once again, it was mitch mcconnell's moment. ready.>> his is a conversation that he has been having with his or more.at this point for a year and mcconnell made it ve h clear colleagues, that if there is a vacancy, whomevern that v is presented by, we will fill it. >> narrator: to mcconnell, it didn't matter that it was only weeks before the electn and that he'd opposed filling a seat in the last year of the obama presidency. >> the fact that it was occurring while the presidential election was underway, unprecedented. it's never happened in the history of the senate,or all of their explanations and excuses. it's never been done. anparticularly in light of what happened four years ago, it really seemed to be hypocritical. cc >> narrator: butnell shrugged off the charges of hypocrisy. >> it wouldn't phase senator mcconnell to be called "ruthless" or "determined" or whatever adjectives or labels o people might phis behavior. he did it because he could. >> today it is my nor to nominate judge amy coney barrett. >> narrator: with el

the mitch mcconnell i read about in barack obama's book is a mitch mcconnell that joe biden will not yeah, and this gets to the question he was asking, it was communications related to calling out i think the increasing radicalization, and i use that word deliberately of the republican party. there was a through line we all of lived. david lived in it, but mitch mcconnell's rabid obstruction to donald trump. this was not all donald trump, right? it was mitch mcconnell who made it his single purpose, single-minded purpose to block whatever barack obama wanted to do. i think what's really different between the two of them barack obama wanted to acquire people to do things for people, to help people. mitch mcconnell wants to acquire power for power's own sake. and i think at the end of the day what we really have in this country and this book coming out after joe biden's been elected i think shows in sharp relief there's two stories of america and american politics. and barack obama represents a kind of inclusive politics, progressive politics, a politics of government trying to help pe

is mitch mcconnell focusing on?cusing on two races in georgia that will determine whether he is the majority leader or not come 2021. so donald trump doing all of this, attacking his senators, donald trump is making mitch mcconnell's job of saving the senate for the republican party that much more difficult and at some point i can't believe we aren't going to get some sort of message, maybe it is quietly, that donald trump needs to back off because republicans are in danger of losing the senate. yes, it is a stretch. but if donald trump acts abhorrently over the next month or so, before this election, it could spell bad news for republicans and make two races they should win fairly easily much more difficult. >> those runoffs aren't until january 5th so a lot could happen between the two months between now and then. and to your point and to jonathan's about mitch mcconnell and other republicans, there has always been a republican palace guard ready to ride to the defense of donald trump and we're just not seeing tha

mitch mcconnell is silent.hy is sort of pretending to go along with this, you know, playing footsy with trump and the entire cabinet is going along with this. robert o'brien who is supposedly a normal guy, he said in the philippines maybe donald trump will be the president next term. this is madness. the reality is you cannot look at this, you not look at the republican party's silence and complicity if you're somebody like me and says this is salvageable. this is kind of where we stand right now, and i'm out. >> tim, i heard somebody describe the republican party this past weekend as a post democratic party. post democracy party. which is something that, you know, you and i we spent the entire adult lives fighting for what we believed in and we had a lot of crazy attacks thrown at us for being republicans. i mean, again, you know, every four years whoever we nominated somebody called them a fascist or a nazi. but in this case, if the label sticks, i mean, they've got to wear it. they certainly look right now l

trevor, you were just listening to my conversation with mitch mcconnell, listening to my conversation do you think of this? >> i think mcconnell is trying to put the best face on this, and he's, of course, correct that when you have close elections, under state law, there are circumstances in which you can have recounts, and there are going to be some recounts. it looks as if there will be in wisconsin and georgia and probably nevada. so he's correct in saying that all the votes haven't finally been counted and recounted yet, but we're almost in the place. arizona is the one everyone is looking at where, when arizona with a biden lead that looks substantial enough that he will get those states, once that has happened, even with the recounts, there is not sufficient room for trump to win this. that, i think, is the key fact. even though mcconnell wants to wait for recounts, joe biden will have a majority in theie electoral college of states where he has won the popular vote in those states beyond the states that are going to be subject to recounts. and that's before you get to the fact

