so, kirsten, tommy tuberville.say about the president's influence, that this incoming-freshman senator is saying he is willing to stand up in congress, in his first week, like, his first three days on the job. buck mitch mcconnell and push the lie that the president won the 2020 election. >> well, i think it says that he thinks that, you know, his voters are more aligned with donald trump, which is probably true. than anybody else. and so, you know, i think it, also, says something that there aren't any other senators that, at this point, seem willing to do that. so, there -- i think we should focus on that, as well. mitch mcconnell's not going along with this, and he is telling other people not to go along with it. and, you know, mitch mcconnell has finally acknowledged that president -- or, you know, president-elect biden will be the president. so, you know, this is one person who's willing to just continue with this disruption. and continue to try to convince, and i think they've been successful in convincing, a

the president is on board retweeting pro tuberville's messages.more republican senators should follow his lead. we had a landslide victory and then it was swindled. do something." a topic called for later discussion. jim acosta has more from the white house. jim, what is the white house think it is going to get from all of this. they're not going to overturn the election. is this an effort to placate the president and keeping the base fired up and donating money? >> the president is treating his base like an atm machine. he's going to continue to do this. he's egging senators on. he's finding tuberville is willing to do his bidding everyone otheeven others are saying no. that's not going to go anywhere. that's why a source close to the white house told me earlier about this that this is an exercise to trump. that's dead on. this is more about the president and his team seeing the rest of the republican party bow down to him even though he's a loser in the last election. >> jim, when you think of the crisis this country is facing now. the public he

don't do this was his message to tuberville. to your point about looking up into the seats for the approval as you run down the field of one fan, donald trump, you said it right. donald trump after tommy tuberville runs past him is leaving the stadium, two weeks he'll be gone, he'll be playing golf. it's a strange fan to play to when he's leaving the game. >>> let's turn to the major story, hackers broke into several u.s. federal agencies and private companies and now we're learning more about the scope of the vast cyberattack linked to russian intelligence. u.s. officials fear hackers used an array of tools and previously unknown tactics to break in to government networks. the state defense, homeland security, commerce were all targeted and yesterday politico reported the department of energy and its national nuclear security administration which maintains the nuclear stockpile was also breached. the cyber security and infrastructure security agency warned, quote, it has determined that this threat poses a grave risk. it went o

>> tommy tuberville is an embarrassment to the south eastern conference. he doesn't even know the three branches of government. you know, back to what you an rick were talking about. both of y'all are students of history, and the simple fact is in the united states today, the commanders in chief of the united states armed forces has abandoned his post. that's the most serious thing that a person on service can do the abandon one's post. and he has abandoned his post. and i feel terrible for all of the people in the senior command, when you see the number one person at the top of the chain of command not dereliction of duty, walked away from his post. you can't do that. that's a serious thing you can do, and that's what's happened. tommy tuberville is a fool, but we can't do anything about that. >> james, the two threats you mention along the way making your point about abandoning his post, the computer hack i was saying to rick is more theoretical for most of us. we don't understand the ins and outs of that business, that industry. we feel uniquely helples

i don't see any reason why it would be. >> i'm told the football coach senator is tuberville, not tuberville. so what? you're going to know his name. fine. because he's going to be among those who must be remembered for doing the wrong thing with power they were given for people. not for trump. now, luckily, president-elect biden assured americans today that he's not going to stand idly by in the face of cyber assaults on our nation. we'll see. here's what i can tell you right now. biden will not be enough. america needs all her might. left and right. to take on the perils of the pandemic and of geopolitics and frankly domestic politics. the only remedy for us right now, it's not going to be as good as a vaccine, but it's all we have. we have to show what is right and wrong. both. you must show people who do the job right and show those who do the job wrong. it's the only way we're going to get out of this. you have to make hard times better and you have to stop those who are making them worse. and on those list of worst, mitch mcconnell has to come first. he delayed aides for months in defe

