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contender to lead biden's department of health and human services is the new mexico governor. there's more breaking news, a strong and disturbing warning from the head of the cdc. dr. robert redfield saying the next three months here in the united states, and i'm quoting him now, will be the most difficult time in the public health history of the nation. and in breaking vaccine news, the uk has become the first country to approve the pfizer vaccine and some britons may start receiving it next week. jim acosta is on the scene for us. jim, what are you hearing, first of all, about pardons that the president potentially could issue? >> reporter: some new information, wolf. a source close to the white house said the public should expect, quote, a flurry of pardons as mr. trump nears the time in office. he also said some of the president's advisers believe it would be perfectly fine for mr. trump to pardon his own family members even though they haven't been charged in any crimes. some of the president's advisers also believe that mr. trump could legally pardon himself, something that's been disputed by constitutional scholars and as for the election, white house officials aren't exactly giving attorney general william barr a ringing endorsement one day after he broke with the president and said the justice department could not find any cases of widespread voter fraud enough to overturn the election results. steering clear of reporters but surfacing at white house holiday parties, the president may have found a new official to put on the naughty list. attorney general william barr, as mr. trump appeared to be ignoring his own justice department's assessment that there was no widespread fraud in the election. >> i call it a rigged election and i always will. >> reporter: asked about barres comments pushing back on mr. trump's false conspiracy theories about a rigged election, white house press secretary kayleigh mcenany stopped short of saying he still has confidence in the attorney general. she suggested that barr didn't have all of the facts before referring the matter to the trump campaign. yes, the same campaign she's represented as an advisor on conservative media. >> the attorney general was speaking to what has come before his desk and, again, i point you to the campaign for specific questions on this. >> reporter: that was hardly the only dodge of the day. on reports from cnn and other news outlets that the president and his advisers have discussed pardons for members of the first family, close associates like rudy giuliani and mr. trump himself, mcenany side stepped that as well. >> i've heard no mention of any pardons in conversations i've had in the white house. >> reporter: they say it's time to stands up to the president. >> no, mr. president, that would be a gross abuse of the presidential pardon authority. but i have a more important question. just how long are our republican colleagues going to indulge the president in this nonsense? >> reporter: as for the justice department's recently disclosed investigation into a potential presidential pardon bribery scheme, mr. trump tweeted that the probe is fake news. >> has anybody at the white house been questioned by federal law enforcement officials regarding potential bribes for a pardon? >> no. in fact the doj official said yesterday that no government official was or is currently a subject or target of the investigation. >> reporter: white house officials also declined to explicitly condemn recent threats against election officials in georgia, contradicting mr. trump's bogus claims. >> someone is going to get hurt. someone is going to get shot. someone is going to get killed. and it's not right. when they call for us to resign, the president called brad raffensperger an enemy of the people, that helped open the flood gates to this kind of crap. >> reporter: mcenany's response. >> we condemn any threats against anyone. >> reporter: the white house was asked about the possibility that the president could announce he's running in 2024 around joe biden's inauguration. an idea discussed by some trump advisers. mr. trump hinted at that to party goers. >> it's been an amazing four years. we're trying to do another four years, otherwise i'll see you in four years. >> reporter: mcenany says she's out of the loop on that subject too. >> i've not heard any discussions of that. >> reporter: a short while ago the president released what is essentially a propaganda video on facebook repeating some of the same lies he and his team have told about the election results. we are not showing you any excerpts because the allegations made by the president have been rejected in the courts as well as by state election officials from both parties, not to mention from his own attorney general and the video we should note was produced over here at the white house on the white house grounds, not in view of the press. reporters were not in the room when the president made these comments, wolf. >> all right, jim acosta, thank you very much. let's get the latest now on the biden transition. cnn political correspondent m.j. lee is in wilmington, delaware, for us. m.j., the president-elect just met virtually with workers, small business owners who have been hit so hard by the pandemic. >> reporter: that's right, wolf. not that joe biden needed another reminder of what a tough economy he is about to inherit, but at this meeting that just wrapped up with small business owners, it at times got emotional and he again called on congress to take action. this as he is facing all kinds of pressure on what kinds of people should serve in his