be the right word. there will be a power agreement where chuck schumer is apparently the majority leader, but communities will be split 50/50 with democrats helming each committee. given that you need 60 votes to pass legislation, how optimistic are you that some of these bi

nbc's mike memoli, great to have you, as always, my friend.ttle bit of rest this weekend and we'll see you soon. >>> and still ahead here, the effort to immortalize singer dolly parton. she's immortalized. inside the tennessee capitol. >>> plus, why this paper sculpture is theoretically worth nearly $500 million. huh. those stories coming up next in "the cooler." "way too early" is back in just a moment. ler. "way too early" is back in just a moment you know that look? 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 botox® cosmetic. it's the only one... ...fda approved... ...to temporarily make frown lines... ...crow's feet... ...and forehead lines... ...look better. the effects of botox® cosmetic, 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 may be a sign of a life-threatening condition. do not receive botox® cosmetic if you ha

mike memoli is in atlanta. mike, a packed schedule for the candidates today. does it come down to turn out? what do you think? i've heard that rumor, maybe. >> reporter: we've heard that a time or two in the past, haven't we? and really, it is all about georgia today. the next 48 hours, we know the stakes could determine the control of the u.s. senate, and for joe biden, that could mean everything. it could mean for his agenda. i means the world for his nominees, the ability to get both judges and executive appointments through a democratic controlled senate or republican where they have veto power. that's where we see the candidates out with their biggest surrogates in tow. joe biden in the heart of atlanta later this afternoon. about 9d 0 miles to the north tonight we'll see president trump with loeffler and potentially perdue just saying a few moments ago he's going tro try to virtually campaign. and mike pence also part of the action about 50 miles to the south. the biden team as i've been talking to them have been clear-eyed about the challenge for a demo

mike memoli is in wilmington mike, we'll get to merrick garland. but first how is the president-elect handling his calls for the sitting president to be removed? >> reporter: well, shep when, we asked the biden transition team to address it on impeachment or invoking the 25th amendment they responded with a position classic joe biden from what we've seen in the transition so far staying above the fray and leaving these questions to either the cabinet or to the congress let me read a statement from the transition spokesman saying president-elect biden and vice president-elect harris are focused on their duty preparing to take office on january 20th and will leave it to vice president pence, the cabinet and the congress to act as they see fit. shep, the view of biden world is that if there already is any momentum within the cabinet towards invoking the 25th amendment and there's little evidence of that at this point, that biden weighing in as forcefully as some might want would only lead them in the opposite direction if they're going to get there bi

mike memoli is in, wellington. peter alexander on the north lawn. "new york times" chief white house correspondent peter baker, and pbs news hour white house correspondent yaalcindor. this dream of 50 years, including messages he wants to send today and at tomorrow's inauguration. >> andrea, you mentioned it was 21 months ago, if you can believe that, joe biden began a third bid for the white house. we first saw him at that train station, the joseph r. biden jr. rail station where we first got a glimpse of candidate joe biden. of course he wanted to head to washington for this inauguration the same way he headed to washington eight years ago -- 12 years ago, excuse me, as vice president-elect joining president obama on that trip. of course security concerns shelved that plan. but rather poignantly, andrea, we will see the president-elect bidding farewell to delaware today with remarks at the headquarters of the delaware national guard headquarters named after his son, beau biden, who passed away from brain cancer in 2015. then it's on to washington,

joining me now nbc news political reporter at the white house, nbc news correspondent mike memoli, and victoria soto, the director of communications. i'm going to start with you, monica. vice president pence asking a federal judge to throw out a lawsuit led by house republicans, it would have expanded his power to overturn the election when congress meets to certify biden's win. talk us through what this all means. >> vice president mike pence is expected in his role, of course, as the number two in government, to oversee this joint session of congress on january 6th that any other year or most terms would really be a mere formality in terms of cementing joe biden's election victory after the november election. instead, of course, we know because this current president wants to challenge and perhaps overturn those results, even though there's nothing that shows that really will be possible or anything that could technically alter them. but still some republicans are going to bring challenges which we learned this week, but in a separate move congressman louie gohmert, a republican from