he is hoping tuberville doesn't do it. he says it's time to move on.ink the republican senate is going to stay in line? >> i think most republican senators overwhelmingly will follow john thune and mitch mcconnell on this. what senator tuberville is doing is not a great way to start your senate career. he is a new guy. as kirsten said he might disrupt things, slow things down a little bit. he is not going to change the outcome. it is a complete waste of time. i think the senators will be more disciplined than the house members frankly i'm more worried about the house being disrupted at this point than the senate. >> really? why so? tell me about it. >> because i think there are more members. you saw over i believe 126 signed a letter basically supporting the texas lawsuit that would have disenfranchised millions of voters in pennsylvania, georgia, michigan, and wisconsin. in many respects i think they are less disciplined in the house on these types of matters. they don't follow instructions as well from their leadership as do the senators. i think you

so it is something that i think mcconnell is going to try to figure out how to keep tommy tubervillem doing that. he is an extraordinarily inexperienced senator. he was in an interview, did not know what the three branches of government were after the election. he participated in no debates. we know so little other than he was a football coach and had some success at auburn university. >> very popular. chuck, if we could switch gears, you and i have been talking about this for months since the summer at least. it would only be the second package since march. where do things stand this morning? >> looks like they have it. they've come to what was holding things up yesterday where some effort to turn off a federal reserve money spigot of sorts having treasury and the federal reserve have their own ability to issue some loans to various entities, even government entities if necessary, to fill in the gaps. republicans wanted to shut it off completely. they came to some sort of compromise. i don't want to get into too much of the detail because it is a small part of the deal but here is t

tommy tuberville has not yet taken office. alex? >> okay, josh, thank you very much. joining me now is democratic governor gretchen whitmer. gretchen, good morning to you. we have the president ramping up his campaign against election results. they have conducted an audit of ballots specifically cast in antrim county. they have reaffirmed the 2020 election results. this is a county where a clerical error inspired some baseless conspiracies of fraud. already in this audit, the president picked up 12 votes, nothing close to the hundreds of thousands he said that he would have. 12. he got 11 on his own accord, and one because there was a ballot that went for joe biden that should not have. okay, 12. so we have this audit. does this finally put these theories to rest? >> i think these theories were put to rest before this audit, but hopefully this is one more data point for people to see joe biden won this election. and he won it handily. he won michigan by 140,000 votes. they called it an overwhelming victory four years earlier. it was secure, votes have been counted. i

there's no way the strategy can win, but i can tell you, reverend, that tuberville will make himself the least popular republican member of the senate because if he does that, it's going to force republican senators to choose between their fawning allegiance to donald trump or the political reality that trump lost the election. so they really don't want to have to go down that in the united states senate. i'm sure they're going to be working very hard, mitch mcconnell and others, to persuade tuberville not to do it even as trump tries to get him to do it. >> now, i'm out of time, but i must ask you before you go, about your new legislation to honor henrietta lax, to improve equity in cancer research. >> yeah, thanks for mentioning this, reverend al. this was a priority of our dear friend, elijah cummings. and we want to make sure that when we have clinical trials for cancer drugs, that underrepresented populations are able to participate, because we want to make sure that the treatments that come out of those clinical trials can help the african-american community and other minority

he praised tommy tuberville after he refused to rule out objecting to the election results when congressratify them next month. >> we have got to fight for this country and our kids! >> reporter: trump hailed the republican and former auburn football coach as a great champion and man of courage and said more republican senators should follow his lead but that is the opposite of what senate majority leader mitch mcconnell is telling his party after warning them in a private call this week, not to object on january 6th. trump tweeted that mcconnell should get tougher or you won't have a republican party any more. one thing the president hasn't tweeted about is the suspected russian hack of the u.s. government and private companies. even though a white house official told cnn he was briefed on it yesterday. >> the president is not just not leading on this, but he is actually creating barriers and standing in the way of dealing with this in the way that a commander in chief should. >> reporter: they said afterwards they did not get sufficient answers after a telephone call. >> no. i think qu