government. >> we do have a lot of concerns, mr. biden. it's been rough. >> reporter: president-elect joe biden staying laser focused on the economy, meeting virtually with small business owners struggling amid the recession and the covid-19 pandemic. >> i know you're all experiencing the effect of one great problem and that is the economic downturn in large part because of covid and the failure of some of our friends in congress to move forward on the kind of economic package. >> reporter: this as the former vice president confronts lobbying from multiple directions. sizzle rights a civil rights and advocacy groups as well as elected officials publicly calling on biden to appoint more people of color to cabinet positions. the naacp has asked for a meeting with biden and vice president-elect kamala harris to discuss this and other issues important to underrepresented communities. >> they have not been in a meeting with civil rights groups. we don't want the clock to run out before there's all the decisions are made. >> reporter: members writing to the transition team pushing biden to choose the new mexico governor as his health and human services secretary and ensure latinos are more fairly represented in our nation's government. sources saying grishham is also a leading contender. also in consideration a rhode island governor. biden touting the diversity of his economic team. >> she will be the first woman to hold this office and now wale will be the first to hold this post. >> reporter: biden will announce cia director and secretary of defense. >> we're just doing a piece at a time here. >> reporter: and just one more sign of the flurry of lobbying that we've been seeing, members of the hispanic caucus, congressional hispanic caucus, again writing to biden asking him to appoint either javier becerra or tom perez for the role of attorney general. wolf, i'll tell you when i spoke to the head of the naacp today he said it's less about these individual appointments and making sure that overall civil rights issues, issues that are important to these minority communities, are adequately represented in the biden administration. wolf. >> all right, m.j., thank you very much. m.j. lee in wilmington for us. let's discuss all of this with our chief political correspondent dana bash and cnn legal analyst preet bharara. dana, while it's not unusual for a president to use his pardon power liberally in the final weeks in office, what is unusual is learning that the president is actually concerning preemptively pardoning his family, his lawyer, even potentially himself. from a political perspective, dana, what issues do you see stemming from these potential pardons? >> well, in a normal time, in a normal political world with a normal president who is treated as such by his own party, it would be catastrophic. but it is none of the above. there is nothing normal about this. all you have to do is listen to the sound of virtual silence on the question of whether or not there was widespread fraud in this election. there was not. you don't hear that from the president's fellow republicans. and on and on and on. that has been the theme of this presidency. his colleagues, his fellow republicans in congress very rarely speaking up and speaking out. and i'm not sure that this would change anything. also you have a president who is impervious to that kind of criticism because he has convinced his supporters, of which there are millions and millions, that everything he says it true, even though that is far from the case. >> you know, preet, legally speaking, if the president does go ahead and pardon these members of his inner circle, should we view that potentially as an admission of guilt? >> you know, you can think about it that way. traditionally both in common sense terms and based on cases that have been decided all the way up to the supreme court, the understanding is that the acceptance of a pardon is in a sense an admission of guilt. and there had been preemptive pardons before, but they're very rare and very, very controversial. so it's an odd game to play, to balance on the one hand wanting to have some immunity later on against the way it looks now optically that you are in such worried state about your legal jeopardy and your peril that you're prepared to take a pardon from a member of your own family, the president of the united states. >> does the president, preet, have the power preemptively to pardon himself? what exactly would such a pardon absolve him of? >> well, that's the question everyone asks pretty much every day. my answer to the question is, no, he does not but that is not a settled legal question. it's never been addressed by any court because it's never been done before. there is this 1974 office of legal counsel very, very tiny short opinion that suggests that the principle by which no man can be a judge in his own case, a historical principle, means that you can't pardon yourself. the language of the pardon authority also seems to suggest that you can't pardon yourself. but that doesn't stop the president of the united states, who is radical in many ways in violating norms, from putting out a piece of paper that purports to pardon himself and it won't get tested until at some future date someone in the federal government, someone in the department of justice decides to charge him and he waves around that piece of paper as defense and it gets litigated. but it will not cover future conduct post the issuance of the pardon and not cover anything going on in the manhattan d.a.'s office or new york attorney general's office or any other local prosecutor's office. >> dana, president trump just released this rambling 