Believe . Plus, drawing down troops from International Hotspots and asking about options for attacking iran, two major headlines this morning. The question is whether President Trump is hurting u. S. National security on his way out of office. Its definitely way too early for this. Good morning, and welcome to way too early, the show that is with all of you 64 days from the president ial inauguration. Im kasie hunt on this tuesday, november 17th. Well start with the news. President elect joe biden is turning up the pressure on President Trump and his administration for failing to move ahead with a peaceful and orderly transition of power. Speaking at a News Conference in wilmington, delaware, yesterday, biden warned that more americans will die from coronavirus if his Team Continues to face delays in working with government agencies. What do you see as the biggest threat to your transition right now, given President Trumps unprecedented attempt to obstruct and delay a smooth transfer of power . More people may die if we dont coordinate. If we have to wait until january 20th to start that planning, it puts us behind, over a month, month and a half. And so, its important that it be done, that there be coordination, now. I am hopeful that the president will be mildly more enlightened before we get to january 20th. Were moving along knowing what the outcome will be, and as i said earlier, i probably shouldnt repeat it, but i find this more embarrassing for the country than debilitating for my ability to get started. A pretty dire warning, that if they cant start figuring out how to operate the machinery of government that more people will die from coronavirus than have to. Theres also, of course, concerns about vaccine distribution. Incoming Biden White House chief of staff ron klain tells the associated press, quote, we now have the possibility of a vaccine starting, perhaps, in december or january. There are people at hhs making plans to implement that vaccine. Our experts need to talk to those people as soon as possible so Nothing Drops in this change of power. The Trump Administration pushed back in a statement, saying in part, the cdcs distribution playbook is publicly available and state plans were produced by governors weeks ago and published online. Meanwhile, the president s vaccine czar says he hopes the Trump Administrations work isnt disrupted by the biden transition. Why has there not been engagement with biden and his advisers . And whats that going to look like when everyday counts here, more than 1,000 americans are dying every day . Listen, since day one, our objective has been to go fast, and absolutely, every day and everywhere, our counted, and thats why we are where we are. Our focus is to save american lives and peoples life in general, and thats what we will continue focusing on. Were not going to be distracted by circumstances of context. Were going to continue running as fast as we can, as well as we can, always looking after safety and efficacy of the vaccines. And clearly, we would hope that there is no disruption because of the transition. I guess well find out. Also during his speech yesterday, biden reaffirmed his support for a coronavirus stimulus deal that was passed by House Democrats earlier this year, but he acknowledged that getting anything big done is going to require cooperation from republicans. Heres what he had to say about reaching across the aisle. What is your message to republicans who are backing up the president s refusal to concede . You clearly need to work with them going forward. My message is, i will work with you. I understand a lot of your reluctance because of the way the president operates, but ive been in contact with and will be in contact with more of them as we move along. And if it has to wait until january 20th to get, actually become operational, thats a shame, but maybe thats the only way to get it done. Hes been in contact with a lot of them. They certainly arent talking about it at this phase, which we can also talk about later on. Meanwhile, were learning new details about who may be joining the incoming Biden Administration. Two sources confirm to nbc news that congressman Cedric Richmond will join the administration in a senior position. One source described it as a valerie jarretttype role, referring to one of president obamas top aides and confidantes. Biden is also expected to name jen omallctionz mal yemalley deputy chief of staff. Hes been bidens Campaign Manager and gotten a lot of praise and credit for that. And according to the New York Times, biden also plans to announce that steve ricchetti, who is one of his longtime confidantes, will serve in the white house as a counselor to the president. Joining us now, Senior Writer at politico and coauthor of the playbook, jake sherman, an msnbc political contributor. Jake, good morning its always great to see you. Why dont we start with what we heard from biden yesterday about the consequences of them not moving forward on this transition, namely, that more americans will die from coronavirus . Whats your reporting say about where republicans are on this . Because weve seen them inching toward an acknowledgement of reality, but the fact is that every day that goes by, this transition gets harder and harder, and we do have, you know, the biggest crisis in a generation to deal with here. So, kasie, i think