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

our first guest today is senator thune smith of minnesota. smithr, -- senator tina of minnesota. thank you for joining us. sen. smith: thank you, sam. it is terrific to be with everyone today. sam: i would like to start off to frame this conversation -- obviously, health care access and health insurance coverage has been a very hot topic for a long time, but i think the pandemic has set of highlighted and illustrated some of the gaps we are dealing with in the system. we have seen millions of people lose their health insurance because they lost their jobs in the economic downturn, that obviously affects not just those people, but also their family members that use their health insurance. so i am just curious, how has that shaped or changed the way you view this problem, specifically of health care coverage. do you see that differently now? smith: you raise a great point. here we are in the midst of a global pandemic. and it is the pandemic that is surging in my home state of minnesota in the upper midwest. we had yesterday 56 deaths from covid-19, the highest count seeave ever ha

to our viewers watching on pbs uniintestatd es and arod thune rld,el wcome.we start tonight wh ittheost promising development yet in fortefs to stop the coronavirus pandemic. today, the u.s. drugmaker, pfizer and biotech said their peexrimental vaccine is more than 90% effective in preventing covid-19. clinical trials have not shown any bad side effects, either. these hopes are being tempered by time. the vcine, if all goes well, will not be avaie unbltil sometime early nt year. reporter: the hop feor an effeivcte vaccine against the coronavirus could grobengwi. biontech assesd resesults are more promisi tnghan expected. >> our results are showi that after the internal valuation, the vaccine is able to prevent infeioctn with over 90% probability. reporter: this is how the so-called m-rna back seen works. -- vaincce works. the body then uses the molecule to produce viral proteins against which the immune system forms anybodies. those antibodies should then defend against covid-19. more than 3000 people around the world have been vaccinated. >> these vaccines are being developed very q

that includes some of his closest allies lindsey graham, chuck grassley, john thune, three top republicans who indicated to me, yes, joe biden should have those national security briefings. others also believe the transition process should officially start, general services administration has not signed off on key paperwork that allowed funds to be released, official transition process could take place. some republicans believe it should take place including kevin cramer of north dakota. one of the allies told me, yes, that should also happen. some also, brooke, are saying the president -- joe biden is, in fact, the president-elect. most republicans have not yet agreed he's president-elect or not said so publicly. one republican, part of the republican leadership told me, sure, yes, he is the president-elect. they said they will let his legal challenges play out. as one top republican senator don barrasso told me it's a very narrow road for the president to succeed. republicans here see the writing on the wall, recognize the president's legal challenges have very little chance of success,

we need his voters, thune said. he has a tremendous following. we want him helping in georgia for sure. that gives you a sense of the motivation for many republican senators. they're scared about the senate and they're afraid the president won't support the republicans running in georgia necessary to keep the senate in republican hands. as for that downside? one answer comes from john bolton, the president's former national security adviser. he writes this coddling strategy is exactly backward. the more republican leaders kowtow, the more trump believes he is still in control and the less likely he will do. reality is joe biden's on track to win as many as 306 electoral votes. reality is, as a "new york times" headline clear across the entire front page reads election officials nationwide find no fraud. reality is georgia republican secretary of state ordering a recount of all ballots but saying he had not seen evidence of widespread fraud that would change the results. also, a republican, by the way, saying much the same. >> what evidence of any

chairman and thank you, senator thune for sharing your time or at least differing your time to me and thank you mr. zuckerberg, i thank you very much and i think you mr. dorsey for being here, mr. dorsey i'm going to address these questions to you, do you believe the holocaust really happen, yes or no. >> yes. >> so you would agree someone who says the holocaust may not have happened spreading misinformation, yes or no. >> yes. >> i appreciate your answers on this, they surprised me and probably a lot of americans after all they have done exactly this, questioning the holocaust and yet his tweets remain unclogged on twitter's platform, you and i agree that moderating your platform makes sense in certain respects we don't want the next terrorist finding information on twitter or any platform for that matter but you also decided to moderate certain content from influential world leaders, like your decision to do so a little bit better. can you name any other instance twitter hiding or leading a tweet. >> we have many examples. >> would you be willing to provide a list of those. >> absol

