senator rob portman, john thune saying that. what do you think? >> i don't see the harm in doing that. joe biden was vice president. he has been senator for decades. there is no harm that i can see coming from actually getting him read in on some of these matters. if he turns out that trump wins, there has been no harm by sharing that information with joe biden. if joe biden end up winning the country benefits from having a president getting up to speed. that is one of the places i

also just in the last hour, rob portman, senator in ohio is up in 2022. that's not someone you normally would associate some folks that you brought up, people that are normally speaking up and critical of the president with the exception of chris christie, he was more critical of the legal team. it seems like among republicans, they're starting to be concerned for the national security ramifications of not allowing the biden team to access some of the information and not to mention the security with the vote from republican voters, the need to tell them it is okay, their votes do count. these things need to move on as opposed to what some of the trump campaign legal team and what we're seeing now is trying to diminish the faith in the vote. it seems like they're trying to piece together a way to move on through this, with or without the president. >> i'm sure if you're republican, you want this president to focus on the georgia senate race as well, rather than fighting these meritless legal cases. katherine, you have been reporting on trump legal challeng

>> you mentioned rob portman i happen to have great respect for rob portman. in the executive branch and the legislative branch. >> a man of great honor. >> it's really important for people who are really close to donald j. trump, ivanka, jared, tell him the truth tell him the truth help us polish our democracy and polish -- >> mitch mcconnell >> i think mitch mcconnell could do more to encourage the president to recognize reality, but look, mitch mcconnell is focusing on -- georgia. >> he's in georgia and that's appropriate. i'm focusing on that, too, and i wish the president would allow everyone to focus on that rather than have this distraction and think that someone stole an election when they didn't steal it >> i'm out of time, but should we hear more from presidents bush and clinton. >> i think they're both respectful and say the process has to go forward. >> is that good for america? >> i think that it is good for us not to be too hyperbolic about what's going on. we have a great democracy. let's be proud of it we want it to work and this pandemic deman

this brings us to a man invited on this broadcast for life, rob portman, classic bush-era republican,or from ohio. now, about him calling biden president-elect, all i know is they told ray leoda in good fellas when you're in the witness protection program you can't communicate with the outside world, so let's give portman the benefit of the doubt. but seriously, a.b., at some point he's going to need to ask the voters of ohio to re-elect him. he took a dive for donald trump his pedigree notwithstanding politically. what is he going to say, oh, i never really liked the guy? >> this is what is so incredible is what gene was talking about, can the republican party post-trump reset or reboot or reframe? can they if they go along with the election was stolen with conspiracy fraud on a national level? if they have to carry this bag for president trump and they do not tell their voters in december or january or february or some other month in 2021 this was all a complete con on them for the president to raise money and soothe his hurt feelings -- if they don't tell the truth they have to go

joining us now is the participant in one of those trials ohio senator rob portman.ecision to volunteer and what's it been like? >> it's been great. i would encourage people to do it. we have a company here in ohio that provides the services to a lot of the these different vaccine makers. i had a briefing from them. they told me what was going on. they said one of our issues is encouraging more people to step forward and participate in these trials. because, without the trials and a lot of people, you can't get the approval and can't get the vaccine out. i said well, what the heck? do you want me to do it? they said sure it, would be great. as long as you are willing to go public. i said i certainly would. i have been doing it for about two weeks. you keep a daily diary for awhile. it's not difficult. you have to go through an interview process and obviously get the inknoc inknock could coo side effects i get asked that question by the testers every day. look these trials are absolutely essential because that will get us quicker to the fda emergency use authorization

. >> martha: republican senator rob portman who says skepticism drove him to become part of the vaccine trial. he's up next. ♪ we made usaa insurance for members like martin. an air force veteran made of doing what's right, not what's easy. so when a hailstorm hit, usaa reached out before he could even inspect the damage. that's how you do it right. usaa insurance is made just the way martin's family needs it with hassle-free claims, he got paid before his neighbor even got started. because doing right by our members, that's what's right. usaa. what you're made of, we're made for. ♪ usaa we're made for. tturning downhe temperature, dad. ow. thunk, lock the doors. locking doors. thunk, dim the lights. dimming lights. [ croaking ] goodnight, honey. goodnight. [ laughs ] that's my leg. aw! pft, pft. evolve your home security. get the peace of mind, safety and convenience of xfinity home. and don't forget to catch the croods, a new age in theaters thanksgiving. rated pg. >> the average time it's taken in the past to develop a vaccine has been about eight years. this has been done in ten mon

