Stunning launch. And liftoff of sentinel 6. The Spacex Falcon 9 rocket roaring into space. The billion dollar project mission. What it will monitor from space to help us learn more about the earth. And musics big night. Were live in los angeles as we look ahead to tonights American Music awards. No ones around to judge me your sneak peek at the performances, the host not letting the pandemic stop them. Were creative people. Were still going to give you a big, big show. And the new awards being handed out tonight. Good morning. Since we gave you the numbers last sunday, the u. S. Has seen 1 million new coronavirus cases, and the death toll has surpassed 255,000. In only one state, hawaii, are cases low and staying that way. Here in new york state we are now seeing the highest level of cases since april. In california the surge is threatening to swamp hospitals, and the state has now put in place a nighttime curfew. Overnight, the food and Drug Administration gave emergency use authorization for the regeneron antibody treatment. This is the same one that President Trump received when he had the illness. For the latest across the country, lets go to abcs trevor ault at a hospital in harlem. Trevor, good morning. Reporter well, good morning, whit. Its hard to overstate just how fast this virus is spreading. It took the u. S. 5 1 2 months to hit 2 million cases. We have now recorded 2 million cases over the past 12 days. This is about more than just infections. Deaths are rising in the vast majority of the country just as the holidays are arriving. This morning, the u. S. Roaring past 12 million confirmed coronavirus cases. The thanksgiving travelers are pressing on with their plans in spite of cdc recommendations to stay home. Yeah, i did think about not traveling. I have not gone really anywhere at all. Reporter Health Officials fear holiday gatherings will only fuel an already raging pandemic fraught with exponential outbreaks like the california racetrack where Officials Say more than 200 workers are now infected and the 9,500 american lives lost in the past week, a jump of nearly 20 from the week before. Its getting scary as a nurse. I would 100 be lying if i said i wasnt nervous to go to work next week. Reporter deaths are now climbing in 35 states and puerto rico, and hospitalizations are rising in every state. A Research Team in texas estimates their daily death count could triple over the next two weeks. A county judge in el paso now asking the governor for permission to reimpose a curfew, and the National Guard is now on hand as the citys main morgue and nine mobile morgues are filling up with the bodies of those who have died. We are looking for a site that would be able to refrigerate that were going to be expecting to be needing unfortunately. Reporter new mexico has already taken strict action with a stayathome order this week, but nearly two dozen essential businesses are being shut down as well because of outbreaks on site. We understand the temporary inconvenience that this might cause, but it is absolutely essential that we take these actions right now. Reporter but huge portions of the public are still unwilling to accept the danger coronavirus poses, and its frustrating scientists like dr. Anthony fauci as they repeatedly trumpet the need for masks and social distancing. Its astounding how what you said is true. That people who are in icu beds, that people in the hospital still believe its a hoax. Reporter but others are sharing the lessons they learned the hard way. Tennessee mother emily brown was put on a ventilator at 31 weeks pregnant. She woke up 30 days later having already given birth. I took covid very lightly before. I didnt care about wearing a mask or i thought, well, thats stupid. Well, its not because this covid is real. Reporter and Health Officials in the cdc continue to stress the threat of people bringing the virus home with them this thanksgiving. At the university of connecticut, 80 of their positive cases are asymptomatic, which is great news for those students, but raises concerns for people completely unaware theyre carrying covid19 right before meeting with family members who are far more vulnerable. Dan . A huge concern. No question about it. Trevor, thank you very much. Well turn now to the increasingly desperate financial situation for millions of americans. They are lining up at food banks, worried about paying the rent or the mortgage and watching the clock as key relief programs are set to expire. Abcs Deirdre Bolton is on the story. Deirdre, good morning to you. Reporter good morning, dan. Normally this is a festive time of year, but the pandemic is creating hardship. More than 8 million americans have fallen into poverty since the spring, and two studies show that the level of poverty in the u. S. Is now higher than it was prepandemic. I would never think that would ever happen, and i didnt ever think it would be this hard. Reporter this morning, thousands of americans descend on food banks across the country. We will make sure that they have had their portion and maybe another portion before we will eat. Me and dad have kind of gotten to the point now where we only eat maybe once a day. Reporter cars lined up for miles. Many people struggling ahead of this thanksgiving holiday. We dont have enough to eat. We dont have money to pay our rent. Weve never seen an increase in food demand like we have since march. Reporter more than 21 million americans are receiving some form of unemployment insurance. Nobody likes sitting at home just living off of government aid. Reporter gabbie riley is one of them. She was furloughed from her position in hospitality this spring. I have some savings. So i understand the value of having some money set aside, but were going on a year, and weve got an uphill battle. Reporter like gabbie, many question their future if there is not another stimulus package passed. I have friends that