a few things. I think that republicans are inching closer to that reality, that joe biden has won this election, and i think theyre going to get even closer to that after thanksgiving, because its just undeniable. The president is pulling out of the legal contests he needs to be involved in if he wants to you know, hes not going to overturn this election, but hes not even pretending to try anymore. So, yes, they are inching closer. But unfortunately, as we know probably better than anyone, kas kasie, the president doesnt really listen to anybody. So, whether republicans on capitol hill are saying it or not is not material because this administrations noll really interested in what anyone has to say. So, i imagine this reality will become more public, lets say, in the next couple of weeks, but its up to the administration to let the biden team in and let them talk to people and let them get set up. So, lets talk about covid relief talks for a second and how they may move forward here in the next couple of weeks. I mean, first of all, the president is incredibly unpredictable. I know ive heard a little bit of concern from people on both sides of the aisle about what he may do when we get to funding the government. That, of course, runs out on december 11th. And ive also been hearing that any covid reliefrelated items may be in that funding fight instead of being a standalone package. What are you hearing in terms of how this may play out . And i mean, big picture, i think were all hoping to avoid another shutdown standoff over this, but what does your reporting say about where we stand and how this might play out . Well, there are no talks right now over covid relief, zero, none, which is disheartening for the many people who need covid relief to survive, because covid relief is running out. So, thats number one. Number two, the best option strategically for congress to get a covid relief bill is if they do it through a government funding measure that comes up december 11th. Thats right, kasie. Thats a mustpass bill going into a Christmas Season. So, thats the best way to thats the best legislative item to twin this with. I dont see any evidence at this point that congress is going to do that. But in playbook this morning, kasie, we lay out a whole list of items that expire at the end of the year, items that have been key to allowing the country to kind of survive in the covid era, and those will go unupdated, unrefreshed, unextended, if congress doesnt do anything. At this point, im pretty bearish about a covid relief bill before the end of the year. I just dont think its going to happen. I dont see any evidence of any negotiations that are rowing toward that end. So, i think people should have their expectations in check. Its going to be a rough Christmas Season for so many, rough holiday season, i should say. Politicos jake sherman, thank you very much, my friend. Always good to see you. Well be reading playbook in just a couple of minutes. And still ahead here, georgias secretary of state says republican leaders, like Lindsey Graham, have pressured him to throw out legally cast ballots. What senator graham is saying about that. Plus, well take a look at where wall street stands this morning after positive news about a potential Coronavirus Vaccine pushed stocks to record highs yesterday. Those stories and a check of the weather when we come right back. Here . Nah. Introducing the all new chevy trailblazer. Here . Nope. Here. When the middle of nowhere, is somewhere. The all new chevy trailblazer. Making lifes journey, just better. The all new chevy trailblazer. Honey honey . New nyquil severe honey is maximum strength cold and flu medicine with soothing honeylicious taste. Nyquil honey. The nighttime, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy head, fever best sleep with a cold medicine. Sprinting past every leak in our softest, smoothest fabric. Shes confident, protected, her strength respected. Depend. The only thing stronger than us, is you. So this aveeno® moisturizer goes beyond just soothing sensitive skin . Exactly jen calm restore oat gel is formulated with prebiotic oat. And strengthens skins moisture barrier. Uh i love it aveeno® healthy. Its our nature. ™ unstopables inwash scent booster aveeno® downy unstopables welcome back time now for sports and the bears hosting the vikings on monday night football. To chicago, where the bears offensive woes continue. Held to under 150 yards and no offensive touchdowns, chicagos only trip to the end zone came on a 104yard kickoff return to start off the second half. It gave the bears a brief lead before the vikings tie the game with a pair of field goals in the Third Quarter and then go ahead in the fourth with the second touchdown reception of the night. Vikings hang on to beat the bears, 1913. And it gets worse for chicago, now headed for a muchneeded bye week after quarterback nick foles was carted off the field in the final minute. Foles was thrown to the ground on the first play of the bears final possession last night, staying down on the turf for more than a minute before being transported to the locker room with a suspected leg or hip injury. Thinking about him. And speaking of injuries, the new Orleans Saints are going to need to turn to one of their backup quarterbacks for sundays matchup against the falcons after medical evaluations yesterday