and so tuberville is one of those people. sidney powell is one of those people there and they're essentially feeding the president. and i think the president is showing he plans to play a pretty active role in the republican party going forward. he sees himself as a king maker and someone that can toip to help proper up and support candidates in line with his views and philosophies. and think you're going to see him continue to do it afterwards. i do think a big question is how he responds after the 6th of january when as you say this effort on capitol hill will be futile. what is his next step there. i don't think anyone is holding their breath for idea he'll say it's over, joe biden is president-elect. but i think it's a big question open what follows. >>> out front next we have breaking news. the white house may require travelers from the united kingdom to present proof of a negative coronavirus test before arriving into the united states as a new and maybe faster spreading form of coronavirus is causing new concern. >>> p

not with regard to tommy tuberville. what mitch mcconnell is trying to prevent is very awkward vote where republicans in the senate if just one senator signs on to this would have to cast a ballot that would put them at odds with the president and his base. he's trying to avoid that. erin, this is a cash grab. the goal posts keep moving. first it was election day, november 3rd, then it was the electoral college december 14rks now it's the 6th of january because the president wants to continue to raise money all the way until the end so that he's got a pot for 2024 if he chooses to go forward. >> that does seem to be what it's about, nia, because the money does keep flowing in and he has an incredible amount of discretion over what he uses it for and when, which the donors may not realize. it says legal funds for the election and it can be a lot more than that. i want to ask you, nia, though, about what kevin mccarthy said today, the house minority leader when he was asked about it. obviously a laugh and eye roll. here he

i think we've already heard he's called on senators to follow on senator tuberville's lead. from the legal front to the political front in this sort of final debate, we're looking at the january 6th joint session of congress overseen, presided over by the vice president of the united states. and there, there may be some dramatics and some fireworks, we shall see. but we've moved, i think, beyond the legal framework into the political framework. lou: yeah. ken starr, thank you for being with us. always a sober and clear mind on the issues that frustrate us all. we appreciate it. thanks so much. and a great attorney. >>> there are lots of opinions about the integrity of the election, the irregularities of mail-in voting, of election voting machines and voting software. one of the companies is smartmatic, and we reached out to one of the leading authorities on open source software for elections, eddie perez, for husband ine sight and views -- his insight and views. eddie is the global director of tech development at the open source election technology institute. we with we aske

we're going to have to deal with the -- this matters, and that's a senator-elect, tommy tuberville of alabama, who's a football coach. but now he's playing politics and making his new opponent democracy. there he was in georgia, signaling a baseless challenge that when congress comes together to certify the electoral college next month, something's going to happen. and of course no bad deed goes unpraised. trump calling tuberville a great champion and man of courage, saying more republican senators should follow his lead. you mean lie? you mean put you before the country or democracy? let me be clear about what they should say but they won't. you are wrong. you have proven only your perfidy, and you have no honor. you have reduced your office in a way that i'm not sure this country recovers from anytime soon. but you're not going to hear that. it's bad enough that i say it. believe me, it comes with a price. but courage is not spinning b.s. it's standing up to it. and if you'll notice, senator mcconnell, other leaders on what used to be the gop are silent, and therefore i submit to yo

but we have incoming alabama senator tommy tuberville who's implied he's going to do just that. that could potentially force republicans to vote against president trump. how big a headache would that pose for mcconnell? what does that say about mcconnell's influence over his caucus? >> well, certainly to your first question, it's a big headache for mcconnell. and the fact that he's trying to prevent that from happening is telling particularly after he spent so many weeks not acknowledging the win of president-elect joe biden. it does show the extent of the control that president trump continues to have over the republican party, which isn't a surprise right now. but it also shows how much he's going to have in the future. and that's why it's a headache for mcconnell and for many other republicans who may be faced with that choice. >> okay. guys, stay right there if you don't mind because we're going to get a bit more on this as we go to the white house. that is where the president is considering using a controversial ally in his attempt to overturn the election. let's go to nbc'

president trump is throwing his support to gop tommy tuberville. the plot, which is doomed to fail, as democrats control the house, could become another embarrassing spectacle. still, the president is urging other senators to dive right in, tweeting, senators have to get tougher. we won the election. fight for it. don't let them take it away, but even the white house said it's an exercise in futility for trump. >> it's time for us to accept that defeat, and also accept the many victories we had that night. wade great night chept fexcept top of the ticket. we need to accept that and move on. >> but security advise michael flynn said mr. trump should consider declaring marshal law and a new election. though flynn said he wasn't calling on that to happen. >> within the swing states, if he wanted to, he could take military capabilities and place them in those states and basically rerun an election in each one of those states. it's not unprecedented. people are talking about martial law -- martial law has been instituted 64 times. >> the president is al