most serious moment in the balance of the court, really, since even before bork. >> narrator: mitch mcconnellnderstood the stakes. kennedy's replacement could shift the court further to the right. >> president trump's pick is in for the next supreme court nominee... >> brett kavanaugh to replacere thring... >> narrator: mcconnell and trump ain swung into action. the president nominated judge brett kavanaugh. >> kavanaugh is e perfect mcconnell nominee. he's very consvative on economic issues, on executive power issues. he's the perfect blending of establishment and sort of red-state-based politics. (gavel banging) >> narrator: at the confirmation arings, the democrats immediately put up a fight. >> mr. chairman, i'd like to be recognized to ask a question.ma >> mr. cha it's a pending motion... >> if we don't even know what the rules are, how c.. >> i'd like to respond to... >> mr. chairman... >> mr. chairman, we waited for more than a year with a vacancye on the s court. the treatment was shabby of merrick garland, president obama's nominee... >> democrats are really mad about garland that ha

mitch mcconnell is the king of obstruction.oe biden once to win georgia so he has a chance to get his agenda through. i wouldn't be surprised mitch mcconnell blocked cabinet posts let alone judicial picks. so yes this is a very important election for the joe biden agenda, america overwhelmingly supported joe biden, he won back by 5 million votes nationally. this is a very important election, i would expect donald trump -- >> bill: i'm sorry, i've got breaking news. thanks to you. >> we'll go from here. there is one aspect of last week that has gotten lost but i want to single out right at the sta start. by every indication, the 20/20 election appears to have been free from meaningful foreign interference. if there is no suggestion that our foreign adversaries were allowed to undermine the integrity of our process. according to the director of cybersecurity and infrastructure security administration, "we have no evidence any foreign adversary was capable of preventing americans from voting or changing votes." the head of the nfa

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mitch mcconnell won his election. he's the boogieman for democrats on the supreme court supreme court. lindsey graham, judiciary chairman, won the election. susan collins has voted for every supreme court justice in her history on capitol hill, besides this last one, besides amy coney barrett. she won re-election. john cornyn won re-election. so, i mean, every single person who democrats dumped money into to beat one won. that's amazing! that's an amazing political feat. so you know, should they hold somebody responsible? yes. if it was a business and you missed every single mark that you laid out, you would be held responsible, but it's not a business. it's politics. and they're going to find a way to survive. >> i wonder what the winning message was, for republicans, whether it was the supreme court and this idea that democrats were going to, as republicans were saying, pack the court. democrats call it court reform. jake, though, i want to ask you this, if joe biden -- and we're still in if, if, if, because we don'

we hope that we can find a partr in mitch mcconnell to do just that. simultaneously, it's my understanding that a lot o progress has been made with respect to the needs to fully fund the government in the current fiscal year. it remains to be seen whether there will be crossover negotiation. but the president i think has been erected to speaker pelosi but let me yield catherine wasalso a distinguished member of the committee . >> we completed our appropriations bill back in the summer and we are now hearing from mitch mcconnell. that he too is willing to begin the process. they are behind we will continue to work with them to make sure they're given a shutdown and we have never left the negotiating table when we passed the heroes act . we understand what is at stake for the american people . it cannot just be a relief package or for relief's sake. we cannot leave out the territories. state and local governments. we have to make sure that this is a package that will deliver aid where we need it. but it is a negotiation and our concern is twofold. we are

where mitch mcconnell is aligned with the president -- in this interim time where mitch mcconnell is aligned with the president, is it potentially harming that relationship or putting a damper on it ahead of the biden presidency? guest: relationships for mitch mcconnell are not a driving force in his own political operation. they are important but they are important but they're not the animus, the animating force. what you see for mitch mcconnell is a long-standing report with biden. i used to see ayden when he was vice president go -- i used to see biden when he was vice president go to the capital. when there was a budget standoff, biden and mcconnell seemed to cut a deal at the 11th hour. that was always revealing because washington has become broken in terms of congress functioning and getting legislation done. mcconnelland mitch have been able at different times to cut budgets deals together. beyond budgets deals, it is hard to see how a biden-mcconnell relationship plays out in any huge way in 2021. the appetite in the republican conference is limited to do some sweeping bill o