. >>> on thune mo indians shane b unanimous choice for the cy e ur young winner.led pithe e.r.a. and strikeouts. our one and in the national league after posting an earned run average under 2. he is the reds first ever cy young winner. >>> the 49ers season is nine onmes old. iny, unyearthey long. the saints will have 6000 fans at the superdome this weekend. the first time this season san francisco will not play in front of an empty stadium. the 49ers are excited to play in front of a crowd. even more excited that it will not be as loud as it normally is in new orleans when that place is packed. second has been different playing in front of no fans this year. we will have more energy i love fans being there. of it will not be as loud. >> it probably will not be the same craziness as last year in new orleans and what that atmosphere is like. anything like that from the offensive lineman standpoint is okay going down there. >>> the first ever fat masters tees off this morning. we will see red and orange leaves instead of the blooming azaleas. the three-time green jac

majority whip john thune tells politico that republicans need the president's votes.dding, while trump determines the outcome of his own election senate republicans want him to help in georgia afterwards. biden tuesday slammed trump for not conceding. >> i just think it's an embarrassment, quite frankly. >> reporter: and this post from 2016 now resurfacing showing then vice president biden welcoming mike pence to the white house to offer our support for a smooth, seamless transition of power. sources tell abc news that aides have approached president trump about coming to terms with losing the election, but they don't expect him to publicly admit that he lost fairly. instead they predict that he will try to sow division between his supporters and president-elect biden. erielle. >> alex, thank you. >>> the post-election shake-up at the pentagon has claimed the jobs of three more top officials. they submitted resignation letters one day after mark esper was fired by president trump. anthony tata has taken over as top policy chief, a retired army general and fox news ana

fraud in this country let's just also be clear about the fact that today even republican senator john thune said that they are keeping up this charade because they need trump voters to come out and support the 2 republican candidates running in the georgia senate runoff so this is just another. of a presidency that's been ripe with fantastical lies. and really making a mockery of the american democratic system in an effort to try to hold on to power that is simply not his anymore the american people have rejected donald trump as president of the united states michael doesn't this whole smok of sorry grapes if the g.o.p. had actually gotten their meal and vote game level as high as the democrats instead of complaining we may just have been looking at a different result. actually may have the record results for republican history and furthermore i know you're not very early on is a big difference between mail in vote and people on the ground right. yes the republicans generally showed up at the polls and cast legitimate ballots whereas the democratic party harvested hundreds of 1000 of them o

thune as well, at what point do the attitude towards them change? do you think it did or this idea more of a failure of historical curriculum? >> it abundantly clear to me that the war was not fought to save the jews. there is no evidence whatsoever that it was fought to save the jews. as a matter of fact, roosevelt and his cabinet without of their way to discount any word that american boys were being sent over to save jews. the war was fought for a variety of reasons, but the rescue of the jews was never part of that. and if that's currently in the textbooks, then that's just wrong. when the war was over, the commonsensical view is that americans open their arms, their pocketbooks to save the jews who they had not saved during the war. 6 million have died, but a quarter million remained, and the common sense view is that, i can can we open our arms and we welcome them. that was not the case. in the end of those quarter million displaced jews, only about 50,000 came to the united states as displaced persons. some of those who went to israel because

lindsey graham being one them, also john thune, and chuck grassley also told me that should occur. some of the republican senators making clear that the general services administration should at least sign off on the requisite paperworks to allow the process to begin. others even recognizing joe biden as president-elect. we know, pam, a lot of republicans have refused to call him that. even the president's close allies in the republican leadership like jan barrasso says it would be a very narrow chance for the president to win. they're giving him space, but the question will be will the president concede? if he doesn't, how will the republicans to respond? because they expect him to step aside then. what is the president's mindset right now? >> reporter: today the press secretary was asked about some of those comments, and she referred that question back to the white house, because she was appearing in her personal capacity, as they're calling it, as a 2020 campaign adviser. if it's confusing to people at home, it's just as confusing to the reporters here, why the white house press

. >> senator thune. >> thank you. commissioner wessel, we've seen the united states' supply chain and manufacturing industry face a number of challenges to keep up with the command of certain resources, particularly personal protective equipment. what steps should the united states take today to ensure we have a more resilient supply chain? >> thank you for your question, senator. and i think we face it all too clearly in this sector, ppe, medicines, et cetera, that has raised public attention. but this exists across a broad cross-section of industries. first of all, in this sector, i think we need to make sure that we have a strategic national stockpile that is adequate to the task. again, as i said earlier, nonexpected the virulence and breadth of this pandemic, but i think we have to understand that similar situations could arise in the future and we need to make sure that we are prepared. that means have been domestic production available, including surge capacity. it may be idle, but we need to support it potenti

