william brangham begins our coverage. >> the motion to concur is reed to. the senate came jueforeova midnight: this mega deal includes economic relief and a catch-all spending bill to fund the government for the rest r. the fiscal y in wilmington, delaware today, president-elect biden hailed the outcome.gr >> cs did its job this week. i can and i must ask them to do it again next year. but even with the changes in proach i'm going to put in place in late january, people are still going to bsick and dying from covid. >> brangham: the bill now awaits president trump's signature. the covid-relief measure is expected to impact millions of americans. it includes direct payments of $600 each for those earning less than $75,000 a year. supplemental benefits of $300 more each week for 11 weeks for the unemployed, that's over and above state benefits. $25 billion in rental assistance. an extension of the c.d.c.'s moratorium on evictions. an$248 billion for the arycheck protection program to helphit small businesses. it leaves out any aid for state , d local governme

william brangham has a conversation about theatest. iam: judy, ovethe weekend, that with holiday gatherings fections could grow , significantly between now and christmas. the surge in pandemic cases and hospitalizations and deaths come with newuestions about the three new vaccines on the horizon. dr. celine gounder is an epidemiologist and professor of infectious diseases at the new york university grossman school icine. she is also a member of president-elect biden's covid advisory team. very good to have you onhe newshour. the country.celerating can you give us a snapst as you see it of how things are going right now? dr. gounder: the u.s. was already having a surge in cases before the thanksgiving holiday. the problem with thanksgiving or any other such holiday is you are bringing together people, family and friends from all across the country, different generations. what we were seeing in the weeks coming up to this, much was being prunagated by r people, and now those folks -- while we often see this kind of spread rippling out, to

r william branghorts. >> brangham: new york, once the epicen the pandec, saw one of the first rays of hope for its d. where critical care sandrans, lindsay received the first federally-authorized sho >> working on the frontlines alongside my team, i saw a lot of pain, hurt, suffering, death and so i felt a huge sense of relief after i got the vaccine. >> brangham: in washington, health and human services secretary alex azar hailed the start of the largest vaccination campaign in u.istory. >> our war against the virus is not over yet, but this week we're taking a major step toward our eventual victory. >> brangham: on sunday, the federal government, utilizing the military, in part, began distributing the pfizer/biontech vaccine-- 2.9 million doses initially. they will reach 145 sites by the locations total by wednesday, and by next sunday more than 1,200 sites will have the vaccine. the food and drug administration approved emergency authorizatiof for ther vaccine on friday, marking an unprecedented pace of scientific development, with a vaccine for a virus that was only identified ear

william brangham looal at those ies. the speed ofenaccine develohas been unprecedented, but there have been some setbacks. send no fee and glaxosmithkline said the launch of their vaccine will be delayed after it did not generate a simficient enough ne response in older people. the u.s. and other governmtts expected t vaccine to be part of their arsenal. that follows results with astrazeneca's vaccine and amid other qutions about whether the federal government missed an opportunity to buyh eno doses of pfizer's vaccine. amatthew harper enior writer who covers this.r thank you ing here. let's start off first with this glazo news. these are companies with a long track record of developing vaccines, so there was some surprise about theseiccups. are these to be expected? matthew: absolutely. this is what we have been expecting all along. in drug development, it is 90% of projects that fail. this would normally be a small hiccup because normally drug companies do not have to t delir se kinds of time frames. it really is impre

william brangham reports. pplause] william: new york, once the epicenter of this pandemic, saw one of the rays of hope for its first end. vaccinations began in queens, where critical care nurse sandra lindsay ceived the first federally auorized shot. >> working on the frontin alongside my team, i saw a lot of pain, hurt, suffering, death oand so i felt a huge sen efre after i got the vaccine. reporter: in washgton, health and human services secretary alex azar hailed the start of the largest vaccination campaign in u.s. history. >> a our winst the virus i not over yet, but this week we're taking a major step toward our eventual victory. william: on sunday, the federal governme -- utilizing the military, in part -- began distributing theer pfiontech vaccine. 2..million doses initial they will reach 145 sites by the end of today, more than 600 locations total by wednesday, and by next more than 1,200 sunday, tes will have the vaccine. approved emergencyrizationration for the pfizer vaccine on friday -- marking an