republicans will keep this senate majority but biden's friendship with senate majority leader mitch mcconnell is going to be key and will they get along. by one of his greatest strengths and why he was probably selected by president obama is well is his deep relationships on capitol hill and he is somebody that has through his entire career worked across the aisle so i think if any president from the democratic party could work with mitch mcconnell it absolutely would be president biden. i think there is going to be a lot of concern if the democrats don't take back the majority we're going to because already signaled that he's going to stop a lot of cabinet appointments and i just really groene said government to a halt so i have great hopes for president elect biden but see a lot of challenges ahead let's just get policy analyst thank you very much thank you well leaders have been sending messages of congratulations to biden and

we hope we will have a partner in mitch mcconnell to do just that. simultaneously, it's my understanding that a lot of progress has been made with respect to the need to fully fund the government in the current fiscal year. it remains to be seen, whether there will be crossover negotiations. that's a question i think is best directed to speaker pelosi. but let me need to katherine who is a distinguished member of the appropriations committee. ms. clark: we completed our appropriations bills back in the summer and we are now hearing from mitch mcconnell that he, too, is willing to begin that process. they are behind, but we will continue to work with them to make sure there isn't a shutdown. and we have never left the negotiating table since may when we passed the heroes act. we understand what is at stake for the american people, but it cannot just be a relief package for relief sake. we cannot leave out key territories, state and local government. you know, we have to make sure that this is a package that will deliver the aid where we need it. but i

and that was something that mitch mcconnell said publicly in 2009 with the obama administration, that he was unsuccessful that although he certainly succeeded in bringing the republicans back to power, first in the house of representatives and then the senate. in the senate, there are going to be some open seats in swing states in 2022 that the republicans are going to have to defend, in places like pennsylvania and north carolina, where they are going to have to find a way to sell to have to find a way to sell to the american public that they should maintain control of they should maintain control of the senate, assuming they keep control of the senate. it's not totally decided yet. perhaps he will be in a negotiating mood. i don't think we're going to have the big type of bailout package that we would have had if democrats had controlled all of congress but there might be grounds for agreement on things like infrastructure spending, marginal improvements and government healthcare programmes. he might be in a negotiating mood and he has certainly worked with joe negotiating mood and

mitch mcconnell has never entertained presidential aspirations. one of the reasons is, mitch this is just a transactional cost of being in the senate. but remember, mitch mcconnell is not sympathetic to these people. mitch mcconnell is what he is because he has never entertained presidential aspirations. one of the reasons is that many years ago mitch mcconnell cannot run for senate because he has the tightlipped owlish demeanor of george will. rather harsh, but not unfair. >> you're not being tightlipped now. congratulations for getting rid of that image, at least for this program. senators who want to run for president -- you have said the party is a cult and has become a cult. that is what you said when you resigned from it, when the nomination of trump occurred. is it still a cult, or do you think it will make an effort, the political leadership, to to try to persuade those 72 million people adherence to it that they have something better to do than the kinds of things that they wanted trump to do? mr. will: it is too soon to say. the truth of

as you know, senator mitch mcconnell is not accepting the election results. fox tv which as you know millions and millions of people, that's their information source, is not accepting the election results, at least not the opinion hosts, and so i'm just not sure, senator, that the transition is going to happen the way you think it is. >> well, i said that's the way it should happen. there is a lot of important, difficult and urgent work to be done on the transition. there is a robust and large transition team busy with policy plans, with interviewing potential nominees or candidates for positions. they are doing their work. they do need access to the vital federal resources that make it easier for them to do their work. they do need access to federal agencies that begin -- that need to begin planning but, you know, look, alisyn, we all know that president trump has been an unconventional president who has colored outside the lines every chance he's gotten, who has frankly broken the boundaries and foundations of the modern presidency and the previous limitati

let's remember the way that mitch mcconnell dropped obama. that's the mitch mcconnell i expect to see. if you're joe biden, you want that majority. the senate is still overwhelmingly moderate. you'll have the moderate house which can tussle with the senate. i can't imagine a president that doesn't want the trifecta. the idea is if he can get that, we can talk as a party how to deliver. >> rahm and then heidi. >> two quick things. the vice president is going to reach out to republicans and bring them to table. >> you always want the majority if you can get it. >> yeah, you want the majority, exactly. it's a fact. he's going to deal with reality, not what he wants, but what he has. i think mitch mcconnell has to make a big choice. the other thing is, this is on all of us. joe biden has talked about all of america. i've made this mistake. we talk about red and blue america. our language has to contribute to an environment where we see each other. >> fair point. heidi heitkamp, weigh in here. >> george, i think that everybody has underestimated a