he said he' tom tuberville said he'll challenge the electoral vote. i believe, renee, american democracy cannot survive as we know it if a majority of congressional republicans, people like tuberville, refuse to acknowledge the result of a free and fair election, refuse to recognize the biden presidency. am i wrong? >> i think democracy is facing its greatest challenge. and it's facing it from within. i think this country knows very well what to do with bad actors from other countries. it doesn't have any sense of what to do with donald trump because they've never had to deal with a president, of all people, doing this to democracy. at this point he has two goals: to spread lies meant to sabotage the incoming biden administration and to break the back of democracy. i've said this for months, there is no bottom here. there are high standards, there are low standards. donald trump has no standards at all. and that puts this nation at an enormous peril. but this is what it means to have a president who is immune to human suffering, who sees compassion or

president trump actually lauded tommy tuberville after he said he is not ruling out joining a house member results when congress meets in the electrical session to accept the results of the electoral college. we know leader mcconnell is discouraging anything thlike th. how do you see january 6th playing out? >> i think that we are going to see a number of house members do exactly what trump wants and there is a possibility that senator tuberville will do that as well. i think the majority of senators will probably fall in line behind mcconnell and, ultimately, you know, they are going to accept the election results. now, that being said, it still doesn't mean that what they are trying to do, the protests they are trying to stage isn't dangerous. it sends a signal to trump voters across the country that the election wasn't legitimate. the fact that the president, himself, repeats those claims every single day doesn't help his voters accept that the election was actually run smoothly and that there was no widespread evidence of voter fraud. >> ryan, when donald j. trump leaves the white hous

while president trump tweeted calls for incoming senator and former college football college tommy tuberville to object to the election results when they're due to be certified january 6 from the senate floor even though mitch mcconnell has pleaded against any objections, all this while covid continues to rage across the i didncountr promise of vaccines a cold comfort to the families of 300,000 americans we have lost to the virus. >> the goal is bittersweet. at the same time as we're moving ahead with what will ultimately be the answer and the final solution to this, we're living through very, very difficult times. >>> joining me now, nbc's garrett haake on capitol hill and "weekend today" co-host kristen welker at the white house. garrett, first to you, what is this hangup? the last note i saw involved federal reserve lending facilities at least held up by senator toomey of pennsylvania. >> reporter: yeah, there are a couple of things going on. first, at some point aides will have to put down their pencils and go with what they've got. writing a $900 billion bill takes time, the language is

tommy tuberville has also said he might object. this isn't the first time this has happened. have had in the house, for instance, democrats object, and i think it was 2004, feinstein joined with democrats as well to object with what they thought was going on in ohio with the 2004 election. but, listen, in some ways it was inevitable given donald trump's grip on the party and given his grip on this base. the idea, though, that these folks are going to inherit trump's base in 2024 or whenever, that is yet to be seen, but that's certainly what they're trying to do. >> so, ron, what is the difference here given the fact there have been a very small number of democrats in the last 20 years that have done the same thing? why is hawley doing it a bigger deal than that, if you think it is? >> it is, because it's broader with what's happening. when democrats did it in 2004, they specifically said they were not seeking to overturn the results in ohio, which is the state they were objecting to, but only to kind of shine a spotlight on their questions about what happened there. and very

tuberville, we hope you don't go with the house republicans.inks he owes them nothing. >> but if this goes too far, you get to january 3rd, people are really in a bad place. >> yeah. they are. but i'm not convinced that the court of public opinion points a finger at him when they hear from him the laundry list of aid to cambodia and egypt. why the hell are we getting 600 bucks? >> don't forget the billion-plus for his wall, and extending lunches for rich guys. this isn't a guy who has just found jesus in terms of what the purpose of charity is. >> i'm only suggesting to you, it's not black and white. he doesn't necessarily come out of this politically speaking as a loser. >> i don't think you're wrong. just asking for more money for people looks good. >> right. yeah. >> in the backwards world of republican politics right now. but look, michael is right about this one thing, anthony. donnybrook is another fancy word for a brawl. >> it's not fancy. it's a baseball term. >> the biggest word we use on this show is mayonnaise. i appreciate you both.