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 john thune, number two republican said the same thing.even the president, some of his closest allies like lindsey graham who is fighting alongside the president along the court fight against the election results said the president 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

the list including john thune and senator lindsey graham who has been encouraging the president not to raju is on capitol hill. cracks in the republicans, what do we call this? >> reporter: no doubt there are cracks. the longer the president holds out, the more states certificate guy their results, the more likely that you will see republicans start to break from this president. and the first thing we're seeing here is the calls from a number of these republican senators to at least allow for joe biden to get those classified briefings, something that would be normal during the transition process, something the white house has not green lighteded y eyet. even some of the president's closest allies, you mentioned lindsey graham, suggesting that he should have the presidential briefings. chuck grassley as well. and the argument from the republicans is this, basically that this president -- if joe biden wins, which we're all projecting and which republicans acknowledge privately, some publicly, that it is bound to happen, that at least he should get these briefings and be ready for the na

john thune had this to say about the upside. we need his voters. he can have a tremendous positive impact of the outcome of the georgia senate. we want him helping in georgia for sure. that gives you a sense of motivation, they are scared of the senate and they are afraid the president won't support the republicans running in georgia necessary to keep the senate in republicans' hands. for the downside, one answer comes from republican john bolton, the president's national security adviser. he writes, "this coddling strategy is backward. the president is now losing by more than 5 million votes." reality is joe biden is on track winning as many as 106 electoral votes. reality is headlines across the page reading election officials nationwide finds no fraud. reality is secretary of state announcing hand recount of all ballots saying he did not see any evidence of widespread fraud that would change any results. republicans saying much the same. >> what evidence of any fraud have you seen in philadelphia? >> i have not. if evidence of widespread fraud o

john thune said we need voters and he has tremendous following.t through the final stages of his election and determine the outcome. when all that is said and done, however it comes out, we want him helping in georgia. so far, radio science from mr. trump on the georgia races and he is not publicly committed to helping out. both parties are pulling in major amounts of cash for the runoffs. georgia democrats have a secret weapon. stacy abrams. she lost the governor race in 2018. she has not stopped working to get people registered to vote. as of monday, abrams' group called fair fight action raised 6 million there are for ossoff. that number has likely grown. joe biden was able to flip a likely southern state and much of that credit has to go to stacy abrams and tireless voter outrea outreach work in georgia. the work is not done. joe biden will take a coronavirus approach backed by asscientists scientists. we'll have more on that when i come back. we'll have more on that when i come back. you work hard for your money. stretched days for it. juggle

others thank you very much and i think next senator thune just arrived and may need a moment. >> senator cantwell. i rely on this little three by five box and it led me down this time. >> human error. technical error. thank you mr. chairman and thank you to the panel. very important issu issues to be discussed here today. i'm assuming the shortage is related to congestion. >> yes ma'am. at times we have a problem getting them. [inaudible] we have been fortunate here we've been able to start shipping a lot and then you get into those issues. this points to the freight act we were able to get past and the infrastructure investment we were able to open a major project in seattle, federal investment literally just trying to take that off of a high five and get it to the port. it's only a few miles. the bridge itself is probably three blocks, but the economic benefit of alleviating that congestion so we do need to continue to make the freight investment across the board. i want to ask mr. pierce and also mr. gordon we just heard the rate adjustment might be better but i listened to what you s

senators lindsey graham, chuck grassley and john thune saying that biden should receive the intel briefings. other senators joining them. >> at this point, just as a matter of protecting our nation's interests, i do think that both the president and his competition here, the vice president biden, should have access to those classified reports. >> we should be in the same posture we were in throughout the whole campaign with both of them receiving briefings as they're both e pr pairing. >> okay. and guess what they didn't say. still won't say that he got elected. did anybody say president-elect biden? i don't know, maybe they did. i didn't hear it, but let me know. they're acting like it is still a campaign and it's any man's race to win. your guy lost! you want to turn up the volume? he lost! and here's what's so funny to me about the way the republican party can't say, boo, to their golden goose. this is "the new york times," okay, as a next step, mr. trump is talking seriously about announcing that he is planning to run again in 2024, aware that whether he actually does it or not, it will

