when i said this, it is not clear yet what any new national security agency would be responsible for . it could simply be responsible for public education publicized here and promotion . you know, you cannot come to the conclusion that they are, they will be enforcing hong kong law. that's what they brit, that's what they do when they bring in their national security organs of the central police. government is a central people's government. that's what they are looking for. education is it, you don't know that again, you aren't me and you have no, no factual basis for making those sort of statements you are simply making. are sweeping allegations based on your own assumptions and bias when there's no assumptions and bias. when you look at how the national security organs of the central people's government operate when they're in on the mainland, and we're not talking about mainland, we're talking about one country 2 systems. let's come back to hong kong. it doesn't look as though it's one country 2 systems that have running in the national security organs have and imposing their secu

what i said there is, it is not clear yet what any new national security agency would be responsible for . it could simply be responsible for public education, publish it in promotion. you know, you cannot come to the conclusion that they are, they will be enforcing hong kong law. that's what they bring. that's what they do when they bring in their national security organs of the central police government does it. it was sent to people's government. that's what they are looking for. education is it, you don't know that again, you aren't, you, and you have no, no factual basis for making those sort of statements you are simply making are sweeping allegations based on your own assumptions and bias when there's no assumptions and bias. when you look at how the national security organs of the central people's government operate when they're in on the mainland, and we're not talking about mainland, we're talking about one country 2 systems. let's come back to hong kong. it doesn't look as though it's one country 2 systems that have really in the national security organs have and imposing

what i said there is, it is not clear yet what any new national security agency would be responsible for . it could simply be responsible for public education, publicized here and promotion. you know, you cannot come to the conclusion that they are, they will be enforcing hong kong law. that's what they bring. that's what they do when they bring in the national security organs of the central police government does it. it was sent to people's government. that's what they are looking for. education is it, you don't know that again, you aren't, you, and you have no, no factual basis for making those sort of statements you are simply making are sweeping allegations based on your own assumptions and bias when there's no assumptions and bias. when you look at how the national security organs of the central people's government operate when they're in on the mainland, we're not talking about mainland. we're talking about one country 2 systems. let's come back to hong kong. it doesn't look as though it's one country 2 systems that have running in the national security organs have and imposing

when i said this, it is not clear yet what any new national security agency would be responsible for . it could simply be responsible for public education, publicized here and promotion. you know, you cannot come to the conclusion that they are, they will be enforcing hong kong law. that's what they bring. that's what they do when they bring in the national security organs of the central police. government is a central people's government. that's what they are looking for. education is it, you don't know that again, you aren't, you, and you have no, no factual basis for making those sort of statements you are simply making are sweeping allegations based on your own assumptions and bias when there's no assumptions and bias. when you look at how the national security organs of the central people's government operate when they're in on the mainland. i mean, we're not talking about mainland, we're talking about one country 2 systems. let's come back to hong kong. it doesn't look as though it's one country 2 systems that have very international security organs have and imposing their secu

when i said this, it is not clear yet what any new national security agency would be responsible for . it could simply be responsible for public education publicized here and promotion . you know, you cannot come to the conclusion that they are, they will be enforcing hong kong law. that's what they brit, that's what they do when they bring in the national security organs of the central police. government is a central people's government. that's what they are looking for. education is it, you don't know that again, you aren't, you, and you have no, no factual basis for making those sort of statements you are simply making are sweeping allegations based on your own assumptions and bias when there's no assumptions and bias. when you look at how the national security organs of the central people's government operate when they're in on the mainland, and we're not talking about mainland, we're talking about one country 2 systems. let's come back to hong kong. it doesn't look as though it's one country 2 systems that have running in the national security organs have and imposing their secu