reportedly revealed that starter drew brees has multiple rib fractures and a collapsed lung. According to espn, the three fractured ribs on his left side are believed to have occurred in the saints week nine win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers but did not show up on the xray at the time. While the two broken ribs on his right side occurred in first half of new orleans victory over San Francisco this past sunday. Doctors believe the rightside fractures may have punctured brees lung, explaining his difficulty breathing and early exit from the game. It is unclear how much time brees is going to miss. Yikes. The nfl more broadly will make history next week with an allblack officiating crew working monday nights matchup between the Los Angeles Rams and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The sevenman unit will be headed by referee jerome boger, a former Morehouse College quarterback who refereed super bowl xlvii and is in his 17th year as a league official. The nfls executive Vice President of Football Operations told usa today in a statement, quote, this historic week 11 crew is a testament to the countless and immeasurable contributions of black officials to the game, their exemplary performance, and to the power of inclusion that is the hallmark of this great game. Time now for weather. Lets go to meteorologist bill karins for a check on the forecast. Bill, good morning. Hey, good morning to you, kasie. So, last night, we saw what was 155mileperhour winds, strongest you can get for a category 4. Hurricane iota made landfall on almost the exact same spot as hurricane eta did as a category 4 two weeks ago. Theyre not even going to be able to tell which storm did which damage when you look at towns hardest hit. Its now moving inland. Its going to weaken quickly. There are really tall mountains in honduras and nicaragua, so the storm will fall apart quickly, but the part were most afraid of was now, not really the landfall because it was iars spa e sparsely populated area, but now over the high terrain, dumping 2 to 3 feet of rain over the next 24 hours. Thats where well have the issues with the flash flooding, once it gets into the valleys and population centers. Taking it into the lower 48, its going to be a chilly, windy day in the great lakes. Were going to see some snow showers and some lakeeffect snows in areas of western p. A. , in through new york, and in some occasions, it will be the first lakeeffect snow of the season. Then by this evening, we should watch that ending in most areas, the exception being there around erie, possibly buffalo and rochester. And its going to be chilly after the storm system goes through. Todays highs only in the 30s in detroit, 40s through the ohio valley. New york only 46 degrees. And wednesday will be a very cold day, too. The coldest of the season in many cases, especially in new england. But heres the good news as we head towards the weekend things warm up nicely. Chicago 64 thursday, baltimore is in the 60s by the time we get to friday and saturday, so kasie, its a brief cold shot for areas of the east, and then were going to warm it up through the next weekend. And heres the best news, kasie. Towards thanksgiving, it looks warm almost coast to coast. Many people may be able to eat safely outdoors. That is very good news for all of us, because for anyone who well, we know there will be people gathering. Everybody is so isolated and missing their families, but if we can do it more safely, i think that, obviously, will protect so many people. Bill karins, thank you so much. Really appreciate it. Still ahead here, a small but growing number of republicans are beginning to acknowledge joe bidens election win, even as President Trump still refuses to concede. Well show you the latest republican to call biden president elect. Were back in just a moment. Iden president elect. Were back in just a moment. Ever wonder what retinol dermatologists use to fight wrinkles . Its neutrogena®. Rapid wrinkle repair® visibly smooths fine lines in 1 week. Deep wrinkles in 4. So you can kiss wrinkles goodbye neutrogena®. Diabetes and raised triglycerides,. Vascepa can give you something to celebrate. Vascepa, when added to your statin,. Is clinically proven to provide 25 lower risk from heart attack and stroke. Vascepa is clearly different. First and only fda approved. Celebrate less risk. Even for those with family history. Dont take vascepa if you are. Or become allergic to icosapent ethyl or any inactive ingredient in vascepa. Serious side effects may occur like heart rhythm problems and bleeding. Heart rhythm problems may occur in more people. With persistent cardiovascular risk or who have had them in the past. 