46-minute video where he tried to make his case that the election was rigged. of course this comes just one day after the attorney general of the united states, bill barr, confirmed there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud. the president's argument is not holding up in courts all around the country. so what is he doing? what is his end game right now? >> it's the same that we have seen for the past five years and even more intensely over the past month or so, which is to create his own reality and the reality that he lives in, the reality that many of his supporters live in, and to continue to perpetuate it. i shouldn't even call it a reality. it's basically a fantasy world because we're here in reality. we're in the reality where he not just is not getting anywhere in court, his attorneys are being basically laughed out of court. in some cases by federal judges appointed by president trump himself, but they are following the law of the land and the basic fundamentals of democracy, which is that voters decide elections and that unless you can actually prove fraud, which they have not proven, you're out of luck and you can't change it just because you have a lawyer or you have a president who says you're going to change it. it doesn't change the fact, though, that the president does, again, have millions and millions of people who believe everything he says. they adore him. and he is playing to those people to continue to have a hold on them for whatever he does in the future, whether it's commercial, having a media network or running again for president. >> very quickly, preet, before i let you go, what did you think of the attorney general, bill barr's statement yesterday, there's no evidence of widespread election fraud? >> i thought it was very remarkable. he made it clear there was not enough evidence of that to change the election in any way because you and i have discussed this a couple of months ago on this very program. you interviewed in notable session the attorney general and he made what i thought were specious claims and conclusions about what would likely be future voter fraud, ballots coming in from other countries. you pressed him on it and he said it's common sense. now after the election, just a few weeks after the election, he says the exact opposite. so i think it's very telling and very harmful to the president's position that still continues to be espoused by at least rudy giuliani if nobody else. >> if the president has lost bill barr, he's in deep, deep trouble obviously. all right, guys, thank you very much. just ahead, we'll have more on whether the president could actually pardon his children or himself. we'll talk about that with the chairman of the house intelligence committee, congressman adam schiff is standing by live, there you see him. we'll discuss when we come back. but we didn't stop there. we made a cloud flexible enough to adapt to any size business. no matter what it does, or how it changes. and we kept going. so you only pay for what you use. because at dell technologies, we stop...at nothing. ♪ with priceline, you can get up to 60% off amazing hotels. and when you get a big deal... ...you feel like a big deal. ♪ priceline. every trip is a big deal. stand up to moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. and take. it. on... ...with rinvoq. rinvoq a once-daily pill... ...can dramatically improve symptoms... rinvoq helps tame pain, stiffness, swelling. and for some... rinvoq can even significantly reduce ra fatigue. that's rinvoq relief. with ra, your overactive immune system attacks your joints. 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committee, california democratic representative adam schiff. congressman, thanks for joining us. if the president does indeed pardon let's say rudy giuliani or any members of his family, would you see that, and i asked preet bharara this question, as essentially an admission of guilt? >> i would certainly view it that way. i think millions of americans would view it that way. if there was no belief in criminality, why would he think a pardon was necessary? nonetheless, you can see the president trying to lay the foundation for that kind of inherently self-dealing and corrupt act by suggesting that vengeful biden administration bureaucrats might go after him. so you see him laying a foundation, and this is a president who on the way into office, you know, acted corruptly and i think is determined on the way out to do the same. >> in 2018 the president said, and i'm quoting him now, i have the absolute right to pardon myself. some of his allies are actually pushing that he do just that. can he go ahead and pardon himself before he leaves office? >> well, you know, he can try. the question is will it be null and void? i think the answer is yes. he can say i hereby pardon myself. but if he is brought up on federal charges and that's how that would be tested, it would ultimately be decided by the supreme court. are you allowed to be the judge of your own case? is the president effectively above the law? and i think any court should resolve that and would resolve that by saying no. the pardon power does not allow the president to self-pardon because to do so would make the constitution a suicide pact. but it hasn't been tried before because we haven't had a president corrupt enough to try it before, so we'll have to wait and see whether it gets tested in court if the president goes in that direction. >> the white house, congressman, wouldn't say today if president trump has confidence in the attorney general of the united states, bill barr, after barr debunked the president's election fraud claims. what does