william brangham talks with one of the federal government's leading authorities on makingn. is happe william: the pfizer vaccine, which needs ultracold storage, is likely to be available ins. e ater this month, and it will likely gowoo health-care ers and then elderly americans having in long-term care facilities. the government'spa program antis offering the vaccine from a derna later this month -- from moderna later this month. all told, 20 million could be vaccinated in the u.s. by the end of this yearnd 100 million by the end of february 2021. the chief scientific officer for known as operation warp speed joins me now. very good to have you on the "newshour." 100 million americans by the end of february. that seems a remarkably optimistic and ambitious goal. >> it is an g ambitiousl, and it's a goal we've been working hard at since the month of may to be able to achieve. we are on theo verge of having vaccines approved by the fda on december 11 or so, december 18, and we can start immunizing. we think we will have 40 million doses of these vaccines in the month of decembe

earlier this evening, william brangham spoke with fiona hill, senior director for european and russianairs on the national security council from 2017 2019. she is now a senior fellow at the brookings institution. william: fiona hill, thank you for being here. start by helping us understand, is there any doubt in your mind that the russians are behind this? fiona: not really. i'm sure that more information will come out that will confirm this. william: why are you so certain? fiona: this has all the hallmarks of their tradecraft. it is a sophisticated operation. it has been many months if not longer in the planning. just the nature of the execution and the way it is being revealed . this has all the hallmarks of a sophisticated operation, probably carried out by the svr, the foreign intelligence units of the russian intelligence services. willia this is self-evident to people like you in your field, but help us understand what the russians gain from this. fiona: this is classic espionage, an attack on cybersecurity systems. back in the old days, they would have executed it a different w

and they did not get the relief that f was need americans before the end of the year. >> as william brangham just reported in a same, after signing the bill, president trump says he wants less wasteful spending, sending to coress a redline bill, itemizg all of the funds he wants removed. is the president going to get any of that? what is the practical impact of those requests? >> reporr: just to give the president a way of saying he had a win in terms of what he wanted to happen with funding. this is not a reality. both houses have moved on from this spending bill. the house appropriators, the power of the purse, has said they will not be considering any of the recisions that the president would or could give to them bee he leaves office.re but this is ly more of a talking point for the president. it has no basis in reality. >> nawaz: we see now the house has supported that suggestion to raise the stimulus paymen to 2,000 dollars, but this puts republicans in a pinch, particularly in the senate. what is gog to happ there? are they going to back that increase in stimulus hoyments? >> reporter

william brangham reports on another milestone day in the 2020 election. lliam: judy, next monday, members of the electoral college will meet in state citals across the counrty to officially cast their votes for president.h most oe electors - and how they will vote -- are already known because today is what's called the "safe harbor" deadline for those appointments. to look at where we are in the transition, and at the president's ongoing resistance to it, i'm joined by trevor potter. he is the president of the campaign legal center. counsel for john mccain's presidenal campaign and as chair of the federal election commission. great to have you back on the "newshour." wbefo get to these calendar issues i was describing before, we still are seeing continued legal efforts by the trump caaign to stop different statesng from certifheir votes. ourtaw one, the supreme knocked one down just today from .pennsylvania. there was a new one filed by the attorney general in texas. what do you make of thesets remaining laws >> truthfully, they are increasingly bizarre in

william brangham talks with the head of the top head firm. >> the u.s.y team is trying to find out who is response officia this attack. various reports pointed the finger at the russian government. the microsoft who has built the systems for the majority of the computers said it too found malicious software on its systems. in an open letter on their website, brad smith, the company's president called this attack a reckoning. and he wrote "it represents an act of recklessness that created a serious vulnerability for the united states and the world" and brad smith joins me now. welcome to "the newshour" mr. smith. great to have you here. you said that this -- this attack should trig ear reckoning , a reckoning by whom and what? >> it's a reckoning for all of us. it is certainly a reckoning for not just all of us in the tech sector who have a critical ongoing role to play but for everybody in the government as well. what we're seeing here is an attack that really disrupted the entire technology supply cha by planting malware in some network management softw