at least six gop senators are backing the move including the majority whip john thune and lindsey graham. joining us now is symone sanders, a senior advisor to the biden campaign. thanks for taking the time this morning. >> thank you for having me food, jim. lots of news. >> no question. so let's try to tick through as best we can. you've heard republican senators coming out saying as per formal the president-elect should get these brooechks. senator lankford said he would contest this if nothing were done by today. do you have any news? will these briefings begin today? >> i don't have any news to share this morning on that, jim, but i will just say the fact that a number of republican members of congress are coming out and backing the president-elect's -- really the law which says that he should be able to receive these presidential daily briefings both the president-elect and the vice president-elect, i think shows that folks across the spectrum are ready to move forward. this election is over, jim, and it's time that democrats and republicans come together to chart our course forward

command areas and it'd been ordered initially as a way to essentially so to protect macarthur senator thune flight as he returned to the philippines. as events developed it became clear we essentially could neutralize the airfield on tragic and on other island all up and down the chain. it wouldn't be necessary to take the islands, just make sure the airfield were essentially visited routinely by our bombers, air force bombers and carrier bombers. and then they wouldn't be a thorn in the side of macarthur is and so yes, the could of canceled that operation. it a bloody battle, terrible ballot, about many marines gave their life fighting. looking back it's clear we could a bypassed peleliu without any loss of momentum in the campaign. >> as a result, a a bloodbath f epic proportion for both the americans and the japanese here could you comment on their leadership on peleliu what he received criticism causing excessive casualties. >> i think it was both of those. he didn't have to be one or the other. was he too aggressive? perhaps. words order to aggressive? yes. essentially what had happene

you've heard the argument that probably have been made to you quietly, which says, and john thune saidblicly, that the rationale for sort of enabling this -- whatever it is the president is trying to do right now, that they need his -- him and his supporters engaged for those georgia runoffs. it sounds like you think, if you are doing it for that reason, the long-term damage is going to be a lot greater than any short-term gain. >> yeah, let me be clear. i think winning those two georgia senate seats is absolutely critical. and i really wrote this op-ed as a message to other republicans. clearly the national interest is the supreme concern we have here, but for the republican party, the idea that if we just kind of allowed trump to work his way through the seven stages of grief and finally decide to allow himself to be wheeled out of the white house, that we'll be okay. i think it's false. i think the democrats and with all due respect, many people in the media will try and lump trump forever together with republicans. i think he will be the hooverville of the rest of this century if w

. >> chuck grassly earlier today, now john thune, just saying he believes telling cnn joe biden should have access to the classified briefings. should be getting the preparation, assuming he becomes president january 20th. are we starting to see enough cracks to get the president's attention? >> it appears that way. it is a shame this is headline news that republicans are saying the president-elect should actually get security briefings. it is a matter of national security and the safety of average americans, whether or not president-elect biden is read in on what is going on and the threats that the country possibly will face. you do see movement. those two senators, langford, stepping forward saying this isn't happening by friday, he would try to step in. we'll see if this gets through to the president, he clearly is on his own timetable, he has his own goals in terms of maintaining a hold on his base who obviously believe he was cheated out of this election. there's obviously no proof of that. i think joe biden's calmness in approaching this and moving along, naming people to his tr

and there suffragette and club leader mary claude ba thune ran an effective voter registry effort in 1919 and 1920 throughout the state of florida to get black women registered when the 19th amendment took effect. now, bathune, who ran a school in daytona for african-american girls, learned the wave of violence and intimidation that had overtaken the state of florida by fall of 2020 was going to visit her very close to home. the ku klux klan announced it would gather on election eve in 1920 in daytona. indeed, they appeared on horseback, in full regalia, burned a cross and marched to the grounds of bethune's girl school, today's bethune cookland university in an effort to intimidate bethune, her faculty and african-american women in daytona who had been part of the voter drive there. the next day black women did turn out and we learned something about the except of their organization and tactics because they turned out together in large numbers at the polls. this is understood to be a tactic that will, if not repel, discourage of sort of violence that klan members had threatened the