that tell you? >> well, you know, i think the attorney general answered the question many of us had, is there no line he is willing to cross to carry water for the president and apparently there was a line. that was the attorney general was not going to join completely claims about our election. he is willing to do things like this secret appointment of durham as a special counsel in an effort to placate any members of the base that he will alienate by making the statement he did about the elections. but nonetheless i think it tells you that the circle around the president that's willing to continue to engage in these monstrously false claims of fraud is a dwindling number of people. >> as i pointed out yesterday, and i think it's very significant, i'll point it out again, barr actually said it's not just the department of justice that found no evidence of widespread fraud in the election, but it's also the department of homeland security which investigated and found no evidence of widespread fraud either. before i let you go, congressman, the house speaker nancy pelosi now wants covid relief talks based on this $908 billion proposal put out by a bipartisan group of senators. does that proposal, do you believe, stand a real chance? and if you can't reach a deal, how do you explain to the millions of americans out there who are about to lose unemployment benefits, might be kicked out of their homes, might not have enough money to put food on the table, how do you explain to them the urgent need to get money and get relief to them right now? >> well, i think it does stand a very good chance of becoming a part of the government funding package to keep the government open that we have to take up within the next two weeks. i hope and pray that we do pass a relief package that is based on what's set out in that bipartisan compromise. you know, how you explain if congress doesn't, that will be something that mitch mcconnell will have to explain to the country because right now here is the number one impediment to getting to a deal. and so the democratic leadership has compromised by, you know, essentially agreeing to start from the blueprint that's less than half of what we had asked for. mcconnell should be willing to do at least double what he started out with and then we'd have a deal, but we'll have to see whether mcconnell wants to put a lump of coal in people's stocking this year. the reality is, wolf, millions of americans can't wait. millions of businesses will disappear and not re-emerge next year if we don't help them now. >> yeah, these stakes right now are so, so enormous. congressman schiff, as usual, thanks for joining us. >> thank you, wolf. just ahead, a dire new warning that the next few months here in the united states could be the most difficult time in u.s. health history. plus, britain approves one of the new coronavirus vaccines and people may be getting their first shots in the next few days. we'll talk about that, all of that and much more. the head of the national institutes of health, dr. francis collins, there you see him, he's standing by live. we have lots to discuss. we will when we come back. here's another cleaning tip from mr. clean. cleaning tough bathroom and kitchen messes with sprays and wipes can be a struggle. there's an easier way. try mr. clean magic eraser. just wet, squeeze and erase tough messes like bathtub soap scum... and caked-on grease from oven doors. now mr. clean magic eraser comes in disposable sheets. they're perfect for icky messes on stovetops... in microwaves... and all over the house. for an amazing clean, try mr. clean magic eraser, and mr. clean magic eraser sheets. we're following break pandemic news. almost 100,000 americans now hospitalized with covid-19. that's a new record. and that has the head of the cdc now warning that the next three months here in the united states will be, quote, the most difficult time in the public health history of the nation. cnn's nick watt has more from los angeles. >> reporter: a global first. the brits just authorized the pfizer/biontech covid vaccine and might start vaccinating people next week. >> we believe that it is ready to start the end of the pandemic. >> reporter: december 10th an fda panel meets. u.s. authorization could come within days, and then -- >> distribution to the american people becomes immediate within 24 hours. >> we expect if all safety and efficacy approvals are granted, those doses will arrive on december 15th. >> reporter: moderna's vaccine is about a week behind. the plan, vaccinate 20 million americans in december, 30 million in january, 50 million in february, by march 1st -- >> we will have potentially immunized 100 million people, which is really more or less the size of the significant at-risk population. >> reporter: refrigerators are ready at airports and hospitals across the country. pfizer's vaccine must be stored at minus 103 degrees fahrenheit. first in line for the limited supply, medical personnel and residents of long-term care facilities. the cdc advisory panel just made that call. >> we can do those mass immunization events. we can't use mass immunization events for every person in the u.s. >> reporter: and it's two doses, not easy, and yes will take time. yes, this could be the start of the end, but it is not the end. tuesday, 2,597 lives reported lost in this country, the second highest total since all this began. >> december and january and february are going to be rough times. i actually believe they're going to be the most difficult time in the public health history of this nation. >> reporter: nearly 100,000 americans are now hospitalized, an all-time high. >> we might not show it