lou: breaking news, senator elect tommy tuberville suggesting he may join members of the house to challenge results on jane reese six president trump hailed to reveal tweeting this, that is because he is a great champion and a man of courage, senators should follow his lead we had a landslide victory and then swindled away from the republican party but we caught them, do something, apparently the senator elect is considering to do a lot. breaking the department of justice antitrust case against google, google seems to be safe, it won't be put before a judge for three years, a trial date we have just learned has been set for september of 2023. amazing. our next guest involved in another lawsuit against google, representing the great state of texas suing google for suppressing competition in the digital ad market, joining is now former independent counsel leading attorney kenneth starr and fox news contributor. good to have you with us. let me start with the trial data of 2023, i know it is not your case but that is outrageous. if indeed they are behaving as horribly as they are accused of, w

speaking of republicans, republican senator-elect tommy tuberville leaving the door open to joining someepublicans in a last ditch effort to overturn the election result, how do you see this playing out? >> well, don, it's a very good question. we don't know. we know that it's been reported that senator mcconnell has urged his members not to participate in that, but we have a new member from alabama. we don't know what he will do. i do know this. at the end of this process, joe biden will be president of the united states and kamala harris will be vice president of the united states. i do know that. now, what they can do is create chaos and lord knows we've had enough of that, right? i know i'm pretty tired of it myself, and i know we all are. but at the end of that process, however long it takes, we will still have the next president of the united states being joe biden. >> well, senator, thank you so much. and i have to give you props for your beautiful tree. very beautiful christmas tree behind you, over your right shoulder. >> thank you. it's my tree in lansing, michigan, so i have t

urging more republican senators not to contest the election are results, but senator-elect tommy tubervillelong with senators kelly loeffler and ted cruz are said to be considering joining with josh hawley. we'll be taking up this breaking development. we're joined in a few moments by judicial watch president tom fitton. we're also going to be talking to georgia democrat representative vernon zones. we'll ask the voc -- jones. we'll ask the vocal supporter of president trump about next week's runoff elections in the state of georgia. cartel expert jason jones is also with us this evening to take up some disturbing trends that are growing along the southern border with mexico. and if you're tired of the year of 2020 -- and who isn't -- pastor robert jeffress will be joining us with his positive outlook for 2021. >>> we begin though with senator josh hawley's announcement today to back president trump in the battle for the white house. it will be popular, certainly, among the president's supporters. take a look at this, a new rasmussen poll finds that 72% of republicans believe that president

that day in addition to the house remembers we have heard from and tommy tubberville wtub -- tommy tuberville. and, so, what is going to be interesting here is not what is going to happen with this lawsuit because it is not beginning to go anywhere, like you said. legal experts dismissed it. but it is the position it puts the vice president in who has always had to weigh his loyalty with the president. this is someone with future political ambitions, who wants to run for president. what does he do to maintain his loyalty to the president but also not ruin his reputation by r disrupting it. >> not while donald trump is around. ron, can you weigh in the last word on this. >> yeah. real quick. >> let me get this in, real quick. >> yeah. >> we said it's embarrassing. >> yeah. >> republicans have become the party of the gang who can't sue straight. do they have any shame? do they have any shame? >> they are operating in a -- they have succeeded from common facts and common purpose in the country. within the closed circle of the republican party, donald trump convinced 77% of his voters that this e