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Experience amazing at your lexus dealer. Welcome back to way too early. Lets take a look at whats driving the day today in washington. It is now becoming news when republicans refer to joe biden as the president elect. Heres the reaction when Floridas Marco Rubio answers a question about a possible Biden Administration pick. Senator king is rumored to be up for dni under a Biden Administration . Well, that will be the president elects decision, obviously. I think, you know, ive worked well with him during our time on the intelligence committee, and i havent had a chance to talk to him about it. I think its a little premature for that, but yeah, i get along with him well and weve worked well together. You just said president elect. Are you saying biden is the president elect now . Well, ultimately, thats what the results, the preliminary results seem to indicate. You certainly have to anticipate thats the highest likelihood at this point. Other republicans are also slowly backing away from trump. Senator Susan Collins said vaccine plans need to be shared with the, quote unquote, new administration, while senator john cornyn said he has every confidence that a president will be inaugurated on january 20th. Man, thats a relief. But most likely, it will be joe biden. Okay, well, were getting there, i guess. Meanwhile, former First Lady Michelle Obama is speaking out against President Trumps refusal to concede the election, saying, quote, this isnt a game. In a lengthy instagram post, obama urges the president to follow the tradition of a peaceful transition of power, writing in part this our democracy is so much bigger than anybodys ego. Our love of country requires us to respect the results of an election, even when we dont like them or wish they had gone differently. The presidency doesnt belong to any one individual or any one party. To pretend that it does, to play along with these groundless conspiracy theories, whether for personal or political gain is to put our countrys health and security in danger. This isnt a game. So i want to urge all americans, especially our nations leaders, regardless of party, to honor the electoral process and do your part to encourage a smooth transition of power, just as sitting president s have done throughout our history. Lets go now to georgia, where georgias secretary of state, brad raffensperger, says hes come under increasing pressure in recent days from republicans intent on questioning the validity of legally cast absentee ballots in an effort to reverse President Trumps loss in the state. In an interview with the washington post, raffensperger said senator Lindsey Graham asked him on friday if he had the power to toss out ballots in counties found to have higher rates of nonmatching signatures. Graham also questioned if poll workers had accepted ballots with nonmatching signatures due to political bias. Raffensperger said he was stunned that graham appeared to suggest that he find a way to toss legally cast ballots. The georgia secretary of state doesnt have the power to do what graham suggested because counties administer elections in georgia. Quote, it sure looked like he was wanting to go down that road, raffensperger said. However, graham denied the interaction to nbc news. Cording to the washington post, that he was surprised when you asked him if he has any power to throw out all mailin ballots. No, i never said that. I said, do you have power as secretary of state to require bipartisan verification of the signature, because right now they dont. What i want to see happen all over the country, if were going to use mailin voting to affect federal elections, is that when it comes to verifying signature, that you have a process thats bipartisan, where both sides can look at the signature. Theres a dispute about whether or not you think its valid, you put it in some kind of appeal system. Just a reminder, the georgia secretary of state is a republican, and he has also been taking to social media to debunk claims of voter fraud and problems. Its going to be quite an adventure to watch him as the runoffs proceed through the next couple of months. Still ahead here, what President Trumps National Security adviser, robert obrien, is saying about a professional transition to a Biden Administration. Nbcs mike memoli joins us live from wilmington, delaware. But before we go to break, we want to know, why are you awake . Email us your reasons to waytooearly msnbc. Com or send me a tweet, kasie. Use waytooearly, and we will read the best answers coming up later on in the show. Ng up later on in the show when paneras chef claes makes a pizza, he doesnt just make a pizza. He uses fresh, clean ingredients to make a masterpiece. Taste our delicious new flatbread pizzas today. Panera. Our own hopes and dreams. Well pass many milestones. Moments that define you. And drive you. To achieve even more. So, celebrate every one. Because success isnt just about where you want to get to. Its also about how you get there the all new 2021 cadillac escalade. Never stop arriving. Its also about how you get there vicks vapopatch. Easy to wear with soothing vicks vapors for her, for you, for the whole family. Trusted soothing vapors, from vicks i feel like were forglet me check. Ing. Xfinity home gives you peace of mind from anywhere with professionally monitored Home Security built around you. No, i think were good. Good. So when youre away, you dont have to worry. The tent. We forgot. The tent. Except about that. Xfinity home. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Hey look, i found the tent get xfinity home with no Term Contract required. Click or call today. Welcome back to way too early its 5 30 on the east coast, 2 30 out west. Im kasie hunt. In an effort to prepare for a transition without cooperation from the Trump Administration, joe bidens team is tapping recently departed Justice Department officials. A source familiar with the planning tells nbc news that bidens team is trying to avoid problems by relying on its own knowledge at the department to get organized and set priorities. Some members of bidens team are working with recently departed Justice Department lawyers as well as former Law Enforcement personnel to open a window into the current administration. Joining us now to talk about this and much more, nbc news correspondent mike memoli. Mike, good morning to you. Thank you so much for being here. Reporter good morning. Id like to talk a little bit about you know, weve been having this ongoing transition conversation, but im hoping you can put it in a little bit more context in terms of how the Biden Campaign is dealing with this day to day. I know weve got some new reporting from carol lee this morning about how they want to handle President Trump once he is no longer the president after he takes office, because we know bidens going to be grappling with that. The Justice Department is obviously an incredibly sensitive piece of this whole puzzle. What do we know about how theyre thinking through all of those questions . Reporter well, kasie, its so interesting. Were sort of seeing a slow boil on the part of the biden team in terms of how theyre publicly messaging this. Its been so interesting to hear bidens remarks himself as he talked about this again yesterday, using the word embarrassing to describe what is happening with the Trump Administration, their failure to cooperate. He said its more embarrassing for the president than it is debilitating for our ability to get moving. He is almost, it sounds like, speaking to an audience of one. Weve talked about that so much during the trump era, where, especially on the republican side, senators seem to be messaging simply to the president and no one else when theyre on television. And i got the sense that thats what biden was doing, too. But i think that example, the article you started with about the Justice Department, also shows the outsidein approach that the biden team is employing right now. The team that is talked about in that article is called the Agency Review team. Biden knows the Justice Department, perhaps, as well as anyone. He was not just a part of the Obama Administration for eight years, but the chairman of the Judiciary Committee who had oversight of the Justice Department. So, hes able to tap on veterans of that agency who know its inner workings and who also know those inside the agency still at this point. And so, if theyre able to have backchannel conversations, if theyre able to make plans simply with their own knowledge of the agency, it puts him if a much better position than it would put almost any other democrat if they had been elected at this point without the same breadth of experience. But theres no doubt, kasie, i think youre also going to see the pressure continue to grow from the outside of the biden transition, perhaps on capitol hill, as democrats looked for what was jim lankford talking about . Maybe there are other measures that they can take, since he has not followed up on his own word here. No, that makes a lot of sense. And in fact, on that question, mike, we know that biden has been communicating with chuck schumer, the Senate Minority leader, and with the house speaker, nancy pelosi. And pelosi does have powers because they control the house. I mean, they could bring the head of the gsa in to a committee to try and get her to explain why they havent, you know, moved forward with this transition. What do we know about why thats not happening . I mean, ive been doing some reporting on this, and from what i can tell, it seems like theyre following the cues from the Biden Campaign in refraining from escalating in that way. Reporter yeah, i think thats why i talk about a slow boil, kasie, because theres also this view among biden advisers that the more that they explicitly and publicly ratchet up the pressure, the more it leads to President Trump digging in on this issue, where otherwise, theyre hoping, or giving some indication that this is on somewhat of a glide path. Another example of this is what we see on bidens schedule today. Hell be holding a roundtable virtually, discussion of National Security threats facing the country with some Foreign Policy experts, not current government officials, but those who certainly have insight into the various conflicts that the u. S. Could face, some of the pressure points around the world. Its an example of biden saying, hey, you can give me the access or you cannot, but im going to remind you that i am surrounded by an experienced team that can at least get me prepped to the extent that were able to without that information. And thats why the comments from National Security adviser obrien were interesting as well. Sources close to the transition have told me that in the preelection period, obriens team had actually been very helpful in doing what was required under the law. But again, preelection. And at this point, now moving into a postelection period, that all changes now. Susan rice, when she was a National Security adviser under president obama, she had prepared hundreds of memos for the Incoming Trump team. It wasnt clear, as she would put it, that they ever read them, but they went and took this responsibility very seriously to prepare them on an incoming basis, and it will be interesting to learn more about whether obrien has done the same at this point, even