what i said there is, it is not clear yet what any new national security agency would be responsible for . it could simply be responsible for public education publicized here and promotion . you know, you cannot come to the conclusion that they are, they will be enforcing hong kong law. that's what they bring. that's what they do when they bring in their national security organs of the central police government does it. it was sent to people's government. that's what they are looking for. education is it, you don't know that again, you aren't, you and you have no, no factual basis for making those sort of statements you are simply making are sweeping allegations based on your own assumptions and bias. but there's no assumptions and bias when you look at how the national security organs of the central people's government operate when they're in on the mainland. we're not talking about mainland, we're talking about one country 2 systems. let's come back to hong kong. it doesn't look as though it's one country 2 systems that have really international security organs have an imposing the

they must obey hong kong law that i said this, it is not clear yet what any new national security agency would be responsible for . it could simply be responsible for public education publicized here and promotion . you know, you cannot come to the conclusion that they are, they will be enforcing hong kong law. that's what they bring. that's what they do when they bring in their national security organs of the central police. government does a central people's government, that's what they are looking for. education is it, you don't know that again, you aren't, you and you have no, no factual basis for making those sort of statements. you are simply making our sweeping allegations based on your own assumptions and bias when there's no assumptions and bias when you look at how the national security organs of the central people's government operate when they're in on the mainland. we're not talking about mainland. we're talking about one country 2 systems. let's come back to hong kong. it doesn't look as though it's one country 2 systems that have running in the national security organs hav

when i said this, it is not clear yet what any new national security agency would be responsible for . it could simply be responsible for public education publicized here and promotion . you know, you cannot come to the conclusion that they are, they will be enforcing hong kong law. that's what they bring. that's what they do when they bring in their national security organs of the central police government does it, it was central people's government. that's what they are looking for.

. >>> president trump accused of a national security purge, new fallout after he fired the cyber security chief whose agency called the election the most secure in american history. the republicans now speaking out >>> president-elect joe biden's dire new warning about the vaccine rollout. >>> the rush to get tested before thanksgiving, could it give your family a false sense of security >>> and the surprise discovery right here in the iconic rockefeller center christmas tree >>> this is "nbc nightly news" with lester holt. >> good evening, everyone as we come on the air tonight there are several major developments in the covid pandemic crisis we need to tell you about. but none bigger than this number. 250,000, the number of people who according to nbc news tracking have now died in this country from the virus. think about it 250,000. and no amount of loss and suffering seems to be changing the trajectory the white house task force painting an extraordinarily grim picture warning of unrelenting spread and further deterioration. but there was more good news on the vaccine front today. we'll have more on tha

you have new lawyer, a general counsel at the national security agency, the nsa who's really not justneral counsel of that intelligence agency that they be utterly apolitical. this is someone who was a former nunes staffer and had a run in the midnight run episode. we're going to see more of this. the president doesn't like for a reason or other rewarding political cronies in these last hours and days. >> we have the memo that richard pilger filed tonight. he's also the winner of an integrity award in the justice department. and he cites that in saying why he's resigning. he said having familiarized myself with new policy and its ramifications and in accord with the best tradition of the award for professional integrity and professionalism my most cherished departmental recognition i must regretfully resign from my role as director of the election crimes branch. and this is simply after william barr issued a memo to federal prosecutors saying you can investigate possible election crimes here, but he also included other limitations like it has to be a case that will change the outcome

wars" bar scene full of really weird dudes in senior roles at the pentagon and the national security agency, including a new guy he's just put in charge of policy at the pentagon who says that president obama is a terrorist leader. he's also put not one, not two, but three different guys who were at the heart of that whole thing where trump said obama wiretapped trump tower, right? three junior staffers who made up that whole debacle are now the chief of staff at the pentagon, the top legal counsel at the national security agency, and the intelligence chief at the pentagon, and that last guy, all of 34 years old, who is now the intelligence chief at the pentagon, who is seen as too nuts for even the trump administration at one point and was forced out of the national security council job he had in the trump white house after he got caught trying to sell all that nonsense about how obama was doing the wiretapping and the unmasking scandal and all that other made-up nonsense. he was literally laughed out of even the trump administration, but they brought him back. and after the election, installed him as inte