we heard mike memoli enumerate what president-elect biden's prior ities are going to be. what would you say his priorities need to be? >> i think the priority in my opinion, needs to be on reinforcing the basic messages about what we know about how to stop the community transmission. as we're well aware, our strategy for vaccination is starting with shoring up the infrastructure of health care workers. however, this isn't necessarily the population who is leading to the community spread of the coronavirus. and in particular, this new variant that has been identified in three states, two of which are two of our largest most populous states in the country, we can be sure based on the photographs we all saw from tsa check points over the holidays that millions of people traveled among these destinations. so we can be fairly confident this variant is now everywhere and it appears to effect more adults under age 20. and i think the reason why that's particularly critical is that this younger adult population is circulating more. they are performing some of the essential roles

nbc's mike memoli from wilmington. ng the inauguration, the man that you have covered for so many years. so, thank you so much for getting up early with us, mike. i really appreciate it. >>> still ahead here, the scene on the lawn at the national mall in place of the thousands who could typically gather there for the presidential inauguration. look at that. for the presidential inauguration. look at that want to sell the best burger in every zip code? add an employee. or ten... then easily and automatically pay your team and file payroll taxes. that means... world domination! or just the west side. run payroll in less than five minutes with intuit quickbooks. to support a strong immune system, your body needs routine. centrum helps your immune defenses every day, with vitamin c, d and zinc. season, after season. ace your immune support, with centrum. i have the power to lower my blood sugar and a1c. because i can still make my own insulin. and trulicity activates my body to release it like it's supposed to. trulicity is

nbc's mike memoli is in atlanta ahead of biden's campaign stop. good to see you.rter: morning. >> the question is, will he talk about it, and what will he say? >> reporter: well, yasmin, the last time joe biden was here in georgia campaigning for those two democratic senate hopefuls, he said it was time to put the angry and bitter politics of division behind us. we've really seen that from biden, trying to follow up on that promise he made to lower the political temperature. i wouldn't be surprised if that's part of his message today. but that audio tape, that was a wow. we have gotten some strong reaction, both from bob bauer, a top lawyer for the biden team. he said this captures the disgraceful story of donald trump's assault on democracy, as he put it. we also heard from vice president-elect kamala harris, also on the campaign trail here in georgia. take a listen to what she had to say. >> have y'all heard about the recorded conversation? it was a bold-faced, bold abuse of power by the president of the united states. >> reporter: based on his tweets, yasmin, i

nbc's mike memoli joining us from wilmington. what have you got, mike?reporter: andrea, even with the events of this week, the biden team has been trying to convey the message that the president-elect remains focused on preparing to take office on january 20. we're getting new information about specifically how to tackle the pandemic and dealing with this issue of vaccination and vaccine supplies. a new statement from the biden transition says that biden supports releasing available doses of the vaccine immediately and believes the government should stop holding back the vaccine supplies. so what is this about, andrea? as we know, most of these vaccines, the pfizer vaccine, the moderna vaccine, specifically require a second dose within 21 or 28 days. there has been debate even within the biden team about whether in the interests of getting the vaccine out to as many people as possible, you don't necessarily hold back supplies of the vaccine. biden weighing in very clearly that he does not think they should be holding back supplies. >> this is exactly wha