there are incoming senators who have kept open the option of pushing ahead on this, including tommy tubervillealabama. another one, kansas incoming senator roger marshall told me he wouldn't rule out the possibility of joining the challenge and several sitting senates ruled it out, rand paul, josh holly, but republican leaders are saying, don't do that including senator john thune. told me yesterday said i think the think you have to remember, it's not going anywhere. in the senate, go down like a shot dog. i think it makes a lot of sense to not put everybody through this when you know the ultimate outcome, what it will be. you see the tension internally playing out, but ultimately, brooke, joe biden will be sworn in january 20th. >> like a shot dog. quite a quote. >>> from peanut farmer to rock in the white house, see how america's 39th president used his passion for music to win the 1979 election. jimmy carter, rock [ roll president, here on cnn. >>> even though americans are being warned against it, holiday travel is already setting a record for the busiest weekend of the entire pandemic. a

the new senator, tommy tube -- tuberville, has sort of suggested he might be willing, but mitch mcconnell will never allow that to happen, will he? >> i mean, he may not want it to happen, but all the senators are independent, and they're answerable to the american people -- [laughter] gregg: who told you that in. >> well, some of them do act independently. i think there's going to be i enormous pressure on senators to come forward and uphold the rule of law and try to figure out what went on in pennsylvania, wisconsin and such. this is a simple issue. for all the noise you hear, it's a simple issue. they changed the rules in several states and counted votes they shouldn't have been counting. and those votes that were counted improperly are the reason biden got those electoral college electors in those various states. if they followed the rules, those electors wouldn't be going for biden, and the president would get a second term. congress doesn't want to grapple with that simple point because they're afraid of the political blowback. the constitution be danged. in my view, the rule of la

i want to ask you about one of your colleagues, tommy tuberville. he left the door open to maybe join some house republicans in this last-ditch effort to overturn the free and fair results when congress looks to veto the vote. the top people in the senate want to overlook the spectacle because it would require so many republicans to vote against president trump by upholding the election results. you are the top democrat on the senate rules committee. what do you expect to happen? >> first of all, this is crazy, jake. we have had now over 80 judges reject these claims that the president is making, including a bunch of judges appointed by president trump and other republican presidents. we have the leaders in the republican party in the u.s. senate and governors across the country congratulating joe biden on his victory, so let's remember that. what this is, it's a law that's been on the books for hundreds of years, only twice used in history, where the house has actually had to go and vote, and yes, you are correct, if a house member is joined by a s

while president trump tweeted calls for incoming senator and former college football college tommy tubervilleection results when they're due to be certified january 6 from the senate floor even though mitch mcconnell has pleaded a

many of them willing to defy the will of the voters, including senator-elect tommy tuberville of alabama who had this to say. >> we're going to fight hard. >> what are you going to do on january 6th. madison said you had tricks up your sleeve. >> you see what's coming. you've been reading about it. >> the democrats -- >> we're about to do it in -- >> this is how he plans to enter the senate. defying mitch mcconnell. this is a doomed plot that's going to fail. your latest piece in the new yorker is titled "trump's new brand is loser." his favorite insult for others but kryptonite for himself. how many times does donald trump need to lose this election before he finally accepts reality? >> he may or may not ever accept reality. i think we do understand that on january 20th, he will no longer be president, regardless of what state of reality or denial he's in. the issue, as you pointed out, is what about all these people who have been enabling this? are they really comfortable hosting michael flynn in the oval office to talk about martial law, to talk about redoing the election? the elector

and you wonder how far he's willing to go with people like senator tuberville, you know, to say, look do this, you're going to get the lousiest committee assignments, your bills are never going to see the light of day because this will be a disaster, number one for the country, obviously, for the constitution, but also for the republican party if they go through this ridiculous and absurd effort to disenfranchise tens of millions of americans and overturn an election in a cause that is, as you pointed out, is doomed to absolute ignominious defeat. >> quickly, charlie, do you think that mike pence has inc t incentive to go along with this ha harebrain scheme? do you think that will be on his mind? >> yes. he will be vilified. on january 7th he'll be the number-one villain of the magaverse. the question is, is he willing to put up with that? it's interesting he's got a very extensive travel plan for the day after the january 6th vote. this is one of those moments where you honestly have to weigh who you are, this is the test that everybody wonders what will you do when you have to choos