if he has not made them accessible to the team yet. Yeah, well, and this National Security in its most concretely defined sense my reporting indicates that this is going to be the issue, if republicans decide, okay, weve had enough of this, its on this. I mean, were already seeing some of them break over the president s possible moves in afghanistan here in the last couple of months. There are now reports this morning that we touched on about plans for attacking iran, that the president was asked about that. And i dont see republicans on the hill being willing i mean, this is the one area where they have broken with President Trump repeatedly over the last four years. Nbcs mike memoli, love having your great reporting, as always. Thank you so much for being up early with us. Reporter thanks, kasie. We really appreciate it. And as we were talking about with mike, President Trump is expected to withdraw thousands of u. S. Troops from afghanistan, iraq, and somalia, before he leaves office in january next year. The New York Times is reporting that a draft order circulating at the pentagon proposes that troop levels in afghanistan be cut in half to about 2,500. While in iraq, u. S. Commanders would cut the number of troops to just under 3,000. And in somalia, almost all 700 u. S. Troops would leave. Nbc news is reporting that military officials briefed President Trump last week on three options. One was complete withdrawal. The second option, cut troop levels in half. And the last option kept all remaining troops. The president reportedly picked the second option, despite previously calling for all troops in afghanistan to be home by christmas. Again, this plan drawing significant opposition already from republicans on the hill. President trump also, meanwhile, asked senior advisers whether he had options to take action against irans main nuclear site in the coming weeks. During a meeting thursday in the oval office, the New York Times reports. The meeting occurred a day after International Inspectors reported a significant increase in the countrys stockpile of nuclear material, four current and former u. S. Officials said on monday. However, the advisers, including Vice President pompeo, acting defense secretary Christopher Miller and joint chiefs of staff chairman general mark milley dissuaded the president from moving ahead with a military strike, warning that it could easily escalate into a broader conflict. According to the times, officials left the meeting believing a missile attack inside iran was off the table, according to Administration Officials with knowledge of the meeting. However, trump might still be looking at ways to strike iranian assets and allies, including militias in iraq, officials said. The white house declined to comment on the report, and nbc news has yet to verify the times reporting. Still ahead here, astronauts aboard the spacex crew dragon capsule reached their new home where theyll stay until spring. Those details coming up next in the cooler. Way too early back in just a moment. harold twelve hundred strings of lights. betsy quarter mile of tinsel. harold and real snow all the way from switzerland. betsy hmmhm. Gonna be tough to top. betsy well played. vo add some thrill to your wish list. At the season of audi sales event. Get exceptional offers now. Ahh that was my reaction to this first story that we have in the cooler today. And it made me feel a whole lot older this morning. Home alone turned 30 yesterday. The classic holiday film, which, of course, follows an 8yearold boy defending his home from burglars, has unveiled some surprising secrets, aside from the fact, of course, that Macaulay Culkin is now 40 years old. Yes, thank you, macaulay. Yes, that makes me feel old that youre 40. Really appreciate that. But this is really cool. You remember the great john candy, who made a cameo as gus polinsky, you know . Polka king of the midwest . The kenosha kickers . Hi, there. Hiya. No . Thats okay. I thought you might have recognized. [ laughter ] the comedian who famously started plains, trains, and automobiles, was reportedly only paid 414 for that cameo, which, apparently, was mostly improvised. Home alone grossed over 470 million at the box office. And i dont know whos still getting the royalties, but man, we watch it every year like clockwork. I love it. I mean, honestly, ill watch any christmas movie, really, but thats really a great one. Now to this. Former president s, theyre just like us, and they love music just as much as the next guy. Barack obama has released his playlist of memorable songs from his time as president in celebration of releasing his new memoir, a promised land. Obama has a wide range of tunes on there, so, there is something for everyone. A little queen b, fleetwood mac, stevie wonder, eminem, even the beatles. Beatles are my jam. Now to outer space. After a 27hour journey, the resilience crew has successfully boarded the International Space station. The crew dragon capsule autonomously docked on the Floating Laboratory late last night around 11 00 p. M. Eastern time. Roughly 262 miles above idaho. Thats cool. All four astronauts made it safely with japanese astronaut such iie noguchi boarding last t carrying the allimportant fifth crew member, baby yoda. There he is, ah the crew will stay on the iss for six months, coming back to earth when the next spacex taxi