but starting us off, nbc news correspondent mike memoli, just across the street from the white house. and anna palmer, founder of punchbowl news. great to have both of you with us. anna, let me begin with you and that point i was making there about the senate republican leader mitch mcconnell, he was asked if his vote yesterday supporting a motion that the trump impeachment trial was, quote, unconstitutional, was that a signal of how he would vote on the issue of conviction? here's the quote. "the trial hasn't started yet. i will participate in that and i plan to listen to the evidence." he didn't really close the door on convicting the former president, but are there other republicans from those you've been speaking to and hearing from, other republican senators who may feel the same way? >> i think a lot of people have been trying to figure out and read the tea leaves of exactly where senate leader mcconnell will end up on this. trying to figure out, is he really going to potentially vote for impeachment? he's saying basically the same thing he said for quite a while. i think there'

and mike memoli covering the biden transition from rehoboth beach, delaware.lier this week, president-elect biden singled out political leaders at the white house budget office for, quote, roadblocking his transition. so how are they responding now? >> yeah, in a forceful letter from the administrator for the office of management and budget, he is pushing back on those claims from the incoming biden team. the president-elect had given a speech talking specifically about omb and the department of defense putting up in his words, roadblocks to a smooth transition, but now we're hearing from the current administration that they have participated in what they say is more than 45 meetings so far with the biden team that will be taking over in a couple of weeks. and they have really been able to brief them and talk to them on specific issues. that is what the white house is claiming. but what they're pushing back a little bit more pointedly on now is saying what we're not going to do is use current omb staff to write the biden transition team's legislative policy pr

. >> reporter: you're right about that, chuck, two sources familiar tell my colleague mike memoli and me that president-elect biden has chosen merrick garland for his attorney general. he considered garland, outgoing senator doug jones of alabama, and former deputy attorney general in the trump administration sally yates. the conventional wisdom had been that the easiest of those to confirm who have been doug jones, who enjoys lots of close relationships with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, senators on both sides of the aisle, but now that democrats appear poised to take control of the senate, of course those races have not been called but that appears to be the direction, the calculus has changed a bit. there was a concern that if joe biden elevated merrick garland he would then have to replace him on the d.c. circuit court of appeals on which he sits. and that would have been potentially another confirmation battle. but now that concern appears to be no more. so our reporting is such that merrick garland is someone who is widely viewed, who can be a unifying force within the d

. >>> nbc's mike memoli. the president-elect knew he'd be inheriting a country divided but there's no way for anybody to have been prepared for this. >> reporter: that's right. the biden team heading into today knew all the attention was going to be on washington and counting of electoral votes and scheduled an event on the economy anyway best case scenario he might not get the coverage they would want but give an opportunity to show what they've been trying to convey, he is ready to take the rings of government. the worst case scenario is what we ended up seeing but the fact they had it scheduled gave biden an opportunity to come out and very strongly denounce what he called a siege on the u.s. capitol saying it called for some soul searching. take a listen. >> and this god awful display today is bringing home to every republican and democrat and independent in the nation that we must step up. this is the united states of america. >> reporter: as biden finished those remarks he told reporters that he was con

mike memoli's standing by for us. only problem is he can't hear us. nicolle wallace. >> you know, just the images, the images that i think we're all starving for. joe biden doesn't talk about bipartisan as a political tactic. he believes it in his bones. he deeply desires unity inside the government to every last molecule of his being. donald trump was at war not just with the other party -- i don't think he has seen or spoken to speaker pelosi in more than a year, and think about that. as the pandemic has raged, as the country grappled with an historic racial reckoning, he has not even spoken to the most senior official in the democratic government. joe biden isn't at church with members of the republican party for a photo-op. we have to rewire the way we think about the head of our government to cover joe biden. he believes he can do the best job as the country's leader if he can listen to and work with the other side. and we are in for a real change in how we talk about the leaders of this country, at least the executive branch. >> what a fascinati