i think senator rob portman as well. guest: they probably volunteered. host: hey, jeff. caller: hey, thank you, greta. thank you for taking my call. i want to refer to a point you made about the need to always be anpared, even though it was insurance policy to be prepared and to invest in pandemic preparedness and we have seen there's investment and we become vulnerable and it is an existential threats. back in 1913, congress have the wisdom to realize that existential threats are realized with the federal reserve. i am proposing that we amend the federal reserve -- host: governor leavitt, what do you think? the federal reserve -- i am not acquainted well enough with the federal reserve, the statutes around the federal reserve to know what we need to do, but it's worth reflecting that the federal reserve jumped , and the big way has putgovernment forward a quite dramatic effort , andep the economy going so i have to know more about that. something that is worth commenting on for us as a theration, it reflects effort to prepare the country and you asked what i learned. wh

lamar alexander, rob portman, others. but we have not heard from mitch mcconnell about joe biden who is of course the president-elect. is today the day? i guess we'll find out. thanks for getting up "way too early" on this tuesday morning. don't go anywhere because "morning joe" starts right now. >>> good morning and welcome to "morning joe." it is tuesday, november 24th. along with joe, willie and me, we have white house report for the associated press, jonathan lemire. nbc news capitol hill correspondent and host of "way too early," kasie hunt back with us. and joe, it's book day for you. happy book day. we'll get to that in a moment but first, a lot happened yesterday to clear the way for the trump administration to actually recognize joe biden as the president-elect. let's go through how things played out. it started with the state of michigan's top election board voting yesterday to certify president-elect joe biden's win over president trump with a margin of more than 154,000 votes. three out of four board members i

senator rob portman, john thune saying that. what do you think?> i don't see the harm in doing that. joe biden was vice president. he has been senator for decades. there is no harm that i can see coming from actually getting him read in on some of these matters. if he turns out that trump wins, there has been no harm by sharing that information with joe biden. if joe biden ends up winning the country benefits from having a president getting up to speed. that is one of the places i don't see harm in allowing biden to start to be read in those things. elizabeth: go right at it. the trump campaign dropped the lawsuit in nevada challenging the ballot counting. included hundred of out-of-state addresses used by active military families vote absentee while stationed away from home. we hear what you're saying about the affidavits and trump victory today in pennsylvania disqualifying a number of mail-in ballots for pennsylvania voters unable to confirm their identification but the issue is this big enough to turn around the vote down right now? because yo

lamar alexander, rob portman, others.l about joe biden who is of course the president-elect. is today the day? i guess we'll find out. thanks for getting up "way too early" on this tuesday morning. don't go

i think so i saw rob portman as well. i'm sure they probably volunteered. jeff from ll go to new york, a medical provider. thank you. thank you for taking my call. i want to pick up on a point regarding the need it always be prepared even i guess it was an insurance policy to be purchased pandemic in preparedness and response weren't we have seen when rises investments and willing to have public health messa declines and we become vulnerable. excess extension threat. n 1913 congress had the wisdom to realize that those threats eeded to be addressed with the federal reserve. e amend the g that wao food reserve to include funding pandemic preparedness response. in.: jeff, let me jump governor, what do you think? first, federal reserve -- i'm not well enough acquainted for the federal reserve statute surrounding the tprfrb -- federal reserve to know what we would need to do. i do ngue is worth re -- think it is worth reflecting the 2 1/2 reserve jumped to or 3 trillion dollars of put forward a quite dramatic effort to keep going.onomy so i would have to know m

i think i saw rob portman as well. guest: like any other citizen, they probably volunteered. host: he will go to jeff, new york. caller: thank you greta and thank you mr. levitt. i want to pick up on a point he made regarding the need to only be prepared, even though -- it is an insurance policy to invest in pandemic preparedness and response. we have seen that when populism rises, investments and the willingness to have public health messaging declines. and we become vulnerable. it is an existential threat. congress had the wisdom to realize that existential threats needed to be addressed with the federal reserve, from economic sources. i am proposing that we amend the federal reserve to include funding for pandemic preparedness and response. host: jeff, let me jump in. governor leavitt, what do you think? guest: well, the federal reserve -- first of all, i am not well enough acquainted with federal for the statutes surrounding the federal reserve, to know what we would need to do. but i do think it is worth reflecting that the federal veryve jumped in in the big way. i thin