arrives with the replacement crew in april. Stay safe, guys. Have a great time. Still ahead here, weve got an early look at whats driving the day on wall street with some record numbers amid welcome news about a Coronavirus Vaccine. And as we go to break, a look at this date in history. In 1973, almost nine months before resigning in the face of almost certain impeachment and removal from office, president Richard Nixon told reporters, i am not a crook. In all of my years of public life, i have never profited, never profited from public service. I have earned every cent. And in all of my years in public life, i have never obstructed justice, and i think, too, that i could say that in my years of public life, that i welcome this kind of examination, because people have got to know whether or not their president s a crook. Well, im not a crook. Residenta crook. Well, m inot a crook. Alice loves the scent of gain so much, she wished there was a way to make it last longer. Say hello to your fairy godmother alice. And longlasting gain scent beads. Part of the irresistible scent collection from gain and now your copilot. Still a father. But now a friend. Still an electric car. Just more electrifying. Still a night out. But everything fits in. Still hard work. Just a little easier. Still a legend. Just more legendary. Chevrolet. Making lifes journey, just better. Sprinting past every leak in our softest, smoothest fabric. Shes confident, protected, her strength respected. Depend. The only thing stronger than us, is you. Welcome back. The s p 500 and the dow jones closed at alltime highs yesterday after news of modernas promising Coronavirus Vaccine. Moderna released trial data showing that its covid19 vaccine was 94. 5 effective, further raising expectations for a sharp economic recovery. It marks the second positive announcement about a Coronavirus Vaccine in a week after pfizer and beyondtech said on november 9th that their vaccine was more than 90 effective among participants. Joining us now, cnbc correspondent kayla tausche. Kayla, good morning. Thanks so much for being with us this morning. Its great to have you. Good morning. Lets talk a little bit about this, the reaction to the moderna trial and the vaccine news. I cant help but think first of all, its amazing. We all need this wonderful, wonderful news. I do wonder if its going to impact whats going on, on the hill, and the possibility that a second relief package ultimately doesnt happen because republicans will be that much more confident that this is going to be enough to help people, when, in fact, were still facing months of these businesses closing. And i think theres a lot of americans out there who see what the stock markets doing, and theyre really not feeling it in their own lives. I mean, whats your reporting on wall street versus main street in this regard . Well, kasie, there was a sense back in september and early october, and even back as far as august that the failure of the stock market to sort of reflect the main street reality led to a lack of urgency on capitol hill to pass even a shortterm measure back then, and certainly, thats back then and certainly thats only the divergence is only wider now. Strategists widely believe that the recession will have started with the virus and to be book ended by a virus, so wall street is basically fast forwarding to march april when they expect the vaccine will be widely available. The problem is its ignoring everything thats going to be happening between now and then. For instance, investors are buying stocks of wall street banks, the big Financial Companies because they expect people arent going to be defaulting on the mortgages and defaulting on the payments becoming delinquent because theres a vaccine around the bend. The problem is the data is showing that spending is deteriorating, people are losing jobs and theres this Eviction Moratorium thats ending in just a few weeks time. So things are going to get worse before better. So theres a question if whether theres an urgency with the funding package that lawmakers will have to pass by december 11th to attach some small pieces of relief to that and then the question becomes, well, if you put a few core priorities on to that bill, then does that keep lawmakers from being able to pass something larger in january february when they have another opportunity to do so . Likely, yes. Yeah, its one of those frustrating realities on capitol hill that sometimes leads to no action because people are afraid to do something small for fear it will ultimately mean that nothing large will happen. Its a good point. Kayla, can we talk about joe biden, the president elect, how the markets i mean, i assume that they have kind of priced him into their calculations and does the stability that a president elect biden ultimately help the markets or what is the consideration there . Because obviously some of his policies arent necessarily at least some of his proposed policies arent natural fits for what wall street is looking for. No. President obama notoriously said you dont raise taxes in a recession so there is an expectation that even once president elect Biden Takes Office that taxes wouldnt go up right away which is something that the market watches closely. Theyre focused on the fact that thats a real prospect of a divided government here, so even if you do have biden with a