it maureen kelly kron 4 news in national news, the federal government has released a statement regarding election security. >>the cybersecurity and infrastructure security agency says in part quote the november 3rd election was the most secure in american history there is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes change votes or was in any way compromised while there are many unfounded claims and opportunities for misinformation about the process of our elections. >>we can assure you we have the utmost confidence in the security and integrity of our elections and you should too that is the end of the quote, meanwhile president elect joe biden is forging ahead with setting up his administration despite president trump's refusal to concede the white house weighs fighting has delegated a coronavirus task now some senators say they should start receiving intelligence briefings no later than this week. >>and work is in washington with more. >>we are already beginning the transition president elect joe biden says his transition to the white house is well underway fact that they're not willing to acknowledge we wanted to this point not of much conseque

national security agency. so it's certainly possible that there's a new effort under way to declassify materials that presidentrump thinks would show that the investigation was poisoned from the beginning, would support his case. this has aroused enormous concern among military leaders, intelligence leaders who think that the release of these secrets, the declassification, would have severe damage to our ability to collect information, what they call sources and methods. they're really hot about it. there's been a behind-the-scenes battle going on for several months that i've been trying to report on. >> so this -- what is stashed at the pentagon that they're going to be able to get their hands on? i understand trying to get in -- you know, get their hands into the dni which they now have with ratcliffe or supposedly what they're trying to do with gina haspel at cia. what is it that they could do from their post at the pentagon? what materials could they declassify? >> so the declassification order could come from the director of national intelligence, john ratcliffe. i believe he has already pushed for additi

secure u.s. elections systems, pushed back on falsd. claims of fr >> this new agency will ensuree thatnfront the full range of threats from nation states,yrcrimind other malicious actors of which there william: in 2018, president trump signed legislation to fund the cybersecurity and infrastructure security agena,, known as cithin the department of homeland security. its goal -- to protect critical infrastructure, includg the nation's election systems. the president named cybersecurity expert christopher krebs to be its director. he had been serving within dhs at the time. last month, just days before the election, krebs ld the "newshour" that cisa had come long way. >> we have just made remarkable progress.po the evidence ss that. the security of these systems has improved. but, most importantly, the resilience of the system has dramatically improved. william: the consensus among election officials and agencies across government is tint, despite onthreats of disinformation, foreign interference, plus the pandemic , the 2020 election was the most secure in u.s. history. >> director krebs desees an enormous amount of credit for his effor

news unfolding right now. a key federal government agency finally is initiating the formal, official presidential transition process after weeks of delay. we're joined now by president trump's former national securitydvisor h. r. mcmaster, the author oof the new book entitled batgrounds, the fight to defend the free world. thank you so much for joining us. this is really significant developments. the administrator of the general services administration emily murphy now concluding that biden is the apparent winner of this election. she says the actual winner of the presidential election will be determined by the electoral process detailed in the constitution. but he's the apparent winner. as a result they are now allowing the outgoing administration to cooperate with the incoming administration, provide national security briefings and other related information to help the president-elect be better prepared when he's sworn in on january 20th. >> yeah, wolf, this is important news. and i think it's time to celebrate, right? it's time for thanksgiving and we ought to be thankful for the strength of our institutions. as you know a lot of the commentary over the last several weeks has been a little bit b

national security and homeland security considerations. you know, the 70 day period of time, there is going to be, you know, political leadership leaving these agencies, there's going to be new there are foreign adversaries that would love to take it vantage of this tenuous period of time, and it's one of the reasons why previous transitions have been characterised by cooperation. this is bigger than one president's political interests, it's about our national security interests. indeed, so. chris, thanks so much for joining a. thank you. welcome as we have been reporting to my president terms remains unwilling to concede defeat and has vowed to contest election results on several fronts. in georgia where the margins are tight there will be a recount — althouthoe biden's lead has stretched in the past day to just over 10,000 votes with 99% of the ballots now counted. mr trump also wants a recount in wisconsin — his lead there just over 20,500. and the trump campaign has now filed a lawsuit over ballots cast on election day in arizona that it says were incorrectly rejected. in arizona commits joe in arizona commitsjoe biden in the lead, 18,550 with 90% of —— in arizona commit