senator rob portman of ohio is enrolled in the johnson & johnson vaccine trial. he's gotten a shot. will talk soon. doctor nicole safire -- dr. nicole saphier with tips on how you and your family can safely celebrate thanksgiving. did you hear about this? california lawmakers flew to hawaii despite that state's travel advisory. plus duffy double feature, say that 5 times, sean and rachel are here and we were here to round out the pictures, pete, candace and far right pioneer woman has a brand-new book, not a cookbook per se. it is about her life out on the prairie. a busy 3 hours kicks off 14 minutes from now on the channel you trust for your morning news. carly and jillian returning just a couple. could be your kind of cure. i just found out about mine. i knew for years. epclusa has a 98% overall cure rate. i had no symptoms of hepatitis c mine caused liver damage. epclusa is only one pill, once a day, taken with or without food for 12 weeks. before starting epclusa, your doctor will test if you have had hepatitis b, which may flare up, and could cause serious liver problems during

ohio senator rob portman is blasting democrats for politicizing the issue, giving the president creditting promising vaccines ready so quickly. >> it's not about money and ego. it is about science and data and safety and saving lives and operation warp speed has worked miraculously, a private public partnership that allows us to do two things, one, encourage the development of these new vaccines as quickly as possible and congress provided $27 billion in the cares acts to do that but second what was brilliant by the trump administration was to say there will be a dual track, we will be manufacturing this faxing, you had the development of the vaccine, the manufacturing going on on two tracks at the same time. >> johnson & johnson expected vaccine to be ready for approval by february. >> california governor declaring a state of emergency as the new mountain view wildfire grew to the nevada state line. it will at least one person has died. the flames torching 20,000 acres. at least 400 people have been told to evacuate. no word yet what caused that fire. >> lori laughlin beginning presen

also you have ohio republican rob portman, he's making similar statements.t-elect biden moves forward with his transition plans despite facing repeated roadblocks from the current administration. biden is

steve: ohio senator rob portman joins us from capitol hill. >> hey, steve, good morning.rd that it was tough to get some people to sign up for this unknown vaccine, so how'd you get involved? >> well, at the briefing that i had from a company in ohio that organizes these trials around the country, i found out that they were having a tough time getting people to join the trials, and more people gets us quicker to an fda authorization process. so i said, what the heck, should i sign up? they said, sure, and if you'd be willing to go public with it, it'd be helpful to get more people to join. second, they're the critically important next step. we're not going to get through the coronavirus and back to a normal life, i think, until we get those vaccines. i'm for masks, i wear mine, i'm for social distancing and more tests, but we really need to have these vaccines, and this is really exciting news. the other reason i wanted to do it is i had been very concerned about the numbers i've seen on people's willingness to get vaccinated. steve: they're low. >> it's very low. when i

we're going to be watching the market reaction closely, and we'll ask ohio senator rob portman aboutchance of stimulus. >>> and the company is going to be entering the s&p 500 index next month up 13% now on that news. stay tuned, you're watching "squawk box. and this is cnbc before we talk about tax-smart investing, what's new? -audrey's expecting... -twins! ♪ we'd be closer to the twins. change in plans. at fidelity, a change in plans is always part of the plan. ♪ ♪ (people greeting one another) it's being in his chair again. not your kitchen's. the buzz of the clippers... in his expert hands. how he remembers exactly how much to take off the top. and perfects a fade that had all but faded away. the small details are a big reason to come back and shop your favorite small businesses. we know them. we love them. so let's go shop small. with american express. it's time you make the rules. so join the 2 million people who have switched to xfinity mobile. you can choose from the latest phones or bring your own device and choose the amount of data that's right for you to save even more. a

should get access to briefings, in addition, other people that advice republican leadership like rob portman hearing more and more republicans say that's the least should happen. some say there should be release of funds to allow the transition process to occur officially from the general services organization. and other republicans don't believe the president has much chance of winning the legal challenge. they're willing to give him space to mount legal fights but believe chances are slim to overturn results, including john bore as oh who told me the president is on a quote, very narrow road to succeed in court. and said difficult mountain to climb. you're hearing more skepticism that the president can succeed while they side with him, they recognize his chances of overturning results are slim, many are eager for the transition period to begin because of concerns about the country not being prepared on national security grounds. pam, the big question, of course, what if the president loses court cases, refuses to concede, does not allow presidential briefings to occur for joe biden or rele