senator john thune said they will get a result at some point. some limbo, senate republicans not yet willing to go against the president. judy: we are watching them all very closely. and finally to you nick, all of this taking place as the president fired his secretary of defense mark esper. what's going on there? nick: mark esper was the president's number one national security target ever since he resisted the president's desire to invoke the insurrection act this summer. if his firing was not that much of a surprise, chris miller's appointment as acting secretary of defense was a surprise to many. the republican chairman of the senate armed services committee said he did not know. miller is a former green beret and former assistant secretary of defense who joined the intelligence committee -- community recently during a purge by the president of senior officials. he is seen as an ally of the president and he was chosen above the deputy secretary of defense and senior officials who have more experience. but a senior official in the defense dep

and i raised the issue last night about somebody like mitch mcconnell, john thune, the senator from texas, i mean, it's going to take the republican leadership to say what is legitimate, when it is legitimate. and i'm not presuming. i have my own thoughts about what's going to happen in this election, but i'm not here to tell you that tonight. i'm saying however it goes, comes out, you cannot disenfranchise people, and there will be republicans, if joe biden wins who have to say this was a legitimate election. that will go a long way to settling the country down. >> you know, it's really important to note, as governor kasich says, nia, the president uttered some really, really dangerous words when he attacked the governor of pennsylvania, governor wolf who wants simply to be able to count legitimately placed blots for three days in ohio after the election. they do it for ten days in ohio after the election. he said we're all watching. this is the president of the united states speaking. directing his comments at governor wolf. we're all watching you, governor. we have a loft eyes on the g

here's what senator john thune, number two republican leader in the senate, told politico. quote, we need trump's votes and he has a tremendous following out there. right now he's trying to get through the final stages of his election and determine the outcome there. but when that's all said and done, however it comes out, we want him helping in georgia. in other words, he said the quiet part out loud. if they want to win in georgia, republicans need president trump to stay engaged and keep his base engaged. so the signal being sent is if the president wants to toy with a constitutional crisis, so be it. it's all about majority in the senate. ends justifies the means, right? but at one point will the party tell trump enough? especially if they need his voters? what is what we're watching as the president refuses to recognize the results. as this party enables his resistance, as he moves to install loyalists in the defense department, as his justice department moves to probe votes and as his secretary of state asserts there will be no transition. as this government tries to

today lindsey graham, chuck grassley, rob portman, mike braun, josh hawley, john cornyn and june thune, who is number two to mitch mcconnell in the republican leadership said that joe biden should be given the president's daily brief on national security issues. republican senator james lankford of oklahoma said he would take action if joe biden doesn't get the president's 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 friday, i will step in as well to be able to push to say this needs to occur, so regardless of the outcome of the election and whichever way that it goes, people can be ready for that actual task. >> that brought no response from the president of

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

senate majority whip john thune says yeah, give biden the briefings but only because, "makes sense to prepare for all contingencies." look, taking office after being elected president is not a contingency. it's called democracy. and all of those undermining it know it. there are questions, they say. based on what? where is the proof? if questions were enough, trump would have been removed, not just impeached. and even more of his minions would be exchanging their names for numbers. even those who appear to step up like senator lankford, who did publicly voice support for biden getting briefs, quickly gets on bended knee. >> we don't know yet, but we know there are issues, so allow the legal process to go through, allow the hand recount to happen in georgia, and once we get all past that then we'll know who the actual winner is. but at this point we don't know. >> shame on him. look how different he is when he doesn't know that the camera's on. >> i believe that verse, whether president obama got elected, whether president trump got elected, whether now vice president -- now president-

senator rob portman, john thune saying that. what do you think?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 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 you kno

this is senator thune. we need him in georgia. what's your reaction on that?them. the most concerning of all of this is any disruption of the orderly transition of power in washington puts that risk competent public health respond to this pandemic and the ability of the new administration to work swiftly to build our economy. that's the temper-tantrum that the president is throwing. there is a lot of focus on politics. we got to remember that about a thousand americans are dying per day. the virus is spreading at an accelerated rate. to put at risk a smooth transition for partisan political symbolabism or tryingo get an edge in one of these elections is deeply responsive during this pandemic. >> here you are, i want to play for our viewers. >> unless we win these two u.s. senate races in georgia. joe biden and kamala harris will not be able to pass the legislation to control this pandemic and to jump start our economy. >> so you are making the point that these run off elections are a package deal so are republicans on the other side. you are going to get both