>> well, if you ask joe biden which our own mike memoli did last week about whether the georgia senateoffs are affecting him building out his cabinet in any way, joe biden actually said it has really not played a role. of course there's still three slots left open and he has to make that decision before he is sworn in as president. those seats obviously are attorney general, commerce, and labor. the most significant one is that attorney general spot and it's worth noting under consideration is judge merrick garland. it would be easy to fill his placement if biden does choose to pick garland. of course, he currently serves on the did yo.c. court of appea. things that joe biden has to get to in these next couple of days. another one that's been an ongoing issue is the fact that the pentagon as well as the office of management and budget have not been cooperating with transition officials, delaying meetings or at least not giving full briefings. so that is just one component. the other, of course, are a number of these so-called midnight rules that the trump administration is just trying

as he told our mike memoli, it feels like he's going home. two men who have known joe biden many years. chris dodd, former democratic senator from connecticut and msnbc contributor mike barnicle. welcome both. senator dodd, first to you, so many issues on the agenda for joe biden, and he handled that speech without getting into a laundry list of priorities. it was plain-spoken, eloquent speech about what he wants to do, calling for bipartisanship. you know the senate well. will he get it, especially with sweeping immigration reform? no other president has managed to do that. >> well, listen, i don't know the answer to that question. none of us do at this point. but he has a shot to use the line from "hamilton." it's a long road back, but i think there are enough people in the senate, republicans, who want to be able to work to help the country heal and get back doing the work of the business of the nation. and so the specifics of various bills that -- and there will be disagreements, but i'm more optimistic about this. it has been a dreadful f

joining me is kelly o'donnell at the white house and mike memoli covering biden in delaware.s been called a walking contradiction. what do we know from the new court filing and any reaction from the president? >> well, the president has not reacted and he's eager to have any tool box through legal challenges or the work of his supporters in congress to try to avert what is coming next week which would be the certification of the electoral college, giving the election finally after all this time to joe biden. so what this is doing is louie gohmert, who is a texas lawmaker and a close ally of the president, he and 11 arizonians who would have been the electors for president trump, he should have the right to throw out states that he does not believe properly carried out their elections. typically, this is a ceremonial function that is not even getting much attention in normal presidential years. this time it is getting a lot of attention and we will see what will be awkward and it has been awkward before when al gore as vice president had to certify george w. bush as president

i'm joined now by correspondent mike memoli. and no one knows biden like you know biden. and could you just take a moment to talk about the significance of this man's journey, the first -- nearly the second catholic president of the united states, the oldest president of the united states. talk a little bit about what this all means for his journey. >> reporter: well, joy, as i've been speaking to a number of former and current biden officials, i keep hearing the same thing which is that this is the moment that biden was really called to lead at a time of real urgency that is needed at this moment. obviously he ran, joy, for president twice before and didn't see a success in either of those efforts. he didn't expect to be able to run in 2020. he thought when he left the white house with president obama, he was ending his political career. but then donald trump happened and now the watchword of the biden campaign, the biden transition and in a matter of hours the biden administration is urgency. and that is the message that they've been trying to convey. and i think toe to

>> kelly, you're teeing us up for nbc's mike memoli who is with president-elect joe biden in delawarewe have been reporting for weeks now that the president was very unlikely to attend the inauguration. still, of course, as you've talked about many times, the president-elect wants to sound this message, as kelly noted, of unit and the country moving forward. visually, the president, the guy preceding you not standing there, passing the baton, figuratively. interesting moment here. >> reporter: absolutely, hallie. there's every indication that the biden team was preparing for this. the president-elect himself has said that he hoped president trump would attend. he thought it would be an important signal for the world about the continuity of our democracy here. i think that position may have changed given what we've seen this week, but the biden team just recently announced elements of the inaugural which gave an indication that they weren't expecting president trump to be part of it. they talked about an escort from 15th street to the capitol that morning. typically the president-elect