task force and an administration that is pursuing a more aggressive agenda that some of the checks and balances on capitol hill especially if the senate maintains its republican majority then some of those priorities wont go anywhere. So you have this status quo, at the same time, that you have a president elect who is more acutely focused on coronavirus. The markets viewing that as a really good thing. Kayla tausche, thank you so much. Earlier on in the show here, we asked why are you awake . We got this photo of kelly with the whole gang on in bed of way too early and theyre up early prepping for thanksgiving in bryn mawr, pennsylvania. Thanks for watching. We have another follower who tweeted in photo, my little buddy, brock and i are excited to watch way too early. Im for any pet in christmas pajamas. Im up writing postcards to encourage georgia voters to request their absentee ballots for the senate races thats awesome. An email who say baby emerson came five weeks early back in september and hes be keeping us up early ever since. Hi, emerson. Congratulations. And coming up next here well look at the axios 1 big thing. Coming up on morning joe. Ned lament who is selfquarantining after a staff member came down with covid19 will not impose a lockdown. Hell join the conversation. Morning joe just moments away. Morning joe just moments away. G driveway moments. Heres to one more, the lexus december to remember sales event. Get 0 financing on all new 2020 and 2021 lexus models. Experience amazing at your lexus dealer. Get 0is now a good time new 2020 andenough, crohns. Ls. For adults with moderate to severe crohns or ulcerative colitis, stelara® can provide relief, and is the only approved medication to reduce inflammation on and below the surface of the intestine in uc. 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Get e trade and start trading today. Lexus has been celebrating driveway moments. Heres to one more, the lexus december to remember sales event. Lease the 2021 rx 350 for 419 a month for 36 months and well make your first months payment. Experience amazing at your lexus dealer. And well make your first months payment. The men have been taken wheres guy . I think im his new pet. [ whimpering ] we have to save them. Thunder sisters. Thunder sisters thunder sisters [ gibberish ] [ gasps ] [ suspenseful music playing ] [ screaming ] join me with a look at axios a. M. , political reporter, alexi mccammond. Great to see you. What do you have for the 1 big thing this morning . Hey, kasie, good morning. According to the latest axios ipsos index, the latest virus surge is prompting more americans but more republicans in particular to take this seriously and be more cautious. Were now seeing that more americans view things like gathering indoors with family and friends as a highrisk situation and an increase in 11 million americans who say eating inside a restaurant is really risky. The winter is going to change the way we can socialize but it also matters because we found that the republicans take this way less seriously than democrats. But now the numbers are showing that republicans and independents alike are starting to come around to the realities of this and change their behavior because of the Risk Perception with the virus. You have got some reporting too about how people are dealing with the influx of coronavirus information through the media that after months and months of this, people are just kind of tired of it. What did you learn . Yeah, thats exactly right. So we have some data that tracks online behavior and traction with different articles and it is finding that even though the virus we just talked about is surging in ways we have not seen, online attention to the virus sat the lowest point its ever been. We are six to eight months into this thing depend on how its affected your life and people in the beginning were very concern concerned and intrigued by the news and now theres a fatigue around the virus and now theres a distrust around the reporting of this and they want to avoid things that they view as scare mongering. Things affecting their ways that is negatively perceived. I think everyone is dealing with a lot of anxiety and negativity, generally. So that makes a certain degree of sense to me. Lets talk briefly about the transition what did the biden team tell people that used to work for president obama . Axios reviewed the team email from the team that went out to the obama alumni who are interested in applying for Administration Jobs and sort of telling them them while theres a lot of jobs available, were tempering them for the team. We know a lot of dems want to help but there are only so many options. Thank you, alexi mccammond. As we head into the tuesday, im watching the georgia secretary of state who has gone to war essentially with Lindsey Graham. How thats going to play out today is something im going to be reporting on. Thank you for guys for getting up way too early on a tuesday morning. Dont go anywhere because morning joe starts right now. My fellow americans, a short time ago joe biden beat me in the election and not only did he win, he won by a lot, actually. Therefore, it is time for me to step aside because lets face it, i wasnt probably on my game and i wasnt doing so well. You know, im the only president in history to lose the popular vote. Twice. And to get impeached