president-elect, senate majority leader mitch mcconnell has said today that he may not recognize the outcome of this election until the electoral college meets next month. have you spoken to your longtime friend in the senate mr. mcconnell, and i think the whole republican party has been put into position with a few notable exceptions. but only one president at a ti time, but in the meantime we hope to had a chance to speak to mitch. >> if i could follow up, without transition funding would we be able to go through the proper transition that's needed, would you like access to the pdb and will you legalize action or would that be too divisive? >> we can get through without the funding. we are in a position that we feel very good about -- there is nothing that slows up our efforts to put things together. obviously the pdb would be useful but it's not necessary, i'm not the sitting president now. so we don't see anything slowing us down right now. quite frankly. >> thank you mr. president-elect and congratulations to you both. what would you say to the president if he was watching n now?

and if mitch mcconnell is the majority leader what should their expectation be? >> well, as you guys know the senate is a body where the minority can actually play a very large role as well. so whether or not mitch mcconnell is the majority leader or the minority leader he knows the tools of that institution better than anybody. and even as minority leader could put a big kibosh onto a lot of biden's plans if he so chose to do so. now obviously as majority leader he would have more impact, more power. the senate has to approve all of joe biden's cabinet nominations. if mitch mcconnell chose to he could just not have hearings on any of them or not bring them to a vote which would require then incoming president biden to have his cabinet sort of serve in temporary or acting positions. but you know what? this may not happen. the country has sort of made a decision here that they want to just change presidents, and mitch mcconnell knows where the wind is blowing, and he also knows that there is a pandemic in this country and an economic crisis. and at some point all

the it's the way mitch mcconnell is doing it.he gsa, the office that assures is smooth transition is handling. it's the way president trump is handling it by firing his secretary of defense. create chaos and doubt. it's on us to stay focused and know the truth and tell the truth about what's happening in a fair electoral process as republican secretaries of state and republicans on electoral boards have told us again and again and again. there is nothing shady here. in fact, this was a smooth election that joe biden won. >> sound and fury signifying nothing. the only thing i will say, yes, mitch mcconnell will do whatever he has to do to retain the majority in the united states senate, but right now what he is seeing in the state of georgia are democrats and independents, going to be united, to actually put democrats in charge of the senate and to run mitch mcconnell out of the majority speaker's office, majority leader's office, what he is allowing to happen right now is a civil war happening in georgia. the people of georgia el

mitch mcconnell and joe biden have a relationship. and, you know, they have downplayed it because frankly progressives don't want to hear that. mitch mcconnell is probably -- maybe even the most hated republican politician for many on the left who are really focused in on his role on -- you know, the judiciary and other areas. but you know if you look back to, joe, what the obama administration did do with congress in the second term, guess who did all of the deals, did all of the work we were chasing through the hallways, it was joe biden working with mitch mcconnell. when they had divided government in the second term and frankly some of that's generated anger, some of the work done there has generated anger among democrats but we'd be misleading people if we didn't say that mitch mcconnell and joe biden have had a successful working relationship in the past. to think that's not going to did fine any divided government, that a biden administration is presiding over, is simply ignoring the realities. joe, you guys have had joe biden

mitch mcconnell won by 20-something points, his largest margin since 2002.ey graham won by double digits in south carolina. both states if you talk to democratic consultants who are not being paid to say what you want to hear, they would have said put that money in a place like georgia. put that money in a place like maine where we actually have a chance to win a seat. but people just don't like mitch mcconnell so they think they can beat him regardless of what the numbers say. amy mcgrath lost a house race in the best year for democrats in several years in 2018. she was not the candidate a lot of democrats wanted or liked in that race, and she got really just beaten back here by mitch mcconnell by 21 points. again, not really great strategicy, one might say, by democratic donors. >> let me ask you quickly, i'm not sure if jaime harrison has cash on hand but since you brought up the issue of georgia, that senate race or second one certainly heading to a runoff. could that money move over from south carolina to help somebody like reverend warnoff and his race