new now? that this was the last iaea report, the international atomic energy agency's report on iran's nuclear progress before he leaves office. and his national securityer seemed to be hinting there they understand he's leaving office. so the question is is this the moment for him to act, even though the advance that iran made wouldn't lead to a weapon in at least six months and probably longer. so certainly not within the time that he's president. >> david, was it your sense he was being warned off a military strike by the people in that room? what was his reaction to their questioning? >> that was definitely the sense we got. credit for the reporting here goes to my colleagues eric schmidt, mike haberman, helene cooper. as we made our way around to different people familiar with the conversation, it be became clear that even the iran hawks like mike pompeo, the secretary of state, and chris miller, the new defense secretary and certainly chairman milley, the chairman of the jont chiefs, all said this would lead to an cl s escalation you might not be able to control in the last weeks. it my be part of the national security briefing that president-ele

. >> the nation's top election security agency says the 12020 election was the most secure in american history. >> the drugmaker pfizer announcing that new results from its covid-19 vaccine trial suggests the vaccine is highly effective. >> covid cases surging across the country. >> several states with new restrictions amid the surge in cases. >> the united states recorded another record high for daily coronavirus cases. it marked the sixth day. >> a seventh straight day. >> the eighth consecutive day. >> this is the ninth day in a row that we have seen numbers above 100,000. look at how they are multiplying. this needs to change. >>> we begin tonight with breaking news. a federal judge in new york city ruled that chad wolf was unlawfully appointed the acting chief of homeland security. that means his act to suspend daca is now invalid. this news comes as the white house seems to be undergoing a post-election purge. the "washington post" is reporting that 30-year-old john mcentee, the director of the personnel office-s firing lifelong civil servants perceived as disloyal to the president. joining me now with more on this breaking news is

needed in each agency and though joe biden is saying it's not a big deal for now, don't worry about it, they are very concerned about national security. >> yeah, well, i think there is bad news and there is good news. the bad news is the only people being hurt by the trump administration's refusal to cooperate with the transition is the american people. as you said the purpose of the transition rules are to ensure the continuity of government. when it is not clear what is going on. that you don't have a new administration able to hit the ground running. so it is stupid and destructive to the nation. that being said i'm not that concerned. i think this is feeder. i know many of the people who are on the trump agency transition teams for the defense, for instance. people like kathleen hicks, and they are made up of many people that already hold security clearances, so there is not a delay in their case. and number two it is made up of people that had extensive time working in the defense department. you could say the same agency by agency. they have great contacts with the career folks that work in those departments. so even though yes, can the failure of the general services

national security adviser to then vice president biden. cbs news has also learned the president-elect plans to nominate linda thomas-greenfield as ambassador to the united nations. she is currently leading mr. biden's agencyiew team for the state department. she was the former assistant secretary of state for african affairs and one of the highest ranking black diplomats at the department. now one hitch in the president-elect's transition process is that none of his nominees can get background checks until the general services administration signs off on the formal transition process. so far, the agency has not changed its posture, but many democratic lawmakers have demanded that the gsa strator brief them by today. tony? >> thank you, nikole. >>> ahead, the millions who don't have enough to eat because of the pandemic and the efforts of people like >>> ahead in >>> ahead -- thou avoid surprise costs coming up on "cbs this morning." how to avoid surprise costs coming up on "cbs this morning." dry, distressed skin that struggles? new aveeno® restorative skin therapy. with our highest concentration of prebiotic oat intensely moisturizes over time to improve skin's resilience. aveeno® healthy. it's our natur