. >> let's bring in mike memoli on standby before we see the president-elect with these latest announcements mike, i assume we're going to hear more from the president-elect about the fallout from yesterday. >> absolutely, chuck. the announcement we'll be getting today, biden will be joined by what some biden advisers are calling his justice league. his choice to lead the justice department, merrick garland along with lisa monaco, his number two there and other officials. and this is an intentionally timed event. a lot of speculation about whether his decision about ag was held because they wanted to see the results of wanted to se of georgia. i'm told this was very deliberately times. you look at georgia, you look at the counting of the electoral votes, and biden cares, they see them all as important. he is a former committee chairman and he had oversight of this department for so many years in the senate. he feels the ambitithe biggest was to the rule of law. it is part of an effort to rebuild that trust. and to send a very clear signal about the way he will be viewing this department, not

our very own mike memoli actually asked biden last week during a press conference if the investigationis son, hunter biden, has actually come up in these number of conversations, and biden said it hasn't and it will not, simply because he is a firm believer that the attorney general should serve the american people and not be the president's personal lawyer. now, the other reason is simply a logistical one. one thing that we have noted and we have seen is that biden has faced a lot of pressure to really diversify his cabinet. and as i mentioned, the three picks that he is considering right now, they're all white -- senator doug jones of alabama, judge merrick garland, and also former deputy attorney general sally yates. and he really has rolled out, as we have seen in the last several weeks, a number of his cabinet picks who are people of color, really giving him that time as well to make that right choice. something else we should expect when that announcement comes is the rest of that doj team. they really are trying to pick a good deputy attorney general, someone who is also potenti

here sometimes it feels like we're on earth too >> mike memoli, thank you. >>> today, federal prosecutors charged former olympic gold medal swimmer, klete keller, video shows him in the capitol rotunda during the siege: according to the reporting of the "new york times," his team usa jacket gave him away yesterday, the fbi arrested will pepe, a transit worker from new york his bosses say he called out sick last wednesday to attend the riot the company says it has suspended him without pay. >>> another guy from new york, edward floria busted in queens the "new york daily news" reports he's a member of the proud boys floria was not at the siege but afterwards went online and threatened to organize an armed caravan to washington. in philly, seven police officers with the transportation authority, known there as septa under information tonight. the police chief says they attended the pro trump rally in washington on the same day as the riot, but that it's unclear whether they did anything illegal. >> if members of the transit police were involved in that, then we don't want them to be a part

our team, mike memoli, was told by a transition official that joe biden will frame the results as a key mandate from the american people. so that he, the biden administration, and democrats more broadly can act on the challenges the country faces from the covid-19 pandemic to the environment to racial justice to the economy. in fact, today biden will talk about i'm told his commitment and his plan to make sure small businesses get the direct federal relief they so desperately need, and he'll make a particular focus on black-owned, native-american owned businesses which has been hard hit in the pandemic. back to the issue of the georgia senate results, the biden transition team believes that biden's approach overall to focus on building a coalition of african american voters, of voters in the suburbs, that the success of that was borne out not only in his own campaign but also in georgia. there's a transition official who is quoted as saying that democrats were focussed on january 5th and republicans have been focussed on january 6th. and that approach really has been borne out in what w

and so mike memoli joins us. >> and the last time that he was impeached and it is incredible in those terms, joe biden was fighting for votes in iowa and new hampshire and he said then that his focus was not on a senate trial, but on beating donald trump at the ballot box. today, joe biden is the president-elect, and we still at this hour have not heard any reaction from biden or the biden team about the action that the house took today, but the sentiment from biden world is that the focus is on planning his own administration and not punishing the current one, and in fact, the biden team announcing that he is going to deliver primetime here in wilmington tonight, and announcing the plan to vaccinate millions of americans and getting the economy back on track, and there is kerngs and biden has been talking to others about how to get the cabinet officials confirmed as soon as inauguration day, and we learned today that the senate intelligence committee is the latest to schedule a hearing for one of the cabinet nominees, director of national intelligence designee averill hanes, but at t