mitch mcconnell has worked with joe biden in the past. they both served in the senate.oe biden's cabinet members are also going to have a different experience depending on who has the majority in the senate. you can say maybe americans are sick of gridlock, but a lot of americans will make the argument, it's a good thing for washington, d.c., to be doing less, for government to be focused on local issues at the local level rather than the one side fits all policies. when it comes to covid relief, it's mitch mcconnell and the republicans who voted to pass 500 million more dollars for covid relief. you have them asking for nancy pelosi to vote to approve money to be released that's been set aside for covid relief. what the democrats have pushed through, it is full of a number of progressive left wing wish list items that are put in on the back of a covid relief package. georgia will be important. you have don jr. advocating for people to go get out and vote. it will turn to voter turnout in that state. >> harris: you mention covid-19 and that's a crucial one. i'm reading

in fact mitch mcconnell is the same old mitch mcconnell. from when barack obama welected mitch mel said i want to make sure he is a one term president and since then hitch mcconnell has not done anything to help any democrat certainly not any democrat -- certainly not obama. he has given every indication that he will given joe biden is very hard time. >> so as a former labor secretary, what are the abilities that biden has at his disposal? there is a lot of talk about using executive privilege, executive orders to bypass the senate. we know that trump implemented a lot of this was reallocating funding from the pent gopentago the wall. what does he have in his arsenal to combat the senate that refuses to engage in a bipartisan way for the american people? >> there are a number of things that joe biden could do even independent of the senate or independent of the congress. number one, student loan debts, particularly federal student loan debt, he could by executive order just eliminate almost all of that federal student loan debt. he could al

remember, mitch mcconnell is not sympathetic to these people. mitch mcconnell has never entertained presidential aspirations. one of the reasons is, mitch mcconnell cannot run for senate because he has the tightlipped, owlish demeanor of george will. rather harsh, but not unfair. [laughter] >> congratulations for getting rid of that image. at least for this program. senators who want to run for president -- you said the party is a cult and has become a cult. that is what you said when you resigned from it, when the nomination for trump occurred. is it still a cult, or do you think there will be an effort to try to persuade those 72 million people that have something better to do than the kinds of things that they wanted trump to do? mr. will: it is too soon to say. the truth of the matter is, we don't know. some, tom cotton for did two stints in the u.s. military, a very intelligent man. you would call it the thinking person's trumpism. i think there will be others in the republican primaries in 2024 saying, look, we want to go back to what we h

if mitch mcconnell wanted this bill to pass, it would have passed. he would have done it.here's no excuse as to why he cannot bring this bill to the floor for a vote and get the money to the american people that they need. i think that he seems obviously stuck on the upcoming senate races and trying to at least allow the president to have a long enough time to process the fact that he lost the election. but meantime, americans are losing their lives and livelihoods, and mitch mcconnell isn't doing anything about it. in fact, congress is home for thanksgiving. so i'm glad they have time for a break and the president has time for golf, but people have needs that are very urgent and pressing, and this is literally their job. this is why they get paid. >> anthony, does this mean we shouldn't expect covid relief? >> democrats are hamstrung. they have two senate runoff races they're trying to win. the balance of power on the senate hangs in those two places. they lost part of the their advantage in the house. it's not like they have a greater advantage in the house, which is wha

mitch mcconnell said a deal must get done by the end of the year.epublicans are split over how much they want to spend. some benefits like federal unemployment set to expire end of the year. jillian: house speaker nancy pelosi could face an uphill battle in her re-election bid. house minority leader kevin mccarthy says 10 o 10 democratic votes could stand in her way. >> to become speaker you have to have 218 votes on the floor. when she went up for the vote two years ago, there were 15 democrats who voted against her. 10 of those democrats will be coming to congress. those 10 of vot 10 vote againstn she will not be speaker of the house because she won't have 218 because of the gains of the republicans. jillian: the gop added several house seats this election, flipping seven from blue to red. todd: it is the year of the gop woman, a record number of republican women running for office and winning. jillian: illinois congresswoman-elect mary miller is among them and joins us now. congratulations. thanks for joining us. >> thank you. thank you for havin

they struck a number of deals in the relationship between president obama and majority leader mitch mcconnell is not good and was not good when obama was president so really it was the dealmaking came down to the joe biden and mcconnell and they struck a number of fiscal deals and president obama now criticized mcconnell in his new book and i don't think that means we will see a lot of kumbaya in washington but a lot of big sweeping a partisan deals in the deals that were struck basically between mcconnell and biden were must haves and government shutdown and raising the debt ceiling and dealing with taxes that were about to expire and they were kind of deals that had to be made for the most part so the relationship is good and mcconnell and biden certainly criticized each other on the campaign trail this year but at the same time, and never got personal. cap personal between harry reid, majority leader at the time of the nominee john mccain and they had been very good friends and during that election year it got personal.in i do think they have a good relationship but at the same time mitch

