This office, i will not be the last. [ cheers ] President Trump insists the election is not over, making baseless claims of fraud. If you count the legal votes, i easily win. If you count the illegal votes, they can try to steal the election from us. The president s allegations of largescale fraud and theft of the election are just not substantia substantiated. Launching lawsuits. My guests republican senator mitt romney of utah, democratic congressman James Clyburn of south carolina, and Biden Deputy Campaign manager kay bedingfield. This is not what the democrats dreamed. Disappointed democrats lose seats in the house. We had a very good day. Most pundits thought we would lose the senate. Two georgia runoffs in january will decide control of the senate. Joining me for insight and analysis, nbc News Washington correspondent andrea mitchell. Democratic pollster cornell belcher. Wall street journal columnist peggy noonan. And david wasserman, house editor for the cook political report. Welcome to sunday and a special election edition of meet the press. From nbc news in washington, the longest running show in television history, this is a special edition of meet the press with chuck todd. And a good sunday morning. One side of a deeply divided country is celebrating this weekend. [ cheers ] a nationwide block party broke out from coast to coast yesterday. Spontaneous celebrations mostly in cities moments after Television Networks called the election for joe biden. We won, joe biden the election of our lifetime. It impacts our future so much, and it just means so much that its happening. We did it. We did it. Ecstatic. Im ecstatic. Thats it. Like like electricity going through my body at this very moment. Last night in delaware the new president elect and Kamala Harris addressed supporters and the nation. Now lets give each other a chance. [ cheers ] its time to put away the harsh rhetoric, lower the temperature, see each other again, listen to each other again. Perhaps by now you know the story. Biden won by rebuilding, barely. The democrats Northern Industrial blue wall taking wisconsin, michigan, and pennsylvani pennsylvania,wisconsins technically going to be a recount. More importantly adding, it looks like perhaps, two sunbelts states, georgia and arizona. Of course those races are not called, but biden leads in both. Biden is heading for a solid if unspectacular popular vote victory somewhere in between Barack Obamas 2008 and 2012 wins. But the raw vote is quite impressive. The big lesson of this election 2016 was not a fluke. It was a signal. While voters rejected President Trump the individual, he still won far more votes than last time, and it was hardly the wholesale intersection of trumpism that democrats had anticipated. Still, the president who has yet to concede, is refusing to admit he lost. Hes claiming that illegal votes put joe biden over the time, which is false. Hes claiming that joe biden is rushing to faultsly pose as the winner, that is not true. And that he actually won the election and did so by a lot. Well, thats wrong, and as you can see by the numbers, by a lot. And in that spirit theyve launched lawsuits. Weve got the story covered from the president ial election to the Senate Control to the house. Well start with two reports beginning with nbc News White House correspondent Kristen Welker at biden headquarters in wilmington i wilmington, delaware. They want to signal that the work of the presidency begins now. What are you learning . Reporter thats right, chuck. That is very important right now. President elect biden aiming to show action on a key campaign promise, winning the fight against covid. Were told he is going to officially launch his transition tomorrow and also announce a task force that will be led by three cochairs including former Surgeon General vivek murphy. He will also, were told, that on day one biden will sign a slew of executive orders aimed at reversing key parts of the trump agenda, among them rejoining the paris climate accords, revursing the withdrawal from the world health organization, repealing the ban on immigration from muslim majority countries, and also reinstating daca. It is notable that several of those are focused on restoring the United States relationship to its traditional allies on the world stage. So chuck, the work begins immediately. And kristen, i am curious, what is it that joe biden and the Biden Campaign, how quickly do they think theyre going to be able to start having a cabinet ready to go, at least present to the country even if they dont know what senate theyre going to be presenting it to . Reporter yeah, its a very good question. We are told likely in december or late november. So that is going to be a key focus moving forward. And of course trying to find people who will be confirmed if in fact the senate is controlled by republicans. And thats really going to be a key part of what president elect biden is trying to do, his most urgent challenge in addition to all of his policy initiatives and goals that we just talked about. Hes going to try to unify what is a deeply divided nation. He knows that his challenge will be reaching out to the 70 Million People who voted against him and for President Trump. Hes going to do that with his messaging. We saw that on display last night in his remarks when he said he was going to be a president for all people. And hes also going to aim to reach across the aisle to work on legislation, also to build his cabinet. While biden did have a number of calls on saturday, hes not yet spoken to Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell. But