>> mike memoli live from wilmington, thank you. you have been looking at on the left side of your screen that second procedural vote wrapping up. we're almost done with it. only 13 votes outstanding. this vote has not been gaveling yet. so far it looks like it will be a party line vote. this was just a procedural rule to basically move on with the impeachment debate. that is going to happen within the next ten minutes. here's how it's going to unfold. you'll see this vote gavel closed, presumably at that point, move then to the two hours of debate over impeachment. between that time, we are still living in a pandemic era. they'll have to come in and basically clean parts of the house floor there so the debate can begin. house speaker nancy pelosi is expected to open that debate. we are of course going to bring you live into that the second that it happens, live for every minute of this historic afternoon. e, the second potential impeachment of the president of the united states. on that note, i'll bring in nbc news chief white hous

but, ashley, briefly because mike memoli brought it up and i think it's such an interesting point. the call that joe biden, president biden had with vladimir putin today, what a marked departure from what we had seen or used to from president trump and vladimir putin warm, fuzzy relations. it sounds like this was a pretty long call from the look of the topics they discussed and the poisoning and u.s. support for ukraine the new stark treaty and solar wind hack and bounties on u.s. soldiers. a huge story a couple months ago. interference in the 2020 election, yet alone 2016 and the way russia treats peaceful protesters. i want your thoughts on this as someone who covered the last administration so closely and covered the relationship donald trump had with vladimir putin. >> it's such a marked departure. from the timing of the call a little unclear how jen psaki presented it, but it seemed as if the president may have been having that call with putin while she was doing the briefing. this is a tiny point. but that never would have happened under president trump because donald trump w

. >> mike memoli will break this down for us. >>> the recovery act, your next guest knows a lot aboutthe vice president at the time. there was a big debate internally about the price tag and keeping out under $1 trillion. now biden as the president-elect is talking about a rescue plan that is needed even before you can talk about a recovery plan and yes it has a big price tag $1.9 trillion. it breaks down into three different buckets, the pandemic spending aspect of it, direct relief to working families and also to small businesses and to local governments. let's take it one at a time here, that first bucket, the pandemic relief, we're going to hear the president-elect talk more about what a vaccination strategy nationwide today, costing upwards of $20 billion as part of a larger $400 billion package and then you talk about working families, and what do we see here, biden talking about $1,400 stimulus checks, that's in addition to the $600 that was part of the most recent recovery bill passed and signed into law. some debate there about whether he should be proposing an additional $2,

nbc news correspondent mike memoli in atlanta where he's covering president-elect joe biden's visit and campaign stop there later today. msnbc correspondent garrett haake on capitol hill. shannon, let's start you, if i may. just minutes ago secretary of state brad raffensperger talked with atlanta affiliate wxia tv. what did he have to say about that controversial phone call with president trump? >> yeah, well a few points he looked to make in that interview, of course, we're going to hear from him in moments. one, pushing back on criticism for releasing the audio of this call saying that there was no privacy agreement with the president and that the president essentially broke any expectation of privacy when he mischaracterized that call. and if you recall before the audio and the transcript of this call were released, the president put out a tweet saying that the secretary of state was either unable or unwilling to address some of the president's concerns about these conspiracy theories like ballots being kept under tables and dead people voting in mass numbers. and said that the secr

let's bring into our conversation mike memoli, live in wilmington, delaware, and matt visor. idates was about restoring of soul of america. this seems to be the new front on that, and it's literally come to his stage. what is his thinking? is it really to ignore it or float above it? what are his thoughts? >> reporter: as you think about what joe biden must be thinking at this moment, we knew heading into his administration, one of the most different tasks ahead was to follow through on his pledge to unite the country, but also do what so many democrats think is required, accountability for president trump, for those in his administration, for the actions they took that they believe are counter to the rule of law in this country. this impeachment question is now forcing that conversation much earlier than even expected. you have seen the president-elect do everything he can do over the course of this transition to appeal beyond democrats, independents, and to include republicans, by being yes, very critical of the president, stingingly so at times, but also going out of his wa