if we're interacting with you, but it's so hard. >> reporter: some hospitals now maxed out. >> we are truly out of beds and it's not the intensive care unit, it's all the beds as well. >> reporter: how, why did we get here? well in, part -- >> this nation was severely underprepared for this pandemic. i think we have to call it the way it is. >> reporter: okay. another reason we're in this mess? not enough people are just willing to do the right thing. the cdc just reupped their thanksgiving advice for christmas. don't travel, stay home. let's see if more people listen this time around. they also just dropped the recommended quarantine period after a close contact from 14 days to 10 days or just 7 days if you get a negative test. the hope that that might make people comply. wolf. >> the hope. let's hope. nick watt reporting for us, thanks very much. joining us now, dr. francis collins, the director of the national institutes of health. dr. collins, thank you so much for joining us. thanks for everything you and your colleagues are doing. you're saving lives. as you just heard, the cdc director, dr. robert redfield, a man you know, said the next three months in the u.s. could be the most difficult time our country's public health system has ever seen. what do federal and state leaders need to be doing right now to save thousands, maybe tens of thousands of lives in the coming months? >> well, he's right that we're facing what could be the darkest part of this very dark experience with covid-19. you can see across the country now the incidence of new cases going up, and it's not just in some parts, it's pretty much everywhere. a month ago we were looking particularly at the midwest, but now look at the coast, look at the sun belt again, look at the mid-atlantic. everywhere you're tracking cases, the numbers are rising. of course we've just had thanksgiving holidays and a lot of people went ahead and traveled, which is potentially of considerable risk. and we are facing another holiday in december, and it's likely that unless really major efforts are to push harder with the public health measures, we could be facing the kind of circumstance that we really hoped not to, where many hospitals just run out of capabilities to take care of all the sick patients. so what do we need to do? well, you've heard that help is on the way. the vaccines are looking really good, and it's amazing to be able to say that just ten or 11 months after we first heard about this virus. but they're not going to reach everybody until the spring. and so meanwhile if there was ever a time where people need to take it upon themselves to try not to be the superspreader for all those vulnerable people that are still out there, we have to take this seriously. this is the time to double down on the wearing of the mask when you go outside, the keeping that six-foot distance, not gathering indoors. that's the most dangerous thing you can do. washing your hands. i know people are tired of hearing those things, but that is our best hope and it is not an invasion of your freedom any more than it is to wear a seat belt or not to smoke on an airplane. it's something we all do because it helps keep us safe. and i hope and pray that with this very serious alarm now being sounded across the country, that people will take advantage of this moment to double down and play their part, and that's what we are going to have to do. >> this is a life and death issue right now, even despite all the encouraging words about the vaccine. the uk, as you know, dr. collins, just approved the pfizer vaccine with vaccinations starting there as early as next week. how soon do you expect the united states to follow suit with an emergency use authorization, allowing the vaccines to go forward in this country? >> it will be very soon, assuming that the fda and their very careful analysis of the pfizer data agrees that it stands up to a stringent set of definitions about safety and efficacy. and i want the fda to do their thing and to be extremely rigorous about it. they are the gold standard for regulatory oversight of this kind of thing. the public needs that reassurance. there will be a public meeting on december 10th of their advisory committee where all the data about the pfizer safety and efficacy will be revealed for everybody to look at. and if that looks good, then very shortly after that, a matter of just a few days, the vaccine is likely to get approval by the fda and then distribution will start the next day. the warp speed folks are ready to go. there's not going to be a delay. now, keep in mind of course that we don't have 340 million doses of this to get everybody started at once. there will be enough for about 20 million people to get immunized in december and as was just reported a minute ago by your leading information there, the cdc group, the advisory committee on immunization practices, has now recommended those first doses should go to health care providers as well as to elderly in places like nursing homes. so we already have a pretty good plan. the moderna vaccine is just one week behind in terms of the timetable. there will be an advisory committee public meeting about that on december 17th. if all goes well, and most of us think it will having seen a lot of the data ourselves, that will also be out there just a few days later. so this is the month, if all is going the way we think it will, where in the united states as well immunizations will start. >> this is so, so critical. you've got to convince the american public that it's safe. as you know, the fda commissioner, steven hahn, a man you know, was summoned to the white house this week. cnn has learned that