greg: that is a bait issue for mitch mcconnell. he wants that and the democrats want money for state and local government. with people like susan collins of maine being more powerful at -- after her victory, we could put a deal together in the next couple of weeks. david: there is no deadline on the stimulus bill. there is a deadline on funding the government. could those things come together. the deadline is december 11. greg: at midnight on december 11 a temporary spending bill expires. theoretically we could wake up on december 12 with the government shutdown. i do not think that is going to happen. more and more people are saying since we have to pass this, let's put stimulus and virus stimulus onto the budget bill. i think that has a chance. david: to what extent is the white house playing in all of this? president trump has not conceded , although every time he talks to cameras he is inching his way there. they will keep working until january 20. there are a lot of things he can still do. greg: there a lot of things he could

if we listen to people like mitch mcconnell.ost: let's go to tony, delaware, number credit caller. caller: thank you for taking my call. i want to say a couple of things. when president trump became president, he said he was going to ring all these jobs back to america. and we don't have no more coal mines, steel mills. host: tony, how is that related to congressional leadership and your confidence level? and themcconnell republican party, like the caller said earlier, they never come to an agreement, trying to pandemic and people losing their housing and can't feed their kids. other countries are sitting back laughing. we need to get out here and support the people of this country that put those people in the house. they get in the house and they don't do anything. trumpre afraid of donald and whatever he says, that's what goes. but when donald trump gets out of office, it is going to flip the script. this whole country is going to turn -- they are going to have to come to an agreement. host: on covid, take a look at the headli

biden is going to have to get anything past mitch mcconnell. the biggest puzzle is mitch mcconnell. which way is he going to go? he has not been talking very much. francine: if there is one thing you would be watching out for this week, what is it? is it the republicans, some of the nominations? what is the one thing that we will find out in the next week which could change the setting for the u.s.? greg: the only nomination this week probably will be white house chief of staff. i think the bigger story this week will start today -- the really credible charges of voter fraud or things like that. so far what we have seen looks pretty frivolous, but if there are not credible charges, this could diminish the new president, it could anger a lot of the trump base, and that is not a good way to start an administration. tom: greg valliere with agf. up, rick lacaille on this market. dell futures up 40 five. i'm looking for an -- dow 405.es up rick lacaille in this little moment. stay with us for our election 2020 coverage. from london, from new york, this is bloomberg. ♪ francine: good morn

>> you covered mitch mcconnell for years. one thing that has been explained to me over the last 24 hours is that mitch mcconnell's support of the president actually has to do with georgia. mitch mcconnell is concerned about depressing support among the base for the president or turning the president off from being involved in the georgia runoff. but my question to you is where does -- i'm not sure i fully understand where this does stop. where the republicans giving the president a long leash now, where does it stop and how can they be sure it will? >> sources close to mcconnell told "the washington post" that once it becomes clear that trump has indeed lost the election, that mcconnell will make it clear he believes trump should move on. that vice president -- or president-elect biden should go on with the business of transition. but when does that point come? what we saw yesterday, mcconnell had been pretty quiet in terms of the president, you know, contesting the results and arguing over twitter. but yesterday the senate f

mitch mcconnell don't do this, mitch mcconnell, don't do that, et cetera.blican party right now with this president perhaps out of the white house but omnipresent? >> the republican party will have to come to grips with the fact he actually changed the complications of the party, brought in new people and will rekindle the relationship he's driven away. it is a hard thing. the reality is 93% of the republican vote, he ran a much closer race than a lot of people thought was possible based on the national polling, and republicans really do like his attitude even if his policy influence will be waning once he leaves the white house. my advice for donald trump frankly is you have a chance to bounce back immediately. the next couple of big thing that's will happen in this country could happen on his watch. he has a chance to leave office on an upswing, political upswing if he helps them hold the senate majority. he's got a lot of influence and a lot of bounce-backs that make him really relevant. >> maggie, he has uncertainty instead. there are investigations in