i can move in with, with my son. It certainly wouldnt be ideal, but i have those options. Im an essential worker, but i have seven family members that are not working. So its just me. Reporter the number of americans that are filing for firsttime employment insurance rising for the first time in five weeks. This as key parts of federal aid known as the c. A. R. E. S. Act expire only 40 days from now, including expanded unemployment benefits, eased student loan obligations, halted evictions and foreclosure relief. While lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are calling for more federal stimulus, but with points of contention on size and scope. One d. C. Insider telling me that Congress Responds best to a crisis and a deadline, and now we have both. So hopefully that means a step forward. Eva . Deirdre, thank you. Now to politics this morning. President Trumps Campaign is requesting a recount in georgia, and hes lost yet another lawsuit in his battle to overturn the Election Results. Abcs rachel scott is in washington, d. C. With the latest. Good morning to you, rachel. Reporter eva, good morning. Yeah. At least 17 of those cases have been tossed out or withdrawn, but still President Trump is doubling down on a postelection fight that is not only failing in court, but stalling a smooth transfer of power, and now a small but growing number of republicans are saying its time for President Trump to face reality. Overnight, another setback in the president s desperate fight to overturn the results of the 2020 election. In pennsylvania, a federal judge smacking down the Trump Campaigns lawsuit in a scathing 37page rebuke writing, the claims were haphazardly stitched together like frankensteins monster, adding the president s lawyers presented strained legal arguments without merit. After that defeat, republican senator pat toomey releasing this statement saying, President Trump has exhausted all plausible, legal options. Calling on him to accept the outcome of the election and facilitate the president ial transition process. But even with his losses stacking up, the president is not giving in. His legal team officially filing for a recount in georgia. Just 24 hours after the republican secretary of state certified joe bidens victory. In the states audit, election workers tallied every vote by hand, and in michigan, yet another attempt. This time the Republican Party trying to block the state from recognizing joe bidens win. In a letter, the rnc chairwoman Ronna Mcdaniel and the states gop chair urging the board to delay certifying the results, calling for a full audit. But by state law, that wouldnt be possible until after the results are certified. Republicans are trying to toss out votes in majority black cities like detroit which backed biden, pushing unfounded claims about irregularities. The Trump Campaign insists their only goal is to ensure safe, secure and fair elections. This is not about overturning elections on our part. Reporter a group of black voters fired back with a lawsuit, accusing republicans of trying to diseven franchise votes and civil rights leaders are sounding the alarm. Black and brown voters in michigan already face too many barriers at the ballot box, and these antics threaten to disenfranchise these voters yet again. That cannot happen. Reporter the president running out of legal options, took to twitter, pleading with state legislators to have the courage to overturn the results, but gop leaders in michigan who met with the president on friday, said they have not yet been made away of any information that would change the outcome of the election. And this weekend, President Trump attended the virtual g20 summit, but appeared to skip a side event on the pandemic. This as a third u. S. Senator has possibly tested positive for the virus this week. This morning, senator Kelly Loeffler is in selfisolation after receiving a positive covid19 test, and then an inconclusive one. She was seen with Vice President mike pence on the campaign trail there in georgia on friday without a mask. This morning, his office has not returned our request for comment. Whit . Rachel scott in washington. Thank you. A group of former Homeland Security officials is criticizing the president s comments on the election. They issued a statement that says, in part, the president has wrongfully called into question the integrity and security of the 2020 u. S. Election, and is now inappropriately abusing his office to undermine the democratic process, attempting to disenfranchise voters and delay the transition. Earlier i spoke with elizabeth neumann, the former dhs assistant secretary for counterterrorism. Mrs. Neumann, good morning. Thank you for joining us. I want to jump right to it here. Why did you decide to be part of this joint statement speaking out against your former boss, President Trump, and what are your biggest concerns about his denial of the Election Results . You know, we have watched this president lay the groundwork for delegitimatizing the election the entire campaign. So what were seeing is not necessarily a surprise to us, but we do believe that the actions that he has been taking over the last few weeks have been very, very dangerous. There are three reasons why. First, he is alleging that theres fraud in the election, and moving to a stage where hes trying to steal the election himself. Polls show most of Trump Supporters believe that the election was somehow rigged in bidens favor. What needs to be done to convince americans that this election was safe and secure . This is probably the thing thats keeping me up at night the most. There is such a polarization in our country. This is going to continue well past inauguration. Its going to be something that we need to work on for a long, long time. But in this very particular moment where theres a lot of tension, i work in extremism. I have been doing counterterrorism for 20 