. >> dana: i wonder if you'll see the rise of the dealmakers like tim scott, rob portman, susan collinsur head. tell us why. >> because fundamentally, joe biden and mitch mcconnell whether they like each other or not are at odds both institutionally, the senate and the presidency, and politically, republicans and democrats. this is a divided country, there may be some more grease in the gears and they might like each other better than in the past but we still have divided government. >> dana: one final quick word to you, kevin. >> let's not forget the power that the president-elect has in terms of executive action. watch and protect his left side on things like the paris accords, other issues. see some action on that certainly. >> dana: really smart print. thank you all, all three of you. howie kurtz is up next. ♪ is this a new buick? i secret santa-ed myself. i shouldn't have. but i have been very good this year. wow! wow! wow! this year, turn black friday into buick friday will will >> we'll talk to one of them, congresswoman-elect salazar who won a deep blue district. we'll see you i

rob portman, lamar alexander, roy blunt, susan collins, murkowski, cornyn, thune, mitt romney we know, todd young, tim scott, marco rubio, chuck grassley, richard burr and others, many if not most of these individuals from what i have been told were happy to see donald trump defeated in this election, as long as the senate could be controlled by the republicans. they've experienced and his pathological lies and know what donald trump has done to undermine the confidence in our institutions, in this country. they've lived through the pandemic while his homicidal negligence is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of americans. they know what's going on. mr. mcconnell knows what's going on and finally i'm told in the last 24, 48 hours, i believe he and some others are attempting to find a way to somehow bring the country off the ledge that we are on because of the mad king and what he is doing while rudy giuliani steve bannon and others whisper these conspiracies in his ears. but we have a problem. 70%, 80% of those people who call themselves republicans now believe becaus

also you have ohio republican rob portman, he's making similar statements. all this is happening as president-elect biden moves forward with his transition plans despite facing repeated roadblocks from the current administration. biden is making his first major appointment when he named his longtime adviser ron klain as chief of staff. he's expected to be a key figure having previously served as president obama's ebola czar in 2014. that will be critical as the health crisis in this country continues to get worse every day. the numbers are staggering with the u.s. setting another record of daily cases on wednesday, with 144,000. hospitalizations at the highest level since the pandemic began with 18 states reporting record numbers. but even as this virus ravages our country, president trump is missing in action. no national plan, no reassuring words, just more false claims on twitter about voter fraud. so let's start with those cracks forming among congress republicans. cnn manu raju on capitol hill with that story. man urk, what are you hearing from these re

republican party that is more disgraceful by the day, but there are some members of the senate, rob portmans one of them, who was part of the executive branch, who understands precisely how important a transition is. and i'm not going to ask if you're surprised they won't say anything or do anything, but is this a potential become channel for the biden folks. is there any -- do you think there are any sort of weapons or tools not being used at this point, or do you think that everyone is sort of accepting the president's intransigence? >> i think there's not much else to be done, nicole. i do think given the talent around biden, that he's already announced, you know, they're going to do the very best to be ready to assume the presidency. i don't think back channeling is what's needed here. we need republicans to come out and accept the election results. and i'm going to come across as an old, naive institutionalist, but this is the one thing that surprised me. it doesn't surprise me that trump is doing this. and it doesn't surprise me that he can find the freak show lawyers to be part of it

laura, senators ben sasse or rob portman defending chris krebs, the work he did. cruz saying that president trump has every right to, you know, fire krebs if he wants. do you see any point at which the majority of republican lawmakers would actually come out and just note this is all insane? president trump lost. it's time to get over it and prepare for the next administration? pause what because what he is is not only doing is sewing discord but potentially harming the american people in terms of the transition and biden's ability to do the job. >> i don't expect a big amount of republicans or the majority of republicans to finally say, look, this is insane, and biden won the election, and trump should not be ousting top security officials because, yes, they may quietly say they are concerned that trump could extend this to cia director haspel or director ray. the fact they are not out there in masks very loudly denouncing the president's actions and i'm not holding my breath and i don't think many reporters are waiting for them to do so. >> so cowardly. so cowar