. >> i spoke to a great gentleman, tommy tuberville last night. he's excited. he said you made me the most popular politician in the united states. he said i can't believe it. he's great. great senator. >> he's actually not a senator yet, hallie. she's not been sworn in yet, but he will be, and even though this effort is unlikely to succeed in the house or senate, it goes to show you that even next year with a new congress seated, president trump is going to have some very staunch supporters continuing to push his message in the congress. >> josh and allie, thank you both. we've been talking about president-elect kamala harris. tonight she is joining joy reid live for an exclusive interview at 7:00 eastern right here on msnbc. >>> that co-vid relief deal may be on the way, but there's a lot of time between now and the vote. as we've been talking, the actual text of the bill which we could get any minute now, is still not out. we're going to have the latest with a member of congress on what's next as well as other key topics this morning. but first, as we talk a

republicans both in the house and at least by one incoming senator in the senate, a republican tommy tuberville to try to actual areally throw out some of the electoral college votes from states that voted for president-elect joe biden. we do not expect that effort will have the math mackiccal numbers to succeed. >> buckle up. january 5th in georgia. january 6th in d.c. >>> joining me now from sirius xm and zerlina on peacock and former aide in the george w. bush white house, and msnbc analyst. zerlina you first, the president's comments on the massive cyber attack what do you make of that and mike pompeo saying russia is behind it. why can the president not say that? >> the first thing i thought, alex, when i heard russia had attacked so many entities in the united states, private and government, is that this is the president that said, russia, if you're listening, why don't you go hack hillarys emails and try to find the so-called missing emails? so the russia, if you're listening, president, he isn't going to say that russia is behind a hack when he was the one asking them to hack. in 2016.

incoming alabama tuberville.e ask hinting he may join a republican effort in the house to block congressional radification of the election results on january 6th. he is push other senators to dive in and falsely tweeting republican senators have to get tougher or he won't have a republican party any more. we won the presidential election by a lot fight for it don't let them take it away but even a source close to the white house said it's an exercise in futile ited ity to trump. >> it's time for us to accept that defeat and accept the many victories that we had that night. we had a great night except that the top of the ticket 4r069 and we need to accept that and move on. >> reporter: others want to keep fighting including michael flynn who was recently pardoned by the president and said mr. trump should declare martial law and a new election. flynn was careful to add he is not specifically calling for that to happen. >> he could order the -- within the swing states if he wanted to take military capabilities and

you'd already had the incoming senator from alabama, tommy tuberville, say that he was going to object. so, now that there's josh hawley, they have enough to gum up the works, enough people to gum up the works. they don't have enough, as you said before, to actually overturn the results of the election. we know that on january 20th, the new president will be biden. the outgoing president will be president trump. i think what we will see from these republicans is they are trying to, essentially, line up to be president trump fanboys so they can be in a good place in 2024. >> there you go. >> for, you know, running for president. i think that's what this is about. >> that's what i wanted to get to. >> -- lines up. >> what this is really, really about. like, peel back the layers. what are the personal ambitions at play here for senator hawley. so, what would he be looking for come 2024, if trump follows through with this thing? >> right. if he follows -- listen, if donald trump doesn't run, all of these folks, like josh hawley, like mike pompeo, maybe even lindsey graham, marco rubio as w

know that there are house republicans as well as at least one incoming republican senator, tommy tubervillending to object essentially to the tally of that electoral vote and that's something they could do where they try to reject one or more state's votes in that electoral college tally and that doesn't have a prospect of having president-elect joe biden of taking office in january but clearly something the president's supporters want to do as he continues to make the claims that somehow the election was stolen from him when of course it was not and we can tell from the president's twitter feed how keenly focused he remains on this, this many weeks after the election, and the president tweeting only parenthetically about this massive news with the moderna vaccine, that you were just discussing, the president tweeting, congratulations, the moderna vaccine is now available but that one tweet punch waiting a series of half dozen tweets the president sent out in the last 24 hours or so, continuing to make baseless allegations that the election was stolen from him and that there is some pathway