years. The conditions are right for violence, and it is really, really critical that we have credible voices, people that were supporting donald trump, come out and clearly explain the facts to his supporters. He has not won the election. Forgive me. I have to press you on that a little bit because we heard that from people on Election Night as well, that the conditions were ripe for violence. For the most part Election Night turned out to be mostly peaceful. Im so grateful for that. My personal concern was never for election day itself. It was for this period afterwards where one side or the other was going to lose, and you might see protests. We saw some of that last week at the rally in washington, d. C. , and you saw protests and counterprotest groups interact and there was some violence. I think we might see more of that, and im also concerned about acts of violence that are premeditated, not just spillover if you will because two groups run into each other on the street. The premeditated violence that people that are now talking about taking up arms, the rhetoric is increasing online. I hope that its just bravado. I hope its people letting off steam, but it would be great if some Republican Leaders would treat this seriously. You have any number of voices saying were concerned. Their voice matters. So my call would be, Republican Leaders, whether youre at local or state or federal position, if you supported trump previously, and you can recognize that he did not win, nows the time to come out, rationally explain its okay to be upset about that, but violence is not the answer. Elizabeth neumann, thank you for your time this morning. We appreciate it. Thanks for having me. I also asked her to respond to criticism from trump allies that shes just a disgruntled employee and a never trumper. She said shes proud of that distinction. She wanted to speak out for what she believes is right during this time. So much to talk about here. Lets bring in abc news political analyst matthew dowd. Matthew, good morning. As you just heard, and we just heard from a former administration official, shes criticizing President Trump. Overnight, pennsylvanias republican senator pat toomey seemed to call for the president to stand down. The official, we just heard from says more republicans need to speak out in this way. Do you envision that changing, given that most republican supporters of trump are staying mum or supporting the president s efforts to overturn the election . Well, my expectation is i am amazed at how slow its taken for people to recognize basic math and arithmetic in what the Election Results were. I would guess that pat toomey who was pretty clear about what he said about the judges ruling in pennsylvania, its this edge of more, and itll probably go through thanksgiving and youll see republicans say its time. The problem for republicans that they have politically is its not just the president. Its their base. Its the base of the Republican Party who seems to believe a lot of these conspiracy theories in the realm were in, which is unfortunate that their leaders, the leaders of the party arent correcting these conspiracy theories, and theyre only sort of contributing to the biases people have. The problem for republicans who arent speaking out yet is theyre afraid of the base more so than theyre afraid of donald trump. Lets just talk about the president for a second. He does not seem to be showing any signs of relenting, and he pushed back against toomey on twitter overnight. Do you see a point where he concedes, and if not, where does this process go . Well, i think the president is doing great damage, dan, to our democracy in the midst of this. Leaders, the responsible leaders get people out of their biases, and hes not doing that. I dont think hell ever concede. I think he will leave. Hell be gone on january 20th. I think hell Say Something to the effect of, im won, but im leaving and will never concede. This is the first time in modern history i dont know if it goes back all the way 240 years. It might, that a president has done this. Every other president has conceded and gone forward, and tried to help heal the country in this moment as weve seen from all the other president s. President bush and president obama, all of these. I dont think that President Trump will ever, ever concede. I think hes emotionally, i think, incapable of being able to say he actually lost. Matt dowd, really appreciate your analysis on a sunday morning. Thank you, and a reminder, check out this week this morning. George stephanopoulos will go oneonone exclusively with president elect joe bidens chief of staff ron klain. Plus, george will interview dr. Moncel slawi, the chief science adviser for operation warp speed. Thats coming up later this morning on this week. Eva, over to you. Friends, family and activists gathered to pay tribute to Quawan Charles on saturday. The 15yearold went missing on october 30th, and video shows him being picked up by a friend and the friends mother. His body was found november 3rd in a sugar cane field about 20 miles away, his face barely recognizable. His sister speaking at his funeral, and his mother speaking exclusively to our janai norman. We will forever the memories of you and the memories we wish we could have had with you close to our hearts. I cannot sleep at night like i want to. Im constantly thinking about my son and trying to figure out exactly how he died. Quawans family is still seeking answers surrounding his death and have questioned why local authorities did not issue an amber alert for his disappearance. Its an incredibly sad story, and we will stay on it right here on abc news. In the meantime though, lets check the weather. Rob marciano in new york this morning. Rob, good morning. Reporter good morning, dan. Its been a lovely weekend for the most part here in the north east, cloed clouding up now in advance of this next system tha