for the s newshour i'm william brangham in washington, d.c. ♪ judy: with every week, we get a tter picturebiden's team. first on national security, then on the enomy and this week, on health care. amna nawaz is here to consider his picks. amna: judy, the biden health team will enter the white house he virus surges nationwi and the vaccine is still months away. as we reported earlier, the team includes doctors anthony facui d rochelle walensky, wit b xavierra leading hhs. also on the team, dr. vivek murthy as surgeon general,ov jeff zients as czar, natalie quillian as his deputydi cotor, and dr. marcella nunez-smith to lead a task force on health disparities. he to analyzere the politics behind the nominations are amy , walter of the cook political report and host of public radio's "politics with amy walter." and errin ines of the 19th news. tamara keith is away. good to see you and thenks for bein. we know the biden team will face the pandemic response and now we know their team. when you look at these pix at this time, what did they say to you? amy: y have important experience. keeping dr

just this week, he has more than doubled his acts of clemency from the previous four william brangham picks up the story. >> brangham: that's right na. president trump added 29 new pardons and commutations last night and there were many familiar names, including charles kushner, the father of the president's son-in-law jared.we ther also pardons for two major figures connected to special counsel robert mueller's russia probe-- former campaign coairman paul manafort and trump idant roger stone. those two joined three others from that investigation pardoned in the last month. for reaction, i'm joined by andrew weissman. he was the lead prosecutor for special cousel robert mueller's investigation. andrew weissman, very good to have you on the "newsh we have now five individuals who you and your colleagues helpnv t who were all guilty of lying or obstructing this investigation, and now they have been pardoned by the president of the united states. i mean, this has got to be a relarively dark pe for you. >> well, that's an understatement. i spent 20 years at the career people there are tra

william brangham looks at those realities. >> brangham: judy, the speed of vaccine development has beenrecedented, but there have been some setbac. today, sanofi and glaxosmithkline said the launch of their potential vaccine will be delayed, after it did not generate a sufficient immune response in older peop the u.s. and other governments had expected that vaccine to be part of their arsenal. that news follows confusing results recently with astrazeneca's potential vaccine, boand amid other questions whether the federal government missed an opportunity to buy enough doses of the pfizer vaccine. matthew herper is a seni writer who covers this field for matthew, thank you very much for being here. let's start off, first, with this sanofi and glaxo news. these are two companiesitha wng track record of developing vaccines, so the some surprise about these hiccups but are these just to be expected in the normal process of vaccine development? >> absolutely. this is what we have been expecting all along when it evelopment.ccine d you have to remember, in drug development, it's, like, 90% oft

william brangham reports. >> brangham: the overnight swirl mpof news from president t included an off-cameramency.ent about new grant there were 20 recipients in all: pardons for 15 of them, five others receiving commutations for their sentences.me like george papadopoulos, are familiar figures fromse special col robert mueller's russia investigation.as papadopoulos wn aide to the van der zwaan was er withalex links to former trump campaign chairman paul manafort. both papadopoulos and van der zwaan pleaded guilty to lying to investigators. both received pardons last night. three republican former congressmen were also on last night's pardon list: steve stockman of texawas serving his sentence for money laundering and fraud;of chris collins new york was serving his sentence related an insider trading case; and duncan hunter of california was close to starting his jail sentence for misusing campaign funds. colls and hunter were also among mr. trump's earliest supporters in congress. all three received pardons. cording to dang kolbecome organize, a professor at capital university in ohio who s