the president is actually frustrated that this approval hasn't been granted yet. will that pressure have any impact on the timeline? >> i don't believe so. i think at this point the very strong commitment on the part of fda, and i will say this applies to nih and myself and all of my team is that science is going to drive this process. the public needs to be reassured that there are no corners being cut here. that if these vaccines are being judged safe and effective, it's because they are and that process will go forward over the next few days. but we are getting very close to an answer. the uk has a somewhat more relaxed approach to this. by the way, they have been a bit criticized today for the rest of europe for the way in which they made such a quick decision about issuing an approval of this vaccine. it's just a little different. again, the u.s. fda is the gold standard for rigor and i think that's what the american public wants. >> i think you're making an excellent point. i want you to stand by, dr. collins. our viewers have tons of questions, critically important questions on what's going on right now. as i said, these are life-and-death questions. we'll continue our conversation right after this quick break. the ups and downs of frequent mood swings can take you to deep, depressive lows. or, give you unusually high energy, even when depressed. overwhelmed by bipolar i? ask about vraylar. some medicines only treat the lows or highs. vraylar effectively treats depression, acute manic and mixed episodes of bipolar i in adults. full-spectrum relief for all bipolar i symptoms, with just one pill, once a day. elderly patients with dementia-related psychosis have an increased risk of death or stroke. call your doctor about unusual changes in behavior or suicidal thoughts. antidepressants can increase these in children and young adults. report fever, stiff muscles, or confusion, which may mean a life-threatening reaction, or uncontrollable muscle movements, which may be permanent. side effects may not appear for several weeks. high cholesterol and weight gain, high blood sugar, which can lead to coma or death, may occur. movement dysfunction, sleepiness, and stomach issues are common side effects. when bipolar i overwhelms, vraylar helps smooth the ups and downs. we're back with dr. francis collins, director of the national institutes of health. dr. collins, we've got a ton of questions from viewers out there. let me go through some and you can give me some quick answers. more than 13 million americans as you know, dr. collins, already have had this virus. should they still get the vaccine? where do they fall in line in terms of vaccination priorities? >> they will be in line based on other criteria in terms of risks of serious illness. we don't know for sure that having had this illness means that you're not susceptible to getting it again, so those folks are in fact going to line up for vaccines. we already know that in the trials that have been run, there's a fair number of people who had positive antibody tests and they have done fine so there's no reason not to if you previously had the infection. >> good answer. moderna, as you know, dr. collins, has now started testing its vaccine among children, ages 12 to 18. how important is that? should kids get this vaccine? >> very definitely we need to get there. so far only down to about age 12 is under study, but we will wanting to shortly after the first of the year also find out does this work for younger children because we know they can be infected and they can pass this along. so that is the next level of test that's going to need to be done in a therapeutic trial, vaccine trial, in order to be sure that the vaccine is safe and effective in that group. we think it will be but wanting to be sure. >> the former president, barack obama, said he will absolutely get the covid vaccine when he can and he said he might even put the vaccination of him on video to encourage other people, supportes out the eers out ther same thing. do you think that's a good idea? >> i know there's a lot of hesitancy out there in terms of people not being sure about this vaccine. anything we can do to try to convey this is something that's safe and effective and people who look carefully at the data are rolling up their sleeves is a good thing. so i would hope all former presidents would be willing to join that. certainly tony fauci and i are prepared to roll up our sleeves when the time comes in case anybody wants to be sure that we're really confident in this. yeah, we're going to have a lot of work to do because right now there's still skepticism. i think it's based upon what has been a really difficult year with a lot of concerns about whether politics is driving this process and a lot of really strange conspiracy theraories tt have confused people. >> if you and dr. fauci, both of you -- you and dr. fauci, i've known you both for a long time. if you say it's safe and effective, i'll be happy to roll up my sleeve here in the situation room, get the vaccine live on television if that might help convince some people that it's safe and effective. what's the latest you can tell us, dr. collins, about the biden transition right now? i understand you've had some conversations with some of the president-elect's team, is that right? >> i have not. i'm keeping my focus on the job that i'm trying to do right now. i know that they have reached out to some of my staff to try to get a general sense about what's happening at nih both with covid and with other things. i suspect in due time i'll have my chance also to talk to some of the transition team. they're working really hard. >> i'm sure