we have some nbc reporting from kristen welker and mike memoli. they say people are just yearning for a little bit of normalcy and someone who knows what they're doing. going to be joe biden because unity is part of who joe biden is, that's what he believes, the source told kristen and mike. it's really important, i think -- i think you'd agree, because you worked for barack obama for whom one of the key elements of obama's success was that -- it was this consistency, consistency from the campaign and into the administration and consistency of what -- of who barack obama was in private, what his character -- the character of the man in connection to his political -- the political face that he showed the world, his public face. and i just -- i want you to talk about that. we've talked about this a million times before, how important it was for obama and whether you think it is, especially in this moment, so key for joe biden. >> yeah, john, absolutely. i think back to the first video that we saw announcing the biden campaign, oh so many months ago,

see shortly as the president here making another jog to the side not sure, this is another -- oh, mike memoli of nbc news we can listen in somebody covering joe biden for a long time and knows him just about as well as any correspondent out there. the president is relishing this, guys i think it is safe to say. he is enjoying himself he's running to the side to talk to the reporters, talking to the supporters talking to people who are going to be covering him over the next four years and here it is the president of the united states heading over to the white house campus that is just a couple feet ahead here as the president and the first lady enjoy their walk. now joined by other members of the family as well >> his arm around his daughter there walking in and the first lady just to the other side. and going over, again, to greet another maybe reporter or supporter. you're not there, or no doubt you would be top of the list >> i would be shouting vociferously trying to get their exclusives here. you can't blame them as you see the president just enjoying the moment a light jog for the presid

in this case it's mike memoli and al roker, and the mayor of d.c.g -- there was a very attentive gentleman, it shadowing him the whole time. it was a bit of a nerve out moment for me, and probably will be again. i'm prepared. >> i would only soothe your worries by reminding you how many eyes are on the scene. you have all the optics on the third floor of the white house that had them the full view, and the number of drones and realtytime satellite information coming in is staggering, and i think americans would be proud to know how good the optics and the security is. the next limousine in question has both the white flag of the vice presidency, and the distinction of having the kind of white background crest, the seal on the door to differentiate it from the president. so that is the vice president's limousine, and presumably she will now mirror the same walk, and we can now finally blessededly hear the howard university showtime drumline. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ neath ♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ >>> guys, you think that president andrew johnson kept vetoing

joining us now in washington, nbc news correspondent mike memoli.day. >> reporter: well, mika, as you know, joe biden aspired to the presidency for most of his adult life he ran for president in 1988, 2008 unsuccessfully. these are certainly not the circumstances in which joe biden maybe wanted to inherit the massive challenges that are ahead, but as i've been talking with biden friends, allies, former and current staff, they all say the same thing, if there ever was a moment that called for joe biden, it really is this moment. and when you saw the scenes yesterday when we were in wilmington, the emotion just on display there, the dramatic pictures on the national mall last night as we had really the first major national commemoration of the 400,000 lives lost, you're reminded of what biden campaign said throughout the campaign, which was empathy is his superpower. yes, this is not the inauguration joe biden might have drawn up, of course, the security precautions, as you can see all around me here, near the church where biden will attend mass this

mike memoli eight political reporter tweets out a statement that quote from the statement from presidentgeorge w. bush this is how election results are in a banana republic not our democratic republic. i'm appalled by the reckless behavior of some political leader since the election. nick in boise idaho. >> yes, can you hear me? >> we can, nick. >> thank you for covering today. i tuned in because i wanted to see the objection to the electoral vote. i believe there are states in question that said violates the constitution. article ii, section 1. it doesn't surprise me what happened today. i believe this has been coming since 2009 when the obama and clinton regime brought in identity politics so i could see where this is coming on the maga side or you have people like me who are independent and you have former democrats and you have republicans of all ethnicities on the maga side. i just believe this is a culmination of four years of a president who was elected he made promises and he delivered on those promises. he's been crucified by the media, crucified by the democratic party and ther