for the pbs newshour, i'm william brangham in washington, d.c. >> woodruff: with every week, we get apicture of president-elect biden's team. myrst on national security, then on the econd this week, on health care. amna nawaz is here to break down his picks. >> nawaz: judy, thambiden health ill enter the white house as the virus surges nationwide and the vaccine is still months away. as we reported earlier, it includes doctors anthony facui and rochelle walensky, withea xavier becerrang h.h.s. also on the team, dr. vivek murthy as surgeon general, jeff zients as covid czar, dr. marcella nunez-sth to lead a task force on health disparities. here to analyze the politics behind the nominations is amy walter of the "cook political report" and host of public radio's "politics with amy and errin hainesf the 19th news. tamara keith is away. amy and errin, good to see you and thanks for being here. cry, know easily one of the biggeses the biden administration will face is the pandemic and the team will lead the response. what di the pics say toatou this particular time? >> what they say is yo

william brangham talks with two voices on the frontlines. >> brangham: jud millions of doses of two covidcines are expected to be distributed beginning next week. but while polls show more americans are willing to take a vaccine, there are still large numbers who y they won't. hampering that effort is the burnout and harassment of public health workers. a recent investigation by kaiser health news and the associated press found 49 state and local officials resigned, quit or were fired since the spring, citing those types of pressures. dr. gianfranco pezzino just quit as the public health officer of shawnee county, kansas, citing political interference. doctor at the virginia garciay memorial health center in northwest oregon. doctors great to have you both on the newshour. dr. pezzino, to you first. you resigned your position recently after countyfficials apparently started tampering with your public health guidant. can you jxplain why that, as you say, was what you called the lastraw? >> sure. it was the last straw because it was not the first time at it happened. the state law in kansas

tonight, william brangham begig our "rethinkllege" series, focusing on how the pandemic is already changing theandscape of admissions. >> brangham: amna,nuhead of the y 1st deadline for erplications, colleges and unties report mixed results. with many of the college admissions testing-sites close down during the pandemic, as many as 50% of early applications arrived without any test scores this year. that's resulted in some top- ranked schools seeing a surge in applications. but, elsewhe application numbers are flat, or even down compared to last year. jeffrey selingo has himself been a student of the college admissions process for many years. he is author of the new book, "who gs in and whya year inside college admissions," and he's a former editor of the "chronicle of higher education." >> jeffrey selingo, great to have you back on the "news hour." help us understand this. if there are not as many a.c.t. and s.a.t. tests going to colleges, why does it mean top-tiered schools are seeing an incrse in applications. top-tiered schools, it is an option. so what you probably saw was a number of

earlier this evening, william brangham spoke with fiona hill. she served as senior director for european and russian affairs on the national security council from 2017 to 2019. she is now a senior fellow at the brookings institution. >> brangham: neona hill very good to have you on the newshour, thank you for being here. start offer by-- start off by helping us understand is there any doubt in your mind that the russians are behind this sth. >> not reallyk know, i'm sure more information will come out over the next few days and weeks that will confirm that. >> brangham: why is that, why are you so certain? >> it has all the hallmarks of trade craft t is a very sophisticated operation. clearly it has been obviously many months if not longer in the planning, just the nature of the execution. the way it is also being revealed, first of all by-- and other entities that have been following the russians for some time, it has all the hallmarks of a sophisticated operation, probably carried out by the f-- but the russian-- services. >> this is obviously

this encore report by william brangham is part of our arts and culture series, "canvas." >> the livingld is a unique and spectacular marvel. >> brangham: no one has given us a more intimate or stunning look at our planet than sir david attenborough. >> dazzling in their variety and richness. >> brangham: but now, after a near-70 year career, he says we're running the planet headlong into disaster. >> yet, the way we humans live on earth is sending it into a decline. human beings have overrun the world. >> brangham: in his new netflix documentary and companion book, both titled "a life on our planet," the famed filmmaker wants us to recognize what's happening, and to act before it's too late. i spoke with him recently from his home in london. sir david attenborough, it's a great honor to have you on the newshour. thank you very much for being here. anyone who knows your work knows that you've increasingly talked about man's impact on the natural world. but this film really hits this point very directly. was it your sense that things had just gotten so bad that that needed to be the focu