maybe those statements from senators like rob portman had an impact. >>> meanwhile, while the president'ses might be coming to an end, his theatrics from the election are far from over. the campaign announced, quote/unquote here in multiple battleground states, starting in pennsylvania which, of course, just certified its results. the alleged hearing made up of only republican state senators will be held at a hotel in gettysburg. there are reports that the president might be there as well. although his official schedule shows he has no public events. meanwhile in michigan the campaign said a hearing would happen on december 1, but a republican lawmaker told the detroit news, logistically, it's not something that we're able to do, added that the biden campaign has been invited to submit written testimony. in arizona, november 30th there will be a hearing. arizona's state senator, a republican, said it's news to her. in fact, that's the same day that state officials plan to certify election results. we should underscore, again, this is a continued attempt to undermine public confidence and

another republican, ohio senator rob portman, also uoke he called for the transition to begin with full intelligence and pandemic briefings for the biden team. in a newspaper opinion piece todahe wrote "there is no evidence of wired fraud orla irreguties that would change the result in any state." president trump's legal efforts in sweeping unfounded claims of fraud and conspiracy drew criticism sunday from former new jersey governor chris christie. >> the confidence of the a national embarrassment.s been i have been a supporter of the president. i voted for him b twicut elections have consequences and we cannot continue to act as if something happened here that didn't happen. trump campaign issued ae statement saying attorney sidney powell is not representing the president. during a news conference last week she ma some of the most inflammatory claims including that ven wezuelan leadere trying to rig the u.s. election. >> woodruff:and yamiche joins me now. it appears that a number of these developments at today's certification in michigan of the vote, tatements by more although not all

connell: senator rob portman, and others, thank you, blake burman on the north lawn. let's get to the vaccine news and getting the vaccines where they're needed most. brandon daniels joins us from global markets. maybe a quick word as we start we will talk about the logistical challenges about the transition from one president to another and the challenges that might pose. do you think there will be issues, we have so much encouraging news with the three vaccines. >> the news is encouraging and it is not a miracle that we plan to be so, it's a miracle that the results are this good but when speaking about the transition, the amount of infrastructure that we set up for things that coronavirus testing where you have mobile units, pharmacies, essentially urgent care facilities that have been set up to reach populations that would otherwise be difficult to reach in a public health crisis like this, the transition is largely afforded or largely balanced by the current infrastructure the existing infrastructure that has been set up by the department of defense, dhs, hhs, th

we saw rob portman today come off and write an op-ed in the cincinnati paper.e out and call joe biden president-elect, but he did say, okay, we have this deadline on december 8th. and at that point we have to move on this. and he is not somebody that typically breaks from mitch mcconnell but, you know, on the whole, for republicans in georgia who are trying to hold on to these seats in these runoffs, like they can't use half of the campaign messages that really would normally be at their disposal if we were seeing a typical transition. we can't be a check on the democratic president because they can't acknowledge a democratic president even though we all know that is what is going to happen. what kind of bind are they in here? >> well, they're putting themselves in a bind in several ways in order to further facilitate this effort by the trump campaign to keep drawing this election out on this really false promise that it can change the outcome, as you said. a very effective campaign message for republicans down the ballot from donald trump was that. they could

side to start this withenators like ro rob portman and lamarr alexand others saying the president had exhausted his legal options. the president is still fight, emily murphy is saying she's not swayed by politics, that she hao scertain the winner of the election based on trusted sources and says joe den is the winner. we should watch for president trump's reaction.he he could fir and try to stop the process, but offiticiay ast has finally begun. this has been weeks in the make with people all over this country including th joe biden overdue.saying this is long oodruff: very important, yamiche. as you point out, this is something that has been expected since shortly after joe biden was declad the winner of the presidential election. it is now coming two weeks after that. yamiche alcindor, thank you again. >> woodruff: in the day's other news, astra-zeneca became the third major company to report pr9ising results on a covid vaccine. it does not have to be sred at very cold temperatures, giving it potential advantage or rival vaccines. meanwhile, more officials across the u.s. warned tha