national security agency, did a lot to secure this election. and i can attest the dramatic improvement over this situation if 2016. >> our time is short because there's so much breaking news we have to cut it short. have a good evening, okay? >> thank you. >> we've got a lot more breaking news out of michigan tonight. is what republicans tried to do there even legal? make sure you stay with us. we'll be right back. some hot cocoa? mom, look! are you okay? s for exceptional lease and financing offers at the mercedes-benz winter event. sarah: for a while i've negative self image. there was like this contrast between like the way that i was thinking about my personality and the way that i was thinking about my body. with noom, i was able to learn how to interrupt those habits and create new ones. so my goal was 35 pounds and i've lost about 30 pounds now. so.. i've never been this confident in my body. my name is sara and i changed my life with noom. visit noom.com and lose the weight for good. do you have a life insurance policy you no longer need? now you can sell your policy, even a term policy, for an immediate cash payment. we thought we had planned carefully for our re

national security matters, active ones. not just matters of policy, matters of literal equipment being destroyed as we speak. but nbc news reports tonight that the biden transition today made contact with all federal agenciesncluding the white house. some agency teams began arranging their first transition meetings today. approximately 20 transition meetings, first meetings took place today in this first day after president trump finally relented and allowed last night that the transition would be allowed to begin. the biden campaign made this statement. quote, career staff at federal agencies have been responsive, receptive and helpful within the first few hours of formal engagement. notice they said career staff there. many career staff have been preparing for this moment for several months. their work is greatly appreciated as we begin making up for some lost time. yeah, making up for some lost time to say the least. making up for four years of lost governance as well. ticktock, samantha power joins us next. stay with us. ticktock, samantha power joins us next. stay with us subaru created the love event. where our new owners could choose a national or hometown charity. and subaru and our retailers would

intelligence agencies, he has a lot of government officials worried, next up president trump former national security chief on deck, he will tell us what the moves are about. ♪ introducing the all newazer. here? nope. ♪ here. ♪ when the middle of nowhere, is somewhere. the all new chevy trailblazer. making life's journey, just better. noand if you're troubledan a liby falls and bleeds,ners. worry follows you everywhere. over 100,000 people have left blood thinners behind with watchman. it's a one-time, minimally invasive procedure that reduces stroke risk-- and bleeding worry--for life. watchman. it's one time. for a lifetime. gillian: a shakeup at the pentagon, last-minute shakeup in the intelligence agency lost the national worried about this transition. president of the center for national security policy fred flight joins us in an national security chief of staff, fred, they give or take a time for us today. i want to put politics aside for you and really dig in to what should we be scared up during this transition, during any transition, we know it terrorist threat is sharper, we know threats from foreign adversaries become elevated during this time, what are we looking for ge

news, we go to mark crumpton. mark: federal and state officials have erected barriers to work cyberattacks before tomorrow's election. hundreds of people will be the homeland security department command center including experts from the pentagon, national security agencycompanies such as twitter and facebook. mayor de blasio says he is concerned about the number of covid cases and percentage of positive test results but the hospital situation in the city remains under control. he says the seven-day average remains under 2%. citywidee rate of 3% would trigger a shutdown of the school system. steps totaking new stem the spread of covid-19. the measures include closing shopping malls on the weekends, shuttering museums, and limiting movement between regions. the prime minister also says he will enforce a nighttime curfew. he told lawmakers the restrictions will vary by region depending on how severe the outbreak is in each area. the vatican is breaking its commenton pope francis' on gay civil unions. vatican says the remarks were taken out of context and the documentary that spliced together parts of an old interview but the vatican does confirm francis believes --e-sex couples should have david: president trump says he will fight court decisions that at