. >> senator thune smith, democrat from minnesota, talks about advances in telehealth and mental health services. she spoke at an event hosted by axios, where topics included health care, expanded insurance access

the western part of the state took again serving a rural population and i was on the phone with john thune from arkansas. these rural states, they all have the same kinds of issues. we're talking about broadband, but lisa, i guess let me ask a basic question. does it work? does telehealth work? doesn't serve the clients? to the field well treated and confident in the system? let me start with that fundamental question. >> it does work, senator king. i would also like to thank you for having here today to offer a clinical perspective on a topic i feel a tremendous impact on the practice of world medicine. i not only think it works but i think it's been life-saving for my patients. the benefits of it run very deep. whether it is through a mental health visit with me or teleconferencing in with a specialist about new wants medical conditions, valley of telehealth spans every age group and level of medical complexity. i just had a telehealth visit last week in fact, with the 90-year-old patient which went surprisingly well. she wasn't at risk of getting covid from high-risk medical facility bu

and last week the senate majority whip john thune offered a reason why. and his reason is georgia. the run-off elections. he says and he said to reporters, quote, we need his voters. he has a tremendous following. he can have a tremendously positive impact on the outcome of the georgia senate. we want him helping in georgia for sure. do you think that's what this is about, that they're all staying silent because they think they need trump to win the republican senate in georgia? >> some are staying silent but unfortunately here in georgia both sitting u.s. senators as well as the eight republican members of congress called on the secretary of state to resign, a fellow republican, because they were unable to manufacture sufficient evidence to undermine this election. and what is deeply concerning to me is that the effect of these false accusations and these wild conspiracy theories is that they will in fact depress participation in our democracy. when i fought against the secretary of state it was to expand access to the right to vote. to encourage eligible citizens to participate k

also we have seen a number of senior republicans like john thune for south dakota and chuck grassleyuld receive intelligence briefing. and the governor of ohio who is also highly recognised in the relevant party has also recognised joe biden's status today. you do since a bit of a sea change now in the party. a sort of resistance starting to crumble. we should acknowledge that the president had one court victory today in pennsylvania but is it going to be enough to prove his theory that the election was stolen from him? this is his problem. he has suffered legal defeats up until fiow. has suffered legal defeats up until now. and it really you wonder where the cases for this massive fraud. we are a week on it, more a week on now from the election. they have produced nothing. to validate their claims to underscore this idea and the trump resistance seems fairly halfhearted i have to say. if you really believe this election had been stolen from him, if he really believed that a massive fraud of a committed, i would've thought we would've seen donald trump in front of the cameras more. w

to modify forward a growing group of republican senators including lankford, graham, grassley and thune are all calling for the president-elect to resume his getting the daily presidential briefing on intelligence. brian, ainsley, steve? brian: i don't know how that could hurt, griff. why not? after all the former presidents get it and why not former vice puts. bring in jonathan turley. former law professor george washington university. last time we spoke jonathan they were talking about different things could do in terms of taking a look at this election. now you find out a recount in georgia now in pennsylvania. they actually won in court, did the president, that is for ballots that arrived after election day. could you clarify? >> >> well, what happened is shortly before the elections the secretary of state unilaterally extended that deadline without any statutory or legal authority. what the court is saying well, you know, you don't have that authority to those ballots can't be counted. this is appear example of you who we are sort of hashing out these questions. no one is saying th

the majority whip, john thune, 59. chuck schumer, 69. his lieutenant is 75 years old.heer earlier mentioned leadership negotiations over economic relief. covid economic relief. the majority leader mitch mcconnell came to the floor yesterday. here's what he had to say about the ongoing stalemate on relief. [video clip] >> republicans spent months, months trying to get another bipartisan rescue package passed and signed into law. has beens our position highly consistent. we want agreement on all the areas where compromise is within reach, sending hundreds of billions to urgent and uncontroversial programs and let washington argue over the rest later. there's no reason why doing right by families should wait until we resolve every difference on every issue. unfortunately, speaker pelosi and the democratic leader have been equally consistent and they don't think that congress should do anything at all. anything unless they get to cash out there far-left ideological wish list, including things with zero relationship to the present crisis. they have continued to insist that