so, monica, republicans like ohio start rob portman started sending signals they want this standoff to be over. at the same time, president trump is sending signals he's frustrated with his legal team and the fight continues. where does that leave us? what can you tell us? >> what started out as a large real effort, chris, with more people on the team has dwindled to two attorneys for the president, rudy giuliani and jenna ellis who are working on these campaign and legal battles that really have seen very little to almost no success. of the 36 cases that have been brought forth, not one instance of fraud has been found. 29 have been denied, dismissed or thrown out. over the weekend, you had a pretty dramatic scenario in which the president decided he had to distance himself and formally remove another lawyer, sidney powell, who had really been offering extremely controversial, conspiratorial, and frankly, baseless claims about voter fraud in this election for which she could provide no evidence. they said she's no longer a part of the team. of course, she was the one standing alongsid

republican senators including lamar alexander and rob portman have said the transition to biden should begin. blackstone ceo stephen shartsman, one of trump's biggest backers also saying it's time to move on. general motors said it'll no longer back trump's emissions plans knowing that, well, trump is on his way out. and with this acknowledgement by the gsa the biden transition can fully begin to actually build the biden administration. you know, from the very beginning of his candidacy in a very crowded democratic primary field the core of joe biden's campaign was basically a promise to restore competence, experience, decency, public service to the highest office in the land. he was explicitly not the candidate of revolutionary change. he was not the candidate of overthrowing the establishment. he was a candidate of experience, lots of experience. i mean, here's a guy who literally spent more than 40 years in washington. as a senator, as a vice president he's been working in politics since he was 29 years old and got elected to the senate. and ultimately that message of competence won

and he's been commended by republican senators, the likes of ben sass and richard burr and rob portman he' concerned of the states the president won, he's looking into states that president-elect biden won. ethic experts are calling on the senate ethics committee to investigate graham's conversation with the georgia's secretary of state. the secretary of state said that graham was suggesting legally cast ballots be thrown out. he's having this conversation with the states that trump barely lost or as oppose to he won. do you support an ethics committee investigation? >> i am very concerned about this? the ethics committee does look at these things and sometimes they take action and sometimes they don't. i don't understand why senator graham is calling secretaries of states other other states. i know the georgia secretary of state who's willing to stand up and call it out for what it was. he's allowing people to do their jobs and we'll see results. for me it is like as i look of the future of our country and the democracy, this is, erin, as my advantage point this is all about getting t

i'm waiting for rob portman of ohio who everybody says is such a good guy. waiting fo him tand up and say no, mr. president, this is wrg. we hear from the usual suspects, lindsey graham makes tonto look like an independent spirit when it comes to president trump. >> woodruff: and david, here at the end, ie ean youot worried about the fact, i mean we don't know how longakt's going to there may be a call tonight for all we know but tat is taking days. do you have concern tha that leaves a task over this somehow. >> for sure there is a number of citizens if joe biden wins that st's an illegitimate president. i opeful we're having a different sort on polarization. donald trump is a cultral figure. he's not a policy person, it was always my tribe e good your tr evil. so we've had that kind of polarization. i'm hopeful if donald trump is off the scene at least tre won't be a guy at the top waging a holy war against another identity group every singleay i'm sticking with it, no matter at mark says. >> woodrufl right. we're going to let you do that david brooks. we'

i'm waiting for rob portman of ohio, who eve says is such a good guy. i'm waiting for him to stand up and say m no, president. this is wro. and hea from the usual sugrects. lindseam, you know, makes tont. to look like an independent spirit when it comes to president trump. judy: and david, here at the the fact that -- we don't know how long it's going to take. i mean, there may be a call tonight for all we know. but it is taking days. do you ve concern that that leaves a -- casts a pall over this somehow? david: well, for sur there will be a large number of americans who -- if biden wins who think joe biden is an illegitimate president. we shouldn't pretend that we're ending an age of polarization. i'm just hopeful we're having a different sortf polarization. donald trump was a cultural figure. he was not a policy person. not aso government p it was always my tribe is good. your tribe is evil. and so we've had that kind ofri potion. i'm hopeful that if donald trump is off the scene, at least the won't be a guy at the top waging a holy war ns aganother i