17 intelligence agencies, biden has picked the first woman for the job, former cia deputy director avril haines. he has created a new post, energy czar with a seat on the national securityfor former secretary of state john kerry who has been at every climate negotiation for decades including to help negotiate the paris accords which biden plans to rejoin. joining me now to talk about all these big moves, jen palmieri, former communications director to president obama and hillary clinton's presidential campaign and brendan buck, former senior adviser to john boehner. jen, there are a lot of firsts on inthis team, but also highly qualified with a big obama brand on them. >> that's natural, considering the obama administration was only four years on, we haven'tn in a situation where there was such -- where there was a transition back to the democrats so quickly, right? so the democrats have a deep talent bench. it makes sense you're picking experienced people but people who are being elevated to positions that they haven't had before. and i think the team has been really thoughtful about this. you know, it's thoughtful to bring john kerry in as the climate envoy. a lot of

agencies. president-elect biden introducing his national security leaders just this afternoon. that group filled with veterans of the obama, biden administration the president-elect also sat down with nbc news lester holt for his first interview since the election. >> the head of the gsa yesterday unlocked the mechanisms for there to be a formal transition of power recognizing your status right now, is that happening on the ground are there people talking right now who weren't talking yesterday? >> yes. immediately we've gotten outreach from the national security shop, from, to just across the board, and they're already working out, and my ability to get presidential daily briefs were already working out, and meeting with the covid team in the white house, and how to not only distribute but get from a vaccine being driistributed to person being able to get vaccinated, so i think we're going to not be so far behind the curve as we thought we might be in the past, and there's a lot of immediate discussion and i must say, the outreach has been sincere, and it's not been begrudging so far, and i don't expect it to be. so yes, it's already begun. >> did you receive the presidential daily brief t

agency will continue to do their jobs to protect the cyber security of our nation. >> senator amy klobuchar, thank you for rushing to join us tonight about this breaking news story abouthe firing of chris krebs. we really appreciate your insight on that. thank you very much, senator. >> he's a good guy. it just shouldn't have happened. thanks, lawrence. >> thank you, senator. >>> and when we come back after this break, harvard constitutional law professor lawrence tribe will join us to explain how you can violate the law and not be a criminal if your name is emily murphy and you're donald trump's appointee at the general services administration who is refusing to sign the document that would authorize the biden/harris transition team to officially begin working on the transition of power. still your best friend. and now your co-pilot. still a father. but now a friend. still an electric car. just more electrifying. still a night out. but everything fits in. still hard work. just a little easier. still a legend. just more legendary. chevrolet. making life's journey, just better. chevrolet. essential for sewing, but maybe not needles. for people with certain inflammatory

national security and intel agencies this morning, one sudden firing. not necessarily unexpected is still raising some questions about the coming days. because today is the first full day on the job for the newretary christopher miller. this is him walking in halfway through the day yesterday into the pentagon. he's form-- president trump was twitter announcing the changes at the pentagon with the move according to some former officials, some experts in their view cementing concerns about a transition that is, quote, shaping up to be the most volatile and uncertain in modern american history. questions now about not just what military strategy shifts are in the works but about who else president trump could remove in his final two and a half months in office. joining me now is mark warner of virginia, the vice chairman of the intelligence committee. senator, thank you for being with us this morning. >> thanks for having me this morning. >> let me start with the firing of secretary esper. you have said you do not want the president to fire any other national security officials over the next 70 plus days. why not? >> well, first of all, we are, as the leader in unchartered territory, we've nev

agencies to rebuff the biden transition team. and "the new york times" adds that the president's obstruction of the transition could have serious national security implications with this new reporting, quote, president trump's refusal to concede the election to president-elect joe biden has already affected mr. biden's transition, particularly on national security issues. mr. biden has yet to receive a presidential daily briefing, and it was unclear whether his team would have access to classified information, the most important pipeline for them to learn about the threats facing the u.s. combined with a startling sound bite from donald trump's secretary of state today brings the united states to the brink of a constitutional emergency of authoritarian proportions. here's mike pompeo suggesting amid donald trump's efforts to undermine the election results that biden's victory could somehow be overturned. >> is the state department currently preparing to engage with the biden tradition team? if not, at what point does it pose a risk to national security? >> there will be a smooth transition to a second trump administration. >> there may be a solv