i am told that he does plan to have several calls with republicans in the coming days, chuck. You just answered yet another question that i was about to ask the Biden Campaign. Kristen welker in wilmington, thanks very much. Lets go to kelly odonnell. Shes at the white house, also obviously with the latest on the Trump Campaign efforts here. And i guess the question, first question i have is in the statement on saturday that they released after the media projected joe biden as president elect, they talked about that starting monday that they would have a whole slew of challenges ready to go, that they would begin this process. Any hint what this looks like . Reporter what has not changing in this very long week is the president himself. He is doing the trump way of doing things, theres no concession and fight is on the agenda. So the trump team is using a different clock. The president sees room to pursue this battle because states have not certified election results. So they claim to be ready to take the action tomorrow based on varied circumstances. Relying in part on tips coming from voters and election workers who have signed affidavits, and the issues include whether mailin votes were separated properly in pennsylvania to incorrect Elections Software being used in michigan to outofdate voter rolls in nevada. Those are some of the issues theyre looking at. The Trump Campaign is raising money for this effort, but its important to know the fine print also says any funds that come in can be used to pay off campaign debts, not litigation over the result. And chuck, this morning the president is tweeting about what allies are saying, supporting his desire to look for errors or fraud that could somehow change the outcome. Outside the gates here at the white house, construction is already under way for the viewing stands for the january inaugural parade. So thats a reality that the time in this president s term is limited. Thats something hell be able to hear the banging and the sawing today. Very quickly, i know that the president s chief of staff got covid. That must only add to sort of what is the mood in that west wing right now. Reporter in talking with some of the Staff Members here, you get the sense that there has been an exhale. The mood is certainly quiet, and many have not been in the offices. We expect that the president might get some more fresh air today. One might think he would go back to his virginia golf club. That is something that the president likes to do. Yesterday we saw him on the links, and certainly when he was traveling in the city, he saw that there were a lot of people out celebrating the victory of president elect joe biden. Motorcade had to drive through that. So thats another reminder of how his circumstances have changed so abruptly this week. Kelly odonnell at the white house for us this morning. Before that Kristen Welker in wilmington. Thank you both. Joining us from the Biden Campaign in wilmington is Deputy Campaign manager kate bedingfield. Welcome back to meet the press. First of all, congratulations. Thank you. Youre in a small club of folks that have successfully won president ial elections and no one can take that away from you, so kudos. Thank you very much. An exciting time for the country. I im sure you feel relieved and euphoric today. Let me start with this the president elect last night said this about his mandate, theyve given us a mandate for action on covid, the economy, climate change, and systemic racism. I feel like he laid out four pillars there was his focus. Explain how how will we see that in the next couple of weeks during this transition . How will the public see that focus on this on what the president elect believes is his mandate . Sure. Well, the work starts right away. You know, those are promises that hes campaigned on throughout this entire campaign. Hes addressed these four crises that were facing. Youre going to say, for example, hes going to launch the Coronavirus Task force tomorrow. Its going to be read by vivek murphy and david kessler, who have been advising the campaign since the virus emerged back in march. So youre going to see the work get under way. He i think you saw last night in his remarks he really laid out a commitment to, you know, not just address those mandates that you just that you just referenced, but also to address a mandate to bring the country together, to unify, to lower the temperature, to set aside the harsh rhetoric of the campaign and get to the hard work of governing. And hes going to begin transition work in earnest this week. Hell be making calls. Hell be making announcements to the American People about how hes going to make good on these campaign promises. I think, look, we saw the biden harris tick get the most votes of any president ial ticket in the history of president ial politics. People are hungry for change. They want to come together. Thats how president elect biden is going to lead. Do you has your focus on personnel, on policy initiatives that you might take on early in this administration, how much does that get tempered a bit by the fact that you might be dealing with a Republican Senate . Well, look, Vice President biden now president elect biden is going to make his case and work to get them through if its a Republican Senate, which we dont know yet that it will be, hes going to work to get them through a Republican Senate. I would go back to this is what the American People voepted for what they want to see. For members republican members of the senate, theyre going to feel that pressure, too. People want the country to move