for the pbs newshour, i'm william brangham. >> to increase stimulus paymts from $600 to $2,000. 44 republicans joined the >> nawaz: for more on prident trump's decision to sign the bill and what comes next, anna palmer joins us now. she's senior washington correspondent fopolitico. let's start with president trump's decision to sign that relief bill. what do we know about what took him so long, and why he finally changed his >> this is really a crisis of the president's own making. the bill was on its way to being signed. it had been negotiated by the white house and both houses of congress. th the last minute he decided tow this wrench in it, and for days everybody was in limbo. were expecting and needing those checks, but also the fact that it was tied to government funding, which utuld have really sh down the government, and there was not a real end game there. we know that several members of congress, senate republicans like lindsegraham, went to him and spoke to him, made the case that he eded tois support covid relief bill, that georgia, which is obviously h play w the two runoffs would

question state election results, despite there being zero evidence of irregularities.r fraud or william brangham reports on other milestone day in t 2020 election. >> brangham: judy, nexmonday, members of the electoral college ll meet in state capital across the country to officially cast their votesor president. but most of those electors, and how they'll vote, are already known, because todays what's called the "safe harbor" deadline for those appointments. to look at where we are in the transition, and at the president's ongoing sistance to it, i'm joined by trevor potter. he is the president of the campaign legal center. he served as general counsel for john mccain's presidential campaign and as chair of the federal election commission. trevor potter, great to have you back on the "newshour". issues that i was describingdar before, we still are seeing continued legal efforts by the trump campaign to stop different states from certifying their votes. we saw one, the supreme court knocked one down just today fro pennsylvania. there's a new one filed also by the attorney general in texas. what

william brangham talks with one of the federal government's leading authorities on making this happen brangham: judy, the pfizer vaccine, which requires special cold storage, is likely to be available in the u.s. later this month to healthcare workers and elderly americans living in long-term care facilities. the u.s. government so anticipates offering vaccinions from moderna later this month. all told, the government says 20 million people could be vaccinated in the u.s. by the end of this year, and possibly 100 million by the end of february 2021. dr. moncef slaoui is the chief scientific officer for the government's vaccine and erapies program, known a operation warp speed. he joins me now. . slaoui, very good to have you on the "newshour". 100 million americans by the end of february, that seems a o remarkabtimistic and ambitious goal. >> well, it is an ambitious's goal, and goal that we have been working very hard since the month of may to be able to achieve, frankly. we are, as you know, on the verge of having two vaccines approved, i hope, by the f.d.a., on decembe or so and ca

william brangham has the latest on the worldwide push to vaccinate against covid-19. >> brangham: in first two weeks of america's vaccination canaign, just over two mill people have received the first of their two required shots. that's far short of the 20 million people the trump administration said would be vaccinated by thend of this year.au what'sng this backlog? and what's happening globally with the distribution of covid- 19 vaccines? for this, we're joined again by infectious disease specialist dr. carlos del rio. he's a professor of global health and epidemiology at emory university school of medicine. >> brangham: dr. del rio, very, very good to see you again. i can't help but be struck by this t,ntrhat these vaccines were developed at near recordsp d. and it is truly an incredible achievement. and yet we are w stumbling so badly, it seems, to get that last mile, to get those vaccinations into people.n what is your of why this has taken so long and proven so difficult? there are several things. number one, you have sort of a glafss half l event. we have a very broken health

william brangh talks with the head of one of the nation's top tech firms about this crisis. >> branghamat's right, judy. the u.s. government's cyber- security team continues to try and determine exactly who's responsible for this hack. varied repts have all pointed to the russian government, microsot, which built the systems for the majority of computers in the u.s., said they too found malicious software in its system. in an open letter on their website, brad smith, the company's president, called this attack a "reckoning," and wrote, "it represents an act of recklessness that created a serious technological vulnerability for the united states and the world." and he joins me now. brad smith joins me now. welcome to the "newshour," mr. smith, great to have you here. you said that this attack should trigger a reckoning, by whom and about what? >> i think it's a reckonin reckr all of us. certainly a reckoning not just those in a tech sector that have a critical role to play but for federal government as well. what we're seeing is an attack that disrupted the entire technology supply chain