today lindsey graham, chuck grassley, rob portman, mike brown, john cornyn and john thune who is number two to mitch mcconnell in republican leadership said joe biden should be given the daily brief on national security issues. republican senator james lankford said he will take action if the president doesn't get the daily brief tomorrow. >> there is nothing wrong with vice-president biden getting the briefings to be able to prepare himself and so that he can be ready. the president is already getting those. there is nothing wrong with former vice-president getting those. kamala harris is on the intelligence committee. she has all the clearances that she needs to be able to do that. there is no loss from him getting the briefings and to be able to do that. and if that is not occurring by fridayly step in and push to say this needs to occur so that regardless of the yoult come of the election, whichever way that it goes, people can be ready for that actual task. >> that brought no response from the president of the united states. none. not a word. now, just imagine a fortnight ago if an

republican senators now, john thune, rob portman, chuck grassley, even lindsey graham telling cnn it's time to give biden access to classified briefings. it's a small step that they're saying that, not going the whole full monty but it is, given the backing that trump received, a crack in the solid wall of republican support. the sad news is he lost, even in arizona, the president tweeting from 200,000 votes to less than 10,000 votes if we audit the votes cast we will easily win arizona also. but a post election audit found no evidence of fraud. right now biden leads by more than 11,000 votes. close but a wider margin of victory than the one president trump won michigan four years ago. trump's department of homeland security tonight, the november 3rd election was the most secure in american history. caitlyn collins is at the white house. arlette, let me start with you. how is biden reacting to this and the statement from homeland security coming out moments before our program began. but it is a significant statement coming from within the trump administration itself. >> reporter: it is

i noticed today rob portman, the senate republican issued a statement today saying good things aboutim. richard burr, ben sasse. he continued briefing senators together from both parties right up to the election with what was going on with our election infrastructure, and, yes, it was a secure election. there was still attempts by foreign governments, but his good work and the people under him toiling away with this administration, they did their jobs without fear or favor and he should not have been fired. >> "the washington post" says that he expected to be fired. they report the dismissal was not unexpected, as krebs told associates last week he expected to be fired. his latest tweet about the security of the election, following similar earlier assessments of the election, angered the president, according to an official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter. and so director krebs knew what the likely result was of telling the truth. >> he did. and i actually talked to him and called him last week, as i did many times during the last few years, as i

i noted in the last 24 hours, rob portman of ohio exited the witness protection program, stuck his head up and just put out a statement saying we should count all the votes. we won't hear from him now for a while. where are they? who's going to speak up? >> well, they all should be held to account if they don't. this is a speech tonight that was given that will be taught in history class. it will be taught for years about the lowest point in the american democracy. and if they don't weigh in, then they ought to have a couple of lines in that chapter in the history books about how they stood by and patted him on the back when he did this kind of damage to something that we should consider sacred. >> michael steele, they don't seem to care. >> well, that's it. you just summed it up, my friend. that's it. they haven't for a while. i mean we've had so many examples, brian, from the very beginning. you just go back to that -- you know, that moment after charlottesvil charlottesville, and moment after moment, silence, crickets, nothing. then like you appropriately put it, you know, they'll pu

we've had senator pat toomey and rob portman come out in the last few minutes saying the same thing asices if it looks like trump has lost, that the legal paths will no longer get them to victory, do you think we will have those republican voices telling mr trump that it's time now? i already had one who worked with donald trump on the 2016 campaign saying that the president has to concede and he will have to concede graciously. i think when it becomes incredibly clear that joe biden graciously. i think when it becomes incredibly clear thatjoe biden has received 270 electoral college votes, that it will be time for publicans to come together, and hopefully is in trouble concede graciously dashed republicans. i think you should be and currently proud of what he's done for this country the past four years. he's made great strides and the republican party has really become the party of the included it dashed inclusivity and diversity, and he should be proud. think you both so much for sharing your thoughts with us. much for sharing your thoughts with us. as we've been discussing in the la

and the big difference in ohio that i know chuck knows, and you guys will know, is that rob portman ise ballot this time, providing an additional kind of ground game and strength. rob portman one of the most popular republicans in ohio is not on the ballot, helped get the president over the line four years ago. so i'm watching that with great concern. but i am very cheered by the florida numbers. there are some people -- i know nbc has not called florida, but some people have called florida for president trump. and so, i'm very shared that that's an early call. and i extrapolate that out to a few congressional districts in california, where that voter who left a socialist country -- that's how i'm characterizing it -- that would include venezuelans, that would include nicaraguans and include people, of course, from cuba -- i think that vote, as maria was talking about, is one that we've got to keep an eye on in the california congressional district, that will matter. right now, i'm pretty happy, with the exception of -- i would love to see ohio get some more red votes pretty quickly. >