as senate majority leader mitch mcconnell continues to defend h previous elections.ten to what he said on november 9th in 2016, when donald trump got the electoral votes but not the popular vote against hillary clinton. >> the american people understand that if you get 270 electoral votes, you're president. the election is over. we know who won. and we're going to move on from there. >> president trump is 100% within his rights to look into allegations of irregularities. let's not have any lectures. no lectures about how the president should immediately, cheerfully accept preliminary election results. >> joining me now are adam jefferson, former deputy chief of staff to harry reid and brendan buck. thanks very much to you both. what do you make of mcconnell's stance now compared to what he said in the past, the day after the election, long before it was certified where here he's supporting the gsa holding it all up. >> yeah, i mean, the hypocrisy here is undeniable. of course, this comes only a month after mcconnell rams through a supreme court nominee after saying i

we have an inkling that mitch mcconnell will hold onto the majority in the senate so we ,ould be in a similar situation although with joe biden who has taken the coronavirus threat much more seriously than and knowntrump has, in washington and capitol hill as someone who can cut deals, someone who has a 30 year relationship with mitch mcconnell, there is some hope that that is something that can be done. it really has to get done at this point because, as you know and the reporting has shown, there are millions and millions of americans still unemployed. the coronavirus number of cases are hitting record levels day after day now and this past election week we just saw. things are getting worse and there has been in action from washington and from the congress. this is a time where the two sides really do need to come together for the american people. host: our guest is a familiar face on c-span and wears out shoe leather covering the house. the senior staff writer with the hill and we welcome your calls and comments, looking eight i head to the 117th election, the results in the house

mitch mcconnell and joe biden got along and struck a lot of physical deals, mitch mcconnell wanted trumpersonally go after joe biden, they were very good relationship so for covid relief you're probably going to have some type of deal in the lame-duck session and going forward it is going to have to be a bipartisan compromise because you have a split government and joe biden is going to have to convince some republicans as well as the left to strike deals in the middle. >> i think a lot of people have brought up he can't nominate far left people into his cabinet, more important i think for investors, business owners and the like what about the plans he's presented by getting the tax plan through the congress does not seem likely in the short term. >> no, if you think that will not get changed dramatically is obamacare because obviously the house is not going to go along with getting rid of obamacare and as well as raising taxes, mitch mcconnell i if he is majority leader and doesn't look like it's going to is not going to go for any type of repealing the tax law. so the big sweeping item

you don't have to ask where mitch mcconnell is. mitch mcconnell knows how to count votes. mitch mcconnell knows this election's over. he's concerned about winning those two georgia seats, which he should win, unless republicans really foul things up over the next several weeks which they could do. >> they could. >> it would follow the madness of donald trump's claims. >> it would traitorous to the peaceful transition and any republicans who try to do that might find themselves in the wrong location from across an adult bookstore and that actually happened. >> by the way, do they want to follow the path of rudy giuliani? giuliani is one of the voices supposedly saying that the president should fight on. how much do republicans want to continue shaming themselves with guys who find themselves in a landscaping business on the most important supposed day of the entire campaign next to a porn shop and making a fool out of himself. that's what it -- >> that's sort of symbolic -- >> that's what it's devolved to right now. by the way, that guy, that's the guy that donald trump and

taking the republican party on this path to no where legally along with him and you heard from mitch mcconnell earlier and you watched was mcconnell walking what he considers to be a mine field, a political and procedural mine field because he as you have noted before, he like others in government, they want power. he wants to still be the majority leader. he is looking at the two races in georgia and he understands that if he says to the president publicly or privately explicitly you're done, we're out, the president will not only not help in georgia, he could undermine the republicans in georgia. that's the last thing he wants. >> so the vice president is up there for the senate republican luncheon, vice president pence. he tweeted support of the president's strategy yesterday, doesn't use the same language. just because it is gentle language, it is still the same. four republican senators, mitt romney, susan collins, ben sasse, lisa murkowski in not trump supporters camp. democrats, listen here, two of them saying we wish our republican friends would relearn math. >> it is critical to keep