i want to thank my colleagues, -- as g representative well as senator schatz and thune for their work on this legislation in the senate. i also want to thank chairman pallone and ranking member walden and chairman doyle and ranking member latta for their work, working with me to move this legislation through the committee. i strongly urge my colleagues to vote yes on h.r. 6096. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. the gentleman from oregon is recognized. mr. walden: thank you. it's a great honor to recognize the gentleman from florida, a state that's dealt with a lot of disasters over the years and will in the future, mr. bilirakis, for such time as he may consume to talk about this important legislation. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. bilirakis: thank you, madam speaker, appreciate it very much. this builds on the ipause modernization act which i authored and became law in 2016. i want to thank the gentleman from california, the chairman of the committee, the ranking member. it's been a great pleasure to serve with all of you on this

thune: madam president, i request the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote: vote: vote the presiding officer: the yeas are 53, the nays are 43. the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order, the motion to reconsider is coidered made and laid upon the table and the president wil immediately notified of the senate's action. the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture motion. we, the dersigned senators, in accordan with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of beniting mink joel bton of kentucky to b united states district judge for the western district of kentucky. signed by 17 senators. the presiding officer: by unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call has been waived. the question is, is it the sense of the senate that the debate on the nomination of benjamin joel beaton of kentucky to be united states district judge for th

thune: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that i be able to conclude my remarks and the senator from south dakota be able to conclude her remarks prior to the vote. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: mr. president, this summer senator smith and i introduced the impact aid coronavirus relief act. this would provide much need to the students and given the strains to the ongoing pandemic, it can't be soon enough. school districts on military bases and tribal land can participate in the impact aid program, which includes nearly 40 school districts in the state of south dakota. this program is a right is -- of vital importance to the financial well-being of these schools as it reimburses them for revenue shortfalls due to the reduction or absence of a local tax base because of the presence of federal property. in order to determine grant awards through this program, school districts must anually calculate the number of federal students they have enrolled. during a pandemic condu

thune: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from south dakota. mr. thune: i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to legislative session and be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: madam president, i have four requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate. they have a approval of the majority and minority leaders. the presiding officer: duly noted. mr. thune: madam president, before i begin, i want to acknowledge the tremendous news released yesterday that early results of a covid vaccine are showing a greater than 90% rate of effectiveness. this is great news and a testament to the innovative power of the private sector and the efforts of congress and the trump administration to expedite the development of covid vaccines. the trial for this vaccine will continue and f.d.a. approval will be required, but these early results are very, very encouraging. it's been a tough year for americans and people all ov

thune thank you, madam president. madam president, i think it's we discuss the issue ofthat as coronavirus relief, the senate republicans have now not once but twice brought a bill to the floor of the united states senate that enjoyed the support of a majority of united states senators. mr. thune: 52 senators voted for coronavirus relief, not once but twice. once in september, once in october, not a single democrat voted for it. the democratic leader was just talking about the house of representatives where they passed a bill. yeah, they passed a bill. didn't have a single republican on it. it was a massive, multitrillion-dollar bill, liberal wish list, that included all kinds of things like bailouts for blue states, the taxpayers would have to finance. it included tax cuts for millionaires in places like new york and california and left a lot of the american people who are really suffering from the coronavirus holding the bag. we believe, madam president, that there are things that need to be done and just because we

thune: i ask unanimous consent that thmotions to reconsider be considered made anlaid un the table and the president be immedialy notified of the senate's action. the presiding officer: is tre objection? without objection. order. mr. thune: madam president, i ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum call with respect to the kathryn kimball mizell nomination beaived. the presiding officer: is there objeion? without objection. the clerk will report the motion to inadvocacy cloture. -- invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22, do hereby bring a close debate on of kathry kimball mizelle, of florida, to be united states district judge for the middl distrt of florida, signed by 17 senators. the presiding officer: can we have order in the senate? by unanimous consent, the mandatory quorumall has been waived. th question, is it the sense of the senate that debate on the nomination of kathryn kimball mizelle, of florida, to be united states district judge for the middle district of florida, shall be brought to a