ohio,d say rob portman of a traditional republican. he worked in the bush administration.esponsible voice in republican politics most of his life. silent during the trump years. jordane people like jim in the house, mark meadows became chief of staff. republicans who are either silent or uncomfortable. , lamar alexander. everybody knows when an offense donald trump had to of been. he wouldn't speak up until the very end. he nudged things along to say you need to concede. the trouble was a few people did it episodically. romney. they really need to stand up to him much more collectively. they didn't want to do it. they rationalized why they didn't do it. ultimately, i think those arguments failed. back, whatalfstep happened was the republican party through their hat over the trump wall early on. i think they thought they could control him, that he would grow in office. understand wast the fundamental thing you had to understand about donald trump. he is a man with a disordered personality. from a person who suffers socio-the fee. if you understood that, you knew there was n

when you look at governor sean parnell of alaska, sean tyler of arizona, rob portman of ohio, this young lady, former senator of new hampshire, interesting to note she lost one of the closest senatorial elections in american history, a little over 1000 votes. good to have you here. >> it was 2017 but who is counting. much less -- neil: how was it resolved, you want to the count to go through. it was resolved, you are very diplomatic about it, very magnanimous, had to be a heartbreaker. >> it was. what i took from it thinking about these georgia races everyone has to get out, every republican voter get out because your vote really does matter and the other thing is the tsunami of money from the far left especially those outside, dark money coming into georgia and that is why i am involved in this effort also. neil: how was it when you had -- i will get to georgia, sorry to get sidetracked but i remember that race so well, when you finally congratulated maggie, how did that go, how did the process go? >> never easy losing a race. so much at stake. we had a republican president and republic

with rob portman, senator from ohio. and pat toomey. they have to face the facts which even if this isn't in our political interest to back this president, we have to say yes we believe in american institutions and speak up now. it's going to be hard to see who else shows up, and i think senator mitch mcconnell, does he feel it's in his interest to speak up and when will he at some point feel the interest to speak up more? that is what i think republicans are waiting on. >> a.b., it's in portman's interest to stand behind the president, it's like saving the food for a town starving with people that have already died. i think everybody here has probably been tweeted at. we're all still standing. we actually took two names off the list. we're down to five. those five names are mitt romney, lisa murkowski, ben sasse, pat toomey and susan collins. and the rest of them are living in this world where they're fine with -- what is wrong with the rest of them? >> as you started the show what you called this, it's a marketing scam. it's a con. an

i can't imagine that senator rob portman and even mcconnell and people like this are going to disregard the constitution, but i think that's the thinking that's going on in the white house right now. and we ought to be worried about it. and the republicans in congress ought to speak up and push back. >> real clarity and a really important time. general barry mccaffrey, thank you for your insights, and again, sir, thank you for your service today. >> pleased to be with you. >> thank you, general. >> the republican party on the hunt for proof of voter fraud, but none has existed. officials in both parties, in every state, explaining why. we'll have more details when "deadline white house" continues. i've been involved in communications in the media for 45 years. i've been taking prevagen on a regular basis for at least eight years. for me, the greatest benefit over the years has been that prevagen seems to help me recall things and also think more clearly. and i enthusiastically recommend prevagen. it has helped me an awful lot. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. you turn 40 and ever

over the weekend and they are just not winning in court and more and more republicans, senator rob portmanrepublican from ohio, respected statesman in the gop caucus, he has come out and said it's basically time to move on. lisa murkowski, republican from alaska, put out a statement to that same effect last night. then the question is, neil, when do republican leaders come out and say it's time to move on? i don't think it's going to happen this week. all eyes are on mitch mcconnell, the majority leader. i think that comes sometime after thanksgiving, though. neil: i think it's interesting, you and i have chatted about this before, everyone agrees, most everyone agrees, i think even a lot of democrats, by all means, such a close contest, count and count again, make sure everything's right, but to prejudge it as fraudulent or rigged as the president has is sort of muddying the process. when someone like chris christie comes out to say that the legal team is a national embarrassment, that takes it to a whole new level. don't you think? >> yeah. that's right. rudy giuliani's press conference