forward. They want to see president elect biden and Vice President elect harris move forward on their agenda and have the opportunity to do the work, to get the virus under control and to get our economy back together. You know, thats what the American People voted for. And thats how Vice President old habits die hard, president elect biden is going to lead. Its interesting you said what the American People voted for. They voted the results are mixed if you look up and down the leadership of washington, if you will, right. Democrats lost some ground in the house. The senate is an open question, but im sure you guys were hoping youd already have control and not have to worry about the georgia runoffs. So do you think the country sent a message of we dont want to give one party all the power. Hey, joe biden, your job is to work with everybody . Well, joe biden believes his job is to work with everybody. So that is if that is the message for the American People, thats how joe biden views governing. He got into this campaign in april of 2019 making an argument that the president of the United States should work with everybody, and that thats the kind of leadership we should demand and expect. So that is his intention. He is going to work to bring people to the table, to try to find consensus. You know, he has a track record of doing that. You know, if you look back at when he and president obama came into office in 2009, in an economic crisis similar to the one that were in now. He was able to persuade republican senators to vote for the recovery act. A massive investment in our infrastructure and jobs. So he has a record of being able to do that. And thats how hes going to lead. All right. Some people hear the word consensus on the left and think it means youre going to sell the left out. Alexandria ocasiocortez said this in an interview about her expectations on how the Biden Administration will be to the left of the party. She says, the history of the party tends to be that we get really excited about the grassroots to get elected and then those communities are promptly abandoned right after an election. Let me ask you this do you believe that shes going to be disappointed or not when she sees the agenda of the Biden Administration in the First Six Months . No. I think that Vice PresidentBiden Campaigned on an incredibly progressive and aggressive agenda. Take a look, for example, at his climate plan. Its the boldest, biggest climate plan thats ever been put forward by, you know, by a nominee running for president and now a pinellas counresident. Hes going to make good on those commitments. He spent time during this campaign bringing people together around around this climate plan. He was able to get the endorsement of group like the Sunrise Movement and the endorsement of labor for this plan. Its a big, aggressive plan, its the perfect example of the kind of, you know, big effort that he is going to make to meet this moment and to meet these crises that were in. Kate bedingfield, the Deputy Campaign manager for the biden harris ticket. Thanks for coming on. Again, congratulations. Well see you soon. Thank you very much. Thanks for having me, chuck. And joining us now is republican senator mitt romney of utah. Senator romney, welcome back to meet the press. Thank you. Let me start with a simple question. What did you learn from the voters on tuesday night . Well, i learned that republicans picked up seats in congress, held on to the senate, picked up state houses across the country. But we lost the presidency, and so its a bit of a mixed message. I think people are saying that this conservative principles still account for the majority of Public Opinion in our country. I dont think the American People want to sign up for the Green New Deal. I dont think they want to sign up for getting rid of coal or oil or gas. I dont think theyre interested in medicare for all or higher taxes that would slow down the economy. But they do want to say a change in leadership in the white house apparently at this stage, and so its a message which says, all right, a change in leader, but were not going to be turning a sharp left turn in terms of public policy. What do you believe joe bidens mandate should be . You heard what he thought his mandate was last night, bringing the country together, number one. Then he talked about some issues he wanted to focus on. What do you believe his mandate is . Well, i believe he said it last night which is he does want to bring the country together. He wants to bring honor and respect in the white house, the way he sees it. He wants to be a man of character he is a man of character. These are things he thinks are very important both here and around the world. In terms of policy, im sure hell have his own agenda. But he worked in the senate long enough to recognize that there are two parties, that things have to be done on a bipartisan basis, and the more extreme wing of his party is not going to take over policy in this country. Thats not where the American People are. If he tries to go that direction, why, i think hell fail. We conservatives will make sure and stand up for the great majority in my opinion of the American People who believe that conservative principles serve us better. But well he indicated he wants to work in a bipartisan basis. Were ready to do that. What would you like to see President Trump do this week . Youve been here. Youve lost an election. Youve lost a close election. In fact, in some ways ive i feel like theres some similarities and very tight and various battleground states just like yours in 2012. How would you like t