are joined by a senator and there's all kinds of rumors about the new senator from alabama tommy tubervillee joins them then what you see is two hours of debate in each house, then a vote, then you come back again. we could literally go through the roll call of states and it could take over a day to get this done. do i think that's going to happen, john, no, but it's my job to make sure that we get through and make very clear that joe biden won this election, our republican colleagues in the senate including mitch mcconnell have now said that that's the truth. i don't foresee this as stalling out in the end whatever plots they make that day and it's embarrassing that they're doing this, last ditch effort, but we will stand tall for democracy and i have every reason to believe we will come through. but i literally cannot believe they are not allowing for the peaceful transition of power and instead trying these frivolous lawsuits which are getting shot down by republican appointed, trump appointed judges all over this country. >> lightning round. >> i thought we just did. okay. >> that wasn'

and of course, tommy tuberville, the senator from alabama, who has voiced opposition and talked about what he could potentially do on january 6th. even though mitch mcconnell said he doesn't want any republican senators to reject on that day. what is going to be interesting here is not what is going to happen with this lawsuit because it's not going to go anywhere. like you said, legal experts have really dismissed it. but the vice president has always had to weigh his loyalty with siding with him and this is going to be the ultimate test of that. this is someone who has future, political ambitions, who wants to run for president. so, what does he do to try to maintain his loyalty to the president? but also, not ruin his reputation by disrupting it. >> not as long as donald trump is around. sorry about that, mike pence. never, ever gonna happen. it's not going to happen. hey, ron, i have to go. but can you just weigh in, the last word on this? let me get this in, real quick. >> yeah. >> we said it's embarrassing. >> yeah. >> republicans have become the party of the gang who can't see

tuberville, we hope you don't go along with the house republicans who want to challenge the electoral further suits the president's interests to fight with those republicans. he thinks he owes them nothing. >> but if this goes too far, maikel, and you get to january 3rd, people really are in a bad place. >> yeah, they are. but i'm not convinced that the court of public opinion points a finger at him. when they hear from him the laundry list of aid to cambodia and aid to egypt and saying why the hell are we getting 600 bucks. >> don't forget the billion plus for his wall and wants to extend the lunch thing for rich guys on lunches. this is not a guy who's all of a sudden found jesus in terms of what the purpose of charity is. >> i'm only suggesting to you that it's not black and white, that he does not necessarily come out of this politically speaking as a loser. >> i don't think you're wrong. i don't think you're wrong because just asking for more money for people looks good, right? >> right. >> in the back world of republican politics right now, which is they're supposed to be the au

of course the newly elected senator, tommy tuberville of alabama, has indicated that he might be that senator to give this challenge some legs in the senate. but then what is vice president mike pence's role as well? he's going to oversee this entire process. there's been a lot made that he could be the person that puts the nail in the head of this coffin of the president. and his electoral chances. so there is a lot of planning going on behind the scenes on democrat side and republican side trying to figure out what to expect and game out the -- play out the game here and see how to prepare and what to do. but it could be a very, very long day, kasie. >> anna palmer, let me put this question to you. what are you hearing from -- you talk to sources every morning as you guys pull together playbook. are you picking up nervousness that you didn't necessarily expect or do you feel like most people are saying, well, it may be a difficult day but everything is going to be fine in the end? >> i think there's been a real shift among congressional republicans. i'm sure you've noticed as well.

merrick garland, senator doug jones from alabama who lost to former auburn football coach tommy tubervilleand sally yates. his secretary is already looking at representation. and having a cabinet that looks like america is important, but biden's legacy on race will be judged by his picks, willingness to pursue policy changes that per sue systemic racism. one said biden owes us and we have not forgotten. and a longstanding relationship with the president-elect and is seen as a strong union voice. he hedged on a question whether he would accept a cabinet spot a day ago. >> i have not spoken to the president-elect since he got elected. i was on a zoom with him. he spoke to the u.s. conference of mayors along with the vice-president-elect and we didn't have a personal conversation, but they're great people and they're making right decisions across the board. whatever they decide i wholeheartedly support. >> the congressional black caucus, hispanic caucus and asian pacific islander caucus are voicing their picks as biden fills the last three cabinet posts. a few moments ago, a brief part of the