you know most of those people in any case. i understand nih is looking for some volunteers to come to participate in some new covid trials that you're about to undertake. what can you tell us about that? >> well, thanks for asking, because we still do need people to take part in these trials. we have two vaccines that are about, we think, to get approved, but there are four others still in the works. the more we have, the better, because the sooner we can get doses to people so we're counting on volunteers for that and those are our heroes who basically decided to take part in this. so we just put up today a new way for people who are interested in both therapeutic trials, because we're looking for ways to treat the disease, so this is for people who tested positive, but also people looking to serve in vaccine trials, people who at the time are healthy. and also people that might want to donate convalescent plasma, because we're still interested in that. so here's the website. combatcovid.hhs.gov. let me say that again. combatcovid.hhs.gov. you can go there and find out what's happening in all of those areas and even what's happening in your neighborhood. >> thank you so much for everything you're doing, dr. francis collins with nih. we are so grateful to you. thanks for joining us. >> glad to be with you, wolf. call me any time. >> thank you. just ahead, there's more breaking news. we're learning that ivanka trump, the president's daughter and advisor, was just deposed by investigators looking into the misuse of inaugural funds. we'll have details just ahead. this is cnn breaking news. >> we have breaking news coming into the situation room about the president's daughter, ivanka trump. let's go to cnn's cara. >> reporter: ivanka trump was deposed yesterday in a civil lawsuit brought by the district of columbia's attorney general. his office sued the trump organization and the president's inaugural committee in january alleging they had been involved in a scheme for a gross misuse of funds, more than a million dollars that was raised by the president's inaugural committee, that was spent at the trump hotel in washington, d.c. according to a new court filing, ivanka trump was deposed yesterday as part of the civil investigation. this investigation has taken depositions of other people close to the president's orbits, including tom barrack, one of his advisers, who was the chairman of the president's inaugural committee. now, as part of this lawsuit, they have alleged there was a gross misuse of the nonprofit funds that were raised. they have subpoenaed for documents the first daily melania trump. this is another headache and legal lawsuit that will follow the president and his family once they leave the white house. it is distinct, though, from any of the criminal investigations or any of the federal investigations that could fall under the window for the president is considering as many sources have told cnn about pardons for himself or his family. this is a state investigation and a civil investigation. so any actions that the president could take would not impact this investigation. but it is something that will follow the family as it leaves the white house, wolf. >> investigation by authorities in the district of columbia, not the federal government. good reporting as well. thank you very much. and we'll have more news just ahead. since you're heading off to dad... i just got a zerowater. but we've always used brita. it's two stage-filter... doesn't compare to zerowater's 5-stage. this meter shows how much stuff, or dissolved solids, gets left behind. our tap water is 220. brita? 110... seriously? but zerowater- let me guess. zero? yup, that's how i know it is the purest-tasting water. i need to find the receipt for that. oh yeah, you do. or psoriatic arthritis, little things can become your big moment. that's why there's otezla. otezla is not an injection or a cream. it's a pill that treats differently. for psoriasis, 75% clearer skin is achievable, with reduced redness, thickness, and scaliness of plaques. for psoriatic arthritis, otezla is proven to reduce joint swelling, tenderness, and pain. and the otezla prescribing information has no requirement for routine lab monitoring. don't use if you're allergic to otezla. it may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. otezla is associated with an increased risk of depression. tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts or if these feelings develop. some people taking otezla reported weight loss. your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. upper respiratory tract infection and headache may occur. tell your doctor about your medicines and if you're pregnant or planning to be. otezla. show more of you. finally our nightly tribute to victims of the coronavirus pandemic. carol wilson of ohio was 84 years old, a loving mother of four children, 8 grand children, and 5 great grandchildren. carol loved nature and peanut butter. dr. anajeli veri, she worked fo years savings children's lives. may they rest in peace and may their memories be a blessing. erin burnett "out front" starts right now. out front next, trump's dangerous denial, is that why he's calling for fellow republicans who don't parrot lies that the election was stolen to be locked up. one republican official who stood out to trump is out front tonight: ivanka trump deposed, as we learn the president plans a furry of pardons on his way out. a dire warning, the head of the cdc says the next few weeks could be the most difficult in america's public health history. let's go out front. and good evening, i'm erin burnett.
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