i know that mitch mcconnell thinks highly of joe biden.all him and run out and tell everybody on television, i just called mitch mcconnell. keep it betwn themselves. there has got to be things that are good for both joe biden and for mitch mcconnell. and if there are, then that's good for the country. and i think that's the place to start. how could either of them be hurt by later holding a news conference and saying, we just want everybody to know we're talking. >> brennan: i love that that is the new benchmark for success, hey, at least they talked. but what do you think -- because the list is so long -- what do you think is the most difficult challenge for the new president? >> i just getting people -- he has to get people in his own party together. and they've got to decide on what the priorities are. there is no question that covid has to come first, but he also has to deal with this economy. and among other things, why couldn't e com he come up with -- the two of them, come up with some sort of public works plan, where people who can

i think this is a time for diplomacy in the case of mitch mcconnell. in managing the current affairs which is donald trump is still president and there's still things they would like to do with this administration as well as transitioning to the next. >> i think the if game is over frankly, senator, at this point now that pennsylvania and michigan have certified, nevada has certified. i'm going to go to bakari on this. at this point it's all but done, the president is going to the commonwealth today, i guess, with a continued effort to overturn the election results there, but it's not going to work and there is a "politico" article today by tim albert at that which includes a quote which i think gets to the president's failure of imagination perhaps on this. tim delves into michigan and talks about the fact if nor for aaron van length felled we would have a constitutional crisis to thank you to him, thank you to brad raffensperger in georgia, but he quotes the president inside a meeting talking about his loss, he said, quote, i don't get it, the presid

where interim period mitch mcconnell is aligned with the president in terms of the vote count, is this potentially harming that relationship or putting a damper on it ahead of the biden presidency? guest: relationships for senator mcconnell, the majority leader, are not a driving force in his own political operation. they are important but not the animus, the animating force. what you see from senate majority leader mitch mcconnell is a long-standing report with president-elect biden. i used see vice president biden go to the capital. i was reporting on capitol hill at the time. whenever there was a budget standoff, biden and mcconnell seemed to be able to cut a deal at the 11th hour. to me that was always revealing. washington has become broken in many parts in terms of congress functioning and getting legislation done. oldbiden and mcconnell, two pros have been able to cut budget deals together. beyond budget deals it is hard to see how pay biden-mcconnell relationship plays out in a huge way legislatively in 2021. the appetite in the republican conference and senate and house is lim

mitch mcconnell there speaking after a republican meeting.come vuriewers in the united states and around the world. you just heard from the top republican in the united states senate, he is trying to say don't worry, be calm, there's nothing unusual, those are the words, about president trump refusing to accept the results of the american election held a week ago. the leader rightly so says any candidate has the right to file allegations about the election process. he is right about that. one week after america voted, team trump says there are irregularities, but presented no evidence. the leader saying let the president challenge the results. up until the electoral

he has a relationship with mitch mcconnell.t is possible that if there were a combination of divided senate versus white house makeup, that this is one that could lend itself to some sort of possible conversations about a skinny bill, but i think without a skinny bill, you are going to continue to see layoffs at the state and local level. the quantum difference here, in terms of the economic impact? say say $500 billion or $1.5 trillion, what is the multiplier between those two numbers? trillion a significantly $500 billion?than i am wondering how that works in terms of the magnitude of stimulus we will get. constance: i would say there's a couple areas where stimulus is needed. the first would be continuing unemployment step up and continued assistance for a pandemic, and then an extension of the length of time people are receiving benefits because that is about to run out. that has got a very high multiplier. maybewe are looking at 300 to $400 billion that could carry us until the end of the second quarter of next year if we

well and they are on opposite sides but know how to deal with each other and what i see in the mitch mcconnellt hear from many republicans making announcements but the announcement mitch made went towards saying he was not ready to get to work on a lame duck and pass coronavirus relief aid with nancy pelosi. we have not seen that kind of engagement throughout the summerfrom him and he knew he had tough elections for his republican senators trying to come back but i think if you know that donald trump is not coming back, then he is ready to deal with the democrats. assuming nothing, joe biden is not president yet, what is his path to victory because he is not there yet, i'm assuming you will say pennsylvania and michigan or arizona and nevada? i do think it is arizona, nevada, and michigan and i think we take those and get to 270 exactly. pennsylvania and georgia may be become the fallback just in case. that goes to the point that joe biden has multiple pass to get to 270 whereas president trump has one path, only through pennsylvania and that's why you see him fighting so desperately to cling